THE MAFEKING QUADRUPLETS OF 1902

Hester Susanna Catharina MULLER was born on 29 May 1869 in the Potchefstroom district, the daughter of Hendrik Joseph MULLER and Johanna Margaretha Dorothea VAN TONDER.
She was baptised on 10 January 1870 in the NGK Rustenburg.
She died on 21 November 1957 at home: 48 Barnes Road, Brixton, Johannesburg, the home of he daughter Magdalena Petronella Theron Retief MULLER.
She was buried on 23 November 1957 in West Park Cemetery, Johannesburg (grave 7725, Dutch Reformed section).
In some of the records, her name was written as Hester Aletta.

She was married to Donald MATTHEWS on 19 September 1887 by the magistrate in Rustenburg. He was born in Cradock, was 27 years old and a mine prospector. Hester was 16 years old. They lived in the Lichtenburg district. Donald died on 04 January 1940 at Johannesburg Hospital.

According to a newspaper interview that Hester gave in 1956, the couple had 19 children, including quadruplets that were born in Mafeking during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) but did not survive for long. The quadruplet’s birth was attended by Dr SMYTH. Afterwards, he wrote a letter to the King, and Hester and Donald received a congratulatory letter. In the camp registers, the family was recorded under the surname MATHEWS and were also in the Vryburg camp. Prior to her death, Hester used to travel by train, tram or bus to visit her children in Pretoria and the East Rand.

The children:

1) Charles Wheatley Mathews was born on 31 May 1888 in Lichtenburg. He died on 28 June 1946 in Johannesburg. He married Elena Elizabeth SCHOEMAN in 1919 and had 9 children.

2) Doreen Annie Mathews was born on 28 June 1889 in Lichtenburg. She died on 28 June 1978 in Pretoria. She married Petrus Johannes KEEVE in 1916 and had 6 children.

3) Rachel Frances Mathews born on 15 October 1891. She died in 1969. She married Petrus Hendrik VAN ROOYEN in 1915 and had 5 children.
She was baptised on 10 April 1895 in Krugersdorp. At the time, the family was living at Kransfontein, Marico, where Donald was a farmer.

4) Edward Henry Mathews born 12 November 1894 in Lichtenburg. He died on 12 September 1976 in Johannesburg.

5) Donald Mathews was born on 20 September 1896 in Lichtenburg. He died on 15 August 1948 in Johannesburg. His first marriage was to Agnes Lightbody MORRISON in 1923 and had 4 children. His second marriage was to Catherine SHAKS and they had 1 child.

6) Alexander Mathewson Mathews born 29 May 1897 in Lichtenburg. He died on 10 December 1937, underground at Witwatersrand Gold Mine in Germiston. he married Johanna Jacoba THERON in 1924 and had 5 children.
He was baptised on 27 June 1899 in Krugersdorp. At the time, the family lived in Lichtenburg where Donald was a farmer.

7) Emily Esther Mathews born 24 November 1899 in Lichtenburg. She died on 06 October 1999 in Pretoria. She married Orlando DE VILLIERS and had 2 children.

8) Hester Elizabeth Mathews was born on 24 November 1899 in Lichtenburg.
She was baptised on 04 July 1903 in Lichtenberg (recorded in Standerton register). At the time, the family lived in Lichtenberg.

9) John Mathews born 03 January 1902 in Mafeking. He died on 13 January 1902 in Mafeking Concentration Camp.
His name is not reflected in the baptism register.

10) Eliza (Lizzie) Magdalen Mathews born 03 January 1902 in Mafeking. She died on 15 January 1902 in Mafeking Concentration Camp.
She was baptised on 13 January 1902 in Mafeking.

11) Robert Alexander Bates Mathews born 03 January 1902 in Mafeking. He died on 15 January 1902 in Mafeking Concentration Camp.
He was baptised on 13 January 1902 in Mafeking.

12) Lorenzo Ilyff (Bertie) Mathews born 03 January 1902 in Mafeking. He died on 16 January 1902 in Mafeking Concentration Camp.
He was baptised on 13 January 1902 in Mafeking.

13) Florence Frances Susan Mathews born 28 January 1903 in Lichtenburg. She married John Henry JACOBS in 1929 and had 1 child.

14) Lottie Mathews born in October 1904 in Lichtenburg. She died on 05 May 1905 in Lichtenburg.

15) Edward Mathews was born in 1905 and died in 1934. He married Annie LOVE and they had 5 children.

16) Winifred Charlotte Mathews born 08 May 1907. She died on 01 November 2003 in Pretoria. She married Herold Albrecht BREEDT in 1928 and had 6 children.

17) Magdalena Petronella Theron Retief Matthews born 27 June 1918 in Lichtenburg. She died on 19 June 1981 in Johannesburg. She married Daniel Hertzog STASSEN in 1958 in Brixton.

18) Dorothea Mathews

19) Unknown child

Donald MATHEWS was the son of Charles Wheatley MATHEWS, the progenitor of the Mathews family in South Africa. Charles was born on 31 October 1824 in Lowestoft, Suffolk, England, to Robert Bates MATHEWS and Elizabeth JAGER. Charles immigrated to the Cape and lived in Uitenhage, Craddock, Port Elizabeth, Colesburg, Hopetown and Lichtenburg. He died on 14 January 1881 at Carnavon Hospital in Kimberley (enteric fever) and was buried at De Beer’s Cemetery in Beaconsfield.
Charles was appointed as a deputy sheriff while living in Colesberg. He also had a trading store in town.
He married Eliza Mary Jane MATHEWSON on 12 May 1852 at Christ Church in Colesburg.
Eliza was born on 25 February 1833 in Uitenhage, the daughter of Alexander MATHEWSON and Eliza SIZE. Her father was born in 1792 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and her mother was born in 1803 in Clonmel, Tipperary, Ireland.
Charles and Eliza were original shareholders in the Standard Bank which was established in 1861.