SAVE PILGRIM'S REST

The tourist town of Pilgrim's Rest in Mpumalanga is facing sure closure after 17 businesses were ordered to close their doors by month end. The businesses were issued with eviction notices last Friday by the province's Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport. The town is owned and run by the Department of Public Works, and business owners lease the properties. The historic gold mining town dates back to the 1800s. The conservation of Pilgrim's Rest as a cultural and historic asset began in 1974 when the provincial government purchased the town from mining company Barlow Rand. In 1986 the village of Pilgrim's Rest and the farm Ponieskrantz, on which the village is situated, were declared National Monuments. Tourism is the backbone of the small town's economy.

Sharon PATERSON, owner of Ponieskrantz Arts and Craft as well as the Pilgrim's Pantry shop, said her staff are very worried, and locals are devastated by the news. She will have to issue notices of termination of employment to her 50 employees, after running the two shops for the past 20 years. Her employees manufacture stained glass doors, lamps, chandeliers and hot-glass jewellery.

The Department's spokesman, Dumisa MALAMULE, said the department advertised the leasing of the buildings on tender bulletin in October and the closing date was in November. The leases of all business which were on tender had expired, according to him. The tender process was finalised in June 2012. Resident Isabel JACOBS said that not one business owner’ was informed beforehand that their business was up for grabs. They saw the advertisement in the Government Gazette in November. All the business owners attended the tender meeting, and submitted their tender documents. Sharon also tendered for the leases in November, but since then they have not heard anything from the Department, until they received eviction notices. Pilgrim's Rest Golf Club manager, Henry VAN NIEKERK, was shocked when three "aggressive" Public Works officials gave him a four-sentence letter to vacate the the golf course. He refused to sign for the letter. Royal Hotel manager, Chris AUTY, said they have not been affected as the hotel is run on behalf of the government. Pilgrim's Rest Tourism officer, Sherry GOODWIN, who also serves on the local Chamber of Commerce, believes that the motivation behind the closure of these businesses was to transform the economy by giving tenders to previously disadvantaged business people.

The Department awarded 21 building leases to 14 successful bidders, of which only five are existing business owners elsewhere. The awarding of multiple leases to five bidders has raised suspicion over the tender process. Many of these bidders are alleged not to have start-up capital or the relevant business licences. The list of awarded tenders includes Matletle Construction and Projects cc, awarded five leases to run Mrs Mac's Shop, Pilgrim's Pantry, the Pilgrim's Rest Golf Course, The Daisy, and the Pilgrim's Rest Caravan Park. This close corporation only has one member, Suzan Patricia KHOZA. Timbhulu Construction and Projects cc has been awarded leases for Mona Cottage, The Vine, and Chaitow's Restaurant. This close corporation also only has one member, Rachel Tsakane KHOZA. Urizima 83 cc was awarded Pilgrim's Place and the Leather Shop. Mangwanyane Trading was awarded the leases for the petrol station, Highwayman's Garage, and Scott's Cafe.

The Chairman of the Pilgrim's Rest Chamber of Business, Marius BRUMMER, who lost the bid for the Highwayman's Garage, said Mangwanyane did not have the necessary capital or licences to run the petrol station. He said directors of the firm had asked him to help them run the business "because they definitely do not have the capital". You also need to have a site licence and a retail licence, which they do not have that. The existing licences are in Marius' name. The law states that to purchase and retail fuel, you need a licence from the Department of Energy. The new occupier will need R1.5 million to fill the tanks and pay security to BP. The town's only ATM is part of the petrol station. Marius will have to give notice to his 11 staff members, after 10 years of operating the business.

Johnny REINDERS has operated The Vine and Johhny’s Pub for 18 years. He is well-known for his knowledge of the village and its history. His business was awarded to Timbhulu Construction and Projects. He said he consulted his lawyer in January and was prepared to go to court to fight for his business. His lease is valid until December 2015.

From 01 August, 18 businesses will have new occupiers, of which 16 are new to Pilgrim’s Rest and have never operated a business there. The new occupiers will be moving into empty shells, as they were only awarded leases for the business premises, not the furniture or other goods, which remains the property of the current business owners. According to the new lease agreements, tenants must also pay three months rent up front.

Belvedere Metal Crafts – JM Chaplin
Clewer General Store – Highwayman’s Garage (was Marius Brummer)
Mrs Mac’s Shop – Matletle Construction and Projects
Highwayman’s Garage – Mangwanyane Trading
Old Print Shop – Kensington BEE (PTY) LTD
Pilgrim’s Pantry – Matletle Construction and Projects
Pilgrim’s Place – Urizima 83 CC
Ponieskrantz Arts and Crafts – Silver Ruby Trading 1037 CC
Old Stables – Lorraine Swanepoel
Mona Cottage – Timbhulu Construction and Projects
Scott’s Café – Mangwanyane Trading
Golf Course – Matletle Construction and Projects
The Daisy – Matletle Construction and Projects
The Iron Store – Shan Paton
The Leather Shop – Urizima 84 CC
The Vine – Timbhulu Construction and Projects
The Royal Liqour Store – Ligcabho Le’Africa Trading
Africa Silk – Nosibusiso Kock
Central Garage – NNA Gape Trading and Project
Caravan Park – Matletle Construction and Projects
Chaitows – Timbhulu Construction and Projects CC

The new occupiers are not obliged to employ former staff members. By the end of the month, these local employees will be out of jobs, with no prospects in sight. Hendry NONYANE was born in Pilgrim’s Rest. The 66-year-old man has been working at the Highwayman’s Garage since 1982. He is the breadwinner of his household and has two children who are still at school. He also sends money to five family members in Bushbuckridge every month.

The Democratic Alliance in the province has called on Mpumalanga's Premier to investigate the process. The Freedom Front Plus wants the Public Protector to investigate the tender process too.

Wheelbarrow Patterson

The history of Pilgrim's Rest dates back to 1873 when a miner, Alec PATTERSON, discovered alluvial gold on the farm Ponieskrantz. He had left the Mac-Mac area to search for a place that was less congested. By the end of 1873 there were close to 1000 diggers at the Mac Mac diggings. Alec PATTERSON was a loner, who pushed his possessions around the area in a wheelbarrow, earning the nickname Wheelbarrow Patterson or Wheelbarrow Alec. He came to the area from the Kimberley fields. The discovery was kept secret, until prospector William TRAFFORD also discovered gold near by. He registered his claim in September 1873 at the Mac Mac office of the Gold Commissioner, Major W. MACDONALD, an American. Soon there were over 200 gold diggers and prospectors from all over the country and the world. Pilgrim's Rest was officially proclaimed a gold field on 22 September 1873. By early January 1874, the Gold Commissioner moved his office to Pilgrim's Rest. Within a year there were 21 stores, 18 canteens and three bakeries. The collection of tents grew with brick houses, a church, a newspaper (Gold News, founded in 1874, and renamed The Gold Fields Mercury) and the Royal Hotel. Besides the diggers, there were also tradesmen, storekeepers, canteen owners, rogues, sinners and saints, barmaids, and parsons. By 1896 many of the tents had been replaced by permanent buildings.

William TRAFFORD is said to have called it Pilgrim's Rest, as that was where the diggers hoped to find their dreams and make a home. It is also claimed in the Rev. Gerald HERRING's book, The pilgrim diggers of the seventies, published in 1949, states that Alec welcomed newcomers with the words "Here comes another pilgrim to his rest." and that is where it got its name. By the end of 1873 there were about 1500 diggers working 4000 claims in and around Pilgrim's Rest. No digging was permitted between sunset and sunrise or on Sundays. The valley was rich in gold with large finds made at places like Breakneck Gully, Brown's Hill, Golden Point, Peach Tree Creek, Poverty Creek, and Starvation Gully. After the first Anglo-Boer War, won by the Boers after the battle of Majuba in 1881, the Volksraad (Transvaal Government) granted concessions to individuals and companies.

In 1881, David BENJAMIN, a London financier, obtained the mining rights to Pilgrim's Rest and the surrounding area. He set about compensating the remaining diggers for their claims. He consolidated all his claims and formed the Transvaal Gold Exploration Company. In 1895, the company amalgamated with other smaller companies, to form the Transvaal Gold Mining Estates (TGME). The alluvial deposits were eventually depleted and many left or turned to forestry. Gold mining in Pilgrim's Rest ceased in 1972.

Main Street circa 1910

During September 1901, General Ben VILJOEN established his headquarters at Pilgrim's Rest. It comprised the Lydenburg Commando of about 400 men under Commandant David SCHOEMAN, and 500 Johannesburg burghers under the General's brother, Commandant W. VILJOEN. About 40 families still lived in Pilgrim's Rest at that time. The town's women made clothes for the Boers from curtains and the linen they had at home. While spying on the British forces in the mountains, Michael Joseph COONEY, an Irish-born American, saw gold amalgam at the deserted mines. He told his Irish compatriot, Willy H. BARTER. Various members of the Johannesburg Commando had worked on the gold mines before the war. The gold ingots cast by the Boers were not acceptable to some people, they wanted real money as currency. In February 1902 the Volksraad gave permission for minting gold pounds, and the Munt te Velde (Mint in the Field) came into being. The production of Veldpond and the Veldpond Medals took place in the workshop of TGME at Pilgrim’s Rest. The team, appointed by Andries Gustav Erlank PIENAAR (from Krugersdorp), to make the coins included:

• Michael COONEY, essayer for testing the purity of the gold
• Dick GRAHAM, experienced in handling the crucible for melting the gold
• William George REID, a blacksmith who worked in Johannesburg gold mines, to adapt the machinery of the Transvaal Gold Mining Estates for the process of minting gold coins, and to soften and harden the dices
• Petrus Johannes KLOPPERS, a teacher from the Netherlands who taught in Barberton and had training in botany and drawing, for designing the coin and engraving the dices
• Others involved included General MULLER, A. MARSHALL and W.H. BARTER.

On 22 November 1899, Michael Joseph COONEY was found guilty of culpable homicide by the Circuit Court for Soutpansberg. He was sentenced to five years in prison. He had acted in self-defence, and the Pietersburg residents lodged a petition calling for his release on the grounds that "Mr Cooney is a man of good and honourable character". He also wrote a letter to the Volksraad pleading for his release. The prison warden sent the petition and the letter, with his own recommendation that prisoner 302 be given special pardon in view of the political situation in the country. Soon after peace was declared, British Intelligence Officer took Michael into custody on the following grounds:

• He disguised himself as a prospector to spy on the British military during the Anglo-Boer War,
• During the war, he took a battery from the house of the Pietersburg Gold Mine Engineer, DAMANT, to give to Carel CRAEMER (a young German who fought on the side of the Boers) to be used for the ignition of dynamite to blew up trains carrying the British,
• He made a bomb for General Ben VILJOEN to blew up the Spekboom River, to prevent the British from entering Pilgrim's Rest,
• He scraped gold amalgam from the copper plates at the gold mines in the Lydenburg area and gave it to the Boers.

The Intelligence Officer asked his Captain in Pretoria, what to do with Michael. He was told that no further action was necessary, and the man could be released.

Michael was born in Galsworth, Ireland in 1844 to Patrick and Margaret COONEY. His father died at the age of 102. Michael was one of 13 children. He immigrated to America, first settling in San Juan County, where he worked at the Black Wonder mine. At some stage  while there, his sister, Beatrice, visited him. She met and married Carroll THOMAS. Michael next worked near Lake City, Colorado. He later moved to Leadville, Colorado, where he became involved with the New Years mine, which he later sold. Next, he moved to Cassell, Montana, where he worked in silver mines. He later moved to the Whitlach Union and McIntyre gold mines in Unionville, Montana. After this, he decided to head for Europe and later went to Ireland and then found his way to South Africa. He remained in South Africa until 1904, returning to America. He moved to the Oroville district in Butte County, California, where he bought the acquired the Bank Mine Company with a partner. Michael married twice, first to Annie TAYLOR, and then to Emma ERFURTH. He died some time between 1908 and 1929.

Hendrik (Harry) Wilhelm STRUBEN and Pieter Jacobs MARAIS bought the farms Ponies Krantz and Driekop, but sold them just before the gold rush. Ponies Krantz became Pilgrim's Rest. Harry went on to be appointed the first President of the Chamber of Mines in 1887. In 1889 he retired to Cape Town, where he died at the age of 75, in 1915.

Mrs Mac's Shop

Maud Mary PURCELL was the first white child born in Pilgrim's Rest on 25 August 1874, to John PURCELL and Mary Ann. In 1872 her parents arrived in the Mac Mac area from Kimberley. They later moved to Pilgrim's Rest. In 1878 the family moved to Swaziland for a short while, but returned to Pilgrim's Rest in 1880. Maud married William Herbert LILLEY on 12 June 1898. They had three children, a son and two daughters, including Sheila Mary Marguerite. Sheila married MACFARLANE. She became the owner of Mrs Mac's Shop. In 1905 it housed the Royal Hotel's off-sales, then was rented as a chemist in 1913, but later became the general dealer. In 1978, Sheila was the oldest resident of Pilgrim's Rest when she left the town. William died in 1903, and in 1909 Maud married William Price GRIFFITHS (he died in October 1945). They had two daughters. After his death, Maud moved to her daughter, Mrs. FRASER, in Witfield, Boksburg.

The first transport service to Pilgrim's Rest was William LEATHERN's wagon, which travelled to Lydenburg every weekend. He claimed that he never left anyone at Lydenburg no matter what his condition. In the 1880s the Zeederberg Coach Service arrived, which also served as the mail service.

Robber's Grave

The Old Cemetery contains the famous Robber's Grave. This unknown man was caught and convicted of tent robbing on the diggings during 1873-1876. A was banished from the town, but a few days later he was spotted on a hill, now known as Cemetery Hill. He was shot and killed, and buried where he fell. His grave lies north-south to brand him forever a thief. All other graves lie east-west. No burial records were kept until 1911. The earliest marked grave is of a man crushed by a boulder on his claim in 1874. There are 320 known graves but only 163 have headstones or markers. Most are simply marked out with stones. The There are many nationalities of people buried in the cemetery - Englishmen, Swedes, Australians, Welshmen, Afrikaners, Indians, Italians, Germans, Canadians and Tasmanians to name but a few. Drowning, suicide, mining accidents, malaria, alcoholism, murder, snake bites, pneumonia and dysentery took its toll. The great flood of 1909 claimed the lives of at least 15 people. A large number of inhabitants succumbed to the influenza epidemic of 1918.

Miss MCNALLY was the daughter of the owner of the Pilgrim's and Sabie News. In 1910 the first issue of the Pilgrim’s and Sabie News was published, and continued until the mid 1940s. The printing office was originally a house built before 1900. A school operated from 1894 to 1917, with six teachers at one stage (including Harry COLES and Mrs. PATTERSON), and between 160 to 180 students. In 1913, Miss MCNALLY's class included:

• Allen MACKENZIE, the Post Master's son
• Donald MENZIES, the Chemist's son
• Violet CHARLTON, whose father worked at Driekop
• Christie MARKUS, later known as Oom Christie
• Frankie BERETTA
• Boris CHAITOW, the hairdresser's son
• James DOIG,
• two SHEPPARD sisters
• Susanna POTGIETER

J.H. DE BEER was a well-known pioneer. He built a number of houses in Pilgrim's Rest, including Rose Cottage. During the Anglo-Boer War he was involved in the Siege of Ladysmith. He owned a butchery and bakery.

R.W. RICHARDSON had the government contract to transport travellers from Graskop to Pilgrim's Rest, as well as mail deliveries from Zeederburg Coach Services.

Charles H. CHAITOW was the hairdresser and tobacconist, as well as the agent for Central News Agency and a book shop. Like most shop owners then, the family lived at the back of the shop. He died 05 July 1933, age 57.

The first White woman in the area was Mrs. Tom MCLACHLAN, who lived in a stone house at Mac Mac. She was already there in 1872, and helped many travellers stricken with fever. Mrs. DIETRICKS, wife of a German officer, arrived with her husband in 1873. He was the assistant to the Mining Commissioner. They had two daughters, including Elsa who married SMITHERS and wrote a book about her life in Pilgrim's Rest, March Hare.

Elizabeth Russel

Elsa recalled the story of Elizabeth RUSSEL who lived in a tent on the diggings and worked her own claim. There were two RUSSEL girls - Elizabeth (Bessie, born 29 May 1850 in London) and Annie - daughters of Mr. H.B. RUSSEL, a resident in Heidelberg and Pretoria, and a miller and merchant in the 1870s. The family came to South Africa in 1855, settling in Pietermaritzburg, where the father ran Boston Mills. The girls attended Cheltenham House School in Pinetown. After school, Elizabeth became a governess and later taught at Caversham. The family moved to Heidelburg, and Elizabeth ran a private school in Harrismith. Alfred (Tucker) was the girls' brother, whom Elizabeth followed to the diggings in defiance of her father. They pitched their tent next to the DIETRICK family, who were friends of their parents. Later, with no luck on their claims, Elizabeth set up a business making sausage rolls and ginger beer. Soon afterwards, her brother left, and she moved to another camp. Here she finally found rich pickings, and together with another brother, Harry, they did well. Elizabeth married one of her fellow diggers, the American William A.B. CAMERON. The wedding was at St Alban's Church in Pretoria on 12 December 1874 and was attended by President Thomas BURGERS, who proposed the toast to the couple. Soon afterwards, William was elected to represent the Lydenburg diggers in the Volksraad. In 1876, the couple visited America as representatives of the ZAR at an international exhibition in Philadelphia. After their return, the couple separated, and Elizabeth looked after their five children. William died in 1905. She died in May 1931 in Volksrust. Her grand-daughters included Mrs. D.W. BOSCH, and a great-grand-daughter, Mrs. Joan MARSH.

Mail Coach

In 1912 the second Zeederberg Coach robbery took place on Pilgrim's Hill. The highwayman was Tommy DENNISON. He had come to South Africa from Ireland as a Private during the Anglo-Boer War, as a bugler and dispatch rider for the Earl of Athlone. He was discharged after being wounded on active duty. Tommy moved to Pilgrim's Rest and found work as a barber but the business did not do well. Next, he employed Black women and started a laundry service, but he landed in heavy debt. On the day of the robbery, the coach was stopped by a masked rider on a grey horse that Tommy had recently bought from the Reverend Maurice PONSONBY. When Piet DU PLESSIS, the coach driver, was ordered to throw down the money boxes, one box fell and burst open scattering silver half crown and florins on the ground. Instead of gold sovereigns, like the 1899 robbery, he only found a case of silver coins in the coach. When he started to pay his debts with the stolen money, he was arrested and imprisoned for five years in Pretoria Central Prison. He returned to Pilgrim's Rest and worked as a cartage contractor for the mines. Later he opened the Highwayman's Garage.

Highwayman's Garage

North of Pilgrim's Rest, built in 1915 by Transvaal Gold Mining Estates, Alanglade was the residence of the mine manager until 1972 when the last mine was closed. The large and graceful double-storey is now a period house museum and furnished with items from the early 1900s.

Dredzen Shop Museum is a typical general dealer store of the period 1930 to 1950. The home and lifestyle of the post second World War years can be seen in the owner’s residence adjoining the shop. The Miners House Museum was built in 1913. Central Garage was built in 1926 as an agency for Chevrolet Motors. It also provided bus tours to the Kruger National Park, sold Pegasus petrol, rented vehicles and rendered a panel-beating service.

CITIES, TOWNS & VILLAGES - discover their history

St Francis Bay is situated halfway between Port Elizabeth and Knysna. The Portuguese navigator Diogo Pereira BOTELHO was the first European visitor in 1537, when sailed into the bay to get fresh water. In 1575, another Portuguese navigator, Manuel de Mesquita PERESTRELO, explored the coast. He reached a bay on St Francis day, and named it Cabo de Sao Francisco, after the patron saint of sailors. On 16 January 1690 the ship De Noord was stranded near Cape St Francis. It was returning to Table Bay when the ship hit a reef. None of the crew of 18 was lost at sea, but only four of them arrived back in Table Bay, having walked the distance.

In May 1752 Governor Rijk TULBAGH sent August Friedrich BEUTLER and a group of 71 men on an exploratory trip. They erected a beacon bearing the VOC emblem on a small island, long since disappeared. On his map appear the names Cromme Riviers Baay and Baay St Francificus. In 1765 the first Trekkers arrived and settled in the area. On 2 May 1785 the Pigot, homeward-bound from Madras with passengers and crew numbering over 100 persons, anchored in the bay where the crew recovered from scurvy. During the first British occupation of the Cape, Commissioner-General J.A. DE MIST went on a tour of of the colony. On his maps appear the names Kruisfontein near present-day Humansdorp and Welgelegen where today the thatched houses of St Francis Bay are situated.

The Cape St Francis lighthouse, a national monument, is at Seal Point and was completed in 1878. At 33 meters, it is the highest lighthouse built on the South African coast. For many years, it was one of the most remote on the South African coast and in the early years, the only way to reach it was by ox-wagon or on foot over the dunes. Seal Point being the third most southerly point in South Africa.

On 20 February 1929, the ship Cape Recife was wrecked on Cape St Francis, whilst enroute from Cape Town to Durban. Legend has it that two swans were released from their crate by the crew. They flew ashore and settled on the Kromme River. Their descendants can still be seen in the area.

The village of St Francis Bay was built on land bought in 1954 by Leighton HULETT, of the prominent Natal sugar cane family, who moved from Zululand with his wife, Anne, and children. Leighton was a WWII flying ace. They had seen an advertisement in the Farmers Weekly offering 273 morgen of fishing land along the coast. They arrived in an old ox-wagon. Leighton built a fishing camp with seven rondavels, a bathing block and a kitchen. In August 2007, Pam Golding Properties was asked to sell a cottage in Harley Street, said to be the first cottage built by Leighton in 1962. In 1956 fifty-one plots were laid out and was known as Cape St Francis. Leighton insisted on maintaining conformity of style in the buildings - thatch or black roofs and white walls. In 1960 the area was named Sea Vista. The village was proclaimed in 1965. In the early years St Francis Bay was remote, with gravel roads and 10 cattle grids to be crossed from Humansdorp. At times the causeways were impossible to cross with the river in flood and no electricity or telephones. In 1976 there were about 200 houses. On 7 May 1979, after a public referendum, the village was officially named St Francis Bay. Eskom power came in 1981 and by 1984 there were about 400 houses. St Francis Bay became a fully-fledged municipality in 1993 with Jean CHAPUT as the first Mayor. Around 50% of the village is constructed around man-made canals and waterways, giving it the nickname "Little Venice".

Leighton's next project was Marina Glades. He exchanged a house and a plot, acquiring 179 morgen with 2,8km of river frontage. The pumping and digging of the first canal started in 1967, creating the first marina in South Africa. Soon there was a small trading store, hotel, bottle store, and tennis club. In 1974 there were 161 houses in the village. A new development, known as Santereme and named after the town in which PERESTRELLO was born, saw a change in architectural style - from white walls and thatch to Mediterranean-style houses with terracotta-tiled roofs and earth tones for exterior walls. The HULETTs built a golf course as a private facility, that later became a golf club. An airfield was also laid out. In 1977 the Kromme River bridge was built.

The world-renown surfing waves known as Bruce' Beauties are in St. Francis Bay. In the early 1940s, a young American, Bruce Brown, arrived in the area with some friends to find the perfect wave. This search became the surfing classic film Endless Summer, which Bruce produced in 1961.

The area is also well-known for its unique and varied fynbos species. In 2002 a local former school teacher, Caryl LOGIE, came up with a plan to record the fynbos in the area. She used local school children - Michael JURIES, Carol FELIX and Deana CUPIDO - to collect, press and label fynbos. The children recorded the area and habitat in which each plant was found, and each plant was described in detail. Caryl moved to St Francis Bay in 1996. She was a teacher at Woodridge for 29 years where her husband Bart was headmaster. Bart has written two books on the Eastern Cape - Governors Travels and Travellers' Joy. Another local resident, artist Trish CRITCHLEY taught the children how to hold the plant and draw what they saw. They also learnt more about what previous generations used the plants for. Local people used to collect the berries of the waxberry. They would boil them and use the skimmed product for polishes and ointments. Betran MUNNICK was the first boy to start drawing and he was soon followed by Mercurius FREDERICKS, Llewellyn BAADJIES and Romano WALTERS. The children's hard work is on display at the St Francis Bay Heritage Centre in Harbour Road. The children attended Sea Vista Primary when the project started, but have now moved on to the Humansdorp Secondary School.

The Irma Booysen Flora Reserve is named after Irma Ina BOOYSEN (maiden name VON BELOW). Her husband was the original owner of the farm Ongegunde Vryheid. When the farm was developed into a township, Irma persuaded her husband to set aside a tract of land for the preservation of coastal fynbos. Irma is well-known for her botanical paintings of the many species of plants in the area.

She was born on 13 January 1920 in Middelburg, Cape. After attending schools in Durban and Cradock, she qualified as a nurse at the Johannesburg General Hospital. She married Dr. Edward Matson KERR, a neuro-surgeon. Irma took part-time art classes in the early 1950s. Her prefered medium was watercolours. Her favourite flower to paint was the Erica, and she later did the paintings for a book, Ericas in Southern Africa, published in November 1967 with Fay ANDERSON. The paintings received the Grenfell Gold Medal at the Royal Horticultural Society's Spring Show in London in 1968. While working on the book, Irma was living on a farm between Humansdorp and Plettenberg Bay. She was divorced in 1967. Irma later married John BOOYSEN and they settled in St. Francis Bay. Here she partnered up with a botanical student, Richard COWLING, who was doing a doctorate on the area's fynbos. She provided the drawings. Dr. COWLING moved to Australia and by December 1983 Irma had completed 97 sketches for their planned book. She died on 21 January 1984.

Gustav VON BELOW married Frederika Magdalena Catharina KUHN in Germany. He died on 30 March 1883 at the age of 52 in Middelburg, Cape.
b1. Gustave August born 22 Sept 1861, died 01 Mar 1942, married Martha Magdalena DE BUYS (born 09 Jan 1864, died 20 Dec 1947, Death Notice MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/14570 ref. 24/48)
b2. Frederika Anna Carolina, married Gerhardus Johannes PRYRA (died 1921, Death Notice MHG P3150)
b3. Franz born 12 Jul 1866, died 01 Sept 1923 in Middelburg, married Anna Josina Robberdina MORGENROOD (Death Notice MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/328 ref. 1088)
c1. Magdalena Francina
c2. Gustav
c3. Anna Josina Roberdina
b4. Herman Wilhelm, fought in the German Corps in the ABW on the Boer side
b5. Rosa Lazetta

Sources:
Discovering Southern Africa; by T.V. Bulpin; Muizenberg, 2001.
Botanical Exploration of Southern Africa: An Illustrated History of Early Botanical Literature on the Cape Flora, Biographical Accounts of the Leading Plant Collectors and their Activities in Southern Africa from the days of the East India Company until modern times; by Mary G. Gunn and L.E. Codd; A.A. Balkerna, Cape Town, 1981.
South African Genealogies, Vol. 1; by J.A. Heese and R.T.J. Lombard, HSRC, Pretoria, 1986.