van Pletzens

Today I was going through the many comments left by van Pletzen family members. I think that family has received the most interest on this little blog, and the family is much bigger and more widespread than I imagined.

In browsing through the comments and trying to tie family members together, one thing became very clear very quickly–I need more than names. If you are a van Pletzen, send me your info–parents’ names, grandparents’ names, aunts, uncles–anything you can think of. And most importantly, please include any dates and places you know–birth dates and places, death dates and places. The more information the better!

Hopefully with more information, I’ll be able to tie some of you into the van Pletzen Saga!

Conway – Bayman finds

Several months ago I discovered a couple of websites that focus on South African genealogy: Ancestry24 and Ancestor.co.za. Ancestry24 is a subscription service with transcriptions of original records or compilations–including parish baptism, marriage and burial records, voter registration lists and court records. Some transcriptions can be viewed without a subscription. Ancestor.co.za has a limited collection (the South Africa Death Records index, South African Newspaper Classifieds from 2007 and South African Settler Families Genealogy), but they supply digital images of original records on a pay-per-view basis (US$7.00 or 50 ZAR per record). It can take several weeks to receive the digital image, but the wait is worth it–and for people like me, it helps to control costs!

Using these two sites, I’ve made some serious headway on our Conway – Bayman lines–my father-in-law’s great-grandmother’s family. It started when I found Eliza Conway Bayman listed in the Death Records index at Ancestor.co.za. When I finally received the image, I was thrilled to see not just her death date and age, but also her birthplace (Mossel Bay), husband’s name (James William Bayman), all of her children and her parents’ names (Richard and Ann Conway)!

Using this new information, I found the death record for her husband, James William Bayman, on Ancester.co.za. Not only did it list the usual, but I learned that he was born in London, England, and had a previous wife (Catherine Margareta Styl) and children. And again, it gave the names of his parents (James William and Sarah Davis Bayman).

I have taken this information and tried to find more information on James William Bayman in England records on Ancestry.com, but haven’t had much luck yet. However, yesterday I found baptismal records on Ancestry24 for several of James’ children with both wives. (HINT: when looking at baptism and marriage records, pay attention to the witnesses. Many times they are relatives and can contain missing information.)

Seeking van Pletzen/van Pletsen descendants

In preparing for our trip to South Africa next month, Blane and I came across an old history of his family written in Afrikaans titled “Die Van Pletsen Saga” by Helen Lewald (nee van Pletsen). For several years he had been meaning to translate it, and finally did a few months ago to post on his blog.

This weekend I decided it would be kind of neat to find as many descendants of the original van Pletsen in South Africa (the “old immigrant”) Carl Johannes von Plessen. According to “Die Van Pletsen Saga”, he was born in East Prussia in 1795, fled the country for some reason and settled in the Brabant region of Belgium where he fought (literally) alongside Napolean. Then, for unknown reasons, he stowed away on a ship to South Africa. He was almost dead by the time the ship arrived, but luckily survived long enough to marry, have a large family, settle a farm in South Africa, and die an old man in 1888 in Rouxville, South Africa.

As far as I can tell, most descendants are still in South Africa, although I’m sure there are those who have emigrated to other parts of the world. The history of the authors line can be found both on my blog and my partner Blane’s blog. Blane has both the original Afrikaans as well as the English translation. I only posted the English translation as I don’t understand Afrikaans. (Blane has had comments posted in Afrikaans on his blog, and I’d rather not simply due to my current lack of understanding–however, I do hope to learn that language one day!)

Blane’s line of ancestry to the “old immigrant” is posted on a public family tree at Ancestry.com.