Johan Casimir Kolbe
NAMED IN BOTH HIS PARENTS’ DEATH NOTICES AND IN THIS ARCHIVE’S PEOPLE LIST UNTIL 21 SEPTEMBER 2026 IN NEITHER. The Settler’s death notice, signed M. Kolbe — Margaret, the widow — at Colesberg in January 1845, names ten children and he is the fifth of them. Margaret Downing’s own notice of 25 November 1867, signed by her son-in-law G. D. O. Werdmuller, names him again, and it is careful about the dead: Mary Elizabeth is entered as “(dead), who was married to George F. Enslin” and he is not. SO HE WAS ALIVE AT ABOUT TWENTY-THREE, twenty-three years after his father died. THE FORENAME IS THE POINT. This archive already called the family’s forenames extraordinary — Hachilah Machilah, Gerson Eliezar, Fortunatus — and listed Casimir among them. A compiled register report published on a Barry family website in 2012 gives him as JOHAN CASMIER, ninth of thirteen, and that spelling was treated here as a name the archive had never held. IT IS A THIRD SPELLING OF A NAME IN TWO PRIMARY DOCUMENTS — the family list already carried the variant “Casiner”. AND THE NAME OUTLIVED HIM IN SOUTH AFRICA. This archive’s own register carries three men of it out of SOUTH AFRICA, CIVIL MARRIAGE RECORDS, 1801–1974: JOHAN HENDRIK CASIMIR KOLBE, born 1863, who married Gertruida Jacomina Louw; JOHAN CASIMIR KOLBE, who married Elizabeth Geertruida Pienaar; and JOHAN CASIMIR KOLBE, born 1934, who married Maria Monica Van Der Walt. A SHARED SURNAME IS NOT A RELATIONSHIP and none of the three is joined to this house — they are index rows, and they are here because a rare forename recurring in the same country for ninety years is a thing to follow, not a thing to assume. THAT SENTENCE IS KEPT BECAUSE IT WAS WRONG BY SIX DAYS. It read: nothing is known of his own life: no baptism, no marriage, no death. The Bethulie and Colesberg registers are where to look. COLESBERG WAS THE RIGHT ANSWER AND THE BAPTISM WAS THE WRONG QUESTION. 27 SEPTEMBER 2026 — HE HAS A LIFE, AND NONE OF IT IS A FONT. Searched not on his own name but on his MOTHER'S: MARGARET DOWNING. HIS DEATH NAMES BOTH HIS PARENTS OUTRIGHT — South Africa, Orange Free State, Civil Death Registration, FamilySearch 1:1:D9SM-K2N2: JOHAN CASIMIS KOLBE, died 11 MARCH 1906 at SMITHFIELD, O.R.C., aged 60, born in the Cape Colony, son of GEORGE AUGUSTUS KOLBE and MARGARET DOWNING. Until today he existed here only inside his parents' death notices; now a civil register puts him in the household from the other end of his life. AND COLESBERG HAS HIM TWICE, IN THE REGISTER THIS ARCHIVE WAS LOOKING IN. He took church membership at COLESBERG on 31 MARCH 1866, and his MARRIAGE BANNS were called at COLESBERG on 1 MAY 1867 — to ELIZABETH GEERTRUIDA PIENAAR. Their daughter ADRIANA is in the Cape register, and the Free State registers give five more: ELIZABETH AUGUSTA, ANNA SOPHIA, JOHANNA, GEORGE AUGUSTUS and MARGARET DEWNING — he named a son for his father and a daughter for his mother, which is this family's habit and is the best corroboration a namesake can give. HIS ESTATE EXISTS: Orange Free State Probate Records from the Master of the Supreme Court, probate 1906 at Smithfield, not ordered and not read. THREE SOURCES, THREE BIRTH YEARS, AND A DOCUMENT ALREADY HELD HERE SETTLES TWO OF THEM. The family list says 1844 at Bethulie; the death registration's age of 60 implies 1846; the probate index says 1845. HE IS THE FIFTH OF THE TEN CHILDREN NAMED ON HIS FATHER'S DEATH NOTICE, SIGNED AT COLESBERG IN JANUARY 1845 — so 1846 is impossible, and an age at death is the weakest of the three. 1844 or 1845, and the font would say which. THE BAPTISM IS NOT IN THE CAPE DUTCH REFORMED INDEX: fifteen records answer Casimir in that whole collection and not one is a baptism of his.
The record
| Name | Johan Casimir Kolbe |
| Also written | Casiner · Casmier · Casimis and Casmire, as the indexes have him |
| Born | 1844 or 1845 — three sources give three years |
| Died | 11 Mar 1906, Smithfield, Orange River Colony |
| Line | Kolbe |
| Confidence | Documented |
| From a tree | not documented The birth of 1844 at Bethulie is the family list’s, not a register’s. Both death notices name him and neither gives him a date or a place. — the rest of this record rests on documents this archive has read, and that part does not. |
What the archive holds
NAMED IN BOTH HIS PARENTS’ DEATH NOTICES AND IN THIS ARCHIVE’S PEOPLE LIST UNTIL 21 SEPTEMBER 2026 IN NEITHER. The Settler’s death notice, signed M. Kolbe — Margaret, the widow — at Colesberg in January 1845, names ten children and he is the fifth of them. Margaret Downing’s own notice of 25 November 1867, signed by her son-in-law G. D. O. Werdmuller, names him again, and it is careful about the dead: Mary Elizabeth is entered as “(dead), who was married to George F. Enslin” and he is not. SO HE WAS ALIVE AT ABOUT TWENTY-THREE, twenty-three years after his father died. THE FORENAME IS THE POINT. This archive already called the family’s forenames extraordinary — Hachilah Machilah, Gerson Eliezar, Fortunatus — and listed Casimir among them. A compiled register report published on a Barry family website in 2012 gives him as JOHAN CASMIER, ninth of thirteen, and that spelling was treated here as a name the archive had never held. IT IS A THIRD SPELLING OF A NAME IN TWO PRIMARY DOCUMENTS — the family list already carried the variant “Casiner”. AND THE NAME OUTLIVED HIM IN SOUTH AFRICA. This archive’s own register carries three men of it out of SOUTH AFRICA, CIVIL MARRIAGE RECORDS, 1801–1974: JOHAN HENDRIK CASIMIR KOLBE, born 1863, who married Gertruida Jacomina Louw; JOHAN CASIMIR KOLBE, who married Elizabeth Geertruida Pienaar; and JOHAN CASIMIR KOLBE, born 1934, who married Maria Monica Van Der Walt. A SHARED SURNAME IS NOT A RELATIONSHIP and none of the three is joined to this house — they are index rows, and they are here because a rare forename recurring in the same country for ninety years is a thing to follow, not a thing to assume. THAT SENTENCE IS KEPT BECAUSE IT WAS WRONG BY SIX DAYS. It read: nothing is known of his own life: no baptism, no marriage, no death. The Bethulie and Colesberg registers are where to look. COLESBERG WAS THE RIGHT ANSWER AND THE BAPTISM WAS THE WRONG QUESTION. 27 SEPTEMBER 2026 — HE HAS A LIFE, AND NONE OF IT IS A FONT. Searched not on his own name but on his MOTHER'S: MARGARET DOWNING. HIS DEATH NAMES BOTH HIS PARENTS OUTRIGHT — South Africa, Orange Free State, Civil Death Registration, FamilySearch 1:1:D9SM-K2N2: JOHAN CASIMIS KOLBE, died 11 MARCH 1906 at SMITHFIELD, O.R.C., aged 60, born in the Cape Colony, son of GEORGE AUGUSTUS KOLBE and MARGARET DOWNING. Until today he existed here only inside his parents' death notices; now a civil register puts him in the household from the other end of his life. AND COLESBERG HAS HIM TWICE, IN THE REGISTER THIS ARCHIVE WAS LOOKING IN. He took church membership at COLESBERG on 31 MARCH 1866, and his MARRIAGE BANNS were called at COLESBERG on 1 MAY 1867 — to ELIZABETH GEERTRUIDA PIENAAR. Their daughter ADRIANA is in the Cape register, and the Free State registers give five more: ELIZABETH AUGUSTA, ANNA SOPHIA, JOHANNA, GEORGE AUGUSTUS and MARGARET DEWNING — he named a son for his father and a daughter for his mother, which is this family's habit and is the best corroboration a namesake can give. HIS ESTATE EXISTS: Orange Free State Probate Records from the Master of the Supreme Court, probate 1906 at Smithfield, not ordered and not read. THREE SOURCES, THREE BIRTH YEARS, AND A DOCUMENT ALREADY HELD HERE SETTLES TWO OF THEM. The family list says 1844 at Bethulie; the death registration's age of 60 implies 1846; the probate index says 1845. HE IS THE FIFTH OF THE TEN CHILDREN NAMED ON HIS FATHER'S DEATH NOTICE, SIGNED AT COLESBERG IN JANUARY 1845 — so 1846 is impossible, and an age at death is the weakest of the three. 1844 or 1845, and the font would say which. THE BAPTISM IS NOT IN THE CAPE DUTCH REFORMED INDEX: fifteen records answer Casimir in that whole collection and not one is a baptism of his.
Where the archive puts Johan
Each carries the document that puts them there. The atlas →
- 21 Sep 2026 — Work list row 177, on the 2012 Barry register report: “There is no Casmier, Casimir or Kasimir anywhere in this archive.”
HE IS IN BOTH OF HIS PARENTS' DEATH NOTICES. The Settler's notice, signed M. Kolbe — Margaret, the widow — at Colesberg in January 1845, names ten children and JOHAN CASIMIR KOLBE is the fifth of them. Margaret Downing's own notice of 25 November 1867, signed by her son-in-law G. D. O. Werdmuller, names him again — and that document is careful about the dead, entering Mary Elizabeth as “(dead), who was married to George F. Enslin” and him plainly. So he was alive at about twenty-three. Both transcriptions have been innotes/documents-transcribed.mdsince 10 September. He is also on the archive's own Kolbe page, in the list of children, with the variant spelling “Casiner” already recorded — and the same page's prose singles out Casimir by name as one of the family's extraordinary forenames. WHAT WENT WRONG IS THE SHAPE OF THE SEARCH. The archive's people list was searched and the archive was reported on.people.jsis where a person's record lives; it is not where the archive's evidence lives, and this man had no record precisely because nobody had joined the notice to the list. A search of the index is not a search of the holdings, and the one place he was missing is the one place that was looked. The compiled report was right and this archive was wrong about its own documents — its “Casmier” is a third spelling of a name in two primary sources. He now has a record. Where it stands → - 27 Sep 2026 — Of three Johan Casimir Kolbes in this archive's own register, not one is joined to this house
ONE OF THEM WAS THE SETTLER'S SON, AND THE EVIDENCE WAS ALREADY PUBLISHED HERE. Written on 21 September while resolving the Casmier spelling, and correct in its reasoning: a shared surname is not a relationship, and the three men were index rows rather than witnesses. BUT THE SECOND ROW — JOHAN CASIMIR KOLBE, married ELIZABETH GEERTRUIDA PIENAAR — IS HIM. His banns were called at Colesberg on 1 May 1867, the town his father's death notice was signed in and his mother died in that year; their children include a George Augustus and a Margaret Dewning. WHAT WENT WRONG IS NOT THE RULE BUT THE TENSE. Not joined is a statement about what has been done; not joinable is a statement about the world. The sentence was written as the first and read ever afterwards as the second, and so the row was never worked. THE FIX IS A HABIT, NOT A GATE: when this archive refuses a lead for want of a link, it should say what would supply the link — here, the mother's name, which is exactly what found him six days later. Where it stands →
Households
…The Kolbes Margaretha Wilhelmina Elizabeth Mary Kolbe 1826 – 2 Aug 1912 the direct line Mary Elizabeth Kolbe d. bef. 23 Oct 1863 — intestate John Kolbe inferred George Kolbe inferred Catharine Sophia Maria Kolbe inferred Marian Kolbe Julia Kolbe Frederik Fortunatus Kolbe 1839 – 23 Nov 1929 Johan Casimir Kolbe 1844 or 1845 — three sources give three years – 11 Mar 1906 Peter Benjamin Kolbe b. 1840 the family tree Petrus Jacobus Booysen and Johanna Catharina Mountjoy 9 head born 10 May 1812 – 1884 (probate) a record read here Married at Cradock 4 November 1838. He signed her death notice in 1863; it names her parents and their eight surviving children.…
The Marriages
…4 Jul 1819, ST ANNE’S SOHO — Johan Casimir Kolbe 1844 or 1845 — three sources give three years 11 Mar 1906, Smithfield, Orange River Colony Johan Gottlieb Kolbe c. 1764 18 Nov 1845, London Johan Hendrik Cassimir Kolbe 1863, Orange Free State 14 Sep 1923, Bloemfontein — aged 60 John Gerson Eliezar Kolbe 7 Jul 1822, Uitenhage 3 Apr 1868, the farm Leeuwberg — aged 45 John Gottlob Kolbe — — John Henry Kolbe bapt.…
The forenames
…It was wrong: he is in both his parents' death notices, and the family list already carried the variant Casiner. Who When What they are to the name Johan Casimir Kolbe b. 1844, Bethulie THE SETTLER'S CHILD, named in his father's death notice signed at Colesberg in January 1845 and again in his mother's of 25 November 1867 — where the document marks Mary Elizabeth dead and does not mark him, so he was alive at about twenty-three. Nothing is known of his own life: no baptism, no marriage, no death. Johan Hendrik Casimir Kolbe b. 1863, m.…
The People
…The forename DAY is unusual enough to be a surname, and is the only hint this archive has of the second wife’s family. SHE LIVED AND SHE MARRIED: GRO index, third quarter of 1853, CITY OF LONDON, volume AM, 1170, page 33. The youngest of the eleven, and thirty-four when she married. The children The Women Johan Casimir Kolbe also written Casiner · Casmier · Casimis and Casmire, as the indexes have him Documented 1844 or 1845 — three sources give three years 11 Mar 1906, Smithfield, Orange River Colony NAMED IN BOTH HIS PARENTS’ DEATH NOTICES AND IN THIS ARCHIVE’S PEOPLE LIST UNTIL 21 SEPTEMBER 2026 IN NEITHER. The Settler’s death notice, signed M.…
Catharine Sophia Maria Kolbe
…bef. 23 Oct 1863 — intestate John Kolbe George Kolbe Marian Kolbe Julia Kolbe Frederik Fortunatus Kolbe 1839 – 23 Nov 1929 Johan Casimir Kolbe 1844 or 1845 — three sources give three years – 11 Mar 1906 Peter Benjamin Kolbe b. 1840 the direct line, argued on the line from a record this archive has read inferred, not stated from the family tree, unverified 8 of the 12 relationships shown are written in a record this archive has read. 3 are inferred from one. 1 comes from the family tree and is unverified.…
Frederik Fortunatus Kolbe
…bef. 23 Oct 1863 — intestate John Kolbe George Kolbe Catharine Sophia Maria Kolbe Marian Kolbe Julia Kolbe Johan Casimir Kolbe 1844 or 1845 — three sources give three years – 11 Mar 1906 Peter Benjamin Kolbe b. 1840 the direct line, argued on the line from a record this archive has read inferred, not stated from the family tree, unverified 8 of the 12 relationships shown are written in a record this archive has read. 3 are inferred from one. 1 comes from the family tree and is unverified.…
George Augustus Kolbe
…bef. 23 Oct 1863 — intestate record John Kolbe inferred George Kolbe inferred Catharine Sophia Maria Kolbe inferred Marian Kolbe record Julia Kolbe record Frederik Fortunatus Kolbe 1839 – 23 Nov 1929 record Johan Casimir Kolbe 1844 or 1845 — three sources give three years – 11 Mar 1906 record Peter Benjamin Kolbe b. 1840 family tree Sibling John Gottlob Kolbe the direct line, argued on the line from a record this archive has read inferred, not stated from the family tree, unverified 10 of the 14 relationships shown are written in a record this archive has read. 3 are inferred from one.…
George Kolbe
…bef. 23 Oct 1863 — intestate John Kolbe Catharine Sophia Maria Kolbe Marian Kolbe Julia Kolbe Frederik Fortunatus Kolbe 1839 – 23 Nov 1929 Johan Casimir Kolbe 1844 or 1845 — three sources give three years – 11 Mar 1906 Peter Benjamin Kolbe b. 1840 the direct line, argued on the line from a record this archive has read inferred, not stated from the family tree, unverified 8 of the 12 relationships shown are written in a record this archive has read. 3 are inferred from one. 1 comes from the family tree and is unverified.…
Johan Casimir Kolbe
…The Settler’s death notice, signed M. Kolbe — Margaret, the widow — at Colesberg in January 1845, names ten children and he is the fifth of them. Margaret Downing’s own notice of 25 November 1867, signed by her son-in-law G. D. O.…
John Kolbe
…bef. 23 Oct 1863 — intestate George Kolbe Catharine Sophia Maria Kolbe Marian Kolbe Julia Kolbe Frederik Fortunatus Kolbe 1839 – 23 Nov 1929 Johan Casimir Kolbe 1844 or 1845 — three sources give three years – 11 Mar 1906 Peter Benjamin Kolbe b. 1840 the direct line, argued on the line from a record this archive has read inferred, not stated from the family tree, unverified 8 of the 12 relationships shown are written in a record this archive has read. 3 are inferred from one. 1 comes from the family tree and is unverified.…
Julia Kolbe
…bef. 23 Oct 1863 — intestate John Kolbe George Kolbe Catharine Sophia Maria Kolbe Marian Kolbe Frederik Fortunatus Kolbe 1839 – 23 Nov 1929 Johan Casimir Kolbe 1844 or 1845 — three sources give three years – 11 Mar 1906 Peter Benjamin Kolbe b. 1840 the direct line, argued on the line from a record this archive has read inferred, not stated from the family tree, unverified 8 of the 12 relationships shown are written in a record this archive has read. 3 are inferred from one. 1 comes from the family tree and is unverified.…
Margaret Downing
…bef. 23 Oct 1863 — intestate record John Kolbe inferred George Kolbe inferred Catharine Sophia Maria Kolbe inferred Marian Kolbe record Julia Kolbe record Frederik Fortunatus Kolbe 1839 – 23 Nov 1929 record Johan Casimir Kolbe 1844 or 1845 — three sources give three years – 11 Mar 1906 record Peter Benjamin Kolbe b. 1840 family tree the direct line, argued on the line from a record this archive has read inferred, not stated from the family tree, unverified 9 of the 13 relationships shown are written in a record this archive has read. 3 are inferred from one. 1 comes from the family tree and is unverified.…
Margaretha Wilhelmina Elizabeth Mary Kolbe
…1866 — from Pama record Margaret Mary Bedford record Catherine Maria Sophia “Kathleen” Barry 4 Aug 1859 – 1940 direct line Kathleen Mary Barry record 9 siblings Mary Elizabeth Kolbe d. bef. 23 Oct 1863 — intestate John Kolbe George Kolbe Catharine Sophia Maria Kolbe Marian Kolbe Julia Kolbe Frederik Fortunatus Kolbe 1839 – 23 Nov 1929 Johan Casimir Kolbe 1844 or 1845 — three sources give three years – 11 Mar 1906 Peter Benjamin Kolbe b. 1840 the direct line, argued on the line from a record this archive has read inferred, not stated from the family tree, unverified 19 of the 23 relationships shown are written in a record this archive has read. 3 are inferred from one. 1 comes from the family tree and is unverified.…
Marian Kolbe
…bef. 23 Oct 1863 — intestate John Kolbe George Kolbe Catharine Sophia Maria Kolbe Julia Kolbe Frederik Fortunatus Kolbe 1839 – 23 Nov 1929 Johan Casimir Kolbe 1844 or 1845 — three sources give three years – 11 Mar 1906 Peter Benjamin Kolbe b. 1840 the direct line, argued on the line from a record this archive has read inferred, not stated from the family tree, unverified 8 of the 12 relationships shown are written in a record this archive has read. 3 are inferred from one. 1 comes from the family tree and is unverified.…
Mary Elizabeth Kolbe
…bef. 23 Oct 1863 — intestate Kolbe married George Frederick Enslin record 1 child with George Augustus Kolbe Enslin b. 7 Sep 1853 record 9 siblings Margaretha Wilhelmina Elizabeth Mary Kolbe 1826 – 2 Aug 1912 John Kolbe George Kolbe Catharine Sophia Maria Kolbe Marian Kolbe Julia Kolbe Frederik Fortunatus Kolbe 1839 – 23 Nov 1929 Johan Casimir Kolbe 1844 or 1845 — three sources give three years – 11 Mar 1906 Peter Benjamin Kolbe b. 1840 the direct line, argued on the line from a record this archive has read inferred, not stated from the family tree, unverified 10 of the 14 relationships shown are written in a record this archive has read. 3 are inferred from one. 1 comes from the family tree and is unverified.…
Peter Benjamin Kolbe
…1840 Kolbe 9 siblings Margaretha Wilhelmina Elizabeth Mary Kolbe 1826 – 2 Aug 1912 Mary Elizabeth Kolbe d. bef. 23 Oct 1863 — intestate John Kolbe George Kolbe Catharine Sophia Maria Kolbe Marian Kolbe Julia Kolbe Frederik Fortunatus Kolbe 1839 – 23 Nov 1929 Johan Casimir Kolbe 1844 or 1845 — three sources give three years – 11 Mar 1906 the direct line, argued on the line from a record this archive has read inferred, not stated from the family tree, unverified 8 of the 12 relationships shown are written in a record this archive has read. 3 are inferred from one. 1 comes from the family tree and is unverified.…
The Register
…ster of the High Court, 1822-1990 Jessie Sarah Kolbe Birth 1862 | Death 6 Aug 1953 | Burial 8 Aug 1953 Cape Province, South Africa record ↗ South Africa, Cape, Cemetery Records, 1872-2011 Johan Caseniear Kolbe Probate Transvaal, South Africa record ↗ South Africa, Transvaal, Probate Records from the Master of the Supreme Court, 1869-1961 Johan Casimir Kolbe with: Elizabeth Geertruida Pienaar record ↗ South Africa, Civil Marriage Records, 1801-1974 Johan Casimir Kolbe Birth 1934 · with: Maria Monica Van Der Walt record ↗ South Africa, Civil Marriage Records, 1801-1974 Johan Casimir Kolbe reconstructed 1844 or 1845 — three sources give three years · 11 Mar 1906, Smithfield, Orange River Colony no public link reconstructed by this archive Johan Gottlie…
The Timeline
…4 — A promissory note for £154 lost on the Market Square at Bloemfontein 1 Jan 1865 — Anna Jacoba Kolbe baptised at Bloemfontein on New Year's Day — the real one 16 Jul 1866 — Hercules Johannes Mountjoy born 1866 — He sits as foreman of a jury at Bloemfontein 21 Nov 1866 — A nephew is baptised Johan Casimir at Graaff-Reinet 31 Mar 1866 — Johan Casimir Kolbe takes church membership at Colesberg 1 May 1867 — Banns called at Colesberg for Johan Casimir Kolbe and Elizabeth Geertruida Pienaar 25 Nov 1867 — Margaret Downing dies at Burgersdorp Oct 1868 — A horse thief takes a mare from his widow at Springfield 2 Aug 1869 — Two of the Commandant's sons take church membership at Bloemfontein on the same day 3 Apr 1869 — Two brothers admitted to membership a…
Others on the Kolbe side
All 369 people → · The places → · Search the archive →
A dossier is every mention of a person anywhere in this archive, gathered automatically after the site is built and linked back to the page it appears on. Identity here is by NAME, not by resolved individual — where two people share a name they share this page, and the archive says so rather than guessing. Nothing on a dossier page is new evidence; it is the same evidence, brought together.