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Family Reunion - Fay's Report

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FAY'S REPORT BACK ON THE FLEMMER FAMILY 150 CRADOCK REUNION

We arrived in Cradock on Thursday 20th March 2003 and were shown into May's House in the delightful row of restored houses in Market Street, which make up the Tuishuise.

Shortly after settling in we met Duncan and Margie (Flemmer) McBean and had a chat in the street, while the staff put up a wonderful banner welcoming us all to Cradock.

Steve, Judy and Kate arrived. Steve had arranged to meet McDonald 'McGyvir' Flemmer, who had contacted him just before the Reunion on behalf of a family named Flemmer living in Cradock, with relatives in the area. It is not clear if this family is descended from the original Flemmer family, but McGyvir and his family came along to the Reunion anyway and were made very welcome. Steve is helping McGyvir to conduct the genealogical research to establish his line of descent.

We had a quiet but splendid dinner in the Victoria Hotel, and had an early night in anticipation of the onslaught of the ninety family members who would be arriving the next day. Each house occupied by a member of the clan had the Flemmer family reunion crest pasted outside the door.

Sandra Antrobus from the Tuishuis had done a splendid job in getting the Masonic Hall ready for us and we mounted the exhibition of photographs and memorabilia ready for the next day.

All day during Friday 21st in between showers and a cloud burst, family members arrived and great meetings and greetings were held in Market street between the houses.

A wonderful bring and braai was held in the garden of Karoo Morning, Steve and Judy's Tuishuis. Sandra had provided the salads, which were amazing and several braai's were set up in the driveway. The local historian Duncan Ferguson who has been so helpful with information was there too. Many people had never met and many had not seen one another since the last reunion in 2001. The atmosphere was tremendous and many thanks to Judy & Steve for hosting this get together. Needless to say the noise level rose and there were several delicate constitutions the next morning. Our ancestor Christian August Flemmer would not have looked down too proudly with his teetotaller thinking!

Saturday dawned - a beautiful warm day, and the sun shone. The proceedings were due to start at 9 a.m. sharp and everyone gathered to collect their nametags and pay their R30 entry fee.

Terry had set up a sale's table for memorabilia, from family crests, medallions, shirts and caps, emblazoned with the Reunion logo to CD's, books and cross-stitch patterns of the crest. A brisk trade was done and thanks are due to Dani and Talia for all their hard work

Terry started the meeting with an introduction on the crest. And put everyone's mind to rest regarding the skull and cross bones. The original meaning of these symbols was to emphasise the basis of Christian belief. The skull was a reference to Golgotha (The Place of Skulls) where the Crucifixion took place; the bones were crossed as a symbol of Christianity: the bones themselves were thighbones to signify the Resurrection - no one can rise again without these bones. It was only very much later that this blazon changed its meaning, ironically to indicate danger and the threat to the mortality of man.

Fay then spoke on the women, in particular, Betty von Abo Flemmer, wife of Christian August, our stamvader in South Africa.


So little is written about the women 150 years ago. In a 100 page document on one family two pages were devoted to the wife - a photo and her death notice. This is a woman who bore her husband seven children.
Today at 37 years of age - if you are pregnant your gynaecologist would keep a close watch on your progress - do tests and would certainly advise you not to travel. But our little Betty, she was a little woman, left Denmark five months pregnant - with seven children under 12! She had a servant with her, but one can imagine how overwhelmed she would have been. Hopefully Camilla (11) and Charlotte (8) would help with the little ones, Hans (4) and Salvator (2).

The voyage which took three months with no fresh water, meat or vegetables, would have been a trial beyond words. We hear that the noise was incredible - the creaking and shouting the water leaking in everywhere. Their clothes were constantly wet. The arrival in Algoa Bay is left to the imagination. Leaving the ship either in a basket and being lowered down into a boat, or going down a rope ladder, bearing in mind that Betty was now eight months pregnant. The small rowing boat would take the family and all their possessions ashore. The first encounter with a black person would be being lifted from the boat and carried to the beach.

Europe in February has temperatures around the minus - South Africa would be in the 30's. the beach would have tents to camp and now she has to feed the children. Food they have never seen in some cases. We hear the beach was like a bazaar with stalls set up selling to the new arrivals. The trip to Cradock was a three week journey by ox wagon. Once again just imagine feeding the family. The Danes loved soup and sometimes had two at a meal. Perhaps she would just get the soup going over an open fire when the cry would go up to inspan and carry on the journey. There is a story - not of our family but it could have happened to them, where there was no fresh bread and the lady of the family was preparing vet koek in oil over the open fire, when a herd of elephant charged through the camp, upsetting the oil and setting a tree alight, almost burning down one of the wagons, which would have contained all their clothing and linen!

We understand that Toger von Abo, Betty's brother, had prepared a house for them in Cradock, there is some dispute but it could have been where the Victoria hotel is today. He would surely have furnished it and so the family would have had a relatively smooth arrival. However, bearing in mind that Betty was eight months pregnant she would have had to start bottling vegetables and fruit which was ripe during this period. It was a case of now or never, and provision had to be made for the winter months. No handy store around the corner! She would have had to make candles and soap. I'm sure she would have brought the baby's layette from Denmark. I would like to think that great friendships were forged and the family were welcomed and assisted by the families already established in the town, like the Disitn's, Gilfillan's and Philps into which families the children of the Flemmer family married years later.

Steve then gave us a wonderful talk on the family, the origins of the South African Flemmer's and the families into which the seven children married.

He started by showing a line of descent for the youngest family member at the Reunion - Tim Shelver - who was there with his parents, Helen and Stu, and grandparents Nolan and Jenny Flemmer. Ten generations were on the chart, from Fredrich Flemmer born in 1703 - three hundred years ago, to young Tim, a mere 18 months old.

From there he took us back to try and answer the questions which have been asked so often - why did the family emigrate? And why Cradock?

Denmark had gone through major financial problems in this time. The country was insolvent in 1815 - it was at this time that a silver tax was introduced which was payable by all citizens. It was this event which gave rise to the old family story that Hans Christian Flemmer voluntarily gave all the family silver to the king and was rewarded for his loyalty.

Another major event at about the time they left Denmark was the Schleswig War of 1850 in which Christian had served as an army doctor. We do not know how he felt about that, but wars have never been a pleasant experience and Europe was far from settled at the time.

Against this broad background of a stagnating economy and the threat of further wars, there was also the personal financial position of Christian and his large family. Although one thinks of doctors as being comfortably off now, the family was helped financially for many years with an allowance from Christian's father Hans, the Lutheran minister. When Hans died in 1847, and the allowance ended, finances would have been very tight with seven children and three servants to support.

Betty's brother Toger had gone to South Africa and had settled in Cradock many years before. He had been successful and become quite wealthy and no doubt he had sent back glowing accounts of life in the Colony. He offered to finance the trip out to South Africa for Christian and the family and to help them establish themselves, which would have entailed a considerable outlay.

Presented with the means to get away from their problems in Denmark, like immigrants from time immemorial, the chance was seized to take a risk and move to a new country. And what a chance it must have seemed. Moves like this were very final in those days - no phones, no Internet, no hopping on a plane for a 12 hour ride home if things went wrong. Most people who emigrated never saw their homeland or family again in those times.


He went on to highlight the difficulties of life in the early days in Cradock:

Although there was a house ready for them when they arrived in Cradock, said to be on site of present Victoria Manor Hotel, I will take some time now to try to give a picture of the sort of place and life they had come to. With all of our modern conveniences - motor cars, telephones, fridge/freezers, electricity, microwaves, convenience foods, running water and on and on - it is hard to realise that it wasn't always so easy. Water was collected from an open furrow that ran past the house from the river - if there was no drought. Not a very hygienic delivery system when one thinks what else might be in the furrow. Cooking of course was on a wood fire stove. Imagine the heat in the kitchen, with its arsenic painted walls to keep the insects and flies down. And no one dressed as lightly as we do now - heavy clothes were the order of the day, buttoned up to the neck. How did they keep meat fresh in summer? You can't eat an entire animal before the heat gets to it? And where did they get fresh vegetables? There were plagues of locusts. There were droughts and Cradock itself was hot and DUSTY. One couldn't just walk across Market Square where they lived, it was said. One had to wade through ankle deep dust. And compared with our modern hustle and bustle it is hard to picture how quiet it must have been at night. The streets would only be lit by the candles in people's homes although for special celebrations, tar barrels would be lit in the streets.

By our standards life was very tough indeed, and was only made bearable by strong family bonds, an unshakeable belief in God and one's church and community, all of which were central to life at that time.

And to the Question: Why Cradock?

When the Flemmers arrived in Cradock it was a thriving little town. It was one of the main centres of wool farming and commerce in the Eastern Cape and was really the 'end of the line' as far as travellers were concerned. Beyond the town stretched the wilds of South Africa. There were at least thirty general stores stocking groceries, medicines, clothing, buttons, candles and even catapults and bull's-eyes! An so the family settled in, became well established and contributed significantly to the economy and to society as we will see below.

After summarising very briefly the lives of the Flemmer children, Steve concluded:

In total there were AT LEAST 46 children born of the Flemmer marriages in the 40 years between the first marriage in 1860 and the start of the Boer War. And so the Flemmer clan has grown and grown.

There have been many achievements. In military service in the Boer War and both the First and Second World Wars; in service to the community; in sport there is an Oxford Blue, Springbok trialists and provincial representatives; in the academic field there are attorneys, chartered accountants and medical people.

With the passing of time there are South African members of the Flemmer clan scattered to the four corners of the world. We are very fortunate to have you all here to day - a remarkable family with proud record and I thank you all for coming.

There was a presentation to THE FLEMMER, the eldest son, of the eldest son ……Ludvig Austin Dean Flemmer born on June 16, 1930, son of John Sweet Distin 'Jack' Flemmer 1905 - 1980, son of John Distin Flemmer 1875 - 1920 ,son of Christian Ludvig Flemmer 1839 - 1903, son of Christian August Flemmer 1813 - 1870. He was presented with a red cap to signify his title - to be worn at all family gatherings - and the family crest.

A wonderful tea was laid on by Tuishuis and then the official photographer had the unenviable task of trying to bring some order to the proceedings and get 96 members photographed.

In the afternoon, there was a walking tour of Cradock, a visit to Mulberry Shade residence in Bree Street, the home of Rosa Philp, who married Toger Abo August Flemmer. Although this had been arranged with the present owner of the house, the house was securely locked and no amount of knocking elicited a response. She contacted Steve later and said she had been gardening and had not heard the knocking! The crowd then proceeded to St Peter's Anglican Church in the same street, where Christian August and Christian Ludvig his son are buried. The Church was also sadly securely locked although arrangements had been made for our visit. The cemetery also holds the remains of the Gilfillan's, Philps, and Distin families - all related to the Flemmers by marriage.

We then proceeded to the Cradock Museum which was also securely locked, in spite of prior arrangements having been made. The temperature was rather warm so we all headed back to our various accommodations to relax before the great dinner.

The Tuishuis and Sandra Antrobus in particular had gone to a tremendous amount of trouble to make the evening special. They had decorated the dining room with Danish flags and the Reunion logo. Each place setting had this logo as a coaster for their glass and little Danish flags were scattered on the table like confetti. There were even bottles of wine labelled with the Flemmer Reunion logo - and idea that Anthea had come up with. It was a very special evening for Kate Herbert - her 25th birthday and she will never forget more than 90 family members singing Happy Birthday to her!

A traditional Karoo Buffet dinner was enjoyed by all. We understand that there were quite a lot what Christian August might have termed 'boisterous behaviour' late in the evening. A choir of singers in the street in the small hours of the morning sang The Requiem, before retiring to bed. Their skill may be judged by the fact that Steve, hearing the racket, thought a fight had broken out!

On Sunday the descendants of Christian Ludvig and other family members who grew up in the area made a pilgrimage to St Lawrence's Anglican Church at the Tafelberg Station, this church was built by Christian Ludvig and John Sweet Distin, among others, and Anna Distin Flemmer used to play the organ. A service is held once a month and we were fortunate that this was the day on which the service was held by the Rev. Rory Middlecoat of Middelburg. There were twenty family members and we took up the entire on side of the church, which apparently except for weddings and other occasions has never been so full. It was sad that the original organ can no longer be used, William Asher (who now owns Tafelberg Hall) used to pump the bellows and Eve Meintjes would play the organ. A Piano has been installed and it was the first time it was used for a service. The family would like to thank Rory and the congregation for accommodating such a large crowd.

William took us on a tour - the weather had deteriorated and the temperature dropped dramatically. We all scrambled for warmer clothing. The group clambered up a kopje to view the initials of J.D. Flemmer carved in a rock in 1883. Also to see the remains of the house Christian Ludvig and Anna Distin Flemmer had lived in Plaatrivier.


We then followed William to Tafelberg Hall where we had a tour of the Watermill. And the grainery store which John Sweet Distin built. The tour of the Milkshed and a visit to the house was truly a step back in time. Hearing about the Union Jack which was flown when the mail ship was in Port Elizabeth and visitors used to travel to Tafelberg Hall by train made us all realise how times have changed.