TOPIC:

www.angloboerwar.com/forum/surname-v/218...ummelan-j-commandant

Seems like he did get the ABO medal; the Vorm B May be of interest to the family

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the input; unfortunately they are two different people.

Johannes van Brumlen / Brumelen / Brummelen most likely fought in the Boer War and most likely for the Ficksburg Commando but in the public domain there is no record (unless he used an alias) of him being taken POW or died at sea as stated by Willemse.

As you have mentioned it may be worthwhile engaging a professional like Dewald to see what else he can find; he has helped me out numerous times in the past.

Regards,
Sturgy

Sturgy, you think there were two Johannes van Brumlens, one from Ficksburg and one from Holland? The 1907 death notice signed by Mrs van Brumlen ( Venter?) says he was a Hollander who was a stock farmer and they were married in Ficksburg.
Now in my experience Ficksburg is not a metropolis and van Brummelen is not a common name. One explanation might possibly be that there was only one man and two or more versions of his story… hence the Vorm B might tie things together?

Rob, Sturgy,

Having read through all of the above, I believe it is very likely that there was only one man with this name. I suspect van Brumelen abandoned his wife at the end of the war, leaving South Africa as one of those who refused to pledge allegiance to the King, hoping to create a new life abroad. He would not have been the only one to follow this path, General Viljoen perhaps being the most famous example. In the latter case, Viljoen's wife had the money to sue for divorce (seemingly aided by her husband, who wished to remarry). Perhaps due to financial constraints, Susara Maria chose a different route and fabricated her husband's death, similarly opening the door to the possibility of remarriage. This scenario would explain why she chose to register Johannes' death a full five years after the event.

Larnyjeaney, do you have a date for Susara Maria's second marriage? If she remarried shortly after the registration of her first husband's death, that would add weight to the above hypothesis. The affidavit (shown below) certainly suggests this was the case: "I make this statement as I am desirous of entering into a second marriage".

Neville





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Neville, I think you may be on the right track here. She seems to have wanted to muddle the waters. On the death certificate she stated that her husband's will was destroyed during the war, implying the same fate for other official documents. She also couldn't remember the names and other info about her in laws, which I find rather hard tp believe. I couldn't find any reference to the name Brumlen and perhaps she deliberately made that mistake for the cause stated. This would also explain her halted signature on the Affidavit which appears to be in two parts Brum-len.

Hi Neville,

First of all, my apologies for this very late reply. Our son was (thanks be to God) born earlier this year and only recently have I found free time again to return to this ongoing research.

Thank you for your information. To answer your last question; please see the marriage certificate attached, for the 2nd marriage of Susara Maria Venter on 14th Sept 1907, just over a couple of weeks after the affidavit was signed, so yes that part does go along with your hypothesis of being abandoned. The question for me remains; if her affidavit is to be credible then which Johannes is it and what happened to him:

We did also find this death notice for what seems to be another Johannes van Brummelen which was filed by his wife Maria Elizabeth Massyn in 1904 (apologies, I couldn't download the document to re-attach here). Note however, when viewing the document and clicking the back button (to view the front of the folder on image 170 instead) that it shows this intended Death Estate was cancelled - "Cancelled - person alive". Either way; when comparing the details to the other Johannes van Brummelen's Death Notice I can't help thinking it's a totally different J.V.B.

I did also find these: deportation record 1a , deportation record 1b and deportation record 2 , which are from lists of Foreigner Deportations showing a J.V.B working for Z.A.S.M in Sept 1900 but it states him as having a wife with 2 children on the 2nd record (unlike the later death notices; filed in 1907 which shows 1 child with Susara Maria Venter and the other filed in 1904 which shows no children with Maria Elizabeth Massyn). The record as working for Z.A.S.M too, is confirmed in the Book Brothers in Arms : Hollanders in the Anglo Boer War by Chris Schoeman (See 2nd attachment). For reference, here is the marriage certificate between J.V.B and Maria Elizabeth Massyn. I looked through all 1891, 92 and 93 marriage certificates for Ficksburg and found nothing between a J.V.B and Susara Maria Venter.

Please also note; on this AngloBoerWar site when searching for "Van Brummel" then the following records get returned (see attachment) - it returns two J.V.B records, not one, but also shows the brother, Peter.

Based on all the above it becomes more difficult to convince me that just one J.V.B was involved. Even if the affidavit and death notice from Susara Maria Venter is completely falsified in order to remarry, I still find it very hard to believe that one J.V.B lived such a double-life between Ficksburg in O.F.S and Boksburg in Transvaal, between being an apparent farmer for one and a Train Driver for another, fighting as a Commando and then abandoning Susara Maria Venter and his own daughter. Meanwhile, if anything which Susara Maria wrote is to be believed, that means a J.V.B was at least present in the O.F.S during June-July of 1901 since my great-grandmother Ernestine (their apparent daughter) was born in March of 1902 as is shown in her Baptism record (where Jan van Brumlen is named as Father) and her Marriage record.

We did find a Death Certificate in the Dutch Archives for a J.V.B here - click on image 181, right-hand side, indicating he died in the Netherlands on June 29, 1945 which shows his wife as Maria Massyn (who died in Edenvale Hospital in Johannesburg in 1950 according to her Death Notice in South Africa). Interesting then, that these two are both mentioned in J.V.B's Death Certificate in the Netherlands but they died so far apart in separate countries.

Regarding the brother Peter, he himself was a Prisoner of War as can be seen here

I will also reach our to Dewald Nel and see what he can find, and post anything relevant here.

Thank you all for your assistance on this matter