TOPIC:

I am trying to find out about my grandfather who enlisted with the ZARP's and I'm told he fought with the Boer force.
I have a photo of him in uniform which has no info on the back indicating when a n where it was taken but assume it could have been in the Volksrust area where my uncle John Anthony Barnard farmed.
I am trying to get my father, Barend Johannes Stephanus Barnard birth certificate born on the 30th November 1904 which I hope will have his parents details.
With the limited information I have I may regret the daunting task I have set myself.
I will try to let you have the photo later if I can figure out how to attach it.
Kind Regards
Tony Barnard
082 880 1363

Hello Tony,

You can email the photo to me if you wish and i can upload it for you. My email is david.biggins [at] angloboerwar.com

Best wishes
David

Tony,

There are a couple of men of this name in South Africa listed by FamilySearch. The first and third entry, may be your father?



The marriage was to Kathleen Janet Paterson-Atkins. At the time of his marriage, he was a sergeant in the police.

Tony

Familysearch reveals that the Barend Johannes Stephanus Barnard (1889-1902) who died in the Volksrust 'refugee' camp, was the son of Jan Antonie Barnard (xx.01.1863 - 23.03.1910) and Maria Sofia Elizabeth Homan (d 29.06.1913). Jan Antonie's death notice shows that they had another son of the same name, born 30 *October* 1904. Their eleven children were :
1 - Johanna Maria Jacoba [Maria's mother's name]
2 - Hendrik Petrus [Jan Antonie's father's name]
3 - Barend Johannes Stephanus [Maria's father's name]
4 - Jan Antonie (b 02.04.1891)
5 - Christiaan Jacob Benjamin (b 31.03.1893) [Maria's brother's name]
6 - Jan Christiaan Antonie (b 16.12.1895)
7 - Joseph Johannes (b 25.12.1897)
8 - Maria Magdalena (b 17.06.1900)
9 - Anna Cornelia (b 19.03.1903)
10 - Barend Johannes Stephanus (b 30.10.1904)
11 - Maria Sophia Elizabeth (b 25.05.1906).

Did you have aunts and uncles of these names?

However, Jan Antonie snr appears to have been a farmer rather than a career policeman. He could, of couse, have served in the ZARP for the war only.

Many thanks David,
First Entry. Would definitely be my father, but the date date of birth is not what I have (30.11.1904) on record.
This anomaly is repeated In the family search point 10 where date of birth for a BJS reflects as 30.10.1904 which is really close enough to be my father? The date of the marriage 30.01.1931 falls right in the time frame when my father a Sergeant, 2nd Class, was posted to Ixopo - June 1929 - November 1931.
Second Entry. I have seen this recorded on the memorial wall in Volksrust and it piqued my curiosity. I doubt that parents having lost a child would 2 years later give another child the same name?
Third Entry. Definitely my father reflecting the same DoB anomaly.
Kind Regards
Tony

tonysuperc@gmail.com wrote: I doubt that parents having lost a child would 2 years later give another child the same name?

Actually, it seems to have been very much part of the Afrikaner naming tradition, which Hendrik and Maria Barnard evidently followed :
* sons named after (a) father's father, (b) mother's father, (c) father;
* daughters named after (a) mother's mother, (b) father's mother, (c) mother;
* the name of a child who died young often given to the next child of the same sex.

Dates of birth on these old documents are by no means always accurate. The documents were often completed by officials, doctors, undertakers, and others who relied on second-hand information. As registration of births didn't become compulsory until the 1890s/1900s, there were no official certificates to refer to.

The dates of birth on Familysearch are frequently hit-and-miss, because marriage records and death notices "back in the day" didn't ask for dates of birth, only ages, and the volunteers indexing the records for Familysearch simply work backwards from the dates of the marriages or deaths.

So, your father was 26 years and a month old when he married in January 1931, the record gives his age as 26, and the indexer simply subtracted 26 from 1931. And he died a few weeks before his 64th birthday, the record therefore gives his age as 63 years, and the indexer simply subtracted 63 from 1968.

The archives in Pretoria have your father's deceased estate file. The death notice ought to name his parents, and confirm whether he was born in October or November.