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- From: Frederick
To: Francois Greeff
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 9:51 PMSubject: Re: Greeff Family GenealogyI am about to leave S.A. for a holiday to the U.K. on the QE2. arriving in Southampton on the 21st April and might be in London some time between the 7th and 12th May if I can find accommodation as I hope to meet an old friend who is emigrating to London so that we can do the National Gallery together.However, I digress, I meant to tell you that that is the reason I cannot comply with your request at this time. I shall only be back in S.A. towards the end of May.My father-in-law, Frederick Gert Greeff told me that two brothers Greeff came out from Antwerp either 20 or 40 years after van Riebeeck, (I cannot remember times very well). He said they settled in Somerset East and a cousin of my husband's, David Scott whose mother was Louisa Greeff said that the original farm called KammaKagga or something similar (I do have it written down somewhere but have not time to look just now) still exists in the Somerset East district (and possible still inhabited by Greeff's). Somerset East is close to Jansenville as I am sure you are aware. Fred Gert Greeff's father was a wealthy sheep farmer and then the bottom dropped out of the wool market and what was left disappeared as hy het diep in die bottel gekyk. As a result the family disintegrated. They were 13 children and the eldest Matthieu went to Rhodesia and was never heard from again. Some died in infancy and others my father-in-law kept tabs on and they married and had children who are my husband's cousins many of whom he does not know. When we first came to Jo'burg in 1959 we were the only Greeff's in the telephone book now there are many, none of whom are known to us.Some of my husband's cousins or their children have emigrated to Australia.David Scott has always been called the family historian but when I checked with him, he said he only knew about the de Lange's who were Fred Gert's mother's family, who were blonde and blue-eyed and descended from the French Huguenots who emigrated to S.A.I have been told the Greeff colouring is very dark, black hair and swarthy complexions but Fred Gert was blonde and blue eyed and some of his sisters were brown eyed with black hair but they had light complexions.I also heard from a rank outsider that the original Greeff brothers married local women. So it was assumed they meant Hottentots or San BUT it could equally well have been other European immigrants who settled locally. There is no knowing.The Greeff descendants settled down in the Cape and actually fought on the side of the English during the Boer War. I suppose they wanted to get their hands on the Gold too.There is a well known journalist in S.A. called Casper Greeff who once reminisced about his family and their personal habits and although I do not know him personally nor been in touch some the the family habits seemed to apply in our immediate family too. He might well be a relative of yours because I see you also have a Casparus Johannes Greeff.Anyway Ciao for now as although I am intensely interested in this process I have run out of time except to tell you that my husband's name is also Frederick Michael Greeff, our eldest daughter who is nearing 50 is Penelope Ann de Vries, our second daughter lives in Australia and is Jacqueline Rose Campbell, Bernard Lawrence Greeff is the son you contacted and Nicholas Gerard Greeff is our youngest son who married a Nicolette Bruyns (another very old S.A. family name).Unless I hear from you before, I shall e-mail you on my return.
Yours sincerely,
V.J. Greeff (Mrs.
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