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Research in Other Countries => South Africa => Topic started by: Forfarian on Tuesday 22 January 19 14:23 GMT (UK)
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There's a grave in Durban (Ordnance Road) Military Cemetery: Heanan, Sapper, John Rupert, ME/32, South African Mounted Engineers. 21 November 1916. Age 20. Son of Col Charles Oris Heanan and Alice Sarah Wyllie Heanan. Grave Ref C 24.
I am looking for Alice Sarah Wyllie, born in London on 23 April 1871, parents John Evans Wyllie and Sarah Jane Bucktrout. The last sighting I have of Alice was as a witness in a court case in 1886 when her father, an innkeeper, was charged with permitting drunkenness in the Bugle, Fareham, Hampshire, England.
I can't find any record of her marriage or death in England.
Does anyone know if she was the wife of Charles Oris Heanan?
I have reams of information about Alice's family, so please don't expend time or effort in tracing her backwards. It's what happened to her after 1886 that I am now interested in.
For the avoidance of duplication, the background is in his thread
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=803213.0
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Morning, have you looked at FS in South Africa for the information about John Rupert Heanan? seems to be a information confusion!!! There is a death notice for John died 21/11/1916 Durban which is correct to your grave, but John's parents are listed as Carlos Chris Heanan, deceased, birth unknown England and Alice Sylvia Heanan nee Wyllie also deceased.. The death notice is signed by C ? Heanan brother of the deceased. Not sure if this is your Sarah?
Did a very quick look in Natal records and didn't find a Alice Sarah Heanan nee Wyllie, are you sure she came to South Africa?
Regards
Catherine
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Thank you.
No, I am not sure whether or not Alice Sarah went to South Africa. I have no confirmed sightings of her at all after 1886, and there is no marriage or death of Alice S* Wyllie in FreeBMD.
I have now, and thank you for the pointer, looked at FS for John Rupert. I had tried FS for the father and for Alice, but hadn't looked there for the son.
There are three listings, of which the third is the most detailed but for the surname being spelled Heanon instead of Heanan.
The first one, signed by the brother, gives their mother's name as Alice Sylvia Heanan, maiden name Wyllie.
It looks quite likely that my Alice Sarah Wyllie was indeed the wife of Charles Oris, or Carlos Chris, Heanan, and mother of John Rupert and C*, but I think I'd like a bit more evidence before being sure.
(The index to the third one says he died in 'Base, Solomon Islands' but the original reads 'Base Hospital Depot' ??? I've come across curious transcriptions before but that one is up there with the best!)
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Hi, you do have a interesting one here!!!
I think John Rupert died in the base hospital on Solomon Islands (why South African military are there in 1916, I have not a clue!!but I am curious), on the death notice it said
1. the body was at the Durban City Hall (my first thought was a troop ship arriving back home and bodies housed in the hall for burial, but expected more than one), November in Durban gets HOT and humid, so burial would be quick. Odd that the body was returned to South Africa?/?
2. His normal place of residence was Johannesburg. (The heat and quick burial would explain why he was buried in Durban, port of arrival back in South Africa)
3. His probate was issued in the Cape Province, again odd. The documents are in Cape Town Repository (KAB) source:MOOC Type:Leer Volume:6/9/875 and 13/1/3138 Estate, and Liquidation / distribution account. Should you want copies, you would need to contact them directly, I understand they do not allow the public to make copies anymore. I think this might be worth the effort - It might give information on parents as well as distribution to follow up.
4. I would assume he enlisted in the military in South Africa, you could try his military records. The bad news is I have been trying for 2+ years to get military records and still waiting!!!
I extended the search of any Heanan / Heanon and found nothing else - wonder if his parents did came out here at all, however the death notrice does give a timeline of sorts for the parents as they both are deceased by 1916.
Good Luck
Catherine
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Copy of death certificate attached.
I have no idea where they got Solomon Islands from. There's no way they would ship a decomposing body from the Solomon Islands to Durban, and even if they did, it would surely have taken far more than six days to get there?
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Morning, I absolutely agree, the Solomon Island is a wild goose chase. I can find nothing to support that at all. Did find information on the formation of the SAE and their deployment in WW1, they served in South West Africa, East Africa and France/Belgium.
I think to proof your Alice Sarah / Sylvia problem would be to somehow find births for the two brothers. If the father was military, campaigns in that time?
Sorry that I'm not much help!!
Happy huntting.
Catherine
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The brother (CD Heanan) is referenced several times in NAAIRS as a civil servant. He seems likely to be the C Dominic Heanan who appears on the passenger list of the "Berrima" arrived London from Cape Town in May 1923, aged 30.
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Charles Dominic Heanan served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the RAF 1918-1920. Selected in South Africa.
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From RAF records: Charles Dominic Heanon born Islington, London, 22 September 1892. Sister Violet in a convent at King William Town, South Africa.
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Hmmmm. Something fishy here. There is no Charles Heanon or Heanan in the FreeBMD indexes in 1892 or any other year. The only Charles Hean*n in the entire index is one who married in London in 1884, which is two years before Alice Sarah Wyllie was described as 'Miss Alice Wyllie' in a newspaper report of a court case.
The only Charles Dominic in Islington between 1890 and 1894 is Charles Dominic Addison in the September quarter of 1891 (not 1892). The GRO web site is down so I can't check to see what his mother's maiden surname is.
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A snippet from Google ... the Commercial Gazette of May 18, 1892:
Heanan Charles Oris (& Sylvia Alice Heanan, his wife), Ditch- mining engineer and retired ling-villa, ...
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There are a few mentions of Charles Oris Heanan:
Gordon G. Guiberson's father, S. A. Guiberson, Jr., was born on his father's ranch in 1872. The senior Guiberson, who had crossed the plains to California in 1859, went first to Placerville, then moved to the Napa Valley, and finally settled permanently on a ranch in Ventura County. Mr. Gordon
G. Guiberson's mother was Ethel Lavinia Heanan, daughter of Charles Oris Heanan, a mining engineer. The mother of Heanan's wife was an Englishwoman, Mary Ellen (Simpton) Owner, whose father, Capt. John Simpton, brought his family, in his own ship, to California in 185 1, after a preliminary visit here in 1849. On his return voyage, he brought with him a two-story prefabricated wooden house, which he erected, with the use of wooden pegs, near McNears Point in Marin County. It is still standing, but now has a corrugated steel roof.
https://archive.org/stream/californiahistor30cali/californiahistor30cali_djvu.txt
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Thanks, ShaunJ. Yes, I have come across a similar article.
I looked at the 1920 census for Gordon Guiberson, and his mother Ethel L Guiberson was aged 43 and born in Nevada, so she was born about 1876/1877. Ethel Lavinia Heanan married Samuel Guiberson in 1906.
In the 1900 census Ethel's mother Mary was described as a widow, aged 47, so born 1852/3. The 1900 also says that Ethel's father was born in Scotland.
In 1880 Charles O Heenan, labourer, aged 32, born Scotland, wife Mary, son A M Heenan, 6 and daughter Ethel Heenan, 4, were in Austin City, Lander County, Nevada.
So he must have been born about 1847/1848. There are no Charles Heanans in the available Scottish records, not even using 'name variants' in the search, and no Charles Heenan (or variants) in the Scottish census in 1861.
So if Charles Dominic and John Rupert were born in the 1890s, they cannot have been legitimate half-siblings of Ethel Lavinia Heanan or Guiberson, because her mother was still living in 1900.
Did Charles Oris Heanan abandon his wife Mary, cross the Atlantic and bigamously marry Alice Sarah Wyllie? Or was the Charles Oris Heanan who married Alice Sarah Wyllie a completely different person with the same name?
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Have you seen this 1891 census at 23 Springfield Road, Hampstead?
Carlos Oris Heanan 38 Mining Engineer, Scotland
Alice Sarah - wife, 19, London
Infant - daughter 4 mo (?) South African Republic
Edith Buckman, 20 nurse
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No, I hadn't. How on earth did I manage to miss it? Thank you very much indeed.
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See https://www.kwtdominicans.org/wp-content/uploads/Allforgodspeople/afgp-chapter-12.pdf:
Sister M Ludwiga Heanan was one of these orphans. He parents died of ‘fever’ on their trek to Rhodesia. The four children were then sent to Mother Mauritia at Izeli. Violet Heanan joined the Sisterhood and was trained as a teacher. Her last appointment was a Principal of St Joseph’s School for Coloured Children at King William’s Town. Two Sisters who visited her a Grey Hospital about two hours before her death testified that her countenance seemed to be invested, through a special grace, with supernatural radiance and beauty. Sister Ludwiga had acquired the reputation of being “the most charitable Sister in the Congregation.” Those nuns who knew her well revere her as a woman of rare holiness
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Wow! Thanks again. I am now trying to find anything about this trek to Rhodesia and lists of people who were involved.
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Got that census now - it's indexed as Hernan, and his middle name as Cris. Thank you.
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Zimbabwe death record for Carlos Oris (or Cris) Heanan died 18 April 1898:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939N-CFS6-DD?i=150&wc=M6LS-968%3A163032901%2C163039701&cc=1837900
There is no Zimbabwe death record for Alice. Perhaps she survived. There's an Alice Heanan, 54, arrived in UK from Rhodesia in April 1929 on the "Windsor Castle" - UK address 25 Falmer Road E17.
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Thanks again. Am much indebted to you!
And so much for the parents both dying on a trek to Rhodesia.
I don't see a likely death in England/Wales - maybe she was just visiting.
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I've messaged the tree owners on Ancestry who have an incorrect demise for Charles Oris Heanan (there's confusion with a Charles Owens Heanan) and have given them a link to this thread.
The last sighting I have of Alice was as a witness in a court case in 1886 when her father, an innkeeper, was charged with permitting drunkenness in the Bugle, Fareham, Hampshire, England.
I spent a few hours in the Bugle some 49 years ago, on a brief weekend visit to Fareham (we hitched down from Chelsea). It was a fine pub.
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Thank you.
I have to confess that I have never been to Fareham. It's not exactly on the way from here to anywhere!
Alice Sarah Wyllie must have had a fairly unsettled youth, because her father was the licensee of several pubs in the London area before going to the Bugle.