Hi everyone
I'm looking for any information at all on the parents or life or death of one John Coetzee Barry ELLIOTT, born c. 1865 - 1870 in South Africa (his second name strongly suggests that he wasn't a first generation immigrant).
He was married to, and then divorced from, Deborah Susannah Sophia DYASON (1868 - 1946), daughter of Roger DYASON and Anna BOTHA (grand-daughter of Gert MARITZ, the voortrekker leader). Deborah was grand-daughter of George DYASON (original 1820s settler) born in Potchefstroom - evidently her father joined the trek northwards, possibly part of the Uys trek.
Deborah and John had 7 children, the first son named John Thomas (which might point to a possible name for his father?). I'm not sure where their children were born, but most of them seem to have ended up in the former Transvaal
There is a divorce file on record from the Transvaal dated 1910 (which I haven't been able to see yet), and Deborah subsequently married Koenraad Pieterse. John Coetzee Barry is noted on her death record in 1946 as 'predeceased', which gives a death date between 1910 and 1946.
I have scoured the archives for death notices of parents, or for his own death record, with no luck. His second name Coetzee strongly suggests an ELLIOTT / COETZEE marriage, but I cannot trace one. I suspect he was a descendant of one of the ELLIOTT 1820s settlers, but cannot establish a link...
Any help or information would be greatly appreciated!
Jo Hugo
