Sources
Everything documented in this archive traces to one of the records below. Where a claim is inferred or is family testimony, the page carrying it says so.
The primary tree
MyHeritage — Defranceski Family Site (23andMe), the family tree "Defranceski, Lerena, Taylor, Barry, Blazevic, Booyzen", 15,643 people. Read 9 September 2026 from David Defranceski's account.
The tree is private and its profile pages are not publicly linkable. Everything taken from it is reproduced here with its own citation where it carries one, and marked as uncited where it does not. MyHeritage interface marks — confirmed Smart Matches, direct-ancestor stars — are not treated as sources. Method →
Records cited within that tree
Each of these is a FamilySearch ark or a FindMyPast transcript recorded against a specific fact. They are listed so that anyone can go and look at the image rather than take this archive's word for it. None has yet been independently re-read by this archive.
| Fact | Collection | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Willem Hermanus Booyzen — birth 1851, Cradock | South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Registers (Cape Town Archives), 1660–1970 | 3:1:3Q9M-CSV8-8SD4-8 |
| Willem Hermanus Booyzen (jr) — birth 1885, Barkly East | DRC Registers (Cape Town Archives) | 3:1:3Q9M-CSK6-W963-Q |
| Frederik Fortsenatus Booÿsen — birth 1899 | DRC Registers (Cape Town Archives) | 3:1:3Q9M-CSKD-1S76-F |
| Johanna Catharina Booysen — birth 1844, Cape Town | DRC Registers (Cape Town Archives) | 3:1:3Q9M-CSVZ-WSL6-8 |
| David Schalk Booysen — birth 1848, Brakrivier, Calvinia | DRC Registers — entry names Johanna Catharina Mountjoy | 1:1:6DTY-MSPJ |
| Kathleen Barry — birth 1859, Barkly East | FamilySearch image | 3:1:3Q9M-CSV8-85FP |
| Petrus Jacobus Booysen (1812) — birth | FindMyPast transcript | R_177176049779 |
| Petrus Jacobus Booysen (1788) — marriage 1805 | via FindMyPast / FamilySearch | 3:1:3Q9M-CSFQ-S11J |
| Johanna Catharina Mountjoy — death 1863, Zevenfontein | Cape Province, Probate Records of the Master of the High Court, 1834–1989 | 3:1:3Q9M-CSQF-XSMD-B |
| Petrus Jacobus Booysen (1812) — death 1884 | Cape Province, Probate Records of the Master of the High Court | 3:1:3Q9M-CSQX-HSHP-Z |
| Petrus Jacobus Booysen (1788) — death 1876, Rustenburg | Transvaal, Probate Records from the Master of the Supreme Court, 1869–1958 | 3:1:3Q9M-CS4F-VSDP-F |
| Magdalena Johanna Booysen — death 1811 | Transvaal, Probate Records from the Master of the Supreme Court | 3:1:3Q9M-CS92-DWY4 |
| Hendrik Stefanus Booysen — marriage 1850, Potchefstroom | Transvaal, Probate Records from the Master of the Supreme Court | 3:1:3Q9M-CSQH-LS9Z-9 |
| George Booyzen & Anna Pretorius — marriage 1924, Vereeniging | Heidelberg, Transvaal, South Africa records | 3:1:3Q9M-C91V-TQKX-F |
| Anna Johanna Maria Pretorius — death 1944, Forest Hill | Transvaal, South Africa records | 3:1:3Q9M-CS9R-Y9LN-M |
| George Downing Mountjoy Booyzen — death 1947 | Transvaal, South Africa records | 3:1:3Q9M-CS34-696T-M |
| George Downing Mountjoy Booyzen — burial 1947, West Park | Randburg, Transvaal, South Africa records | 3:1:3QHK-93PY-2FS2 |
| Gertrude Elizabeth Booyzen — death 1946, 85 Rheeden St | Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa records | 3:1:3Q9M-C9BY-59Q2-1 |
| Catherine Booyzen & Nuno Lerena — marriage 1949, St Joseph's Mayfair | Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa records | 3:1:3Q9M-CS27-23NL |
| Johanna Catharina Booyzen & Johannes Pool — marriage 1910 | South Africa, Transvaal, Civil Marriages, 1870–1930 (NARS) | 3:1:3Q9M-C91V-LBN |
| Henry James Booyzen & Dorothea Regina Barry — marriage 1912, Elliot | South Africa, Civil Marriage Records, 1840–1973 | 3:1:3Q9M-C9BP-3SZW-J |
| Dirk Jacobus Pretorius — marriage 1926, Vereeniging | South Africa, Transvaal, Civil Marriages, 1870–1930 (NARS) | 3:1:3Q9M-C912-4Q9K-3 |
| Dirk Jacobus Pretorius — death 1957, Germiston | South Africa, Civil Death Registration, 1955–1966 | 3:1:3Q9M-C91P-D9S7-5 |
FamilySearch arks resolve at familysearch.org/ark:/61903/<reference>. Collections citing the State Archives, Cape Province and Pietermaritzburg Archives are named as FamilySearch gives them.
Original documents read by this archive
Extracted at full resolution from the MyHeritage photo store on 9 September 2026 and transcribed directly. Images and transcriptions are on The documents; originals are kept in sources/booyzen-photos/.
| Document | Detail |
|---|---|
| Death registration, Willem Hermanus Booysen, 1905 | Cape Colony, Form of Information of a Death, Act No. 7 of 1894; entry 299, sub-district Indwe, district Wodehouse; registered 14 Sep 1905 |
| Marriage register, Booysen–Barry, 1879 | Duplicaat Origineel Register, entry 15, Barkly, district Wodehouse; Ned. Ger. Kerk; officiant David Ross |
| Death notice, John Barry, 1915 | Administration of Estates Act 24 of 1913; Barkly East; stamped 18 Apr 1915, No. 925; signed James H. Barry |
| Death notice, George Downing Mountjoy Booyzen, 1948 | Administration of Estates Act 1913; Johannesburg; signed 21 Feb 1948; Master's Office stamp 1948 |
| Photograph — "George Booyzen and Isaak Pretorius In Transkei" | captioned in the tree; undated, c. 1930s |
| Three uncaptioned photographs | attached to George's profile; identifications inferred and flagged as unverified |
| Death notice, George Augustus Kolbe, 1845 | Section 9, Ordinance 104; estate 7698 = KAB MOOC 6/9/35 (1845); signed by his widow at Colesberg |
| Death notice, Margaret Downing, 1868 | Ordinance 104; estate 4094; filed 30 Jan 1868, signed G. D. O. Werdmuller |
| Marriage allegation, London Diocese, 1819 | 20 Jan 1819, St Leonard Shoreditch; both parties sworn as "of the age of Twenty-one Years and upwards" |
| Gravestone, Burgersdorp Old Cemetery | George Augustus Kolbe and Margaret Downing; photographed, inscription transcribed in full |
| Will of John Gottlob Kolbe, 1842 | Prerogative Court of Canterbury register copy, Public Record Office (TNA PROB 11), image ref 137; proved at London 23 Feb 1846 |
| Death certificate, John Gottlob Kolbe, 1845 | General Register Office, entry 206, district of May Fair, St George Hanover Square |
| Burial register, 1845 | St John Baptist, the German Savoy Church, Middlesex; entry 55, Grave 7, Revd Dr Steinkopff |
Estate and archival references in hand
| KAB: MOOC 6/9/35: 7698 (1845) | Estate of George Augustus Kolbe, d. 1 December 1844 at the farm "Wurtemburg", Colesberg district. Cape Archives, Master's Office. Not yet ordered. |
| SAG "b3" | The generation code recorded against Margaretha Wilhelmina Elizabeth Mary Kolbe at her 1846 marriage — a pointer into the published Suid-Afrikaanse Geslagsregisters. Not yet followed. |
| KAB: MOOC 6/9/21: 4393 (1840) | Death notice of JAMES MONTJOY, saddler, d. Cradock September 1827. Read in full — located at image 338 of 2,223 on film 007844936 by interpolating reference numbers, since it is not name-indexed. Line 3, the parents: "Not Known." Transcribed → |
| KAB: MOOC 7/1/268: 87 (1845) | Will of JOHANNA CATHARINA MONTJOY, wife of Petrus Jacobus Booysen. Made eighteen years before her death. Cannot be located on film. Not name-indexed, and every nineteenth-century Cape film whose target board this archive has read says DEATH NOTICES — the separate wills volumes are not evidently in the collection. The catalogue would settle it and is blocked. The attempt → |
| KAB: MOOC 6/9/—: 6167 (1843) | Death notice of JOHANNA BOOYZEN, born about 1754, widow of Charles du Plessis, of 28 Roze Street, Cape Town. Read in full. NOT this family, and read precisely because her dates match the only two this archive has for Magdelena Elisabeth de Beer. Transcribed → |
| KAB: MOOC 6/9/104: 499 (1863) | Death notice of JOHANNA CATHARINA BOOYSEN née MONTJOY, d. 19 May 1863 at Zevenfontein, Brak River. Read in full — names her parents, her eight children and her age to the day. Transcribed → |
| KAB: MOOC 13/1/221: 6 (1866) | Liquidation and distribution account for the same estate — it would divide an 1863 estate among eight children and give them their married surnames. Cannot be located on film, for the same reason as the will above. |
| KAB: 84992 (1943) | Death notice of ISABELLA FREDRIKA BOOYZEN, born COETZEE — wife of Gert Jacobus. Read in full. She died 31 March 1930 and the notice was filed thirteen years later; this archive had been using the filing year as her death date. Spelled BOOYZEN by the Master's office throughout. Transcribed → |
| KAB: MOOC 6/9/5047: 58379 (1938) | Estate papers, JAMES JOHN MOUNTJOY — James Jonathan, retired builder, d. 22 December 1937, Barkly East. Read in full, and not only the death notice — the first and final liquidation account and the distribution account as well, on film 007735716 images 767–770. His wife Maria Louisa Bertha née Kumm is the next file, 58380, as this page predicted; read too. Transcribed → |
| KAB: MOOC 6/9/15220: 3786/48 (1948) | Estate papers, a second JAMES JOHN MOUNTJOY — the son baptised 30 May 1895. |
| KAB: MOOC 7/1/104: 42 (1818) | WILL of JAMES MOUNTJOY, joint with SLIER, ANNA CATHARINA, his wife — made a year after their marriage. Requested from the Cape Town Archives, 10 September 2026. The likeliest surviving document to state where he came from. |
| KAB: MOOC 7/1/104: 43 (1827) | The same pair again, in the year he died. Requested. |
| KAB: CO 3972: 17 (1834) | Colonial Office memorial — "the widow of J Mountjoy, requesting remission of a fine". A petition in Anna Catharina's own voice, seven years widowed. Requested. |
| KAB: DOC 4/1/1164: 6415 · 4/1/1328: 2950 · 4/1/1313: 1594 | Mortgage bonds, George Mountjoy (1905, 1908) and James John Mountjoy (1908) — the Mountjoy cousins raising money on land in the years the Booyzens had none. |
| KAB: DOC 4/1/446, 510, 520, 939 (1895–1903) | Five mortgage bonds in the name RICHARD PETER BARRY, spanning the war — corroboration for the Cape Rebel of Jerpoint, not proof. |
| FamilySearch film 007844477 | The Master of the Supreme Court's own index of death notices, 1834–1912 — surname, christian name, notice number and year, 612 images. Read at the "Beer, de" pages (278–280) and the Booysen pages (436 onward). Particles index separately, so de Beer files under B. |
The Transvaal, before anyone thought this family was there
Three notices found by reading a surname rather than chasing a reference. The first of them is the oldest document in this archive.
| Reference | Person | Died | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sterfkennis 678 Transvaal, Weeskamer | Petrus Jacobus Booijsen — generation six, b. Graaff-Reinet c. 1788 | 1876 | Read Parents named: Gerthardus Lödewikus Booijsen and Magdalena de Beer. Eight children. Nothing to leave. Transcribed → |
| Sterfkennis 6332 | Anna Catharina Johanna Olivier — b. district Cradock c. 1823 | 1891 | Read, and she is kin Died Brakfontein, district Rustenburg — the family farm. Parents Ocken Johannes Oliefier and Anna Johanna Botha. The first wife of Hendrik Stefanus Booijsen, with seven children. Filed here for a week as born Alberts, at Boekfontein, kinship unproven; both readings were wrong. |
| Sterfkennis 44420 | Magdalena Susanna Maria van den Berg, born Booyzen — b. c. 1860 | 1920 | Read, kinship unproven Died Vaalbank, district Lichtenburg. Father entered as Jan Gerhardus Lodewicus Booyzen. |
How they were found matters more than what they say. The nine references below came from NAAIRS, one search at a time, and this archive spent days working through them. These three came from asking FamilySearch's Transvaal probate collection for every indexed BOOYSEN and BOOYZEN at once and reading the list. That took minutes. The lesson is recorded on What was searched, because it is the method that failed, not the archive.
The Transvaal estates — located, and mostly still unread
Found only after this archive noticed it had spent its life searching the Cape depot alone. Every reference below is in hand; three have been read, and one of the three arrived unlooked-for.
| Reference | Person | Died | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| TAB MHG 2428/40 | Stephanus Francois Booyzen — son of the second marriage | 1940 | Read A mason. Parents given as "oorlede". Transcribed → |
| TAB MHG 2945/44 | Anna Johanna Maria Booyzen, born Pretorius — indexed under her husband as "Spouse" | 1944 | Read Both parents named, with a Germiston address. Six children, all minors. Transcribed → |
| TAB MHG 1928/42 | Joseph Heinrich Daschner — her husband, who married her at Indwe | 1942 | Read Both parents named. Eleven children, five carrying Booyzen and Barry names. Transcribed → |
| TAB MHG 3734/46 | Catherine Mary Sophia Daschner, born Booyzen — b. 22 Apr 1891 | 1946 | Blocked Film access restricted online. |
| TAB MHG 1095/48 | George Downing Mountjoy Booyzen | 1947 | Blocked Film access restricted online. The ark 1:1:QGXP-3MKR is his wife's file, already read. |
| TAB MHG 5155/51 | Gert Jacobus Booyzen — b. 19 Jan 1870 | 1951 | Blocked Film access restricted online. |
| TAB MHG 769/52 | John Barry Booyzen — who signed the 1905 form | 1952 | Blocked Film access restricted online. |
| TAB MHG 10/57 | Henry James Booyzen | 1956 | Blocked Film access restricted online. |
| TAB MHG 52653 | Jacobus Nichols Booyzen — eldest on the 1863 list | 1923 | Not found In the open half of the collection, but not name-indexed, and the films are not ordered by estate number. |
| TAB MHG O/2899 | Jan Gerardus Lodewicus Booijzen — NOT the seventh child on the 1863 list, as this page said for months. Aged 67, born district Graaff-Reinet, died 25 May 1885 at Vaalbank, district Lichtenburg: the son of that name on the 1876 Sterfkennis. The correction → | 1885 | Index read; no image offered. The file is at Pretoria and has not been seen. |
The Transvaal probate collection is digitised, so these are readable rather than orderable — each should carry a Sterfkennis naming the deceased's parents, occupation and children. Between them they would settle what the men of this family did for a living in Johannesburg, which is the last untested line of the family testimony.
Reading them is rate-limited rather than blocked: FamilySearch began refusing requests partway through this work and recovers after a rest. The references are recorded here so the job resumes rather than restarts.
Five of the six sit behind that line: 3734/46, 1095/48, 5155/51, 769/52 and 10/57. No amount of browsing reaches them. The sixth, 52653 of 1923, is in the open half — but it is not name-indexed, and the films are not ordered by estate number. Image 100 of three films in the same numeric neighbourhood gave a 1920 Sterfkennis, a 1938 death notice, and a Chinese clan genealogy. There is nothing to interpolate along.
So this queue no longer belongs on a screen. The originals are at the Transvaal Archives Depot, Pretoria, which is where these six now go. What was searched →
And one thing learned about the route in. The whole indexed surname can be pulled from one collection at a time — BOOYZEN, exact, collection 2520237 returns 150 people — which is how the 1942 Daschner file was found without knowing it existed. It also settles a negative: the 1946 to 1957 estates in this table are not in that index at all. They exist on film and were never keyed, so the remaining six have to be reached by browsing images rather than by searching names, and that is a different and slower job. What was searched →
Indexes searched, including where they returned nothing
A negative result is only worth recording if the search behind it is stated.
| Index | Query | Result |
|---|---|---|
| NAAIRS — National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System, Cape Town Archives Repository (KAB) | MOUNTJOY | 42 |
| MOUNTJOY, beginning date ≥ 1930 | 22 — all read | |
| MONTJOY | 4 — all read | |
| MOUNTJOY and HERKLAAS | 0 | |
| MOUNTJOY and HERCULES | 0 | |
| MOUNTJOY and WODEHOUSE | 0 | |
| MOUNTJOY and BARKLY | 0 | |
| FamilySearch full-text search | "Johannes Mountjoy" | 0 — the collection does not cover Cape probate |
What the zeros mean here. There is no estate file for Hercules Johannes Mountjoy (d. 12 May 1941, Wodehouse) in the Cape Town Archives under any spelling. The estates around him run 1938, 1939, 1943, 1946 and 1948 — an unbroken sequence — so this is an absence, not a hole in the index. His parentage is instead carried by his 1866 baptism register entry, which is better evidence than a death notice would have been.
One correction to an external source. The FamilySearch ark cited by 1820settlers.com for James Jonathan Mountjoy (3:1:3Q9M-CSQ8-S3QM-6) is not him. It is the death notice of Ferdinand Kumm, d. 20 October 1903 at Stutterheim — his father-in-law.
Published and reference sources
Forebears — surname incidence and distribution for Booyzen and Booysen, accessed 9 September 2026. Forebears figures are modelled estimates from name-frequency data, not a census. The name →
Wikipedia, Booysen — surname etymology and the progenitor Boij Boijeszoon of Barlt, Northern Friesland.
Hilary Anne Shearing, The Cape Rebel of the South African War, 1899–1902 (Stellenbosch University) — the standard study; the source of the rebel classification system and the scale of the rebellion.
The Van Plettenberg Historical Society, "Cape Rebels 1899–1902" — district rebel numbers, trial and sentencing outcomes, the 44 executions and the 409 transportations.
angloboerwar.com — Barkly East and Dordrecht rebel numbers, Commandant D. Schoeman at Labuschagne's Nek, Commandant J. F. de Wet and the Barkly East Rebels.
Anglo-Boer War Museum, Bloemfontein — wmbr.org.za, searched 9 September 2026. Fifteen registers, including Cape Rebels (12,792), Joiners (952), Farm List (10,282) and Boer Officers (514). Records cited here: Cape Rebels ID 8434 (Schoeman, Daniel Willem, Caerlaverock) and ID 4721 (Klopper, Christiaan F., Caerlaverock). The rebels →
Other trees holding this family
Recorded on the MyHeritage profiles as saved records. They are leads, not sources — listed here because they are where corroboration or contradiction is most likely to come from.
| Tree | Held by | Attached to |
|---|---|---|
| Barry Web Site | Peter Barry, New Zealand | Willem Hermanus Booyzen |
| Daschner Web Site | Hilary Bird, Australia | George D. M. Booyzen; Anna Pretorius |
| van Rensburg Web Site | Wayne van Rensburg, South Africa | George D. M. Booyzen; Anna Pretorius |
| Davis Web Site | Gillian Davis, South Africa | George D. M. Booyzen |
| Turner Web Site | Warren Turner, New Zealand | George D. M. Booyzen |
| Martin Hardy Ellis and Family | Martin Hardy Ellis, United Kingdom | George D. M. Booyzen |
| Labuschagne Web Site | Herman Labuschagne, South Africa | Willem Hermanus Booyzen |
| Fick family Web Site | Paula Wiegmink, Australia | Willem Hermanus Booyzen |
| Rademeyer Web Site | Michael Vincent Rademeyer, South Africa | Willem Hermanus Booyzen |
| du Plessis Web Site | Etienne Muller du Plessis, South Africa | Anna Pretorius |
| Wandrag–Pretorius–Vermaak–Nortje | Glen Pretorius, South Africa | Anna Pretorius |
| Štāle Web Site | Renāte Štāle, Latvia | Anna Pretorius |
| Geni World Family Tree | — | Kathleen Barry; John Augustus Barry; George A. Kolbe |
| FamilySearch Family Tree | — | both Petrus Jacobus Booysens |
Testimony
Tersia Booyzen, recorded on the MyHeritage profile of Willem Hermanus Booyzen — the name-change and Anglo-Boer War account, given as told to her by her father. Quoted in full →
An unattributed earlier researcher, recorded on the profiles of John Augustus Barry I and Margaretha Kolbe — the account of the three conflicting birth records, the "Neagle" maiden name, and the anti-English reputation. The Barrys →
David Defranceski, September 2026 — the brief for this archive and the identification of Catherine Mary Sophia Booyzen as its starting point.