THE DICKASON FAMILY IN SOUTH AFRICA
In July 1819,
the British parliament approved a scheme of emigration for settlers to take up
land grants on the Eastern Frontier of the Cape Colony.
Of some 4000
people eventually selected, Robert Dickason, a widower and his children
were to take part in this great adventure.
Robert was born at Necton, Norfolk in 1766, the son of William
Dickason and his wife Elizabeth Murrell. Robert had left Necton as a
young man, applying his carpentry skills in earning a living. We find him in the
records for Newington Butts, today the Elephant and Castle area of South London,
from 1799. He
was to marry Mary Claybrook on 18th July 1802 at St Mary
Newington. They were to have four children –
Amelia
born on the 8th March 1805, Frederick born on 7th
February 1808, Alfred born
on 12th October 1810 and Henry born in 1812.
Research to
date has been unable to locate a birth or baptism date for Henry, the year of
birth has simply been calculated from his age given at emigration and
corresponds to his death notice filed in the Cape Archives, Cape Town. Likewise
for Mary, no death date has been established. Certainly, Robert Dickason was
listed as a widower in the Colonial Office Lists of Intending Settlers. As there
were obviously no further children after Henry it remains conjecture as to
whether Mary may have died in childbirth or at a later stage, but certainly
before 1819.
Robert and his
children embarked aboard the “East Indian” in Deptford, London, just before
Christmas 1819. However, due to
severe weather conditions, some time was to elapse before it set sail for Cork
Harbour, where Irish settlers were embarked at Passage West.
The East Indian
was to reach Simon’s Bay in the Cape Colony on the 30th April 1820.
Here, the settlers were informed of the area chosen for their placement. There
was great disappointment at the choice, being Clanwilliam. They were moved to
Saldanha Bay, disembarked and taken by ox-wagon to their destination.
Much dissension
broke out between warring groups of settlers, their leaders and government
officials. Finally, the Colonial government took the decision to move those
settlers who so chose to the originally intended destination of Albany.
The scheme of
settlement had as its aim the placement of settlers on the Eastern border of the
colony in order to create a defensive arc of settlement and thus discourage
marauding tribesmen from across the frontier. Unknown to the settlers, the area
had long been in dispute before Britain’s acquisition of the Cape Colony by
occupation in1795 and confirmed by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. There had in
fact been five frontier wars in the 42 year period prior to 1820.
Robert and his
family were to be eventually placed on land that had previously been occupied by
a Dutch farmer and known as Zuurplaats. Some seven settler men came together
under the Leadership of Joseph Latham of London and Latham’s party was granted
the farm, renamed as Seven Fountains, as each portion to be allocated to a
settler had a water source on it.
Robert was
allocated land on the western neck of land above the Seven Fountains stream, a
tributary of the Bushmans River.
Here, he was to
set to and build himself and family a double storied home of three bedrooms. Two
of the upstairs bedrooms enjoyed the then unheard of luxury of having a
fireplace in each bedroom.
Robert’s
children were to grow to adulthood and marry. Amelia, the eldest of
Robert’s children was the first to marry in 1833 when she married Jonathan
Shelver at St. George’s Anglican Church in Grahamstown..
Frederick
was to marry one of the daughters of the neighbouring farmer, Barend Daniel
Bouwer. This was Aletta Johanna Bouwer and they were married also at St.
Georges’s Anglican Church on 9th September 1836. Frederick was to
remain at Seven Fountains and built himself and his new bride a small cottage on
the property of Robert.
Alfred
was the next to marry, choosing Aletta’s sister, Hester Magdalena Maria
Bouwer and they married at the same church on 13th August 1840.
The youngest
son, Henry, was to marry Annie Hayter on 19th January
1846 at St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Sidbury, a nearby village..
Robert Dickason
died at his home on 19th January 1844 and was laid to rest there. His
will devolved the property on his four children, Amelia Shelver and Frederick,
Alfred and Henry as “All that Farm called Seven Fountains in the Field
Cornetcy of Lower Bushmans River in the District of Albany Granted to Latham’s
Party”. Following his death, it became patently
apparent to all
his heirs that to support their respective growing families the size of the land
was inadequate. Eyes were cast further a field. When the British forces emerged
victorious from the Seventh Frontier War of 1846-47 and the old Neutral
Territory was proclaimed a new colony of British Kaffraria, the future beckoned
temptingly for settlers were to be encouraged officially to take up permanent
settlement.
Amelia and
Jonathan Shelver were the first to move, northward to new lands at Adelaide and
make their home there. Frederick and his wife were to do the same, but moved
eastwards, settling in the eastern coastal strip alongside the Kwelgha River.
Henry and Annie were to follow and take up a land grant of perpetual quit-rent
in the King Williams Town District, the old Mission Station and Fort having been
proudly renamed after William IV.
DESCENDANTS
Amelia
Shelver became the
matriarch of the Shelver family in South Africa. Their four sons, John,
Augustus, Jonathan and James, were to become the progenitors of all South
African Shelvers.
Frederick
– he and Aletta were to have only two children, John William born at Seven
Fountains at Christmas 1836 and Mary (after Mary Claybrook) Magdalena Jacomina
born just after Christmas of 1838. A son of John William, named Frederick Robert
Dickason was to emigrate to Argentina with his family in 1908. All Dickasons in
Argentina are descended from this man
Alfred
and his wife Hester were to have sixteen children, seven boys and nine
girls. Of the male children , one died in infancy, a second in early childhood
and a third did not marry, leaving four sons to found the Alfred line of descent
–
Robert (after
his grandfather), Alfred Jeremiah, John Claybrook (after his maternal
grandmother) and James Alfred.
Henry
and Annie were to have two children according to his will but only one
daughter, Emily, born in 1847 at Seven Fountains seems to have survived
The First
Generation born in South Africa was born between 1836 and 1866 and numbered
13 people, 8 males and 5 females. All South African Dickasons are descended from
this generation and in particular five distinct branches arose mainly because of
geographic separation
The Second
Generation was born between 1864 and 1902 and comprised 46 people, 16 male
and 30 female, clear evidence that with larger families, females outnumbered
males significantly. This remains a trend even to this day. It was this
generation who would be most affected by the outbreak of hostilities between the
British Imperial Forces and the Boer Republics. Although the subsequent four
colonies, two ex-Boer Republics and the Cape Colony and Natal, came together in
the Union of South Africa, political developments polarised the white population
into opposing camps mostly on a language basis. What degree of separation of the
different branches of the Dickason family by geographic distance now became
greater. The Third Generation born between 1891 to 1942 comprised a more
equal representation with 36 males and 30 females. By the Fourth Generation
comprising 124 people and thus the most numerous generation there were 55 males
and 69 females born between 1918 and 1950. In this generation hardly any
Dickason knew how they were related to other branches of the family..
At the time of
writing the Sixth Generation and
Seventh Generation has begun unfolding. The wheel is beginning to turn full
circle with South African Dickasons now being born in the United Kingdom.
Graham Brian
Dickason
Cape Town 22 Aug. 2005