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Feb. 16th, 2011 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwynDad's been doing research into his great grandfather for some time now, as he has an interest in genealogy and family history. Just on general principle, basically. I've been helping him where I can with the IT side of the research- finding databases, converting files to readable format, etc.- and some of you guys on my friendslist know a bit about the whole thing because I've asked you for specific assistance. I've come to the conclusion, based on Great-Grandpa's track record, that the man was not an actual human being but was instead some kind of Young Indiana Jones Chronicles character who happened to wander into the real world. He:
- ran away from home at the age of five
- was retrieved and put into a Blue Coat School, although we don't know which one, to learn a trade
- ran away again at age thirteen because he did not particularly want to be apprenticed to a steamfitter
- wound up in Australia somewhere along the way, having worked his passage as a steamfitter; we don't know what he did there but we think it may have been mining
- may have worked as a policeman in Australia, too; we have court statements from him saying he was an ex-policeman, we just don't know where
- picked up enough musical skills somewhere along the way to be documented as a bandleader (we have pictures) and was able to play every instrument in the band himself
- worked his passage to South Africa
- served in the First World War as a member of the South African Mounted Rifles
- worked in the gold mines near Boksburg, South Africa
- was part of the Rand Rebellion, a revolt by white mine workers against white mine owners over the fact that the owners planned to replace them all with black workers who would cost much, much less
- was elected leader of the Boksburg Commando by a 497-to-3 vote of the local miners
- was charged with high treason against the Crown of England for his role in the Rebellion
- defended himself successfully against said charge
- left the country and (we think) joined the merchant marine
- jumped ship and entered the US illegally through Mexico
- got married for the second time; we're not entirely sure if he ever actually gave his South African wife the divorce she asked him for
- took a job teaching disabled children to repair and assemble radios
- died of an unspecified lung disease that was not black lung (we think it was probably silicosis) at the age of thirty-two, while in transit between two hospitals, and
- was apparently buried at the expense of a South African mining company, although we don't have the papers to prove that, just Great-Grandma's word for it.
Seriously. Pretty sure he was a Young Indiana Jones character.
- ran away from home at the age of five
- was retrieved and put into a Blue Coat School, although we don't know which one, to learn a trade
- ran away again at age thirteen because he did not particularly want to be apprenticed to a steamfitter
- wound up in Australia somewhere along the way, having worked his passage as a steamfitter; we don't know what he did there but we think it may have been mining
- may have worked as a policeman in Australia, too; we have court statements from him saying he was an ex-policeman, we just don't know where
- picked up enough musical skills somewhere along the way to be documented as a bandleader (we have pictures) and was able to play every instrument in the band himself
- worked his passage to South Africa
- served in the First World War as a member of the South African Mounted Rifles
- worked in the gold mines near Boksburg, South Africa
- was part of the Rand Rebellion, a revolt by white mine workers against white mine owners over the fact that the owners planned to replace them all with black workers who would cost much, much less
- was elected leader of the Boksburg Commando by a 497-to-3 vote of the local miners
- was charged with high treason against the Crown of England for his role in the Rebellion
- defended himself successfully against said charge
- left the country and (we think) joined the merchant marine
- jumped ship and entered the US illegally through Mexico
- got married for the second time; we're not entirely sure if he ever actually gave his South African wife the divorce she asked him for
- took a job teaching disabled children to repair and assemble radios
- died of an unspecified lung disease that was not black lung (we think it was probably silicosis) at the age of thirty-two, while in transit between two hospitals, and
- was apparently buried at the expense of a South African mining company, although we don't have the papers to prove that, just Great-Grandma's word for it.
Seriously. Pretty sure he was a Young Indiana Jones character.
