MY GENEALOGY

This is mostly based on what my grandfather told me; so I hope it does not mislead or confuse you.   As you will read later in one of my chapters, you will learn that my grandfather followed our heritage and genealogy (family tree) right back until the 1400’s.  And now a large percentage of my grandfather’s genealogy cards have been stolen and due to my cancer, my memory alone cannot complete this history. 

Now I shall start by generalizing my mother’s heritage.  Her father grew up by moving from orphanage to orphanage.  The reason was because most his family was killed in the second Boer War (South African Dutch vs British) and most died in the British concentration camps. More than a million people died during this war, the Dutch, the Zulu’s, the British, the Canadians and Australians that fought for the Empire.  He also did not live long.  He had married a British woman.   Who had many problems after losing her Dutch husband and relying on Dutch relatives after the Boer War. 

On my father’s side, his mother was a descendant of Gerrit Maritz, one of the greatest Dutch explorers that survived the Zulu onslaught brought on by Dingaan (the brother and the murderer of Shaka Zulu himself). 

One of the smaller cities (Pietermaritzburg) contains his name in remembrance of what he did.  And guess what, he died young.  All the men in my family seemed to have been condemned to early death, my grandfather (on my father’s side) was one exception but he lost both his sons and his father at an early age.  My grandfather’s father carried the surname of the great German Family that rescued the stale mate of the invasion of England and France by the all powerful Russian army.  Part of his surname is stated partly on one of the bigger cities in Germany (Stuttgart), based on the horse breeding.  The reward for their event; was a town in eastern South Africa.  But they were placed in the middle of another great war between the British and the Zulus. 

My grandfather’s descendants left this town (Stutterheim) to join the Dutch in their fight against Britain. So if anyone needs to know where I am from.  I guess the best thing is, I descended from British, Dutch, and German blood.  The South Africans were not very popular during my young childhood due to the terrible history of Apartheid. Unfortunately this is something that happened during my early childhood.  And I guess I shall be added to the list of men in my history that is going to die, at an early age.  In the end it does not bug me, I have totally accepted it.  And for a reason, a good reason, I shall explain in this book.

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