Norah Natalie Farewell Fynn

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes

Henry married Hannah Maria Payne on 6 Jun 1870 in Richmond, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Hannah was born on 2 Apr 1847 in Kilham, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Report appeared in the Natal Witness newspaper, 14 Aug 2002

Morris FYNN (now 71) used to wear a safari suit and armed with a saw, he cut down apartheid signs on the beaches, pointing to the absurdity of his father swimming at one beach, his mother at another and he at a third. These days he dresses in animal skins and, armed with a knobkerrie and shield, is asserting his right to a Zulu chieftainship that was awarded to his ancestors by King Shaka.
The sense of marginalisation that the Coloured community felt under apartheid and now feel in the new South Africa played itself out in the John Dunn Hall in Wentworth last Friday. (DUNN, a white settler, fathered many children with his Zulu wives and his descendants are fighting for the land he bequeathed to them.)

FYNN organised a gathering of FYNN descendants at the hall on Women's Day [9th August 2002] to pay tribute to a chieftainess and black mother of his clan - Mavundlase ka Senca. The gathering was also used to form a committee of the FYNN family to engage the government in talks over their claim to land. They want to contact all the relatives, who live not only in KwaZulu-Natal but throughout the world. There are White, Coloured and Black FYNNs. They need to be registered as members of the committee to fight for their birthright and place in history.

The committee is only claiming the land around the chieftainship, which is on the South Coast, an area between Umzinto and Port Shepstone. The government has already recognised their claim and offered them R4 million. The committee has to decide what to do about this offer, which is far from adequate. Like the DUNNs, they may have to take this matter to court.

The FYNNs mixed ancestry is recorded in Shelagh SPENCER's series of books on the early British settlers in Natal. SPENCER was also at the gathering and met other descendants of early settlers, like the LOCHENBERGs and the KIPPENs.

Henry FYNN, a trader and adventurer, was in the party of 25 men led by Lieutenant Francis FAREWELL, who helped establish the city of Durban. Henry befriended King Shaka and helped him recover from a stab wound. In return, Shaka gave him land and 9 wives. Henry kept 6 of the wives and gave 3 to his brother Frank. One of these wives was Mavundlase ka Senca. Another version of the story is that she was the daughter of Senca Mzela, who fled her home and sought protection with Henry's party to escape an unwelcome suitor and was allotted to Frank as a wife. A third version is that she was of the Zelemu people and was a captive from a Zulu campaign in Delagoa Bay. She settled with Frank on the South Coast, where he ruled as one of Shaka's chiefs, and when he died he passed on the chieftainship to her.

Many of the other Zulu wives of White settlers remarried when their settler husbands died or left them. Mavundlase never remarried and retained her sovereignty over her clan. When she died in 1894, the title of chief went to her eldest son, Charles. Morris FYNN says that the hereditary title of chief passed down the generations and the last chief was his uncle, Colin FYNN, who died in 1926. He claims that the title was stripped from them under the apartheid government and he, as the next hereditary holder of the title, is campaigning to have it restored.

Henry FYNN became a magistrate on the South Coast in the 1850s and in his writings acknowledged Mavundlase as chieftainess of remnants of tribes collected by "one of the early colonists of 1828". In 1854, he wrote that he had removed five tribes from her control as he felt that it was impossible for her to keep them all in order.

SPENCER says it is believed that Henry FYNN, who lived among the Zulus for 10 years, had between 16 and 20 children by his Black wives. When Henry left - Morris FYNN claims as a result of difficulties with Dingane - his wives attached themselves to Black men and his children were neglected. Theophilus SHEPSTONE placed the children under the control of Mavundlase.

SPENCER records that Henry FYNN also had White wives. He married two sisters, Ann BROWN, who had no children, and Christiana BROWN, who had a son, Henry Francis. "According to Henry junior, his aunt Vundlase, Frank FYNN's widow, went to Theophilus SHEPSTONE and asked if he (Henry) could be taken and shown to the people. He went and was presented to and recognised by the tribes. He was also presented with cattle."

The FYNN Committee plan to hold a second family gathering on Heritage Day, September 24, where they will work on consolidating their strategy over their land claim. Descendants who wish to attend this gathering or have their names recorded as part of the FYNN clan are asked to contact Morris FYNN at (031) 909 0934.

Henry married Christiana Brown on 9 Jan 1841 in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Christiana (daughter of John Brown, 1820 Settler and Anne Cave, 1820 Settler) was born on 12 Sep 1821 in Swartkops, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa; died on 13 Jan 1870 in Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Henry Fynn 1808

Henry married Elizabeth Copestick on 22 Jun 1800 in London Church (St George's - Hanover Square), London, England. Elizabeth was born est 1783 in Wales, UK; died about 1828 in Cape Colony, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Elizabeth Copestick 1808

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes
• Settler ID: 127
• Name: John Brown 1820
• Occupation: a Fisherman and Trader
• Settler: 13 Dec 1819, Gravesend, Kent, England

Notes:

An 1820 Settler who came to South Africa together with his wife, Anne, and 2 daughters as part of the Clark Party. He apparently had business interests in Jamaica. On arrival in the Eastern Cape he dumped Anne and took up with Charlotte Whitfield. He died in action in the 1835 Xhosa War. John's party was allocated land at the Clay Pits near the Fish River.

He apparently had business interests in Jamaica. On arrival in the Eastern Cape he dumped Anne and took up with Charlotte Whitfield. He died in action in the 1835 Xhosa War. John's party was allocated land at the Clay Pits near the Fish River

"Dear Mrs Rainier
I trust you have now settled down in East London, a town of which I am very fond. I remember once going to a meeting at the Town Hall I think it was the local historical society's meeting.
In your last letter to me you mentioned what became of Mrs Brown (Anne Cane), Elizabeth and Anne. The little I have is as follows:
Anne Cane. Born London 16-5-1790. Married John Brown at St Anns Westminister on 26-10-1812. 4 children, Elizabeth, Anne, Christianna and George. The last 2 born 1821 and 27 respectively. Died 19-2-1857 in Grahamstown.
Elizabeth Brown. Presumably born London 18-2-1815. Married Edward Chapman Leonard who died in 1892. 3 children. Died 7-6-1859.
Anne Brown. Presumably born London 17-9-1817. Married Henry Francis Fynn. Died at Swarts Kei when her husband was serving at Tarka's Post. 30-6-1839. I do not think there was issue.
Henry Francis Fynn. (1803 ? - 20-9-1861) was as you may know one of the founders of Natal along with King & Farewell. On the death of his wife Ann, he married Christianna Brown. he died at Fynnlands which I understand is on the Bluff at Durban.
You will see that John Brown had 4 children, this being apart from the 5 children he presented to Charlotte Whitfield between 1822 - 1829.
You mention in your letter about property of J.B. in Germiston (???) I understand that when he died he did have property there but I feel there must have been another JB as the deal between Lt Col Prentice and JB took place on the 28.2.1820 ie long before the 1820 Settlers arrived.
I am awaiting an answer from Mr Morse Jones on a place called Tiger Spring. I do know that there was an article in Looking Back Vol ! Part 2 about this place but unfortunately I do not have a copy.
JB purchased Tiger Spring from a Richard Austen although I do not think he lived there, and the deeds of Transfer are dated 1840 some 5 years after John's death. This place I understand was very near Bathurst, one boundary being on Bathurst Commonage. I have also been told that Tiger Spring was a place on the NE part of Mahoneys location which I believe was in the Coombs Valley near Clay Pit.
P?ts. I wonder whether the two places are one and the same.
In my quest for the birth place of Charlotte Whitfield in London 1790 I am now enquiring into the records of Spanish Town, Jamaica where her brother died in 1824. She presumably went to London in 1827 (along with JB) in consequence of her brothers estate.
Should you require further details on JB I can let you have the note. I was recently given a portion of a genealogical table of the Fynn family which dealt with the Brown family. I know that Christianna Fynn had a son Henry.
I trust you are well and that the weather is kind to you. Here it is beautiful at the moment.
Yours sincerely
Frank Newnes

Settler:
Clark's party on the Northampton

Died:
Description: in Military Action, 6th Frontier War (1834 -1835) [Hintsa's War]

John married Anne Cave, 1820 Settler on 26 Oct 1812 in London Church (St Anne's - Soho), London, England. Anne was born on 16 May 1792 in London, England; died on 19 Feb 1857 in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa; was buried in Grahamstown Cemetery (Old), Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes
• Settler ID: 138
• Name: Anne Cane 1820
• Settler: 13 Dec 1819, Gravesend, Kent, England

Notes:

1820 Settler: Clark Party. See note for John Brown

Settler:
Clark's party on the Northampton