Heckrath family from South Africa
Edmund Walter Heckrath 1848-1935
Cape Town late 19C
Edmund Walter Heckrath 1848 – 1935
Edmund Walter Heckrath, my great grandfather, was born on 9 October 1848 in Cape Town and was christened in the Lutheran Church, Cape Town. He was the 5th son of Adolph and Charlotte Heckrath. He recorded some of his life in two short autobiographies.
In early 1865, at the age of 16, he left home and travelled to Durban, Natal. In a letter he wrote to his sister, Bessie, he mentions his mother having five sons and none left. [Two sons died young and the others had left home] He also says “…. I was glad to get the likeness of Mama as I did not have one. I will send mine when I have it taken.” He says he met his uncle Kift, who gave him a book since he’d forgotten to take any with him, and “Uncle Kift is getting pretty old now, I did not know it was him until I asked him; he is different from what he was …” [This was Edmund Lombard Kift who married his father’s sister, Carolina Petronella Heckrath. He doesn’t say if he met him in Port Elizabeth or Grahamstown]
His autobiography continues …” from Durban …. then on to the Orange Free State to join in the Basuto War; after the War was in the Artillery at Bloemfontein & then by bullock wagon to the Vaal River where I was schoolmaster to several Dutch families. Soon got tired of it & had a longing to see my Mother, so tramped to Klerksdorp & Potchefstroom on the way back to Natal & then by boat to the Cape”.
About 1870 he travelled to Kimberley where he got a room to rent in New Main Street and as he had run out of money obtained a position with Lewis & Marks, a general store, as a clerk for £10 per month with board and lodging. After about 9 months, having saved his money, he returned to the Cape to see his family and Bessie Kift, who he eventually married.
A few months later he returned to Kimberley via Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown and Cradock. He mentions calling in to see his uncle and aunt, Edmund Lombard and Caroline Kift, née Heckrath, who were living in Port Elizabeth at 14 Castle Hill. He says “A few months after, left, this time by mailboat to Port Elizabeth where I called on the Kifts and then by coach to Grahamstown (no railway in those days) on my way to Cradock – I was delayed at Grahamstown for six days, as Coaches could not go further, owing to heavy rains the roads were impassable & the bridges all washed away. After some days arrived at Cradock where my brother had a Hotel and general shop – was there about a fortnight. He wanted me to remain and join him in business but it did not appeal to me as I saw no future in a small village. So took the Coach to Kimberley and started then as a diamond broker & as was making a good living decided to get married: as was tired of living in boarding houses & the single life ..” In 1872 he obtained a Diamond License to buy, sell and deal in diamonds, under the name of Cohen Heckrath & Co.
Since he was doing well he wrote to Bessie Kift to come to Kimberley to be married on arrival since he could not leave his business to marry in Cape Town. She agreed and they were married on 12 October 1875. They rented for a while and then built a house in the West End. In October 1876 their first child was born … Adolph James, my grandfather. They went on to have six more children 3 boys and 3 girls but one boy, Ernest Carl, died at age 5 weeks, in a bullock cart on route to Cape Town, so the story was handed down.
Elizabeth Heckrath, née Kift, 1850-1944, with Hector, the dog
Diamond Buyers Office, Kimberley Open Museum 1976
Kimberley Mine 1875
Diamond Licence granted to Cohen Heckrath & Co. Dated 15 August 1872
In 1880 Edmund was approached by Adolph Cohen, his business partner’s father, to become a buyer and ship goods to London. “This was for me an improvement in my prospects, although as a Broker was doing well, but to become a shipper was distinctly more important.” In 1886 he decided to go to London to see how business was conducted there. “When in England was impressed with the difference in the mode of life to what we were accustomed, so made up my mind that my children should also be brought up in a more civilized country and have the advantages of education, contact with people of better standing than those we knew in SA.”
In September 1888 he, Elizabeth and the two elder boys, Adolph and Eddie, travelled to England for the boys to be put in boarding school in Thame, Oxfordshire. Edmund and Elizabeth lived in rented apartments around Marylebone for the first eight months in London. They had a very full and enjoyable life judging by the entries in Elizabeth’s diary for 1889. In the school holidays the boys were taken on excursions and to shows.
In March 1889 Elizabeth and Edmund took a trip to Ireland to visit her aunt Bell, in Cork. They spent a week there visiting the sites including Blarney Castle and Christchurch, where her grandparents were married. Then they travelled from Ireland, via Killarney and Dublin, to Edinburgh to visit Edmund’s cousin, Maggie Grindley, who showed them all the sights including the Forth Bridge, Arthur’s Seat, the Castle and Newhaven where they saw the fishwives with their creels. They stayed in Edinburgh ten days and returned to London, Euston, noting on the way back how lovely and green the country was.
Whilst in London they frequently visited family members who had also moved there from South Africa. They included Edmund’s aunt, Sarah Jarvis (his mother’s sister), and Elizabeth Smith, widow of John Owen Smith (his mother’s brother). Elizabeth took many walks whilst Edmund was at work and in the evening they walked regularly. [No radio or TV then] One walk took her to St. James’s Park where she saw the Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales and other members of the Royal Family. Also they often went to the theatre and she recorded all the shows they saw.
Heckrath children Irene, Eddie and Adolph with Hector, about 1882 in Kimberley
Elizabeth’s diary. Travel log of their trip to Ireland and Scotland – arrival in Ireland and train ride to Cork.
In May 1889 Elizabeth returned to the Cape to fetch the other children …. Irene, Josephine, Geraldine and Cyril. The family rented houses in Beckenham, Kent, for a few years before moving to live in Abbey Road, St. John’s Wood and later Norwood and Dulwich. Edmund relates “My business prospects were at this time much curtailed, in diamond broking there was not a living and speculation proved disastrous so that we gradually were impoverished – I shall skip over the next few years = eventually was again a diamond buyer on the River, and my fortunes mended so that I decided to establish myself in London and become an importer at which I was successful – as I was getting on in years now I gave my business to my son Adolph and retired from all active participation in business” [The difficult time most probably was during the Boer War]
The 1901 census showed the family living at 52 Alleyn Road, West Dulwich, and his occupation recorded as a retired diamond broker.
In March 1905 Edmund and Elizabeth travelled to the Cape most probably to see family and discover the general situation in the country. Edmund returned to Kimberley to work from about 1908 to 1911 at least. His work took him to the River Diggings every week where he would buy rough diamonds from the diggers.
Heckrath boys about 1891 in Bromley, Kent. Cyril, Eddie and Adolph.
Edmund Walter Heckrath’s passport issued in January 1909
In August 1908 he relates how on the return from Barkly he and four other buyers, all in separate cars, raced back to Kimberley. He says “I had a more powerful car which simply flew and when I got ahead I let them have all my dust for miles. Some of them tried several times to pass me, but my driver would not let them much to their disgust, so they gave it up and I won the race. Did 23 miles in 50 minutes, and as many parts of the road is sandy & others full of stones and ruts where you slow down; on the level and going down the hill we must have done a rate of 35 miles an hour, the sensation is delightful at the rapid speed, but the thought is always there that if anything goes wrong there will be a bad smash”. Also he says the dust is the most trying to him “as it affects my eyes in spite of goggles, makes them red and inflamed” [One can just imagine him sitting in the back of an open car wearing his goggles!]
He wrote many letters home during this time describing the terrible heat and dust storms, regrets being on his own and finds the evenings long and dreary. His son, Adolph, also worked in Kimberley at various times while he was there. Adolph had his family with him. Over the years Edmund travelled back and forth to London and also to the Cape to see his sisters and have some relief from living in Kimberley. He made good money while working there and that was one reason why he remained as long as he did.
In November 1907 he and Elizabeth took a voyage to Boston and New York. He wrote “Did not like the people & it was biting cold; the country & streets covered in snow. If we had genial weather might have liked it.”
He was very generous to his children … paying for their holidays and trips abroad. He paid for his daughter, Irene, to go to Germany to study and learn German. In 1901 he also paid for Cyril to study in Germany. In 1911 he sent money to Cyril, who was now married in Tasmania, as a deposit to buy the freehold of the land he was farming. Edmund took out a mortgage in his name for the purchase of the land which was registered in the name of Cyril’s wife.
Tragically Cyril was killed at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. In February 1918 Edmund transferred the mortgage to the Public Trustee, Tasmania , but the papers were lost en route and he spent a great deal of time trying to trace the documents.
In 1921 Edmund and Elizabeth decided to visit Australia to see Mabel, Cyril’s wife, and their grandchildren. Whilst there, he signed a declaration regarding the mortgage and the transfer to the Public Trustee. He stated he wanted all moneys to be used for the benefit of Cyril’s children.
On the way to Australia they spent time in Cape Town where they settled his sister’s, Maria, estate. They returned to England via New Zealand and the Panama Canal. He noted that the journey from Sydney to Wellington “….was the roughest voyage I ever experienced, it took five days & the boat rolled and pitched all the time …” They were away 8 months.
Eventually he stayed in London and established himself as a rough diamond merchant at 14/17 Holborn Viaduct, London. His daughter, Irene, worked for him there. About 1927 he gave his business to his son, Adolph, and retired.
In 1925 Edmund and Elizabeth celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with family. Edmund gave her a brooch made of two gold sovereigns – one from 1875 and the other 1925. Their names are inscribed on the back and the date of marriage. They celebrated with family photographs.
He and Elizabeth took a few trips to Europe but he was always pleased to get home “and lead a natural life, nice & quiet. We all get tired of sight-seeing & prefer the daily routine”. Edmund died on 26 July 1935 at 36, Stradella Road, Herne Hill. He was cremated at Norwood Cemetery on 30 July.
Heckrath family in London – October 1925. Adolph, Irene, Josie, Cherry, Eddie at the back. Elizabeth and Edmund sitting.
Children of Edmund Walter Heckrath and Elizabeth Kift:
Adolph James Heckrath 1876 – 1958
Edmund Walter Heckrath 1878 – 1953
Irene Melita Heckrath 1879 – 1966
Josephine Heckrath 1881 – 1957
Geraldine (Cherry) Heckrath 1882 – 1958
Ernest Carl Heckrath 1883 – 1883
Cyril Alfred Heckrath 1886 – 1916
Sources:
Autobiographies of Edmund Heckrath
Letters written by Edmund Heckrath
Legacy Pages for the Heckrath family
pinterest.com.au
James Adolph Heckrath
1846-1897
James Adolph Heckrath 1846-1897
Hannah Willemina Maria Heckrath née Banks
James Adolph Heckrath was my great great uncle and elder brother of Edmund Walter. I’m afraid I do not know much about him except that he owned a hotel and general store in Cradock, Eastern Cape.
He was born in Cape Town in 1846. About 1868 he married Hannah Willemina Maria Banks, from Seapoint, and they had 12 children over a span of 21 years – 5 boys and 7 girls. [I have not been able to find a record of the marriage yet] One son Sidney Max died age seven. The youngest girl Linda had the nickname Ben! Only one boy Owen Burnett Heckrath married and had children however five of the girls married and four had children.
About 1872 his brother, Edmund, visited him on his way from Cape Town to Kimberley. Whilst there James tried to persuade him to go into business with him in Cradock but Edmund was not interested in staying in a small village.
In October 1892 James said in a letter to his sister, Bessie, in Cape Town “Business still keeps quiet – it is owing to the bad price of Farm Produce. Farmers have nothing to spend and those that have are going to Kimberley to get rid of it”. He goes on to say that his eldest son, Jim, had just gone to Kimberley and his daughter, Edith, had an invitation to go the following month. He tells Bessie he hadn’t been well and the medicine from the doctor did not do any good. He also wrote that he’d had a letter from Eddie (his brother in England) who complained that he was doing nothing and was going to leave his home. James wrote ”I knew it would come to that going to live in England. He is too big for his boots or his wife is. Should have stayed here until he had made sufficient to live off the interest ….. it requires superior brains to make a good living in England and Colonials are deficient in it as a rule. There was always work here for him …” He also told Bessie she should try and get a cheaper house to live in “as the pounds a month for people that have had to live all their lives on charity should be very lowly and not fancy they are somebody” [this doesn’t really make sense the way it is written but I think it is possible to understand what he is saying]
James died on 1st December 1897 at the young age of 51 having been ill for sometime.
[I am pleased to say that I know and am in contact with many of James’s descendants having met them in South Africa on my two visits there in 1975/76 and in 2012. I would not have met them or known them if it hadn’t been for my aunts and great aunts keeping in touch with family in South Africa.]
Linda, Hilda and Gladys Heckrath. Three younger children of James and Hannah Heckrath.
Newspaper cutting of James Heckrath’s death. Newspaper unknown but local.
Children of James Adolph Heckrath and Hannah Banks:
James Adolph Heckrath 1869 – 1902
Charlotte Elizabeth Heckrath 1871 – 1929
Edith Maud Heckrath 1873 – 1957
Walter Edmund Heckrath 1875 – 1934
Florence Annie Heckrath 1878 – 1961
Camilla Lucy Heckrath 1880 – 1948
Sidney Max Heckrath 1881 – 1888
Cyril Hubert Heckrath 1883 – 1926
Owen Burnett Heckrath 1885 – 1935
Gladys Muriel Heckrath 1887 – 1963
Hilda Eleanor Ansdell Heckrath 1888 – 1961
Linda Isabella Heckrath 1890 – 1921
Sources:
Family letters
Legacy Pages for the Heckrath family
Autobiographies of Edmund Heckrath