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PAPER PRESENTED BY STEVE HERBERT

AT THE 150 YEAR REUNION OF THE FLEMMER FAMILY

IN CRADOCK MARCH 2003

When looking at all that our ancestors faced over say the last 500 years, we can honestly say that this weekend is a celebration for us as family - for actually BEING here at all.

It is a celebration of the happy times many of have had as family, for our achievements and the strength and characteristics handed down to us from our forebears

I say 500 years because the earliest reference to a Flemmer we have found is Olof Flemmer, who lived near Odense in 1491. He was a churchwarden, and I have no doubt a direct ancestor of ours. During those 500 years our family line has survived plague, starvation, numerous wars and every other problem that besets mankind- and yet here we are all together in celebration in Cradock!

The recorded history of the South African Flemmers started 300 years ago this year. Fredrich Flemmer was born in Odense 1703 - lets look at one chain of descent, that of the youngest family member here today - Tim Shelver:



FREDRICH FLEMMER born 1703

1 Fredrich Wigmaker
2 Johannes Wigmaker
3 Hans Christian Lutheran Minister
4 Christian August Doctor
5 Hans Christian JP, Farmer, Storekeeper
6 Marius Toger Attorney
7 Oswald Nolan Attorney
8 Nolan George Attorney
9 Helen Claire Teacher
10 Timothy 18 months!

But lets look at the last 150 years now - the main reason we are here today - and in the course of this talk try to answer the questions I have wondered about and been asked by many family members

WHY DID THEY LEAVE DENMARK? AND WHY DID THEY SETTLE IN CRADOCK?

Christian Flemmer had married Betty von Abo in 1839 when he was 26 and she was 23. They lived in Korsor where he had his practice. In the eleven years they lived there before leaving for the Cape Colony they had 7 children.

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.

This was the party that set off from Korsor to Copenhagen and from Copenhagen to London

Christian and Betty Flemmer and their children:


Christian Ludvig 12
Camilla 11
Toger 10
Charlotte 8
Kirstine 7
Hans 4
Andreas Salvator 2
Toger and Methea Sophia von Abo
Hans Michael Naested
At least two servants

It may seem odd that the family brought two servants with them, but we know that there was difficulty in finding servants in Cradock, as this quote from a contemporary account shows

"One lady tells me when she was a child she came over to Africa with her Parents. Her Mother brought over two women servants; but the plan did not answer, for although one was particularly ugly yet they both very soon married."

Perhaps that is what happened to the Flemmer's servants, as they do not feature in any family history.

Toger von Abo had returned from South Africa earlier in the year and had married his cousin Methea Sophia Kjelberg in July of 1852. Although we know that they arived in South Africa with the Flemmer party, there is not trace of what happened to Methea Sophia. There is no death certificate, no trace of any children. My personal view is that after spending three months on the ship with the seven Flemmer children, she caught the next boat back to Denmark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Methea Sophia Abo

 

The final member of the party - Hans Michael Naested - was another cousin. He does feature in the family history as he went on to marry Christian's eldest daughter, Camilla. But I am getting a bit ahead of myself.

 

 

Hans Michael Naested

The family stayed at America Square near London docks, for some time, as Dr Flemmer had to apply the Royal College of Physicians if he wished to practice in a British Colony. He was a little concerned about his grasp of the English language, so elected to write the examination in Latin, an examination that he passed.


Christian Flemmer was admitted as a member of the Royal College of Physicians on November 5 1852 and wasted little time in getting on their way. They embarked on a freezing cold November morning on the 384 ton bark Corsairs Bride, frequently on the run to the Cape, and sailed on November 22.

Conditions must have been tough on a ship this size, with seven children and Betty four or five months pregnant. Enough to put Toger's new wife off, as I said before!

This is another extract from a contemporary account of a voyage like theirs:

"Went to bed at 9 and couldn't undress it pitched so, and had to call the doctor to help me to my cot. My cabin is water tight as to big splashes, but damp and dribbling. The forecastle is under water with every lurch, and the motion quite incredible.

Life is thus: Avery, my cabin boy, brings tea for Sally and milk for me at 6. Sally turns out; when she is dressed I turn out, and ring for Avery, who takes down my cot, and brings a bucket of salt water, in which I wash with infinite danger and difficulty: get dressed and go on deck at 8. Breakfast solidly at 9, meat, curry etc. Deck again; gossip, pretend to read; beer and biscuits at 12. Dinner at 4.

The food on board here is good as to meat, bread and beer, everything else bad. Port and sherry of British manufacture, and the water with an incredible boracic essence of tar, so that tea and coffee are but derisive names.

The children swarm on board and cry unceasingly, they are a horrid nuisance.. Today the air is saturated with wet. I put on my clothes damp when I dressed and have felt so ever since. You would be dead by this time of the noise, which is beyond all belief; the creaking, trampling, shouting and clattering; it is an incessant storm.

The Corsairs Bride finally made landfall on 11 February 1853 - almost three months from the time of sailing from London. In that time they would not have gone into any ports. The sailing ships of the time headed far to the West towards what is now Brazil to catch the prevailing winds. These would have carried the ship south of Cape Town. We can only imagine how the family felt and how difficult it must have been to find themselves on solid land once more, especially when we consider this contemporary description of an arrival at Algoa Bay:

'…the boat anchored in the open roadstead and boats came out at once to take passengers through the surf. There was excitement when the boat reached the breakers. Urged on by the helmsman the boatmen pulled tremendously; then, at a signal, shipped the oars instantaneously, and on we swept, carried a great distance by a wave. This was repeated, the men showing wonderful dexterity, till the last wave which brought us almost ashore, when, with a simultaneous yell, in rushed a host of black children and boys, clothed and unclothed. The boat was surrounded by a crowd of young natives jabbering and snatching at our things, till I thought we would never keep them'.

On arriving at Port Elizabeth, they were carried from the boat to the shore by Kaffir boys, and she remembers seeing her father, a stout man, with his legs across the shoulders of a small Kaffir. Tents were pitched and here they lived for a while. One night they were alarmed by hearing footsteps, and the next morning they found a thief had been and stolen a cheese.

'….. they found a most animated scene with Kaffirs, resplendent in greatcoats, Hottentots with their gaudily feathered hats, and "gentleman-colonists" riding their horses through the soft sand. Ivory, skins, horns and curios brought down from the interior crowded the open market

We are told that Betty was met by her father Johannes Christian von Abo, who had effectively abandoned her as a six month old when he came to the Cape.

Fay has covered some of the detail of the journey from Port Elizabeth to Cradock in her talk - the loading of the wagons; the trek inland taking about 3 weeks in the blazing heat of February in the Eastern Cape; the difficulty of cooking for this big party over open fires; hungry children; wild animals! What strength of faith and family there must have been to carry them through.

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.

In the fifty years (1853-1899) after their arrival there were huge changes in the Colony. The wars which had been a feature for many years continued, with the Gaika War of 1877, the Basotho War and the Zulu Wars, the first Boer War. The cattle killing of the Xhosa people followed by the Rinderpest decimated the population and finally brought peace.

The railway came to Cradock, bringing more prosperity with easier access. The civic buildings were erected, as was the beautiful Dutch Reformed Church, a copy of St Martins-in-the-fields in London. But the discovery of gold and diamonds saw the economy of South Africa starting to move toward Kimberley and the Rand from about 1870. And Cradock became less and less important as the years went by.

But let us look at what the Flemmer children did as these years passed by:

CHRISTIAN LUDVIG married Anna Distin. They had nine children and farmed at Plaatrivier before setting up business as a storekeeper in Cradock. We learn a good deal about this family from The Little Dane - Anna Louise (Flemmer) Rous' biography.

CAMILLA HENRIETTE married Hans Michael Naested and they had eight children. Hans Michael owned farms in the area and several shops in Cradock, including liquor stores. This branch of the family seemed to separate itself from the other as time went by. Perhaps, given Dr Flemmer's total abhorrence of alcohol, the ownership of bottle stores created a problem.

TOGER ABO AUGUST married Rosa Philps and they had nine children. Toger seems by all accounts to have been a very likeable man but also seems to have been a bit of a rolling stone. He was by turns a storekeeper, roads inspector, farmer and prospector. Perhaps the epitaph on his wife's tomb here in the Cradock cemetery sums it up. It says "Patience In Adversity".

CHARLOTTE MARIE LOUISE married Edward Gilfillan and they had six children. The Gilfillans were 1820 settlers and Edward was a prominent lawyer in Cradock, involved in education and local affairs.

KIRSTINE KATINKA is believed to have died young since there is no mention of her in any family records, although it has not been possible to trace a death certificate.

HANS CHRISTIAN married Alletta Alida Hopley and they had thirteen children. Hans was one of the founders of Steynsburg and was obviously a prominent citizen. He was a Justice of the Peace, a storekeeper and a farmer

ANDREAS SALVATOR never married. He was a great traveller, with voyages to South America and Europe. At one time he was a speculator on the Rand Goldfields, but the Boer War seems to have had unfortunate financial results for him. He moved to Kenya and farmed there.

MARIUS, the first child of this family to be born in South Africa, married his sister-in-law Aletta Alida (Hopley) Flemmer when his brother Hans died at a young age. They had no children. Marius was a qualified attorney and a storekeeper before heading for Kenya where he farmed.

SOPHIE WILHELMINA was also born in Cradock but died aged 6.

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.