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I have no information on his wife other than her name, Anne Strachau.  That is not a common name, so there is hope.

It apparently is a region in Germany, but the name has been found in England for generations.  "Strachau" may also be a variant on "Strachan" (or vice versa).

In the late 1800's there was someone named "Strachau" in commerce in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England.  Since Benjamin's younger brother went to England to find a wife, Benjamin may have done the same.

Interesting, the 1896 South African Medical Journal mentions a panel discussion with a Dr. Strachau participating. That is another possibility for her family connections.

I can probably do more digging, but I don't have in hand any more information.  Good luck in your search.

--Brady Farrand

Hi, my records have her name as Emily Anne McIntyre and known as "Annie". The previous contributor to the thread is a relative of mine (we know each others families it turns out) and separately from me, she also identified the wife of Benjamin Alfred as being Annie McIntyre.

Having said that I'm intrigued about the Anne Strachau reference. I'm wondering how that name came up and if maybe they are the same person and she was married twice?

Other than her name and dates and places of birth and death, nothing else is known. Emily Anne McIntyre was born in Durban (Natal, South Africa) in 1870 and died 27 Oct 1928 at Highflats near Ixopo (Natal, South Africa)

Hi,

Thanks for the information and yes I would be very interested in the biography and anything else about Edward Pickering. I have since found other information that I think is very strong evidence that my grandmother was the daughter of Benjamin Alfred Pickering.

My grandmother attended St. Annes school in Pietermaritzburg. St.Annes documents posted on the internet list her as from Holmdene Highflats (which is near Ixopo).

Also in the EGSSA website there is a transcript of the Friday, Feb 11, 1927 “The Daily Representative” (which I presume was a newspaper of some sort) that had this entry:

Marriage
SHAW-PICKERING.-  At the Congregational  Church, Pietermaritzburg, on the 10th inst., Alfred D.N. SHAW, of “Marshlands,” Mooi River, Natal, second son of Mr. Edgar SHAW, Queenstown, to Gertrude Sylvia, eldest daughter of Mr. And Mrs. B.A. PICKERING, “Holmdene,” Highflats and Durban.

In the year (1927) my grandmother (Edith) would have been about 17 and so if Gertrude Sylvia was the oldest then should would have definitely ready for marriage in 1927. That coupled with the Holmdene reference here and in the St Annes documents, I’m sure Edith Pickering was the daughter of Benjamin Alfred and then Benjamin Alfred is mentioned in the will of Edward Pickering (the Durban mayor) as his son.

In the 1912 Natal Directory it lists BA Pickering as being of Hillcrest and a “merchant (of E Pickering & Sons)”. So it seems BA Pickering inherited from his father in 1906, was still involved in the business in 1912 and sometime between 1912 and 1927 moved to Highflats.

My mother (not a blood relative of the Pickerings) confirms that the Pickerings had relatives by the name of Shaw but she doesn't recall anything else of material significance.