John Douglas of
South Africa
Which John Douglas, married to Susannah Foord at George, South
Africa, on 12 November 1820?
According to SAG (presumably
from the work by De Villiers and Pama) John Douglas died on 26
October 1830 at the age of 32 years and 10 days. This implies that
he was born on 16 October 1798 and not on 16 October 1790 as is
recorder in SAG. The fact that the date of death, as well as his age
is recorded, make this look like information from a Death Notice. So
far I have been unable to locate this particular Death Notice.
There is a Death Notice for another John Douglas, who was born
in Murrayshire, Scotland in 1799 and who died in Grahamstown, South
Africa on 12 July 1859. According to the Death Notice this John
Douglas died as a bachelor and had no children.
Then there
was a third John Douglas, born in 1816, who arrived in Natal as a
member of the Natal Settlers in December 1838 (from his own papers)
and who died near Pietermaritzburg on 24 April 1849. He was married
to Augusta Rebecca Mandy on 28 January 1847.
It is recorded
that a John Douglas arrived as a member of the Moodie Settlers in
1817. Captain Moodie recorded the home address (parents' address) as
Byers Close, High Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, and his age as 18
years. A simple calculation indicates that he could have been born
in either 1798 or 1799 to be 18 years old when the Moodie Settlers
arrived in Cape Town in the second half of 1817. These settlers
settled in the Swellendam and George districts of South Africa.
It is also recorded that a John Douglas arrived as a member of
the Tait Settlers (forerunners of the 1820 British Settlers), in
either 1818 or 1820. Peter Tait brought two small parties of
settlers from Britain to South Africa, the first in 1818 and the
second in 1820. These Settlers settled in the District of George,
South Africa. I do not know with which of the two parties John
Douglas arrived.
Was it the Moodie Settler or the Tait
Settler that got married to Susan Ford? John Douglas, the Natal
Settler, would appear to be out of the equation. Of the remaining
two, one married Susan Ford and the other died as a bachelor in
Grahamstown. One originates from Edinburgh, Scotland (the Moodie
Settler) and the other from Murrayshire, Scotland (the Bachelor).
It appears as if Peter Philip, in his book, British
Residents at the Cape 1759 - 1819, had the above mentioned three
Douglasses mixed up when he recorded that John Douglas, Moodie
Settler, got married to Susan Ford on 4 August 1822, and that he was
sent to Maritzburg as a prisoner in 1842 (The Marriage Register
entry for Susan Douglas shows the correct date is 12 November 1820,
George).
Apparently a John Douglas and a Susannah Ford
travelled on the same ship to South Africa as members of the Tait
group of Settlers, but this is not proof that it was these two that
got married in George in 1820. Susan's Death Notice shows she was
sixty years old when she died in 1870. This implies that she was
born in 1810 and was 10 years old when she and John Douglas got
married! Nothing seems to be clear and correct in this saga. Her
Death Notice lists the same children as SAG, and gives her place of
birth as Scotland.
From research by Ferdie Jansen
Note:
Murrayshire is presumably Morayshire
In 1819 another
Scotch gentleman, Mr. Peter Tait, endeavoured to follow Mr.
Moodie's plan of introducing settlers ; but he was not so
fortunate, as it was not till April, 1820, that he sent
out sixteen men, three women, and six children : viz.,
Andrew Marshall, Robert Robson, Edward Wake, George Harvey,
Henry Aitchison, Thomas Hill, John Douglas,
James Donaldson, James Stevenson, James Grier, Joseph
McDougall, James Foord, George Ogilvie, Isaac Tait, his wife
and four children, William Tait (aged fourteen yearsj,
William Foord, his wife and two children, and Margaret
Harvey |
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
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