Doreen Clark

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes

Family/Spouse: Colin De Jongh. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Gail De Jongh

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes

George married Ivy Laura Harvey on 4 Jun 1929. Ivy (daughter of George Henry Harvey and Margaret Sarah Laura Short) was born on 24 Apr 1908. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes

Clement + Lydia Miriam Rielly. Lydia (daughter of William Rielly and Louisa Flanegan) was born on 15 Dec 1874 in Trappes Valley, Bathurst (nr), Eastern Cape, South Africa; was christened on 28 Mar 1875 in Bathurst, Eastern Cape, South Africa; died on 19 Oct 1936. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes
• Name: Lydia Marian Rielly

George married Margaret Sarah Laura Short on 17 Sep 1902. Margaret (daughter of Frederick Edward Short and Arabella Woodcock Barnes) was born on 1 Apr 1875. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Farmer

George married Elizabeth Sarah Jane Futter on 24 Jul 1867. Elizabeth (daughter of Thomas John Futter and Eliza Amelia Thomas) was born on 3 Oct 1848; died on 8 Aug 1905 in Langholm, Bathurst district, Eastern Cape, South Africa; was buried on 10 Aug 1905 in Rokeby Park Church (Methodist), Bathurst (nr), Eastern Cape, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes
• Name: Elizabeth Futter

Notes:

Buried:
Surname PITTAWAY
First_Names Elizabeth Sarah Jane
Death_Date
Burial_Date 1905/08/10
Age 57 years
Residence Langholm; Rokeby Park
Other_Info
Cemetry Rokeby Park
Item No 10
Film # 1560854
Church Methodist Parish Records
Location Bathurst Burials: 1863-1988
Remarks
Entry #177

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: William Reilly

William married Louisa Flanegan about 1858. Louisa (daughter of James Frederick Flanegan, 1820 Settler and Ann Hulley, 1820 Settler) was born on 18 May 1844; was christened on 17 Jun 1844 in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa; died in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa; was buried in Old Grahamstown Cemetery, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes

Notes:

Settler experiences as related by Mrs Reilly, daughter of 1820 Settler James Frederick Flanegan to author Alice M Ralls

In the year 1820 there landed on the inhospitable shores of Algoa Bay 1 561 children sons and daughters of the British settlers of that date. Sixty percent of them were under 12 years old. It is on record upon this, their initiation into the life of a wild and savage country, they were afraid of the big black Kxxxxxx who met the surf boats to carry the children and their mothers ashore. Many a little child fought and screamed in the arms of, or on the back of, an almost naked black man. One little girl said ”I was so afraid the black would rub off onto my clean pinafore which had been put on specially for the landing.”

While visiting Grahamstown a few years ago for the purpose of gathering any extra data I could for this story, I met an old resident, Mrs Reilly by name who kindly entrusted to my care a roll of faded paper upon which were printed the early memories of her mother.

“I would not lose this for a hundred pounds” said Mrs Reilly, “but if these stories will be of use to you, you are welcome to use them”.
She was the daughter of an early pioneer, James Flanegan, and she could remember thrilling incidents in her life when she was only 5 years old. Her first recollection was of a place named Cuylerville. Here a stone wall formed a laager and the Kxxxxxx used to storm the place periodically. Rushing up to the wall, they would brandish their assegais and fireflint guns in their endeavour to drive out the white intruders to their land and procure the much-coveted cattle.

Mrs Reilly gave the details of such an attack.
“I well remember that, but the Natives were no match for the rifles of our beleagued men, and they shot down 10, whereupon the others scattered to the hills. Then it was found that their young chief was missing, they cried from hill to hill ‘Where is our chief?” Where is our chief?”, and after a long silence came the doleful answer through the darkness, ‘He is no more, he is no more.” Our men then knew that he was amongst the slain.
“Early next morning” she continued, “we children were attracted by the dead chief’s gaudy beads and ivory bangles; we endeavoured to purloin them from the body, for which crime we were all severely whipped. Curiously we were not awed or frightened by the presence of death. The dead were gathered and placed on bushes roped together to form a sleigh; this was dragged down to the river where the bodied were weighted with stones and thrown into a large pool.”

Her narrative goes on to say that after a long period of fighting and unrest, when most of the settlers lived in laagers, the Kxxxxxx were repulsed and retired to their fastnesses in the bush across the Fish River, whither no man dared to follow them if he wished to return alive. The settlers families began now to return to their homes and to repair the ravages of war.

Their troubles were not yet over, for they had in the rebel Hottentots a more formidable foe than the savage Kxxxxxx. They were deserters from the Cape Corps, raised at the Cape for some years before, for the purpose of helping to subdue the wild Kxxxx hordes infesting the Eastern districts. These terrifying barbarians, armed, mounted and trained, were veritable demons, and resorted to cold-blooded murder.

One day, while the Flanegan family were living at Cuylerville, a small company of Hottentots, still wearing their uniforms, approached a neighbouring farm. The men at work in a field, thought that they were Government soldiers, but, before they had time to realise their mistake, they were shot down, the rebels then forced their way into the house where the terrified women where gathered together. The Hottentots roughly ordered the women to cook some food for them. A sick man, who was in an upstairs room, managed to escape through the window and hid in the bush, where he was later joined by a youth who had been mauled by the intruders.

Another thrilling adventure befell this intrepid woman when she was a girl of ten. A number of settler families had gathered for mutual protection and formed a laager. The rebels came upon them so stealthily that, had it not been for the barking of a dog, they would all have most surely perished. The Hottentots opened a deadly fire; one of the little Flanegan girls had a narrow escape, when a bullet actually passed through her dress.

On another occasion, the Kxxxxx hordes swept down upon the helpless settlers and some of the men rushed to the kraals to protect the cattle. On looking back, they saw the enemy preparing to fir the house with all the women and children locked inside. The savages were repulsed, and four men stood sentry around the house until help came.

One day a hurrying horseman rode up to the Flanegan farm and called from the saddle: “The Kxxxxxx are rising. Pack up and o to Cawood’s Post where the soldiers will protect you”. The rider hurried on his way to warn other lonely settlers. Hastily the wagons were inspanned and packed, and none too soon. For when they were only two miles off, the fugitives, looking back, saw their home in flames. Mrs Reilly said her father had at this time just completed a beautiful stack of oat-forage for market, and the enemy that day carried it off, together with two hundred head of cattle.

When times were peaceful enough to permit farming, Mrs Reilly’s father would grow wheat, barley, mielies and pumpkins, but bread was always a luxury because the meal had to be ground on the farm in a quern. Her father sold forage to the military as well as fresh meat.
In those days, cattle with large, broad horns were brought from overseas in sailing ships. They were landed at the mouth of the Kleinmond River and had to swim ashore.
“In those days when the savage hordes used to sweep down upon us,”, she said, “we were thankful for the little places of refuge. One was at Fort England and another at Mesopotamia, so named because it was situated between two rivers.”

As regards her remarkable experiences with wild and savage beasts, this brave woman seems to have had a charmed life.
“We were not afraid of wild animals” she said, “they came openly after the calves and goats which we children herded on the hillsides. Leopards used to come right to our house and take calves out of the shed. The men were sometimes in the fields when this happened, and we had to scream to them for help. As evening came on, we all dashed for home before dark as it was very unsafe to be out at night. Hyenas would prowl around the house at night, and often by day packs of wild dogs came after the calves. Our men used to set steel-jawed traps for these brutes. One day I went to see a dog caught in this way, and the dreadful beast in its terror, made a spring at me. The wonder is that I was not torn to pieces, but my father at that moment Rushed up with his gun and shot it.

“I remember too,” she said, “that the soldiers used to march through the streets of Grahamstown Playing drums and bugles. We used to pick up the tunes the played, and I often find them running through my head even now.”
Mrs Reilly lived to celebrate her 90th birthday.

Pages 40-43. Glory Which is Yours: A Tribute to Pioneer Ancestors by Alice M Ralls. Published in Pietermariztburg by Shuter and Shooter, 1949.

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes

Frederick married Arabella Woodcock Barnes on 31 Oct 1870. Arabella (daughter of James Whittaker Barnes, 1820 Settler and Sarah Jane Patrick, 1820 Settler) was born on 20 Dec 1842 in Fort Beaufort, Eastern Cape, South Africa; died on 27 Dec 1905 in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• 1820 Lineage: Yes