The Wedderburns - 1820 Settlers

Christopher Wedderburn born 12.2.1772 at Lindal, Lancs., England, was descended from a branch of the ancient Scottish Border family of Wedderburn. For more than two centuries the motto on the family arms has been "Non Degener" - not degenerate, and the ruling passion in leading members of the family has been to maintain the Wedderburn prestige. Christopher is described as being a square-built man of good proportions and of medium height ,slightly bald with iron-grey hair. He married at Liverpool,25.8.1799, Ann Quail, daughter of John and Ann Quail of Isle of Man and Liverpool, who is described as having a charming personality and a sweet and kindly temperament, a rosy complexion, dark brown hair, and slightly aquiline nose. In Manchester where Christopher and Ann*s five children were born and attended school, he had a Cotton Manufacturing and Tailoring business at No. 70 Liverpool St., and was a man of means. He sold the business owing to the depression prevailing in England at that time, and to his indifferent health, and decided to emigrate to South Africa with the British Settlers of 1820 - sailing in the ship "Stenor" with George Smith's party. Owing to dissatisfaction of the party with Smith's leadership, upon arrival at Algoa Bay they petitioned Sir Rufane Donkin to supersede George Smith and appoint Christopher Wedderburn as head of the party. This was agreed to and thereafter responsibility for supervising the arrangements for the trek inland to the Albany Settlement rested upon him and the trek was accomplished without hitch.  One hundred acres of land was allotted to Christopher at Green Fountain, near the Kieinmonde River beyond what is now Port Alfred, but at a later date he acquired more land from neighbouring settlers who sold out. They farmed there for 19 years experiencing many ups and downs in the first years, the greatest hardships suffered were in the 1835 and 1846 Kaffir wars when in each war their home was burned to the ground, crops destroyed and stock stolen by the Kaffirs, and they barely escaped with their lives. However, with the grit, endurance, hard work and faith in God which characterised this family, they rebuilt their home and with stock recaptured from the enemy re-established themselves again, and prospered. In 1839 Christopher purchased 2300 morgen of land near Salem for £500 and named it “LINDALE” after his birthplace. In partnership with his younger son George, Lindale became a well developed estate and Christopher a leading farmer in the Bathurst district, well known for his dairy products and as a breeder of Afrikander cattle, and respected for his honour and integrity. He died 18.7.1848 and was buried in Salem Cemetery. His wife died 14.7.1856 and was buried beside her husband.

THE STAR, JOHANNESBURG Saturday, April 22, 1950 Wedderburn, the town in Australia where there has been a gold rush, was named after William Wedderburn, son of one of the 1820 Settlers who settled near Salem in the Eastern Province and suffered considerable loss in the Kaffir Wars between 1835 and 1846. William fought in these wars and then went to Australia where he joined the Goldfields Mounted Police. On a survey expedition to the interior a township site was named after Wedderburn.   With the restlessness of youth, and little dreaming of the fortune beneath his feet which was not discovered for a century, Wm. Wedderburn returned to Grahamstown, married and raised a family of seven sons and three daughters. His last surviving son, George Benjamin, died in Johannesburg last year at the age of 85, and his son, Mr. Graham Wedderburn, of Berea, has told me this story.

William Wedderburn (2) born 1830 at Grahamstown, eldest son of William Wedderburn (1)  and grandson of Christopher. Fought in Kaffir wars of 1835 and 1846. Went to Australia in 1852 where he served in the Gold Mounted Police and when on a survey expedition to the  interior a township about 140 miles N.W. of Melbourne was named after Wedderburn. He returned to South Africa 1854 and married Miriam Whiting of Moulton Northampton, England. They had 10 children. Their daughter Frances Miriam was very beautiful and known as the "Rose of Grahamstown". She married three times but had no children of her own so adopted 8 children, all of whom turned out well.

	William Wedderburn (1) born 1800 at Manchester, eldest son of Christopher and Ann Wedderburn, being 19 years of age when he arrived in South Africa with his parents, was a Settler in his own right and was allotted l00 acres of land at Green Fountains next to his father's allotment. About 1826 he sold his farm to his father and opened a business in Grahamstown known as "Wedderburn's Emporium" which he conducted for many years with great success. About 1827 William married Martha Patrick daughter of Benjamin and Mary Patrick of Peterborough, Leicester, England, 1820 Settlers, and they had three sons and two daughters. A. man of exemplary character and greatly respected. William represented the City of Grahamstown on the Board of Commissioners before the introduction of the City Council in 1862. He died in 1869 and was buried in the old Wesleyan Cemetery Grahamstown.
	John Wedderburn born 1832 at Grahamstown, second son of William Wedderburn (1) and grandson of Christopher, married Elizabeth Short (nee Croft) widow of Frederick Short who was killed in 1851 (During the Kaffir war of 1850/53), youngest daughter of Charles and Mary Croft, 1820 Settlers. They had three daughters one of whom, Edith (Mrs Bowes) sang beautifully and was known far and wide as the "Grahamstown Nightingale”. John had a fine tenor voice and was a great churchman and Lay Preacher. There is a plaque to his memory in Commemoration Church, Grahamstown. He became famous throughout South Africa as a wagon maker and coach builder and respected for his unswerving honesty in business and in his work. Two of his great friends were the writer/poets Matthew Arnold and Kingsley Fairbridge. COPY OF INVOICE
	Christopher Wedderburn born 1834 at Grahamstown, third son of William Wedderburn (1) and grandson of Christopher (1772). He was a builder and helped to enlarge the house on Lindale after the 1850/53 war and build the dairy storeroom. Christopher married Julia Willmore and having no children they adopted a son whom they named George, who proved to be a good son to them. Christopher farmed at Tarkastad, died there and was buried there.
	George Wedderburn, born 1810 Manchester, second son of Christopher and Ann Wedderburn Came to South Africa with his parents at the age of 10. He grew up on Green Fountains and farmed with his father. When Lindale was purchased George was taken into partnership and the farm registered at the Surveyor General's Office, Cape Town 20.9.1839 in both Christopher and George's names, and he became the sole owner upon the death of his father in 1848. George married 2.11.1841 Mary Croft elder daughter of Charles Thomas and Mary Croft (nee Kancock) 1820 settlers, and had 1 son and 4 daughters. From 1834 onwards George was continuously active in protecting the home and stock from marauding Kaffirs and after the 1846 war, in which he served, he was mentioned for conspicuous bravery. He  was  a  very energetic  and progressive  farmer, a  non-smoker, and respected as a Christian and a man of integrity. He was fatally wounded on January 6th 1861 during the 8th Kafir war 1860/53 and died nine months later on 16th September at the home of his brother William in New St., Grahamstown, and buried in the Wesleyan Cemetery. George's widow continued farming at Lindale assisted by her only son James Hamilton Wedderburn, and for the next 10 years they progressed and prospered, but upon her marriage to Philp Amm widower 20.3.1861 Lindale passed into the hands of James’s step-father, in spite of the fact that James was the rightful heir, and has remained in the Amm family to this time. Mary Wedderburn died 2.3.1873 and was buried beside her first husband George.
	James Hamilton Wedderburn only son of George and Mary Wedderburn, was born at Lindale near Salem Bathurst Dist., 14.8.1843. He was a well-built man of good proportions about 5ft.lO ins in height, fair-haired and fresh-complexioned and had fine sea-blue eyes and the slightly aquiline nose inherited from his grandmother Ann Wedderburn. He had a fine tenor voice. James was a noted marksman, horseman and athlete and was one of the famous Salem VIII who won the Government Cup in 1879 - open to the whole of the Cape Colony. He assisted his mother on Lindale until she remarried on 20.3.1861 Philip Amm, widower, when, owing to differences with his step-father, James then 18 years of age left Lindale and never returned to take possession of the farm that was rightfully his as son and heir of his father. James was allowed to take as his inheritance a wagon and span of oxen, and had 12 cows allotted to him which were to remain on Lindale until he became established on another farm. He then engaged in transport riding up country to the diamond diggings newly discovered which proved very profitable. Subsequently James acquired the farm Spring Valley and on 15.8.1865 at the age of 22 he married his step-sister Charlotte Gush Amm aged 18 years, daughter of Philip Amm and Mary Hannah (nee Gush) and granddaughter of Richard Gush the "Hero of Salem”. Charlotte proved such a devoted and loving wife throughout their 65 years of married life that James felt he had been more than compensated for the loss of Lindale. They had a large family of which 2 sons and 5 daughters reached maturity. They resided at Spring Valley until 1869 during which time their two sons were born, then moved to Mount Pleasant near Salem where farming and transport riding was continued.   In 1870, together with Messrs Henry Hill, H.J. Cyrus and Thos. Hill, James, Charlotte and family trekked to the diamond diggings at Klip Drift, later known as Barkley West, but this venture proved a failure as the finds of diamonds were small and sickness forced them to return to Mount Pleasant where James resumed transport riding. In 1871 he bought a 100 morgen allotment in Trotter's Valley and named it "Salem Park" where they lived in comfort and prosperity for 10 years and he continued to ride transport until 1876. In the early 1880s they settled in the Maclear district and later moved to Kimberley, lured there by reports of the fabulous wealth which could be theirs for the finding, but not finding this wealth, they moved on to Potchefstroom where they only stayed for a short period, and finally settled in Johannesburg where they resided until their deaths - James on 20th January 1929 and Charlotte, two years later on 18th March i931. They were a grand Christian couple and an example to their children and grandchildren who loved them dearly, All members of the family were musical and sang and played the piano or organ with equal facility, were regular church-goers, Sunday school teachers, and choir members of the Wesleyan Methodist church.
	George Richard Wedderburn. EIdest son of James Hamilton and Charlotte Gush Wedderburn born 4.6.1866 at "Cannon House" Beaufort St, Grahamstown , formerly the home of his Greatgrandfather Charles Thomas Croft but at that time occupied by Mrs. Clarissa Hill, eldest daughter of Charles Croft by Elizabeth, the wife who died just prior to his departure for S. Africa. George attended school at Mr. Samuel B.Shaw's school in Salem. At the age of 19 George , who was a fluent linguist in any of the Bantu languages, found himself in charge of a trading store in the Transkei, and later went transport riding. When he was 23 he rode on horseback from Maclear to Kimberley with ail his worldly belongings in his saddlebag, and arriving there found employment with E.W. Tarry & Co. Being a staunch Wesleyan he linked up with the old Wesley Church and joined the choir. In the same choir was Annie Charlotte Alexander, youngest daughter of John Gysbert  and  Elsie Sophia Alexander, lately home from finishing school, the Huguenot Seminery, Wellington, Cape Colony, and the possessor of a beautiful contralto voice in addition to being a brilliant pianist. They were married on 19.1.1894 and moved to Johannesburg, where they lived until the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer war by which time a son and daughter had been born to them. The little family left for Kimberley to escape the war and found themselves caught up in the Siege of Kimberley. George served in the Town Guard for the duration of the siege and received the Queen's medal. Later they travelled in convoy to Rustenburg, Transvaal where George was a Cattle Buyer for the Cold Storage to supply the British Garrison stationed in the village. When Peace was declared in 1902 he farmed at "Broadwood Vale'' Kosterfontein, .Dist. Hustenburg, where he was appointed Justice of the Peace for that area, and  was instrumental in getting the branch railway line put through from  Johannesburg to Mafeking in 1906, thereby opening up the North Western Transvaal. In 1907 George and family emigrated to Canada but returned in 1910 to Johannesburg and later resided at Lenz 22 miles from the city. They had a family of four but one daughter died young. On August 8th 1913 Annie Charlotte passed away. George became a lay preacher and for many years took services in the Methodist churches in Johannesburg at which he liked his eldest daughter Dorothy, to sing a solo. He remarried twice after Annie died, about 1917 to Mrs.Agatha Hilder and 1945 to Mrs Liversage. In his declining years George lived in the Schoemans Kloof, dist. Lydenburg where his eldest son Claude farmed, and died January 21st.,1948. He was a fine Christian character, kindly, sympathetic and sincere and had a keen sense of humour. He was tall and good looking, dark hair and hazel eyes and a fresh complexion - very musical and a self-taught artist.
	Philip Hamilton Wedderburn born 7.5.1868 at Spring Valley near Salem C.P. Second son of James and Charlotte Wedderburn. Married Elizabeth Grace Keeling of Kimberley and had a family of 1 son and three daughters. He emigrated to Canada 1907 and farmed near Medicine Hat, Alberta. Ho died about 1936, his wife predeceasing him. His son Lorimer Hamilton served with the Canadian Forces in the 1914-1918 war and was posted missing presumed killed at Vimy Ridge, Flanders.

These pages prepared by:

Peter Garwood
L'Eau Salée
Malaucène
84340 France

and reproduced verbatim from notes kindly provided by Christopher Wedderburn, compiled some years ago by another member of the Wedderburn Settler family.


Send e-mail to: peter.garwood@wanadoo.fr

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