Luan that is the MOST interesting letter. \thank you for sharing it. I guess there will be many on this list to reply to specific questions. So I'll watch for a while. Thank yhou. Pat ----- Original Message ----- From: "LB Seamons" <lubose@mstar2.net> To: <SOUTH-AFRICA-CAPE-TOWN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2005 5:28 AM Subject: [South-Africa-Cape-Town] my Capetown ancestors named BODILY > Hi, I am Luann B Seamons of Preston, Idaho, USA. My Bodily ancestors were > in Capetown early in their stay in South Africa. I would like to learn > about the ship they came to South Africa in and the following questions > that I am asking along with a copy of a fun letter from my ancestor > apparently written in her own hand and here transcribed by a descendant. > They were only in Capetown for only a couple of years while the work was > going on to renew the battlements there. > > I am submitting this recently found letter from my great-great grandmother > who was born in England in 1816 came to South Africa 1844/45 and left for > the United States 1860. My hope is an exchange of some ideas of where I > can find more information about them. I am encouraged by the transcription > of the Sidbury Angelican Church done recently where two children are > baptized in 1853 & 1855. > > Mention is made of school, free school, in another history they call it > grammar school. Apparently Robert Jr and William attended school while > they were living in Cape Town. William later attended school in about 1856 > in Port Elizabeth while the family lived at the "Inn" on Bushman's River. > Are there any school records available? > > Also Grandfather Robert Bodily was a stone mason working in the engineers > department on the battery and castle. Someone please tell me what this > refers to and if there might be some records we could get into to find out > more about his work while at Cape Town? > > Also Note the mention of a church building. The Bodilys are described as > staunch members of the Church of England. What church might she have been > referring to in 1847 in Capetown? What is the likely church to find the > baptism of the son James born while in Capetown; and Mary Ann in 1849 and > Edwin in 1851 born in Port Elizabeth? > > I hope you enjoy the letter as much as I did; it was like a window into > their lives. > > Following is a letter written by Jane Pittam Bodily wife of Robert Bodily > Sr. to an aunt in Great Britain: Cape Town, Sept. 13, 1847 Dear Aunt: I > hope these few lines with our kind love will find you all well as it > leaves us so at this time. Thank God for it. My children have been poorly > with a cold or I may say complaint that most of the children in the town > have had, but thank God, they are all better. I had the doctor to my baby > for he was so ill, and there were so many of the young children that died, > that we thought it better to have something in time, for here was four or > five little children buried in a day in the English burying ground, for > days together. > > The burying ground is not joining the church as at home. I should say it > is a mile from the English church and they don't take the corpse to the > church and if they read the burial service at the grave they demand twenty > dollars, that is 30 shillings, and 15 shillings for breaking the ground. > > My boys are grown very much, they both go to school. I have sent William > to the free school but I don't see that he learns any good at all for > there are so many boys, so that I now send them to a woman that lives near > us. I think it is better to pay a little and have them kept more strict. > > I daresay you have heard father's letter my little boy's name is James. He > grows very nicely, is now four months old, he was born on the 6th (sixth) > of May. Most people say he is like little Robert, he is a contended, > little dear, and we don't make a little fuss with him. > > My husband is still working in the engineers department. The work has been > very slack this winter, there has been but two or three masons all winter. > Robert and one more that came in the "Susan," the vessel before us. Now > they have set two more hands on but there has been so little work going on > in town so that there has been a great many out of employment all winter. > > We now hear that the headquarters is to be removed to the frontier so I > dare say there will be a great many men going, but I don't think Robert > will go, for as he says, there will always be work in the battery and at > the castle, and he has been very fortunate to have some good jobs there > and he thinks it better to stop a year or two and see. > > We hear that the farmers and all that can take cattle are to have them so > as people say it will be encouragement for them to try their best. Some > say it will soon be over now, some say not for years but I don't know. Who > knows? I suppose we shall have the meat cheaper when it is. Beef is now > four d mutton 3d (six cents). Butter is now a dollar and milk is now at 2 > 1/4 shilling (fifty four cents) a bottle. > > We have had a good deal of rain this winter so that there is more grass > for the cows which makes it so cheap. Vegetables are very dear. Potatoes > are now 2d (4 cents) the pound and I myself have gave 4 1/2 for a brocily > that was only just enough for dinner. When they first come in they are > gone if any size. Onions are very dear and scarce. I gave 1 three fourths > d (3 1/2 cents) for one the other day but the young ones are coming in so > they will be cheaper. > > House rent is very dear at the Cape. We have been paying $20.00 a month > for this last eight months and you can't get a place under if it is in any > respectable part. You may get houses for eight or ten dollars but then it > is up some back yard where there are all sorts of characters living. But > the houses are most of them large ones so then a person takes one and lets > rooms. We were in a part of one for eight months. We gave nine dollars for > a front room and seven for a back one, but it is not like having a place > to yourself. If there are three or four families living in one house you > all have to cook at one fireplace in the kitchen for there are very few > houses that there are fireplaces in the rooms and most of the houses have > flat roofs. There are, now and then one slated house to be seen that has > been built within a year or two and then they are only one story. But way > out of town. It is more healthy and it is near Robert's work. They tell me > that five or six years ago ther! > e was only one house dropt here and now it will soon be all buildings, for > every few days you may see some new one began. > > Robert has been buying some ground, it is about five minutes walk from > where we now live, and as soon as we can we shall run us up a little house > on it. It is about 160 feet square so that we shall have enough for to > keep goats and I say we might keep a cow as you can turn them out to graze > with getting a boy to look after them. And we shall be able to grow us a > few vegetables in the winter if we live so long, it is no good to think of > gardening in the summer as the southeasters destroy everything unless it > is mounded in with a very high wall. People make two or three times the > money he gave for it which was nine pound. (forty four dollars) as they > are buying ground farther up every little time. > > And we hear there is ground being bought to build a church very near to us > so that if we should at any time wish to go up the country we could sell > it, but I don't like the thoughts of going on the water again and if we > have plenty good luck I should rather stop at the Cape though there are a > great many going to leave, some going to Port Natal. We hear that is a > fine country and in a flourishing state. Some are going to Port Adelaide > but perhaps it may not be found as it is represented. > > It is now the Malay's new year, as they call it. They fast thirty days. > They neither eat nor drink from sunrising to sun setting for thirty days, > and when the time is up they have a feast and call it their "New Year." > They illuminate their burying ground for three nights and take coffee and > cookies, that is cakes, and set by the graves. They are a rum set of > people, they will steal anything they can. The Malay women wear red > handkerchiefs around their head, no bonnets, and they have sleeves and > their hair all combed back from their forehead, and make a great roll > which is fastened up with a very large pin. They all wear ear rings, they > are very proud and some of them dress very fine in their way. I have seen > some of the women with a nice silk dress as any lady would wear, only > sleeves of another color. > > We have had a long cold winter to what we had last year and several heavy > rains. We had one very heavy thunder storm three weeks ago, and the > hailstones lay that we could pick up a handful which is the first I have > seen since I have been in the colony, but we now begin to have the > southeaster come on again which shows us the summer is coming and the > flowers are spring that I say it makes me think of April at home. > > I forget if in my letter to father, said they had been lighting the town > with gas the beginning of winter. It looks very pretty at an evening to > stand at our door and see the lights all up the streets for we live a > little farther up, so that we have a fine view. I can't never shall say I > like the Cape as my home nor should if I had my relations living with me > but I make myself contented and think I ought to be thankful that we have > our health and are in a way of getting a good living. For, thank God, I > can say we are if Robert does but have his health as it all depends upon > him, but I would never say to any one come out, for if you look at > comforts stop at home for I often think of my poor father's words. He told > me we should not be able to get things at home and so I find it. > > Oh, how I should like a nice bucket of apples to make some apple > dumplings, for the apples we get here are not good, they have no taste as > ours have, though the fruit is plentiful in the summer, and after all it > is not the fruit we could get at home. > > My William begins to talk dutch a little, he often speaks to me in dutch, > something he has learned of the children at school, and I tell him to > speak as I can understand him for I shall never learn their talk. They > call bread "brood." The Dutch people are so very fond of coffee they get > their cup of coffee as soon as they are up and then they breakfast about > ten o'clock but their living is very different to ours. > > I shall tire you with my scribble and must say that Robert joins me in > love to my dear grandmother, father, brother and sister and Mr. Pittam. > Also to uncle and Emma and William. My children often talk of them and > William says, "When Willy cousin comes he shall show him something, and he > often talks about going to milk old Derry and going with his grandfather > to feed the pig. When you see uncle Joseph please to give our loves to > them all. I will write to some to them before long for I really are almost > ashamed that I write home so seldom, for I think you must think that I > have forgotten you all, but I put off from time to time, but I often think > you all over and can see you all in your homes though you form no ideas of > me in mine. But I must say that I shall be very happy to hear from any of > you when you can write, as I love to hear about home though I cannot see > it. Please to give our loves to Robert's friends when you see them, and I > must say to all uncles, aunts and cousi! > ns and any inquiring friends, and accept the same yourself, from your > affectionate niece, Jane Bodily > > Comments written about Jane Pittam Bodily by her grandson Joseph Bodily: > After his (Robert Bodily) death his widow, Jane Pittam Bodily, went and > lived with her daughter Jane Elizabeth Layton until her death 22 Sept. > 1904. > > The last time I saw my grandmother, was 21 July 1901. Grandmother always > impressed me as a person of unusual strength and ruggedness. She was above > average size with unusually large hands and long arms with a body which at > one time must have been as tough as a raw hide string for there was not an > ounce of surplus flesh. Bone and sinew were as self evident as the strings > on a bass fiddle. Yet she was one of the most considerate, unselfish and > nonself-centered aged persons I have ever met. > > > ==== SOUTH-AFRICA-CAPE-TOWN Mailing List ==== > South African Passenger Lists, Genealogy links, CDs and books > www.sagenealogy.co.za > > ============================== > Search Family and Local Histories for stories about your family and the > areas they lived. Over 85 million names added in the last 12 months. > Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.9.2/52 - Release Date: 19/07/2005 > >