Hendrik Petrus Smit (P55087) was my Great, Great Grandfather. Hendrik was first married to Maria Susanna Elizabeth Botha who died 13/9/1876, he then married my Great, Great Grandmother Catherine Dorothy Ollsson (nee Higgins).  The marriage took place in the Nederduits Gereformede Kerk, Burgersdorp on 10/4/1878.

Hendrik and Susanna Elizabeth had a number of children, I see you only have the one Hendrik (Henry) Petrus born in 1864 at Queenstown. The other siblings were:

Jacobus Petrus Johannes born 09/1854 and married 12/3/1879 Anna Catharina Schoombee born 8/1853 and died 27/11/1926.

David Hercules born 5/7/1856 and died 25/4/1934 – he married 7/10/1878 Maria Magdalena Johanna du Preez, born 08/1859 and died 3/1/1898, he then married on 27/11/1902 Jacoba Cornelius Pelser.

Philippina Elizabeth born 1/1/1859 and died 20/5/1927. She married on 29/1/1877 a Coert Grobbelaar born 5/1850 and died 6/9/1940.

Christoffel Theunis Jacobus born 22/9/1867 and died on 26/2/1900 – he was killed in action at Colenso. He was part of the Boksburg Commando.

Stefanus Johannes born 5/1870 and died 9/11/1916. He married on 3/10/1893 a Wilhelmina Johannes Schoombee born 12/1865 and died 31/5/1946

Aletta Sophia born 13/1/1874. She married 26/8/1891 a Johannes Jacobus Albertse born 19/11/1869 and died 14/3/1931. She divorced JJA and remarried 12/1/1914 a Albert Goodwin Gough.

My Great Great Grandparents had my Great Grandmother Catharina Maria Smit on 20/2/1882 (there could have been another three boys as my Great Great Grandmothers death records mention 4 boys – there was a son born from her first marriage – I am yet to establish where the other three fit in, I suspect they were still born), she was baptised in the Nederduits Gereformede Kerk, Burgersdorp 3/3/1882 (Record 35). She married my Great Grandfather William Edward Dredge (born 9/6/1879 – died 6/7/1968) on 2/4/1903 at the Methodist Church, Dordrecht (Record 101). Catharina died 18/2/1950 at East London. They had three children:

William Edward Theodore

Francis Burton

Monica Rosedene

Hendrik Petrus died on 17/12/1891 at Burgersdorp whilst Catherine Dorothy Ollsson Smit died at Kroonstad on 22/11/1907.

I have a photo of both my Great Great Grandparents and my Great Grandparents – I was privileged enough to have met my Great Grandfather and can remember him. Also have photos of their graves – Hendrik Petrus is buried in the same plot as my Great Great Grandmothers first husband and his wife as well as a daughter she had with him. One of Catharine Dorothy’s daughters from her first marriage was one of the first women to go to Rhodesia and her daughter was the first girl child to be born in Salisbury.

If you need any further information please let me know as I have done extensive research taking my paternal line back to England two generations before my forefather came out as an 1820 settler and each of the women who married into the family have been traced back to at least their families arrival in South Africa. I have extracted a number of the Smit baptismal records to validate information.

Hendrik Petrus Smit as a young man

Hendrik Petrus in later life

My Great Great Grandmother Catherine Dorothy Higgins who married John Ollsson and then Hendrik Petrus Smit

Their daughter on her wedding day to my Great Grandfather (Catharina Maria Smit and William Edward Dredge).

I then have a picture of Hendrik Petrus Smit’s youngest daughter from his first marriage Aletta Sophia Smit. My Great Great Grandmother must have brought her up almost as her own daughter – not sure if there are any others, this is the only one marked, I do know there were ones of some of the children born of the first marriage to Ollsson as they are marked with Campbell, which was the eldest daughters married surname but unfortunately don’t know how they all fit in. The one who went up to Rhodesia married a Von Hirschberg and is linked to the SA ambassador to Japan and then the United Nations and South Africa’s representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (not sure if it was a grandson or a nephew – still trying to work that one out due to the same names being used by different legs) – one of their sons was also something to do with the Belgium Embassy in Rhodesia. He matriculated from Graeme College in Grahamstown in 1915, not sure how he gets involved with Belgium given Von Hirschberg was German.

This is Hendrik Petrus Smit’s grave in Burgersdorp. Next to his tombstone is the tombstone of Sophia Wilhelmina Ollsson, my Great Great Grandmother’s first husband’s (John Ollsson – he was a master mason from Stockholm Sweden) first wife and next to that is her first husband’s tombstone as well as their baby daughter who died exactly one year old (Josephine Annie Ollsson B 18/11/1870 who died 18/11/1871).

The following is all that is left of Catherine Dorothy Ollsson Smit’s grave in Kroonstad:

I think Hendrik’s dad had something to do with the Nederduits Gereformede Kerk as I have found minutes to their first meeting that mentions him.

Then when I was in Bloemfontein earlier last year I went to the War Museum and got a picture of Christoffel’s name on the war memorial:

My Gran is distantly related to Hendrik’s first wife as her Grandmother was a Botha – her line came off of Rudolph Phillipus’s line whilst Maria Sussanna came off of his brother Christoffel’s line whilst Louis Botha came from their brother Philip Rudolph’s line. Am busy trying to wade through this family tree to get my lineage right – it is quite a task as each generation and each line took on the same family names so ensuring you have the correct one in the right place is something. It would appear my line moved with the Voortrekkers to Winberg. Not sure how she got to know my Great Great Grandfather Batchelor who was in the military at Fort Beaufort.

If there is anything else you may want let me know as I have done extensive research into all the families in my family line so have a large repository of info that includes baptismal, marriage and death records to validate the info. I do have my Great Grandmother’s original baptismal record and probably her marriage certificate, fortunately my Great Aunt, who looked a lot like her grandfather Smit kept her mother’s papers and photos and gave them to my dad who then passed them on to me.