Family history and genealogy
May 9, 2025
On Saturday 20 April 1968, South African Airways flight SA228 from Johannesburg crashed seconds after take-off from Windhoek’s then J.G. Strijdom Airport just before 21:00. Twelve crew members and 111 passengers died. Five passengers survived the crash. The Boeing 707-344C, Read more…
I have done extensive research in archival records to add details to the crew and passenger manifest. This article is a record of who they were. On Monday, 13 March 1967, South African Airways flight SA406 took off from Port Read more…
Corrie WIJNBEEK lived through two World Wars, the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression, and the current COVID-19 pandemic. She passed away on 13 July 2021 at the age of 108 in Swartruggens. She was living with her son, Dirk WIJNBEEK Read more…
Mary SINNOTT was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1882, one of five children born to Thomas SINNOTT and Margaret DUNN. The family was Catholic. Her eldest siblings were Dorothea/Dorothy Eleanor (Dorrie) and Dennis, and her younger siblings were Sarah and Read more…
In 1855, Sir George GREY, High Commissioner in South Africa, tried to get British military pensioners to immigrate to South Africa and settle in British Kaffraria. The scheme failed to draw enough immigrants and was replaced with a plan to Read more…
May 8, 2025
The British annexation of the Cape in 1795 introduced cricket to South Africa. It is believed that Charles ANGUISH, who had played for Surrey and Middlesex, might have swung a cricket bat after being appointed Comptroller of the Customs at Read more…
Piet SCHOLTZ celebrated his 101st birthday on the 4th of Jan 2007 at the Suid-Afrikaanse Vrouefederasie retirement home in Zeerust. He was married to Christina for more than 60 years before she passed away. They had five children. He has Read more…
The first South African woman to volunteer for full-time war service was Phyllis Doreen DUNNING (maiden name HOOPER), who did so on June 1, 1940. Doreen passed away on August 26, 2008, in Howick, South Africa, at the age of Read more…
May 7, 2025
It is claimed that Johan Georg MEYER (1816-1856) bought the farm Elandsfontein in exchange for an ox-wagon. He had trekked up from Prince Albert in 1835 with the Andries Hendrik POTGIETER trek. He staked out three farms: Kliprivier, Elandsfontein and Read more…
Primrose Cemetery in Germiston dates back to 1893. It is the second oldest cemetery in the greater Johannesburg region, after Braamfontein Cemetery. Its 20,000+ graves tell the stories of the early gold mining days, an Anglo-Boer War battle, the 1914 Read more…