Thanks for this wonderful piece, Lesley, there are so many invisible women. My grandmother on my Mom's side was a Huguenot, Conje. I go to Franschhoek every year for the book festival and run a literacy quiz for the 4 farm schools. I am a great supporter of finding hidden women in history, as a history teacher and was part of Asinakhuthula, a project to research hidden women in history. Your piece is so important.
Thanks Marge - sorry to have missed you in Kalk Bay. I have tried to reconstruct some English ancestress stories (is that a word?) through online sources, such as https://lesleylawson.substack.com/p/silver-darlings. And also Tragedy on the Tracks. But working class women leave little trace - except their children. Sounds like you are doing good work. Do you ever come across the children from the Bosman farm? (My ancestors)
Hi there! Very interesting post - and it seems we may be related through the Huguenot line! My grandmother was a De Villiers, but we know little of her family she died when my mother was a child. I have been dipping into the wells of genealogical research and it seems these De Villierses had come from the area of La Rochelle - once a Huguenot stronghold - but before that had lived in Bourgogne. The geneaology can be a bit of a rabbit hole, so I really enjoyed the way you made it into a story.
Hi Lesley - thanks for the comment. If you have your grandmother's birth date and place it should be possible to see which of the three de Villiers brothers you are related to. That being said there are masses of de Villiers then and now.
This is wonderful Lesley.
Thanks for this wonderful piece, Lesley, there are so many invisible women. My grandmother on my Mom's side was a Huguenot, Conje. I go to Franschhoek every year for the book festival and run a literacy quiz for the 4 farm schools. I am a great supporter of finding hidden women in history, as a history teacher and was part of Asinakhuthula, a project to research hidden women in history. Your piece is so important.
Thanks Marge - sorry to have missed you in Kalk Bay. I have tried to reconstruct some English ancestress stories (is that a word?) through online sources, such as https://lesleylawson.substack.com/p/silver-darlings. And also Tragedy on the Tracks. But working class women leave little trace - except their children. Sounds like you are doing good work. Do you ever come across the children from the Bosman farm? (My ancestors)
Hi there! Very interesting post - and it seems we may be related through the Huguenot line! My grandmother was a De Villiers, but we know little of her family she died when my mother was a child. I have been dipping into the wells of genealogical research and it seems these De Villierses had come from the area of La Rochelle - once a Huguenot stronghold - but before that had lived in Bourgogne. The geneaology can be a bit of a rabbit hole, so I really enjoyed the way you made it into a story.
Hi Lesley - thanks for the comment. If you have your grandmother's birth date and place it should be possible to see which of the three de Villiers brothers you are related to. That being said there are masses of de Villiers then and now.