Stephanus was die seun van Philip Jacobus Nel en Christina Helena Gous.
Name Stephanus Nel
Sex Male
Age
28 years
Birth Date 1842
Spouse's Name Martha Louisa Lotter
Spouse's Sex Female
Spouse's Age
22 years
Spouse's Birth Date 1848
Event Type Marriage
Event Date
1870
Event Place Ladysmith, Natal, South Africa
Source Details 8
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KDCL-MZL
Name Martha Louisa Lotter
Birth Date 8 December 1847
Father's Name Jakob Lotter
Father's Sex Male
Mother's Name Martha Louisa Prinsloo
Mother's Sex Female
Event Type Baptism
Event Date 11 January 1850
Event Place Potchefstroom, Transvaal, South Africa
Event Place (Original) South Africa, Transvaal, Potchefstroom
Record Number 395
Page Number 14
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7B9H-24W2?lang=en
Sex Male
Age
28 years
Birth Date 1842
Spouse's Name Martha Louisa Lotter
Spouse's Sex Female
Spouse's Age
22 years
Spouse's Birth Date 1848
Event Type Marriage
Event Date
1870
Event Place Ladysmith, Natal, South Africa
Source Details 8
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KDCL-MZL
Name Martha Louisa Lotter
Birth Date 8 December 1847
Father's Name Jakob Lotter
Father's Sex Male
Mother's Name Martha Louisa Prinsloo
Mother's Sex Female
Event Type Baptism
Event Date 11 January 1850
Event Place Potchefstroom, Transvaal, South Africa
Event Place (Original) South Africa, Transvaal, Potchefstroom
Record Number 395
Page Number 14
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7B9H-24W2?lang=en
Information about Stephanus can only be gleaned from the 1903 Compensation claims made by his brother J P Nell and his son Jacob Lowies Poklenberg Nell.
The family had become ZAR residents in 1885 – this would be following the death of his mother and we may deduce that although J P Nell had already made the move from Utrecht in 1881, Stephanus and his family remained on the farm Welgevonden, Utrecht until then.
The following observation is purely subjective: something happened at the time of the birth of their ninth child that made the couple decide that there would be no more children. There is no mention of their daughter Elizabetha Louretta surviving and her twin brother Stephanus may also have been a bit delicate. Likewise, no mention of daughter Anna Maria Nell surviving. Stephanus Nell, called upon as a witness to his brother’s compensation claim, signs his name in a very spidery manner – could he have suffered from a stroke, Parkinsons etc.?
Unlike his brother JP Nell who seems to have established a flourishing farming enterprise, there is no indication that Stephanus and his family were anything more than bywoner farmers and at the time that the war broke out, they lived on the farm Edinburg of his son-in-law Barend Roos. (Anita Campbell)
Taken from Jeppe’s Map 1899 Sheet 6.
Edinburg top left (Barend Roos with Stephanus Nell)
Kromrivier J P Nell with Idalia to left of it W M J Nell and J P Nell after the war
Derby (Jacob Louis Poklenberg Nell) and Rustplaats (where he died) to the left of that.
(Anita Campbell) It had been reported in January 1901 that burgers from Piet Retief had moved with most of their stock further east into the Mkwakweni hills north of the Phongolo River. They were very impoverished with no proper clothing, only meat and mealies but no salt, and the women and children in particular were suffering. French's objective was to advance to a line from Piet Retief northwards through Amsterdam and force the commandos in the area either to surrender or to move into Swaziland.
Stephanus and his family surrendered voluntarily at Sandbank dist. Piet Retief on 19th February 1901 together with his brother J P Nell, arrived at Volksrust camp on the 19th March and remained there for 10 months when leave was given to go to Natal and where they remained until the end of the war. In Jacob Lowies Poklenberg Nell’s claim he states that they went to Scottspoort i.e the farm of his widowed aunt Anna Maria Lotter.
Three of Stephanus’s sons however did not surrender with the family. Their brother-in-law Barend Roos was not only in effect their landlord, but also the veld kornet for the district. These three brothers were captured on 9/6/1901 at the farm Weeber and sent to Bermuda.
Stephanus and his family must have remained at Scottspoort, Natal until the middle of 1902, since the POWs had to ship back home. They had little to go back to in Transvaal – this area of the Eastern Transvaal really suffered with Kitchener’s scorched earth policy. Barend Roos returned to his family farm in Pretoria circa 1910, selling Edinburg to Strydom (record: Jan Adriaan STRYDOM *11.6.1906 (Okahandja) † 12.5.1915 Edenburg, Piet Retief). His brother J P Nell died in 1910. His sister Maria Pieterse of Vlakfontein died 1907 and her husband in 1914; the marriage certificate of Jacob Lowies Poklenberg Nell in 1909 shows that he was then resident at Vlakfontein. The options for this family must have been quite limited by then.
We know that this family were definitely in Natal by 1918; J P Nell and his brother P J Nell were witnesses at the marriage of their niece Martha Louisa Lotter Roos in Greytown. . I surmise that Anna Maria Lotter, Stephanus’s sister, may very well have assisted monetarily in some way. Stephanus would have known this area well, having been raised on Bird Spruit.
J P Nell married in 1922 at Schottsfontein. This farm is given as his address as late as 1950 in Braby’s Natal Directory, but he lived at Kafferspoort from mid-1920’s and his mother and father both died on this farm. In mid-1920’s his brothers JLP Nell and PJ Nell farmed in Klip River county. Braby’s Natal Directory 1950, lists the following (note NEL as surname):
J P Nel Schottsfontein, J L P Nel, Solmar, J L P Nel, P J Nel, S Nel (snr.) Kafferspoort.
Rong Poort lies next
to Merinos Kloof- the island shape within Merinos Kloof is Kafferspoort. (Anita Campbell)
The newspaper advert posted July 1930 stated that Stephanus Nell died intestate on 17th December 1929. (Anita Campbell)
Purported grave of Stephanus Nell alongside Martha Loiusa at Kafferspoort (Anita Campbell)
Name Martha Louisa Lotter Nell
Sex Female
Age 84 years
Birth Year (Estimated) 1848
Birthplace Transvaal
Event Type Death
Event Date
11 December 1932
Event Place Estcourt, Natal, South Africa
Event Place (Original) Kafferspoort Estcourt Natal
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:8PT4-NH6Z?lang=en
Grave of Martha Louisa Lotter at Kafferspoort.
Both graves in a state of neglect but lettering just legible (Anita Campbell)
The family had become ZAR residents in 1885 – this would be following the death of his mother and we may deduce that although J P Nell had already made the move from Utrecht in 1881, Stephanus and his family remained on the farm Welgevonden, Utrecht until then.
The following observation is purely subjective: something happened at the time of the birth of their ninth child that made the couple decide that there would be no more children. There is no mention of their daughter Elizabetha Louretta surviving and her twin brother Stephanus may also have been a bit delicate. Likewise, no mention of daughter Anna Maria Nell surviving. Stephanus Nell, called upon as a witness to his brother’s compensation claim, signs his name in a very spidery manner – could he have suffered from a stroke, Parkinsons etc.?
Unlike his brother JP Nell who seems to have established a flourishing farming enterprise, there is no indication that Stephanus and his family were anything more than bywoner farmers and at the time that the war broke out, they lived on the farm Edinburg of his son-in-law Barend Roos. (Anita Campbell)
Edinburg top left (Barend Roos with Stephanus Nell)
Kromrivier J P Nell with Idalia to left of it W M J Nell and J P Nell after the war
Derby (Jacob Louis Poklenberg Nell) and Rustplaats (where he died) to the left of that.
(Anita Campbell) It had been reported in January 1901 that burgers from Piet Retief had moved with most of their stock further east into the Mkwakweni hills north of the Phongolo River. They were very impoverished with no proper clothing, only meat and mealies but no salt, and the women and children in particular were suffering. French's objective was to advance to a line from Piet Retief northwards through Amsterdam and force the commandos in the area either to surrender or to move into Swaziland.
Stephanus and his family surrendered voluntarily at Sandbank dist. Piet Retief on 19th February 1901 together with his brother J P Nell, arrived at Volksrust camp on the 19th March and remained there for 10 months when leave was given to go to Natal and where they remained until the end of the war. In Jacob Lowies Poklenberg Nell’s claim he states that they went to Scottspoort i.e the farm of his widowed aunt Anna Maria Lotter.
Three of Stephanus’s sons however did not surrender with the family. Their brother-in-law Barend Roos was not only in effect their landlord, but also the veld kornet for the district. These three brothers were captured on 9/6/1901 at the farm Weeber and sent to Bermuda.
|
NEL
(23)
|
JACOB
LOUIS POPLENBURG
|
Edinburgh
P RETIEF
|
Burts,
BERMUDA
|
|
NEL
(27)
|
PHILIP
JACOBUS
|
Edinburgh
P RETIEF
|
ONBEKEND
|
|
NEL
(18)
|
JOHANNES
PETRUS
|
Edinburgh
P RETIEF
|
Morgan,
BERMUDA
|
|
|
|
|
|
We know that this family were definitely in Natal by 1918; J P Nell and his brother P J Nell were witnesses at the marriage of their niece Martha Louisa Lotter Roos in Greytown. . I surmise that Anna Maria Lotter, Stephanus’s sister, may very well have assisted monetarily in some way. Stephanus would have known this area well, having been raised on Bird Spruit.
J P Nell married in 1922 at Schottsfontein. This farm is given as his address as late as 1950 in Braby’s Natal Directory, but he lived at Kafferspoort from mid-1920’s and his mother and father both died on this farm. In mid-1920’s his brothers JLP Nell and PJ Nell farmed in Klip River county. Braby’s Natal Directory 1950, lists the following (note NEL as surname):
J P Nel Schottsfontein, J L P Nel, Solmar, J L P Nel, P J Nel, S Nel (snr.) Kafferspoort.
The newspaper advert posted July 1930 stated that Stephanus Nell died intestate on 17th December 1929. (Anita Campbell)
His wife Martha Louisa wrote a letter dated 21st
December and submitted a will. Though
the writing is very faintly written in pencil, this will was rejected because
it was written partly on white paper and partly on blue paper and parts were
deemed illegible.
Although the second youngest son, Johannes Petrus Nell
was elected as the Executor Dative.
(Anita Campbell)
A letter from their sister Christina Helena Nell
excused herself from this meeting as her mother was unwell.
(Anita Campbell)
Sex Female
Age 84 years
Birth Year (Estimated) 1848
Birthplace Transvaal
Event Type Death
Event Date
11 December 1932
Event Place Estcourt, Natal, South Africa
Event Place (Original) Kafferspoort Estcourt Natal
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:8PT4-NH6Z?lang=en
