General Chat

Several listers have recently sent in copies of old letters, which give enthralling reflections of the life and times when they were written. Here is another snapshot, written in 1857, and preserved in the Cape Archive Repository. Background : The writer was Elijah Albut, addressing folk back home. Elijah was a son of Edwin Albut by a first marriage. Edwin's second wife was Mellicent Nash nee Hobson, a sister of the two 1820 Hobson brothers David and William Carey. Mellicent and her husband Edwin came to SA in 1838 with children William, David, James and Anne (all Nash) and Sarah Maria Albut. Elijah came out in about 1841 to work for his father Edwin. Read on. ****************************************************************************************************** South Africa. Cape of Good Hope Dec 1857. Dear Uncle, Having never written to you I feel downright sorry about it, having not fulfilled my promise as I said I would, but not having anything to write about of any account, thought it wasn't worth writing, & not doing so well as I thought of doing when I first came out, but now I am getting on better in the world, but you must please forget and forgive all grievances. When I first came out here to the Bay I fared very well. The "Laura" was 16 weeks coming out here, & was wrecked with a freight of sugar. Captain's nephew was drowned in Algoa Bay. We had some narrow squeaks coming out here. The old "Laura" was nearly on fire, once, half under water & bulwarks, casks & other things washed away by Cape Point, & very bad accommodation, half starved as it were, leaked like the very devil. Went to Graham's Town to George Wood, where I felt inclined to halt as he made me a very good offer, he said I could live with him in Graham's Town till I learned the Dutch language then he would give me wagon, oxen & goods upon credit but I thought it would not do as I came out to father. I waited there till he came with two waggons to Graham's Town then I went up the country with him as a leader in front of the oxen. [His father was Edwin Albut. "Up country" would have been at the Albut's farm "Two Waters", about 20 km from Steytlerville on the road to Uitenhage] The waggon nearly ran over me. He gave me 7/6 a month & bought my clothes. For about 3 years I had to do anything, cook, kill, clean priveys, anything that wanted doing. The waggon run over my ankle & thigh, crippled for about 3 weeks but soon got better again. It happened while trading up the country. What I got in the 3 years the Kaffirs took away in the war, then I had nothing. Could not agree very well with father, left him, went in partnership with a tradesman (book-learnt instead of being hand-learnt). What I got there Kaffirs run away with, left him & went up country. Having said enough about that topic I'll turn the table. I am now living up the country with my brothers-in-law. [They were actually the sons of his step-mother Mellicent Hobson by her first marriage to Henry Nash]. They are all married except me & David. William Nash married his cousin Phoebe Hobson. He has 3 daughters, 2 sons, he is doing well. James Nash married a servant girl, Jane Yateman, [sic : actually "Yeatman"], he has 2 boys & 1 girl, he is doing well. Anne married a Mr. Kirkman, very respectable young man, gentleman I should say. The have 2 girls & 4 boys & are getting on well. Sarah is still single. [She later married into the Gilfillan family]. I have another half-brother Jesse Albut. He was born about 3 weeks when I came out here. Father is yet alive & doing well. His wife died last April very suddenly. [Mellicent Albut formerly Nash nee Hobson; sister of the two 1820 Setler Hobson brothers]. They are living in the part of Africa called Winterhook. He is worth! about £2,000. While I have been up here with my brothers in law, things have gone on a little better with me. They are getting a little together since I have been here. What I am worth is £180, in all. Would have had a little more, but being disappointed in love didn't care how things went, but I hope now to do better. I think if I cannot get an English girl I'll try Dutch. Ever since I have been here where I now am things have done well & I have done well. The principal stay as it regards food in this country is meat, that is about 3d a pound on average, beef & mutton. The horses here are worth £20. Oxen that pull £3.10.0, for slaughter £6. Sheep, ewes (bad) 10/-, good ewes £2. Meal flour upon an average, lowest price £1.10.0 the muid (180 lbs.). Wethers, good fat ones 12/- Wearing apparel is nearly as cheap here as it is in England. Bread is dearer here than it is in your country. Haven't you a decent young girl that you can let come out here, as they are very scarce. We want about a ship freight sent out. Decent looking ones with good characters. This country is over-run with Methodists, they are very religious, so much so that they can hardly do their jobs. There is a great deal of partiality amongst them. We want some worthy & good Evangelical ministers sent to this country that don't like partiality and all that nonsense to cause war here, but those that will stick to the Bible the Word of God and don't listen to all the tang bang that's going about. There's a great many what they call societies here, but what we want is worthy unity, heart work, happiness, believing God's holy word with the bible at our heart. The principal town here is Cape Town where I have never been, the next to that is Graham's Town. They are now both called cities. Grahams Town is about the size of Woolwich. There are about 20 or 30 other villages - hamlets with about 700 houses in each. It is the custom of the Dutch to have coffee before sunrise, smoke a pipe, eat at 11 o'clock, then not till supper time, then turn into bed as soon as they have eaten it. Their diet is mostly bitter coffee & meat, Indian corn pounded, then cooked with a little fat poured over it, they eat them as long as they can when green, they are very nice then. The pumpkins are also very cheap, waggon load for £1. They give the herds meat mostly 7 pumpkins. Kaffirs & Fingoes & Mantatees are the best cattle & sheep herds. Hottentots are the best to work by the house & waggon. Shepherds wages is 9/- a month & his victuals (he has about from 1000 to 3000 to herd) with plenty of tobacco & old clothes. Goats are very numerous, large wethers weigh 200 to 300 lbs. Cost about 20/- they are very profitable when they have not got the scurvy, when they get that they are good for nothing. There are a great many farms with only a little fountain where they are too lazy to make dams to catch the wate! r, the gentry there live on bitter coffee & plenty of meat, nothing else. Goats milk is much nicer than cow's in the coffee & tea. Wheat is worth 20/- the muid )(180lbs). Indian corn 15/- Barley 10/- oats 10/-. Vegetables cheap as in England. Oranges wholesale 2/- the 100. China 3/- the 100. We have very bad roads in this Africa, the waggons go head over heels. The oxen get worn out. It is after the rains mostly that they are so bad. The principal traffic is with waggons that is the conveyance out here, they pull with 12 to 16 oxen. Carriage weight 3/- per 100 lbs. The 100 miles, according to the cheapness at what the oxen are at. We have had the carriage as high as 6/- to 10/- the 100 miles. Through the oxen having what they call the lung sickness great cattle farmers have lost from 600 to 1000 bullocks on one farm, fowls are worth 6d, cocks & hens, ducks 2/-. Butchers kill hardly any pigs & calves here in this country, but they are about the same price as in England. There! is some talk

Fantastic stuff! My husband's family were early immigrants to New Zealand and I'm sure their lives would have been just as interesting! Capetown is a beautiful city. Went to Africa in 1973 - spent nearly a year travelling from South to North. An experience I'll never forget!

Thank you Lindy. Very interesting. Terri xx

I have a school photograph - postcard form - which my mother sent to one of her sisters somewhere around 1910. The sad thing is she put an "x" on her own face with the words to her sister "the x is me". Now her face is not clear at all.

Lindy i love things like this, its as if your their, history is great, theirs a site called sussex weald and it has extract from thomas turners diary its interesting if you like that sort of thing, there's more than just finding the rellies,its filling the gaps with prices foods conditions etc i'm attempting to do a family book with as much history info as well, with so many appearing it'll be a big one sandra