Thursday, June 13, 2013
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St George's Park Algoa Bay Port Elizabeth
From: "Becky Horne" < beckyjh@telkomsa.net>
Subject: Cemeteries in Port Elizabeth - Part II
Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 23:38:37 +0200
Subject: Cemeteries in Port Elizabeth - Part II
Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 23:38:37 +0200
Continued from Part I
SOURCE: Genealogical Society of SA - East Cape Branch Newsletter
November 1987 No. 4. Contribution from Liz ESHMADE
In St. Georges Park is yet another small cemetery where lie many of Scots descent and members of the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches. Here we find three sons, and their wives, of Thomas STERLEY who is buried in Russell Road. We find
4-year-old Vera WOODFORD, who died in 1884, buried with her faithful nurse, Elizabeth TAGG (d. 1885). Then there is Murdoch MACKENZIE, of Scotland, who drowned in the Bay in 1859 aged 43 years "in performance of his duty on the beach". His stone was erected by a "few Highland friends". Just inside the gate lie John and Mary MATTHEWS, who died at 74 years in 1867 and 83 in 1888 respectively. They must have seen many changes in the 19th centaury world. There are the children of James and Agnes CAMPBELL, four of whom did not live past three years of age and the fifth, James, died in 1892, in far away Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, aged only 22 years. Was it the old scourges like smallpox or measles, which took them so young? So many names, like the CAMPBELL's still exist today, but are there any VAN MENGERSHAUFER's left or was young Otto, who only lived one day in 1875 the last of the line?
As the town grew, so did the need for larger burial grounds and this takes us to the tree filled South End Cemetery. Here the area, in the early days, was divided into blocks for each religion. Here are soldiers from the Boer War resting beneath their "For King and Country" iron crosses, rusting in the sea air. There is a large memorial listing the sailors drowned during the Great Storm of 1902 in which so many ships were wrecked. The religious communities, both Catholic and Anglican, settled here to teach and nurse. There are the nursing sisters of The Little Company of Mary, Sisters of Nazareth, Sisters of the Assumption. Bishops of St. Augustines Cathedral lay beneath magnificent carved slabs of Italian marble, their epitaphs long and in Latin. Here too are the war graves and memorials in private plots to those like 19-year old Arnold TAYLOR who died in France in 1917 during the Great War and 25 year old Graham STANTON, of the 3rd Transvaal Scottish who died in North Afri!
ca in 1941 during WWII. The Windhoek air disaster of 1962 is also recalled. Many are the graves of young and old taken during the terrible 'flu epidemic of 1917-1918 and there are many small graves of children and babies who died from diseases which we scarcely know today. On the South Eastern side is the "free ground' where lay the members of the Muslim community. Their tombstones are, for the most, inscribed in Arabic.
Unlike these three tree-filled cemeteries, North End is a vast open tract of land across which the wind howls on its way to the sea. In the old section are many unmarked and unedged graves. We shall never know who is buried here because the burial records were lost many years ago, in a fire. The oldest grave, as far as we know, is that of William RUNDLE who died in May 1868. Another is 1851, but as the man died in Uitenhage it is unlikely that he is buried here as the cemetery had not yet opened. Mrs. Susan DE POORTERE née STOWMAN lived to be 114 years old. Mrs. Elizabeth Dawson GEER, 104 yrs was born in 1821 the daughter of Settler FROST, and must thus be one of the earliest "Bayonians" A Lonely rusty iron cross bears only the date 8.5.1901. Who was the man who gave his life in the Boer War? We shall never know.
Here, as in South End the flu epidemic is recalled, but here too, in the mid 1940's we find victims of the polio of which was going to get so much worse. There are many stones to the memory of "Mother" or "Boetje". Knowing who owns the plot does not mean that these people had the same surname. On the right is the only Jewish cemetery in Port Elizabeth and at the back the now disused Hindu Crematorium. Alister MULLER, the aviation pioneer, rests here with his wife. In an open area stands a modern memorial recalling names of young and old who died in the local Concentration Camp during the Boer war. This cemetery has people of every race and creed. A large block belongs to the Chinese community, many of their inscriptions written in Chinese. St. Marks Church has a vast block, which is still in use and the Moravian Mission block contains row upon row of tiny graves. These were children of the Coloured community who died of malnutrition of the late '30's and '40's.
It was these good missionaries who stemmed the tide of this morality. The free ground at North End is very large, well mowed, lawn interspersed here and there with tombstones, some inscribed, some not. So you see, every story ever told, every heroic deed ever done, every battle fought, every tear ever shed, is to found in a cemetery. After all, we mortals ARE the stories, humble or proud. The details may be sketchy or explicit, in prose or in verse. Read and "listen" - you'll learn far more than you thought.
Conclusion.
Best wishes
Becky
Cemeteries Algoa Bay Port Elizabeth
From: "Becky Horne" < beckyjh@telkomsa.net>
Subject: Cemeteries in Port Elizabeth - Part I
Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 23:38:08 +0200
Subject: Cemeteries in Port Elizabeth - Part I
Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 23:38:08 +0200
Hi there Folks
Here is little bit of background info pertaining to the early cemeteries in Port Elizabeth. Maybe you will find a long lost relative?
SOURCE: Genealogical Society of SA - East Cape Branch Newsletter
November 1987 No. 4. Contribution from Liz ESHMADE
Many folk, including members of our society, find cemeteries morbid and chilly. Old cemeteries are interesting places. Walk round a cemetery, read the inscriptions, "listen" to the past! They recall a nation's history on every front. Come with me on a walk through the cemeteries of Port Elizabeth.
There is St. Mary's in which many of the 1820 Settlers and their first descendants lie. Some made their mark in this city and are recalled in names of modern businesses, streets and suburbs. Then there are sailors like John LONG, Master of the "Locust", who died in 1822, John CARGILL and George URQUHART of Aberdeen, Scotland, who drowned in May 1859 when their barque,
"The Shepherdess" was wrecked off Cape Receife. I wonder what disease "Mauritius Fever" was, which claimed the life of
M. WISSING, later Captain of the schooner "Barso", in 1879?
Further up the slope is three-year-old Agnes BLACKBURN, (d. 1876) whose epitaph reads:
"Lovely bud so young and fair,
Called hence by early doom,
Just came to show how sweet a flower
In Paradise would bloom" - beautiful words.
A Victorian Cross was awarded to Lt. Adj. J. CRAIG, of the 2nd Batt 10th Foot, for his gallantry during the Crimea. He was only 37 when he died in Aug 1861. Steam cranes were used on the North Jetty in 1886. One of these had a boiler explode which claimed 30 year old Edwin LEEKBLADE and 20 yr old John BROWN. They are buried a few plots apart. William HALIAND, aged 25
years died in July 1879 from injuries received in a fall from a horse, "almost immediately on his arrival in Port Elizabeth". He had doubtless come from Cornwall to start a new and interesting life. We cannot leave St. Mary's without noting two other epitaphs because they sum up the lives of those people so vividly and today such poetry is sadly missing in our modern cemeteries. One is Athrel LEO who died in May 1890, aged 34, "Not hers to linger here on earth consumed by slow decay, Death like a sudden whirlwind came, and swept her life away". The other is to John BROWN who died in May 1855 aged 37, "If life's a farce, mere childrens play, Let the rich trifle it away". I could not model mine on theirs for mine has been a life of cares".
Landslides have covered a section of St. May's and the years and vandals have wrecked havoc both here and in the cemetery in Russell Road. With the current awakening of consciousness of our heritage, they have been cleaned and repaired, where possible, and are maintained by the Municipality. In Russell Road, not many strong stones remain today. Those that were still intact were laid flat or set into the surrounding wall. The people here are mainly settlers. They are largely of the Catholic and Non-Conformist faith. There is James Langley DALTON, who, his stone tells us, was a defender of Rorkes Drift during the Zulu war of 1870-1884 and a recipient of the Victoria Cross. He died in 1887 at the age of 53. There is Georgina FISH, wife of the Wesleyan Minister of Pearson Street, Charles GEARD, who was a leader in getting a meeting together to form a Municipality to be responsible for the cleaning up the town and laying roads, etc. There are many Irish names like SCALLAN, MURPHY!
, O'CONNOR and O'REILLY. Thomas STERLEY, who landed here with 1820 Settlers, died in 1848 in his late 80's. Of STERLEYs in this cemetery, there are many. Thomas GRIFFIN was another 1820 Settler who arrived with the "Chapman", he died in 1843, aged only 49 and from the stones which have survived it would seem that his was one of the very first burials in this small cemetery.
To be continued.
Best wishes
Becky
Risk Everything for GOD Algoa Bay Port Elizabeth
"What is more elevating and
transporting, than the generosity
of heart which risks everything on God's word." John Henry Newman
of heart which risks everything on God's word." John Henry Newman
Thankfulness Algoa Bay Port Elizabeth
"No
duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks." St. Ambrose
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