Stephanus was die seun van Philip Jacobus Nel en Christina Helena Gous.
Uit hulle pa se sterfkennis van 1876:
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.
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.
|
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
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
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)
