| 6. | William Kidson, 1820 Settler was born in 1785 in Staindrop, Durham, England; was christened on 16 Jan 1785 in St Mary, Staindrop, Durham, England (son of Thomas Kidson and Hannah Oats); died on 27 May 1869 in Knahoon, East London district, Eastern Cape, South Africa; was buried in Bathurst Church (St John's - Anglican), Bathurst, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Other Events and Attributes:
- 1820 Lineage: Yes
- Settler ID: 381
- Name: William Kidson 1820
- Occupation: a Farmer
- Settler: 12 Feb 1820, The Downs, Deal, Kent, England
- Occupation: Between 1826 and 1827, Albany District, Eastern Cape, South Africa; a Dealer in Cattle
- Occupation: 1829, Beaufort Vale, Clumber, Bathurst (nr), Eastern Cape, South Africa; a Farmer
Notes:
Carol Gainsford writes in the EGGSA Genesis magazine no 56 of August 2017:
One of the family visited Bathurst, and met an old resident, named Mr. Armstrong, who had lived in the village all his life, and was then 84 years of age. In his time he had been the undertaker, builder, carpenter, farmer, etc. He remembered Thomas Hartley Jnr., from whose store he had made purchases as a child.
He took him to the old Hartley homestead and to the cemetery where he could photograph the Kidson grave. The old man said that about the year 1912, he and his father were commissioned to renovate the Settler graves, in both the Anglican and Methodist churchyards. The Kidson grave was found to be in a lamentable state of dilapidation – the inscriptions on the tomb were faded and illegible, a tree having grown right through the crypt, dislodging the bricks and breaking the plaster.
The tree was chopped out and the damage repaired, and when digging down to the roots, they discovered the grave was not the orthodox type, but in fact a vault, or subterranean room, to which admittance could be gained by removing a stone trap-door and leading down some steps. On the floor of the vault were little platforms, upon which had rested the remains of William and Anna Kidson, the one on the right, directly below the tomb, had upon it a lead sealed coffin containing the body of William, the outer wooden shell had long since rotted away;whilst on the left rested the body of Anna – completely exposed as the wooden coffin had rotted away and she had not been placed in a leaden shell. The amazing part of the discovery was that she had not suffered the ravages of time, having been so well embalmed that after some 70 years, she was still perfectly preserved – the features perfect, her red hair lying in a tumbled mass about her head and the skin unmarked.
The article continues to inform the reader that the Settler William Kidson and Morris Slowman (or Sloman) spent a month in Gaol – 14 days on bread and water and 14 days on normal Government Prison rations. Their crime? Leaving their allocated locations with goods bought from the Government Stores at Bathurst and travelling further afield in the hope to sell these goods so that they could better provide for their families.
Even though they had permission from the Rev. William Boardman who was the eventual leader of the Willson Party, they were charged on the 1st April 1822 by the unpopular Harry Rivers (Landdrost of Albany) who was acting for the Governor Lord Charles Somerset.
Our Settlers certainly lived a miserable life under these conditions and seem to have been treated as criminals rather than settlers.
Birth:
Sensitive:0
Bruce Webber has 16/1/1785
Occupation:
Sensitive:0
Settler:
Willson's party on the La Belle Alliance
Occupation:
Sensitive:0
Occupation:
Sensitive:0
Died:
Sensitive:0
Buried:
Sensitive:0
William married Anna Maria Parke, 1820 Settler about 1807. Anna (daughter of Joseph Parke and Elizabeth Tollemache) was born on 18 Apr 1788; died on 18 May 1843; was buried on 23 May 1843 in Bathurst Church (St John's - Anglican), Bathurst, Eastern Cape, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
|
