RootsChat.Com
Research in Other Countries => South Africa => Topic started by: Infobunny on Saturday 24 February 07 09:09 GMT (UK)
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Hi there,
I'm trying to find one of my family who emigrated from New Zealand to South Africa and who ended up dying while in Barkley West (is it Barkley or Barkly??).
Walter Hellebore Jackson was born in 1878 in New Zealand. His father was George Albert Jackson and his mother was Mary Ann (Minna) Julia Leach. At some point in his life Walter decided it would be a good thing to emigrate from NZ to South Africa to do some diamond prospecting. Family story has it that he was a mining engineer and a diamond prospector and that he was prospecting when he was killed in 1921.
I don't know how he was killed or exactly when in 1921. I also don't know when he emigrated from NZ or when/where he arrived in Africa.
Has anyone access to cemetery transcriptions for Barkley West that might be able to locate maybe a headstone or death/burial entry for Walter??
Or anything, for that matter? Apologies for being so vague but that's all the info I have on him. I'll happily try to answer any questions anyone may have.
Thank you so much
Infobunny 8)
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Hi there,
Why dont you apply for a death notice from the archives - this would give details of his death - see notes at the top of the board about death notices and lookups.
Ruth
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Hi there Chatters,
This is a bump on my old post. I'm still looking for help on this one but I have located the details in the Capetown Archives if someone is available to go and have a look for me (please, please, pretty please):
DEPOT KAB
SOURCE MOK
TYPE LEER
VOLUME_NO 1/1/355
SYSTEM 02
REFERENCE R8/710
PART 1
DESCRIPTION JACKSON, WALTER HELLEBORE. DECEASED ESTATE PAPERS. STARTING 19210000 ENDING 19210000
I don't know anything about this guy except for what I have written below. Would love to know what details are in the estate papers.
So sad to hear that cameras are no longer allowed!! :'( Can anyone use their phone instead? ;D
Would love to hear from anyone who has a sadistic streak that needs to be satisfied only by transcribing files :D.
Cheers
Bunny 8)
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Hi Infobunny :)
Here's some info for you. Poor Walter was murdered at Dwarsrand (Barkly West) on the 28 Feb 1921.
Death Notice stated that he was 36years old, parents unknown and his occupation was a digger.
He was listed as unmarried and ordinary place of residence Barkly West it was signed on the 5 April 1921 by a Sydney Graves an Inspector of Police. There's a note among the papers dated 7/3/1921 written by a policeman ? that Walter was engaged to a Miss Andrews but the engagement was subsequently off! On the 23 Jan 1923 the Police wrote to the Magistrate of Barkley West requesting instructions on what to do with the personal effects in their custody, (old portmanteau, suit of clothes and a few odds and ends).They doubted if the effects would "realise ten shillings at public auction."
Now there was also a Diamond! :o Unfortunately it was worth nothing! :'( It was used as an exhibit at the trial of the murderers (doesn't state any names) early in 1921 and then the diamond was mislaid and only traced at the end of 1923! It was then sent for valuation 21 Jan 1953 and the licenced diamond dealer certified that the inferior fragment of diamond weighing .15 of a carat was of no commercial value. It was disposed of as a valueless exhibit!
Hope this answers some questions. There are 20 pages in the file some are duplicates but what I've given you is the important bits.
Ouma
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:)
Hi Ouma
Infobunny can be well pleased with your Miss Marples sleuthing, what a piece of detective work and more to the point, what an amazing piece of family history! ::)
Can imagine though, that the diamond exhibit, during its THREE YEAR DISAPPEARANCE, suddenly was swapped for the inferior stone, which miraculously re-appeared! >:(
Poor Digger was probably murdered for his genuine find of the century, the whereabouts of, will remain one of life's "Unsolved"! :-\
So gaan die ou liewe!
Cheers
Danchaslyn
:)
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Dear, dear, dear Ouma,
THANK YOU!!!!! ;D ;D You are a total complete star!! Or should I say gem ;D
It's nice to finally put a story to this relative of mine even though it was unfortunately a sad one. I had wondered if he had had a family over there and now I know that for sure he didn't (one knotted loose end). The diamond story is fantastic and like Danchaslyn says it may have been swapped for a dud. Oh the wondering.
I love everything that you have done, I really appreciate it!! But now I have two more questions:
1. Where would you bury someone who had died in Barkly West / Dwarsrand? Which cemetery is he likely to be at?
2. Are there any online newspapers for South Africa which may have carried the story? Or if not online, which would be the most likely one so I can request another look up?
Love you HEAPS
Bunny 8)
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:)
Oh infobunny
I can hardly wait for the next installment. I have some ideas which newspapers might have been going at the time, in that area, but as Ouma found the story for your originally, let's let her, possibly post the info! ;D
Same about the possible burial spot.......................... :'(
Chat again soon
Cheers
Danchaslyn
:)
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Oh hey now Danchaslyn, keeping secrets is cruel! ;D
Go on, you can tell me...I won't tell ;)
Time to unbury the dead!!!!! ;D
Cheers
Bunny 8)
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:)
Hello Infobunny
Really was hoping Ouma would reappear..............but, as she hasn't yet....... ;)
The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Anglican, seems to me to be the most likely one that Walter Hellebore Jackson would have attended, or have been buried at, as it would have been English speaking. :D
Barkly, not Barkley West, also has its own Mining Musuem (don't have ocntacts for it yet, sorry!) :-\, so, with a story like Walter's, he may well be featured? ???
There used to be a newspaper published in Barkly West, called "The Barkly & Digger's News", it was established in August, 1897, but I think it is long before Walter's time. :o
Will try to find out more for you. Just bear in mind, Barkly West is in the Northern Cape Region of South Africa. 8)
Cheers
Danchaslyn
:)
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Hi Infobunny and Danchaslyn :)
Tried to get onto internet yesterday but due to bad weather a no go!
I don't really know much as I'm also pretty new to this and I'm still feeling my way around!
Barkly West is near Kimberley so its a little out of my reach (Cape Town) but hopefully Danchaslyn
can provide us with more rivioting news :)
Poor Walter, I was thinking perhaps he was buried as a pauper as he had no family and was a victim
of a murder.
I have been trolling through the gensa. cemetery site looking for a tombstone for Walter but nothing!
Coming back to the diamond can you believe that it took 30 years to have it valued and then
disposed of :o
Ouma
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:)
Hello Ouma and Infobunny
Poor Ouma, nothing worse than not being able to use the pc!!! >:( >:( Mine wouldn't work on day, just because it wouldn't switch on! :-\
Ouma it also crossed my mind, that as Walter had no apparent family, he may have been buried in an unusual way? ??? But, who knows, perhaps the elusive Miss Andrews, may well have still been nearby, and sympathetic? ;)
I get the feeling there is far, far more to this story that we already know. Who murdered him? Was Miss Andrews involved? Had she perhaps already swapped the diamond in advance? ??? The possibilities really are endless.
Well, in bygone days I have visited the Kimberley Mine museum. Infobunny, perhaps you can contact both them, and the Barkly West Museum, to see what they might know of this sorry tale. :'(
Also, the DFA, Diamond Fields Advertiser, has been on the go for about 130 years,.......try google them, perhaps their Editor, will be kind enough to check their archives for you? :o
30 years to value a diamond, that beggars belief, how can people be so crooked? >:(
Cheers
Danchaslyn
:)
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I've found a burial in Barkly West in 1908 that is maybe of interest to our family research. I live in Australia. How do I go about getting a death notice for the person in the burial. TEDED
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great read folks thanks for the story!