Dear Sue, Your rich contribution to everybody's research is immeasurable, and, I assure you, highly appreciated by all. I am not sure if I was the one who asked you to keep a look-out for the Jeffries brothers all those years ago, but they certainly fall within my sphere of interest (Edward George married my g-grandfather's elder sister Martha). Although I had arrived at the detail regarding the marriage of their parents via a different route (Pallott's Marriage Index), the recording of Edward's baptism is valued new information for me, thank you very much. Research into this family is bedevilled by the unstable spelling variations of the surname : Jeffries, Jefferies, Jeffrys, Jefferys, Jeffreys and probably many more. Early Settler records used "Jeffries" (see also Morse-Jones & Nash), and that was the form used in many early documents in this country. However, in due course it reverted to "Jefferies", (Gad's descendants earlier than those of Edward George), and that is the form in use today by all their descendants. The "missing" baptism record for Gad is intriguing. According to his death notice (VAB MHG J349/1892) Gad died on 15 August 1892 at the age of 83 years, 7 months and 12 days, which puts his date of birth in January 1809, and confirms his age as 11 at the time of his emigration. I once received from an overseas researcher what appeared to be an authentic record of Gad's baptism, dates and names of parents all tallying, but the locality was in Banff, Scotland, which raised my eyebrows. I can't locate that record right now. As Gad did not fall into the line of my main thrust I filed it "elsewhere". Given time,I will find it. Banff civic records are littered with all variations of the spelling that I listed above, and that place certainly seems to have been an important seat of the clan. But Banff is somewhat removed from Brentford, London! The London Brickmaker James Watts was definitely the brother of Mary Ann, the mother of the two Jeffries brothers. What is interesting is that their names do not appear on any of William Howard's preparatory Settler lists, and it can be construed that Watts and his nephews were late replacements for last minute drop-outs. If we could depart for a moment from the world of rigid primary sources, and wander in the realm of Jeffries family lore, Mary Ann (Watts ) Jeffries died quite young, and Gad snr. married again. This resulted in enormous family conflict, and the new Mrs Jeffries' hostility towards her stepsons resulted in the unhappy lads hopping on the "Ocean" with their uncle James. Good one to preserve! Regards - Peter ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sue Mackay via" <south-africa-eastern-cape@rootsweb.com> To: "SA List" <south-africa-l@rootsweb.com>; "ZA-IB List" <south-africa-immigrants-british-l@rootsweb.com>; "EC List" <south-africa-eastern-cape-l@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2015 6:17 PM Subject: [ZA-EC] Edward George and Gad Jefferies of Howard's Party > Somebody years ago asked me to look out for this pair of brothers, but I > can't remember who! While transcribing the Grahamstown Journal for 1855 > today, I came across the death announcement for Edward, which said that he > was a native of Brentford. This set me searching in the London > Metropolitan Archive records and I have found his baptism (though not that > of his younger brother Gad), but I have also found some information on > their parents. Their father was another Gad, son of a London bargeman > George Jeffreys, and their mother was Mary Ann Watts. I am assuming that > James Watts of Howard's Party was Mary Ann's brother. I have found a > possible baptism for him but there were quite a few Watts in London and so > I cannot be sure. > > > I have added what I found today to the Extra Info section of eggsa > http://www.eggsa.org/1820-settlers/index.php/additional-information/j-surnames/1904-jefferies-edward-george-extra-data > > > If anyone has any more definite information based on primary sources, let > me know > > > Sue > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > SOUTH-AFRICA-EASTERN-CAPE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ----- > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 2015.0.5645 / Virus Database: 4273/8997 - Release Date: 01/25/15 > > >