James Montjoy

…Both of them lie under a cut-stone monument at Burgersdorp — names, London birthplaces, farm and dates carved into it — about forty miles from where that notice was written. The family forgot them inside seventy years, with the headstone still standing. And it had happened before, on the other side of the house. In 1840 a relative of James Montjoy filled in the same printed form at the same box. He knew the dead man's trade, his house, what it was worth, the village he died in and the name of his wife's first husband. Where it asked for the parents, he wrote: "Names of the Parents of the Deceased. Not Known ." — and for birth-place, only "Europe" . James Montjoy had died thirteen years earlier .…

…The register searched turns out to be an Orange Free State land roll that does not cover the Cape at all. → A part searched, reported as the whole 9 Sep 2026 “The tree contradicts itself on 1827 and 1840” It does not. 1827 is when James Montjoy died and 1840 is when the notice was filed. The contradiction was the archive's. → A document read past what it says 9 Sep 2026 “The z was this family's invention” The 1851 Graaff-Reinet register writes a neighbouring family's name with a z in the same hand and ink. The z was Cape Dutch orthography before it was anybody's statement.…

…This family's link to him is not demonstrated here, and must not be assumed. The name → The other line — through his mother The male line stops at generation 7 with a man who has no dates. The line through Johanna Catharina Mountjoy runs a generation deeper, and every step of it is now on paper. Name Born Died Carried by James Montjoy saddler at Cradock; his parents recorded as Not Known c. 1782, "Europe" Sep 1827, Cradock His 1840 death notice, KAB MOOC 6/9/21: 4393 Anna Catharina Sleer his wife, m. 9 Mar 1817 Graaff-Reinet; previously widow of William Pietersen 1787 1885 — aged 98 The 1840 death notice; the 1817 marriage index Johanna Catharina Mountjoy m.…

…(NEE MONTJOY). DEATH NOTICE. KAB MOOC 6/9/104, 499 1863 MONTJOY, JOHANNA CATHARINA. LIQUIDATION AND DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNT. KAB MOOC 13/1/221, 6 1866 Filed 25 July 1863 , reference 499 . The form, as completed 1. Name of the Deceased Johanna Catharina Montjoy 2. Birth-place Graaff Reinet 3. Names of the Parents James Montjoy and Anna Catharina Sleer 4. Age 44 years & 19 days 5. Condition in life farmer's wife 6. Married or unmarried Married to Petrus Jacobus Booysen 7. Day of decease 19th May 1863 8. At what House Zevenfontein, Brak River 10. Property Moveable property Line 3 — the generation the archive did not have from any document: James Montjoy and Anna Catharina Sleer .…

…20 Juni 1889 6 October 1889: George , geb. 21 Juli 1889; Ouders Hercules Johannes Mountjoy and Maria Sophia v Line 3 — the generation the archive did not have from any document: James Montjoy and Anna Catha One Major , seven Minors . The widower signs. Names of the Parents of the Deceased. Not Known. 1840, line 5 — Saddler 1840, line 6 — "Married to Catharina Sl[i/e]er, widow of William Pietersen" Line 7: September 1827 . Line 9: James · George · Johanna · Jacoba , all minors. " Petrus Jacobus Booÿsen — mother's name, not known " — and the informant underlined it.…

…31 Jan 1862 – 14 May 1891 This archive filed her for a week as a stranger called Anna Johanna Booijzen BORN ALBERTS who died at BOEKFONTEIN. Both readings were wrong, and together they kept a documented wife and two documented children off this family. James Montjoy & Anna Catharina Sleer James c. 1782 – Sep 1827 · Anna 1787 – 1885 On whose word a record read here Married at Graaff-Reinet, 9 March 1817 — on a page where the clerk recorded everyone else's origin and left his blank.…

…It is an Orange Free State land roll and was never going to hold a Cape farm. A control search on “Dordrecht” — 670 rebels, 0 farms — caught it. 9 Sep 2026 Taken back CORRECTED — my contradiction, not the tree's The archive flagged a conflict between the tree's 1827 death for James Montjoy and the 1840 date on his file. Both are right: he died in 1827 and the notice was filed thirteen years later. The error was mine. 9 Sep 2026 Found “Names of the Parents of the Deceased. Not Known.” Found by interpolating reference numbers across 2,223 images of an unindexed film. The oldest document in the archive, and it answers the question it was fetched to answer by refusing it.…

…She died before March 1825, and at least one child came after that — so there was a second marriage nobody had recorded until 2026. The line → 9 March 1817 Graaff-Reinet James Montjoy & Anna Catharina Sleer a record read here She was a widow; his origin is left blank on a page where the clerk filled everyone else's in. The blank predates the 1840 death notice by twenty-three years. The 1817 register → 1819 London George Augustus Kolbe & Margaret Downing a record read here Both were sixteen.…

…What is left is the Commission's own claim registers, in the Reading Room at Roeland Street, which no search from here can substitute for. Also still untouched: Cape deeds and quitrent records for Barkly East, Lady Grey and Wodehouse, and Cape district and refugee-camp records. § 12 · Blocking Who were James Montjoy's parents? — ANSWERED, AND THE ANSWER IS THAT NOBODY KNEW. READ. KAB MOOC 6/9/21 ref 4393 was located by interpolating reference numbers across film 007844936 and found at image 338 of 2,223. James Montjoy, saddler, born in 'Europe' about 1782, died at Cradock in September 1827 leaving a house and erf worth £90 and four children under nine.…

…The first wife, Anna Maria van der Merwe, died before March 1825; this son was born about June 1828. Two van der Merwe wives, one after the other — which is why the eight children on the 1876 Sterfkennis cannot all be drawn under one marriage. The Documents The Women Disputed James Montjoy also written Mountjoy, Montyoy Documented 15 mentions c. 1782, “Europe” Sep 1827, Cradock Saddler. Owned a house and erf at Cradock worth £90. His 1840 death notice gives his parents as NOT KNOWN — the oldest document here, and the top of this line.…

…Jun 1854, Cape Province · 22 Dec 1937, Barkly East no public link reconstructed by this archive James Montjoy Death South Africa record ↗ South Africa, Cape, Probate Records of the Master of the High Court, 1822-1990 James Montjoy with: Anna C Sher record ↗ South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Registers (Cape Town Archives), 1660-1994 James Montjoy reconstructed c.…

…There is NO Magdelena Elisabeth, and nothing dated 1843. BOOYSEN — the whole run read on film Partly Page 436 onward, alphabetical by christian name with a death-notice number and year against each. A working index of every Booysen death notice reported to the Master between 1834 and 1912. FindMyPast · world records for James Montjoy's origin · searched 9 Sep 2026 · where it is used → Query Result MOUNTJOY, born about 1782 ±5 12,984 results Nothing Not tractable. The archive has no discriminator beyond a trade and a date — “a saddler, in the Cape by March 1817” — and thirteen thousand results cannot be narrowed by that.…

…Where a document was written long after the event it records, both dates are given — that gap is one of the things this archive is about. Two hundred and thirty-four years 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 c. 20 Mar 1754 — Johanna Booyzen born “in this Colony” 1779 — The spelling BOOYZEN is already in use at the Cape c. 1782 — James Montjoy born, in “Europe” c.…

…1825 Anna Maria van der Merwe · 1785 – bef. 1825 Disputed Only a family tree puts her here. The 1876 Sterfkennis names eight children and no mother for any of them, and a second van der Merwe wife makes the assumption weaker, not stronger. Johanna C. Mountjoy 1819 – 1863 Johanna Catharina Mountjoy · 1819 – 1863 James Montjoy c.1782 – 1827 James Montjoy · c.1782 – 1827 “Not Known” “Names of the Parents of the Deceased. Not Known.” Written 1840, thirteen years after he died. Anna Catharina Sleer 1787 – 1885 Anna Catharina Sleer · 1787 – 1885 · also married Willem Hermanus Pieterzen Catherine M. S.…

…The register → Three times the form asked, and three times it was the mother who was gone This is the clearest thing the documents say about women in this family, and it was not visible until the third one was read. Written Death notice of "Names of the Parents of the Deceased" 1840 James Montjoy "Not Known." Both parents, together. 1884 Petrus Jacobus Booysen Father written out in full. "Mother's name, not known" — underlined. 1915 Margaret Elizabeth Barry née Kolbe "Father: Kolbe, thinks James was christian name. Mother: Unknown ." Read down the right-hand column. In 1884 the father has a full name and the mother has none.…