South Africa to Bilston

[peep]

In my great grandfathers house during the 1901 census there was  a visitor from Natal . Her name was Mary  E Teasdale aged 23 and single. As I have not been able to find her I presume she was born in South Africa. I would very much like to know who her family  were. Four years later   Ida Constance Bowen (my great aunt) married a chap called Robert Hesom and they emmigrated to Natal .I have  found 2 Hesoms on The Nile shipin 1850 going to Durban. Can anybody give me any info on this family?                                     

[rutti tutti]

hi there,
Sorry i cannot find anything on Mary Teasdale except this death motice for her in 1954
DESCRIPTION          SHOESMITH, MARY EDITH. FORMERLY MELDRUM. FORMERLY WILSON. BORN                   TEASDALE. BORN IN PIETERMARITZBURG, NATAL.
I got a bit confused with your Hesom family - when did they come out? in 1905 or 1850.
Many thanks
Ruth
                   

[peep]

thanks for your reply regarding Mary E Teasdale but I think that this is the wrong person. My Mary was born in 1878 or thereabouts. I have found that a G W Teasdale wasin the Boer war1899 1902. Maybe a relative? With regard to Hesom. Robert Hesom was acorporal in that same war and he returned to Natal with his  wife Ida in 1905, he was 31 and she was 25. I think that some of his family were already there as i have found a G T hesom  and a R hesom on The Nile ship in 1850 going to Natal. Roberts  father was a G T. Any info would be most welcome. Many thanks. Ps the sun is shining in England today!

[rutti tutti]

have a look at the Archives
http://www.national.archsrch.gov.za/sm300cv/smws/sm300ds?20050323154753C7A1BB60
This is a search I did for Hesoms - double click each entry. Where there is a single name ,and probably the ref letters msce, - it means this is the death notice for the person. Letters ssp are surviving spouse, and pds means predeased spouse. It may be worthwhile to get GT's deaths notice as it will list all the children. Illiquid cases are divorce or legal cases. Have fun playing around with the search engine - select hesom and individual names.
If you get stuck give me a shout!
ruth

[rutti tutti]

these are all the Hesoms in the phone book in SA- and I was at school with a few of them. Just need to find out where they are! The 03 numbers are Natal ie 9 of them- looks like there are Hesoms still living  in Estcourt so will phone when I am up there. not too difficult a task.
Ruth
Durban, Natal

[peep]

hi there. Many thanks for the info on the Hesom family. G T Hesom must have been quite a pioneer. I am sifting through all info but i cannot make out if he was born in England or S.A. Your info has also unearthed another of my relatives that i have been trying to trace. I would still like to find out when Ida constance Hesom died and did she have any children.  Iam also trying to trace another chap called Percy St John Bowen. Iwonder if he came your way late  1800s or so. Cheers. All the best.

[peep]

Hello Ruth. The Mary Teasdale that you found was the correct person after all. I applied for a death notice of Bernard Malim Bowen and she appeared as Executrix of his will dated  12/9/99 and he died on 28/3/00 at Lidgetton after being wounded at Ladysmith.  On the death notice itself his name is down as Bill Bowen. Why would this be? His rank or proffession merely is down as R.S.M. Any ideas as to what this means? Mary must have meant something to my family to have turned up in their house in England almost 2 years later. I have been told i can apply for aDeceased Estate Files. What would they tell me ,and how do i go about this? All of my investigation started when my last survivng  ancient uncle said "I  wish i knew something about my family" That was last year. Unfortunately he has recently died, but i am hooked.

 

[Lindyloowho]

Just my two cents worth - R.S.M. - if he was in the army it's Regimental Sergent Major.  My father was one.  Again on my dad - his name was Charles Henry, but he consistently went by Bill - no idea why.  If I had not know differently I would have used that name to register his death - so perhaps whoever did that only put down what they knew his name to be?

Also if you ever find Mary's connection to the name MELDRUM I'd love for you to post it. My great grandmother's maiden name was MELDRUM from Hartlepool, County Durham.  She also lived in S.A. from abt. 1882-1889, but I believe she went by the last name of WALLER by then.

Linda.

[peep]

Hi Linda. I have found that Mary was married to a chap called William Meldrum who died in 1925. If you look on the Pietermaritzburg Archives Repository site there you will find loads of Meldrums and Wallers .Peep.