VISIT TO DIWWIE DE BEER

Diwwie de Beer was awarded for his accurate and most complete research on the De Beer-family register of South Africa. I had the privelage to visit him and his sincere wife in a retirement resort in Lyttleton, Centurion near Pretoria.  On that very same day he was in the process to assist researchers for a film on Racheltjie de Beer.  He has a very daunted task in deed to trace all the possible family ties and links to this Voortrekker family. However, as he quoted, that although he wants to believe in the folk lore of the little girl who protected her brother in a snow storm and subsequently lost her life, he could not for certain (up to this stage) confirm their exact roots in the De Beer-family tree.  Diwwie drew a lot of flack on this stance of staunch Afrikaners who grew up with the story of Racheltjie De Beer.  Historically, however, he cannot change the facts without proven evidence of this specific De Beer-family. He traced a Rachel de Beer, but she was still living! One should keep in mind that many parents named their daughters after this famous name, namely, Rachel. Accordingly, some street names also got their names from Racheltjie De Beer...A school in Pretoria was for example named after Racheltjie while a plaque of the historical event was cast in bronze and fixed on the veranda of the former Sunday School building in Maitland Street, Bloemfontein. Unfortunately this plaque was removed when the new owners took it over and the where abouts of the plaque is unknown to me.

Diwwie is very sensitive about the story, because he says "to risk one's life for another person, is truly praise worthy". Fortunately, the script writers consulted Diwwie about the real family roots as to be as scientific as possible. We are all looking forward to the final outcome in the intended film. 

ANNA JACOBA DE BEER (nee van Rooyen)

Only a correction on my previous publications re: my grand mother's correct information:

On my father's side (Barend Petrus de Beer) his mother's name is Anna Jacoba De Beer and not Petronella as it was previously misquoted.

Anna Jacoba Van Rooyen was born on 23 December 1894 in Mafikeng in the North West province of South Africa.

She married Karel Johannes de Beer and gave birth to six children: Dolly, Hannatjie, Barend,Karel,Flip and Willem de Beer.The family lived in Petrusburg in the Free State province.  Anna Jacoba died on 2 February 1947 and was buried in the Petrusburg grave yard for war casualties of the Anglo Boer War.

While her husband worked on the South African Railways, his wife assisted with midwifery in the Petrusburg district.

BAREND PERUS DE BEER; CHURCH REGISTER

Bennie de Beer next to his grandfather's grave at the Pellisier Nedrduits Gereformeerde Church in Bloemfontein (December, 2011). The name of BP De Beer also appears in the archives of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Kimberley. (Karel Johannes de Beer is behind the pulpit of the museum, November 2011)

NICHOLAAS DE BEER's GRANDSON VISITS THE SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH IN KIMBERLEY

Gert De Beer on church register

News Paper clipping above, displayed in the first Seventh-day Adventist Church museum in Kimberley.

SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH HISTORY

Pieter Wessels, of Kimberley, became convinced about adult baptism. In the same way, while he studied the Word of God, he peruaded his family to keep the Sabbath, instead of Sunday as the Lord's day of rest. Soon, a small community of Sabbath keepers started to grow in the wild diamond fields surrounding Kimberley. They were not aware that this denomination already existed in the United States of America, however, an American digger, William Hunt, from California, brought some information of the Senth Day Adventist Church to Kimberley. This little farmer community received some donations ($250) to ask the church in the USA to send a missionary, which started it all in Africa.  Especially via Rhdes to educate the Black people of Africa.  In the process, the Sevent-day Adventist Church stated to operate in Kimberley wher the De Beer-broters were baptized. (Images will be soon uploaded).  

BENNIE DE BEER

Barend Petrus De Beer (Bennie) and his wife from London, Jesica, recently visited his grand father's grave in Bloemfontein.  Bennie is the son of our brother, BP De Beer, who is a teacher at the Universitas Primary School (Tjokkies) in Bloemfontein where Bennie also completed his primary school years. Bennie emigrated to the UK and served in the British Army in Iraq as well as in Northern Ireland. He and his wife is currently involved in missionary work.  Photo's will be uploaded as soon as possible.

STEAM TRAINS; AUSTRALIA

This little green steam engine was built by retired railway staff in Australia. The engine driver of this machine was once a fireman for our dad, Barend Petrus De Bee,r on the Bloemfontein traject to Noupoort in the Northern Cape.

PUFFING BILLY IN AUSTRALIA

My youngest brother, Floris Petrus De Beer (Fonnie)'s eldest son Neil and his family emigrated to Australia.  When Fonnie spoke Afrikaans to his son next to an amateur locomotive, the enginedriver warned them that he also understands Afrikaans. They discovered that the driver was not only from South Africa, but actually stoked locomotives for our father in Bloemfontein !!!

BAREND PETRUS DE BEER FAMILY LINE

According to the research of D & J De Beer: DIE DE BEER-FAMILIE. Drie eeue in Suid-Afrika (Afrkaans title) ISBN 978-0-620-47855-7 (Cf. Family Origins GEN2SA V.5.42) August 2010,  Karel Johannes De Beer derives from the Barend Petrus De Beer-family tree:

• Father : Barend Petrus De Beer *Born in Petrusburg, Orange Free State, South Africa on 26 May 1923 and died +18 August 2006 , buried in the private cemetery of the Nederduits-Gereformeerde Church yard, Pellisierpark, Bloemfontein.

• Father's grandfather, Barend Petrus De Beer: *Born in Graaff -Reinet on 4May 1842 and died  + 9April 1904, buried in the Anglo Boer War Cemetery at Petrusburg.

• Father's great, great grandfather, Barent (d) Petrus De Beer: *Born in Graaff -Reinet on 26January 1817 in the Northern Cape and died +28February 1894, buried in the family churchyard on the farm, INHOEK, three kilometers West from Petrusburg. (See previous published photographs on my Blog of eroded tombstones.)

• The latter's father, Barend Petrus De Beer: *Born on the farm, SNEEUBERG, Graaff-Reinet, 30September 1789 in theNorthern Cape and died on +8November 1837, buried in Graaf-Reinet, Northern Cape.

• (Still under research review) Barend Petrus De Beer; Trace under the second main branch of Mathys Andriesz De Beer (a2):  PN: praenomen nescio (unknown):Barend De Beer's first South African generation ( ??)  Kweekvallei / Prince Albert ? ? Cape Colony ? Cf. 10498 *..............a2b6c7d3e3f3g3<5943> (D&J De Beer, Ibid. p. 1199) possible name from mother's side in KWEEKVALLEI, Western Cape* Circa September 1789 ??.........+Died in circa 1816 and possibly buried in Graaff -Reinet (?)
• Barend De Beer, second South African generation (?) + Colesberg; and
• Barend Petrus De Beer, third South African generation (?)  * Fauresmith, Orange Free State + Fauresmith disrict.

DE BEER's AND SEVEN'th DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH

Pastor Henry Baptiste of the Seven'th Day Adventist Church in Kimberley showed their original church to me last Saturday to research the connection between the "diamond de Beer-family" and their church and which is now used as a museum to commemorate the very first Seven'th day Adventist Church that was ever established in Africa. (See photo of the church museum in some of the previous publications).

Nicholas J De Beer, who's name was used for the famous DeBeers Diamond Company by Cecil John Rhodes, and his brother, Diderich, were both baptized in the church. Their names as well as Gert de Beer and BP De Beer can be traced in the archives. My own father also have the initials, BP, which stands for Barend Petrus, however, the name on the tombstone of his great grand father, reads BARENT PETRUS. (See previous publications of graves of the De Beers in Petrusburg).

Press clippings of the eldest son of NJ De Beer, who visited the museum at a later stage can be viewed next to a sketch of the original "De Beer-Homestead".  A replica of the homestead was built in the new Big Hole Museum. The Homestead suburb is still evident where the old house use to stand before it was demolished by some ignorant city planners.  Earlier in my Blog, readers can still view the original De Beer-Homestead in one of the photo's that were taken in the nick of time.

Pieter Wessel's name is the most prominent in the church museum.  He donated most of the money to establish the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Africa while the De Beer-family donated also some money.  Together it amounted up to fifty thousand pounds at some stage.  The Helderberg theological school of the church in Cape Town was also initiated with this financial support, while Rhodes himself, donated money to establish an educational centre for the church in Rhodesia (read Zimbabwe).

According to Gerrit Wessels of Boshof, an offspring of the Pieter Wessels-family in Kimberley who donated the money, says that Pieter fell ill and went into the veld to communicate in private with his Creator.  After about a week, he returned home with the message that he is convinced that the Seventh Day is the Sabbath of the Lord and that he has to follow up on that.  He went to the Seventh Day Adventist Day Church in the United States of America and afterwards commenced with the establishment of this church denomination in Africa.

JN De Beer used some of his money that got from Rhodes to buy a farm next to the Vaalriver in the Boshof district in the Orange Free State near the border with Christiana in the Transvaal.  He was also buried on this farm (see previous publications). However, this branch of the De Beer-family has lost their farm soon after NJ De Beer's (senior) death. According to Dirk de Beer, who still farms with potatoes on an adjacent farm, holds the opinion that they donated too much of their money to"some church or other"... Dirk's mother told him that one of the De Beer-sisters, who was married to a wealthy Rooi Afrikaner Cow farmer in the Hoopstad region nearby, a certain Geldenhuys (?), bought the original De Beer-farms back for them to resettle themselves.  Dirk and his brother started with potatoes, however, his brother lost his part of the farm--where the NJ De Beer grave rests--and is currently owned by somebody else...  Fortunately, Dirk and his two sons are still running an extremely well managed potato farm next to the original De Beer-farm.

But as Dirk de Beer recalls, nobody of the old "diamond de Beer" family really benefited from the cash that Rhodes gave them. Pastor Baptiste also reminded me that Rhodes also traded other farms and land to consolidate his diamond mines.