Family Histories Archives - Page 5 of 10

Schoenies: A Very Special Place

By Blaine McCleland in McClelands 4 April 2017 3 Comments

Mom hated Schoenies, or Schoenmakerskop, to give it its full name. Maybe that’s a bit strong, but she was bored, bored, bored with the place. Dad was seldom adventurous and since he grew up there in the early 1900s, he kept returning to it like a homesick baby desperately trying to return to the womb. Saturday afternoon, summer and winter, would invariably find us there. Maybe Mom had a spirit of adventure after all. I, however and I think my siblings, loved the place. We kids knew that place like our own backyard as we explored every little bit of it – multiple times.

Main picture: Main gully at Schoenies showing the two islands at mid tide and how the obliquely running rocks form a natural breakwater

The Willows of Yore Recalled

By Blaine McCleland in McClelands 28 March 2017 3 Comments

As a child The Willows represented our Easter Home away from home. This blog chronicles what it was like as a child to spend our Easter Holidays there during the 1960s.

Main picture: The Willows today with its revamped bungaloes

Reverend Francis McCleland: A Life in Port Elizabeth 1825 – 1853

By Dean McCleland in McClelands, Port Elizabeth of Yore 9 January 2017 3 Comments

At best the Irish 1820 Settlers in Clanwilliam eked out a precarious existence. The settlement could not have been called a resounding success either by the settlers generally or the McCleland household in particular. After a number of unseemly quarrels, Francis was granted a transfer to the newly created hamlet of Port Elizabeth which was meant to have been their original disembarkation point.

It was here that Francis and Elizabeth would spend the rest of their lives. This chronicles the lives of my great-great-grandparents in Port Elizabeth.

Main picture: Castle Hill in 1851 painted by engineer Henry Fancourt White of White’s Road fame. Number 7 Castle Hill is the commodious double storey house on the right on top of the hill

Reverend Francis McCleland per Theal’s “Records of the Cape Colony”

By Dean McCleland in McClelands 31 December 2016 0 Comment

George McCall Theal was the most prolific and influential South African historian, archivist and genealogist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In his epic compendium Records of the Cape Colony, he records all the correspondence by and to the Colonial Office in Cape Town for the period 1793 to 1827. As the last seven years coincide with the arrival of the original batch of Settlers, this series of 35 books contains a rich vein of data to be mined.

Before even landing in Saldanha Bay, Francis McCleland had already made a name for himself as a heavy drinker and troublesome priest. As well, William Parker – the Party Leader – and Francis McCleland were a volatile mix, ever on the brink of ignition.

For these reasons, the McCleland name is often fairly and sometimes unfairly denigrated in these pages. For ease of reference, I have extracted all references to the irascible Irish clergyman however oblique.

Main picture: George McCall Theal

Rev Francis McCleland: An Interlude in Clanwilliam 1820 – 1825

By Dean McCleland in McClelands 29 December 2016 1 Comment

This, the fifth episode in the life of the Reverend Francis McCleland, deals with his arrival in Cape Town in early May 1820 and their disappointment at being redirected to settle in Clanwilliam instead of the Eastern Border.

Not to put too fine a point on it but the five years spent at Clanwilliam were character forming with the man in the cassock not always cutting a fine figure. Casting a long shadow over this Party was the leader himself. Self-serving, megalomaniac and irascible, William Parker was to add to their woes.

Beset by troubles from every quarter, acrimony and dissension descended on this disparate party.

Main picture: A Settler House in Clanwilliam

Captain Francis William Henry McCleland

By Dean McCleland in McClelands 9 December 2016 0 Comment

Of the ten children that the Reverend Francis McCleland sired over a period of 19 years from 1821 to 1839, four were sons of which two died in infancy. Spare a thought for his wife, Elizabeth. In effect this fact meant that Elizabeth was pregnant every second year of their marriage. Of these surviving sons, Francis William Henry McCleland was the eldest son. Born on 17^th October 1827, Francis William was arguably to become the most successful of the Rev. Francis’ six surviving children.

It is through Francis William that the majority of the McCleland family in South Africa can trace their descent and why the Beckley and McCleland clans in South Africa will forever be inextricably linked. The betrothal of three of Francis William’s sons to three Beckley girls would be that chain.

This is the life story of my great grandfather.

Main picture: Francis William Henry McCleland

Cecil McCleland: Memories of Meriel Burman nee McCleland

By Dean McCleland in McClelands 2 December 2016 0 Comment

Spare a thought for an extremely young girl, her parents first separated and then at the tender age of 10, her father dies. Imagine the sense of loss, the perpetual sense of emptiness. This is the personal and touching story of Meriel [Merry] Burman as she recalls her father, Cecil McCleland and recounts her life growing up almost cheek-by-jowl with other McCleland’s in Newton Park but never knowing them. Meriel is the correct spelling of Merry’s name as I have gently been scolded.

This is Meriel’s story

Main picture: Cecil & Dorothy McCleland in 1939. A serene idyllic scene of family happiness with Cecil fishing & Dorothy stroking the family dog

A Letter by a Grandmother to her Granddaughter on her Engagement

By Dean McCleland in McClelands 30 November 2016 0 Comment

In March 1926, the 19 year old Kathleen Mary McCleland took the momentous step of getting engaged. No one understood what attracted Kathleen to the 33 year old George Wood but whatever it was, she was smitten.

To congratulate her and offer some sound words of advice, her grandmother, Mrs Mary Ann Beckley, sent her this letter. Having been born in Ludlow, Shropshire, England on the 20th December 1847, Granny Mary was 79 years old.

Main picture: Top L-R Thelma, Mr Clements, Daisy Bottom L-R Kathleen, Maureen & Clifford

Bryce Beckley McCleland – A Second Chance at Life

By Dean McCleland in McClelands 30 November 2016 0 Comment

Bryce was the proverbial laat lammertjie. By being born on the 24^th August 1922, meant that he was the youngest of the six McCleland children of Harry andwhile Daisy McCleland of Schoenmakerskop. In what can only be described as a tumultuous few years, first his elder brother Francis accidently shot himself during an attempted break-in at his parents Tea Room, then at the age of 8 his father succumbed to Black Water Fever which he had contracted fighting in German East Africa.

Main picture: Bryce and Auret McCleland – most probably taken at their 40^th wedding anniversary in 1986 when Auret was 65 yrs old – Bryce was 68.

Francis McCleland: A Life taken too Young

By Dean McCleland in McClelands 29 November 2016 0 Comment

Francis Joseph Walker McCleland, born on 19^th September 1909, was the eldest son of Harry & Daisy McCleland of Schoenmakerskop. His life was tragically cut short on the 11^th August 1930 when he became the first but certainly not the last person to be murdered at Schoenmakerskop.

Main Picture: Francis Joseph Walker McCleland

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