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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.
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no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 04:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 04:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 05:00 pm (UTC)(Believe me, I've already given thanks many times for the fact that it was not John. If it had been John Carter of Boksburg I would've had to hide under the bed until my eyelid stopped twitching.)
no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 06:06 pm (UTC)At 32?
BRB, need to go save Earth from an asteroid to get in the same ballpark as this dude in terms of interesting life.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 06:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 07:29 pm (UTC)Well, I guess it still has a certain ring to it.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 07:33 pm (UTC)(On the other side of the family the closest we get to anything like this is my mom's great-grandfather, who died at 94. But he died by jumping out a second story window. Of a brothel. In Italy. To escape the police. After a life that included emigrating from Italy to the States, outliving a wife, alienating his daughter by marrying a woman who was (daughter's age + 2 years) old, outliving the daughter, outliving the second wife, and going back to Italy. We're pretty sure he must've owned the brothel because no Italian policeman would've arrested a man his age for just being a client.)
no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 07:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 08:25 pm (UTC)(He did have an extremely pulpy line according to my father, who's read most of the testimony by now. The Prime Minister of South Africa at the time was Jan Smuts. Part of the reason Smuts lost his position was because of the level of force he authorized against the miners. Great-Grandpa had been on his general staff back during the First World War... and apparently said in court that "If I'd known what kind of man Smuts was going to turn out to be, I would've shot him right then and there.")
no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 08:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 08:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 09:05 pm (UTC)Here from the Cafe
Date: 2011-02-16 09:17 pm (UTC)Re: Here from the Cafe
Date: 2011-02-16 11:44 pm (UTC)... also I can't help but notice that on your interests page you've got a lot of South Polar explorer stuff, which has always been an area of interest for me as well. D'you mind if I put you on my friendslist?
no subject
Date: 2011-02-17 12:01 am (UTC)omg your icon XD XD XD XD XD
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Date: 2011-02-17 12:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-17 01:23 am (UTC)I wonder if your g-grandpa was at all affected by Teddy Evans' adventures in Bechuanaland in 1933. Crazy times! A long way from Johannesburg, but, well, the interconnectedness of all things, etc. He sounds like quite a character!
no subject
Date: 2011-02-17 01:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-17 03:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-17 05:56 am (UTC)