Smith family from England & Port Elizabeth
Children of John Smith from Scarborough
Port Elizabeth – Main Street & Market Square about 1850 from painting by Thomas Bowler
Marble bust of John Owen Smith held in the library in Port Elizabeth
John Owen Smith 1804-1871
John Owen Smith, my 3x great uncle, was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, on 14 November 1804. His father and uncle were ship owners. He arrived in the Cape Colony aboard the ship “Sarah” in 1819 which was presumably a merchant ship as it is not listed as a naval vessel. It was most probably the property of his uncle, James Smith.
After spending sometime in Grahamstown he established himself in Port Elizabeth. He appeared in the 1825 census there.
He became one of the leading merchants of Port Elizabeth and at the time of his death was described as “almost its founder”. After his marriage in Grahamstown to Elizabeth Gilbert he and she moved to Port Elizabeth and set up a business in Main Street.
He began as an auctioneer and was involved in boating until he founded his merchant firm. He had his own gunpowder store and in 1844 built a private jetty to aid with the loading on and off of goods at his bonding warehouse. He chartered and had ships built for trading. Most of the ships he owned were named after his children. One ship he owned, the Mazeppa, was based in Algoa Bay from 1837 to 1848. Many years later, after it was moved to Port Louis in Mauritius, it was on route to rescue a British Garrison, which was besieged by the Boars, when it took shelter and ran aground in what is now known as Mazappa Bay.
In 1844 he successfully bid for the lease of Bird Island for the purpose of harvesting the guano on the island. His company held the lease for more than 50 years. The guano was a valuable fertilizer with a ready market overseas and it was said John profited handsomely even though he had to split the profits with the government.
In 1854 he acquired mining interests in the Richters-veld, Namaqualand. This was the Kodas Mine (copper) and one of his ships sailed the Orange River taking the ore downstream for trans-shipment.
He was involved with the P.E. Bank and Branch Savings Bank. He was a J.P. He owned a good deal of farm land around Port Elizabeth including half of Kragga Kamma. In 1850 he bought out a flour and saw stream mill for his business. In 1845 he helped finance the establishing of the first local newspaper The Eastern Province Herald. He owned shares in the Commercial Hall, the site of the Public Library, and the public building in which the library first had a room. In 1853, as a library endowment suggestion, he gave his shares to the library committee and encouraged others to do the same so that eventually the library owned the site and the original building. His private book collection was given to the library by his son, George, who changed his second name to “Owen” and ran the business with Henry Bailey Christian, his brother-in-law, after John Owen left for England in 1861.
On 3 August 1826 John married Elizabeth Gilbert who was born in England in 1810. She was the daughter of a Grahamstown building contractor, George Gilbert, who built what later became Grahamstown Cathedral. They had eleven children – 3 boys and 8 girls. His son, John Owen Smith, was drowned while bathing. He was 26 years.
Port Elizabeth about 1842 showing John Owen Smith’s small private jetty that he built. Drawing by A.B. Piers
St. Mary’s Church, Port Elizabeth – the carved reredos behind the altar and the windows above donated by Elizabeth Smith in memory of her husband and son.
The room in the Port Elizabeth Main Public Library housing the private book collection of John Owen Smith donated by his son George.
After his sisters were invited to live in South Africa by his uncle his youngest sister, Sarah, went to live with him and his family in Port Elizabeth. In August 1838 she was married to Alfred Jarvis and the ceremony took place in John’s house.
On 11 June 1861 he departed Port Elizabeth for England with his wife and left his business interests in the hands of his son and son-in-law. He wrote his will while on board ship. He died on 16 August 1871 in his Leinster Gardens home near Hyde Park, London.
After his death his wife gave St. Mary’s church the carved reredos behind the alter and the windows above in memory of her husband and son who drowned.
1892 newspaper cutting (actual date unknown) relating the death of Elizabeth Smith, widow of John Owen Smith.
Children of John Owen Smith & Elizabeth Gilbert:
James Owen Smith 1828 – ?
Elizabeth Gilbert Smith 1829 – 1879
Mary Anne Smith 1831 – 1888
Sarah Elizabeth Smith 1833 – ?
Jessie Smith
John Owen Smith 1835 -1861
George Chalmers (later Owen) Smith 1837 – 1892
Emily Owen Smith 1841 – ?
Edith Smith
Alice Owen Smith 1843 – 1879
Henrietta Gilbert Smith 1852 – ?
Sources:
The Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre
British Merchants in the Cape of Good Hope circa 1795-1840 by E.A.G Clark
Innovation in Shipping & Trade; pub. by Exeter University Press
Margaret Harradine: former Africana Librarian at Port Elizabeth Library
Algoa Bay in the Age of Sail (1488 to 1917) A Maritime Story by Colin Urquhart
Legacy pages for Smith family
Charlotte Rebecca Smith 1808-1871
Charlotte was my great great grandmother. She was born in London on 17 January 1808, as stated on her Death Notice, and christened in Scarborough on 24 January 1808. She lost her father when she was five and her mother when she was six. She along with her brother and sister were looked after by their aunt in Scarborough.
In 1832 she and her sister received a letter from their uncle, James Smith, who was living in the Cape Colony. In the letter he invited them to leave England, since their aunt had died and travel to the Cape to live since he and their brother were their only relations. “My dear Nieces Charlotte & Sarah … I have now to inform you that your Brother and myself are of the opinion (since your aunt’s death) that you had better come out to this country and one of you could stop with your brother and the other with your aunt Sarah which plan I think you will both like as you will in that case be near us the only relations…” [I do not know of the aunt who died but I believe their mother died in 1814 a year after her husband and hence this is why they lived with their aunt]. They were told “… you may get a passage out for about £30 each as you would occupy only one birth …” Also “If you come you ought to have a good stock of linen say for 3 months as there is no washing on board ship …” [£30 then would be about £3500 today]
James also said he had sent his and their brother’s power of attorney to a very good friend, Mr Christopher Hill, to sell the house and all in it. He mentions various ways they might get a passage out to the Cape, either from Liverpool or London. He says if the house is not sold in time to pay their passage he will pay it when they arrive.
They made the journey although I do not know when they arrived. Charlotte stayed with her uncle and his family in Cape Town. She must have met Adolph Heckrath sometime later and eventually they married on 1st December 1834, which was the day all slaves were freed in the Cape. I do not know anything about her life with him except they had eight children two of whom died very young.
Charlotte died on 20th April 1871 at 53 Boom Street, Cape Town. She was 63 years 3 months and three days.
Original Death Notice for Charlotte Rebecca Smith.
Charlotte Rebecca Heckrath, née Smith. 1808-1871
Children of Charlotte Rebecca Smith & Adolph Heckrath:
James Adolph Heckrath 1835 – ?
Ernest John Heckrath 1837 – 1870
Adolph Heckrath 1839 – ?
Sarah Elizabeth Heckrath 1841 – 1917
Maria Grindley Heckrath 1844 – 1921
James Adolph Heckrath 1846 – 1897
Edmund Walter Heckrath 1848 – 1935
Anna Carolina Heckrath 1850 – 1920
Sources:
Probate records, South Africa
Family documents and letters
City Archives, Cape Town
Legacy Pages for the Smith family
Sarah Elizabeth Smith 1812-1898
Sarah Elizabeth Smith, my 3x great aunt, was the youngest daughter of John Smith and Charlotte Burnett. She along with her sister, Charlotte, was invited by her uncle to live in the Cape Colony in 1832. She went to live with her brother, John Owen Smith, and his family in Port Elizabeth. On 11 August 1838 she married Alfred Jarvis, who had gone to live in the Cape from England. They married in John’s house and Sarah described the wedding in a letter to her sister Charlotte, who was in Cape Town. “I was married on Saturday Evening between the hours of seven and eight o’clock in the House” …..”John gave me away but I still felt a little grievance for he had not spoken to me but after supper when I was going to leave his House I went up to him and offered my hand when he immediately drew me very affectionately to him and kissed me two or three times which I felt made up for all the former neglect. I felt I loved him as much as ever and you know how dearly I loved him. I am sure if he knew the pain he gives me by neglecting me I do not think he would do so. I hope he will come and see me. I think he will before the week is out …” She also wrote “I dare say you would like to know what dress I wore. I had on a pretty slate coloured silk and Sister had one like it. My Brides Maid is stopping with me for a week or two which makes it very pleasant” … [‘Sister’ was Elizabeth Gilbert, her sister-in-law]
No.7 Castle Hill, Port Elizabeth. In 1847 Alfred Jarvis purchased the house next door which has gone now and been replaced with a modern building.
Grave of Sarah Jarvis 1812-1898 in Hampstead Cemetery. Also those of two of her children; Mary Coningsbye Jarvis and George Jarvis
In 1839 their first child, Alfred, was born. They had five children – four boys and one girl. All were born at the Cape of Good Hope according to the 1861 census in England, most probably in Port Elizabeth.
In 1844 Alfred was a member of the Library Committee of Port Elizabeth and in July 1844 he along with his brother-in-law, John Owen Smith, and other gentlemen in Port Elizabeth formed themselves into an association – the P.E. Trust Association – for the management of Insolvent and Assigned Estates, in order for their speedy settlements.
In July 1847 Alfred purchased the house next to No.7 Castle Hill in Port Elizabeth.
In the early 1850s he moved his family to England as his wife’s nephew, Ernest John Heckrath, visited the family when he was in England in January 1854. He wrote to his mother that he had stayed with them one night. Whilst he was with them Alfred took him to see some of the London sites such as the Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Exchange [presumably the Stock Exchange] and several other buildings.
In the 1861 census the family was living at 22 St. Paul’s Grove, Islington. Alfred was recorded as being a landed proprietor in the Cape of Good Hope. All the children were living at home.
Alfred died in 1869 and was interred in his family vault at Hinton in the Hedges, Northamptonshire. When he died the family was living at 76 Highbury New Park, Middlesex.
By 1871 Sarah had moved to 4 Lancaster Road, Hampstead. [this is most probably Lancaster Grove now] Then by 1891 she was living at 71 Priory Road, West Hampstead. [A 100 years later, in 1971, I too went to live in the same road!]
Sarah died on 13 January 1898 at Priory Road and is buried in a plot in Hampstead cemetery near where some of her sister’s great grandchildren are buried.
Children of Alfred Jarvis and Sarah Smith:
Alfred Jarvis 1839 – ?
John Horwood Jarvis 1841 – 1913
Mary Coningebye Jarvis 1844 – 1914
George Jarvis 1846 – 1922
Fredrick Jarvis 1849 – ?
Sources:
Family letters
Legacy pages for Smith family