Boer General's daughter on the Isle of Wight

[ChrisW]

I am trying to track down the truth of a family story and wonder if anyone has any suggestions. It is said that one of my husband's ancestors married a Boer General's daughter (he ran away with her and they were chased across South Africa by both the Boers and the English, so maybe he was a deserter?) They settled on the Isle of Wight and she taught shooting at Parkhurst Barracks. His name is likely to have been Woolcock, Morey or Simmonds.

[neil1821]

Personally I don't think it's ever very productive to jump in the deep end and chase stories/rumours/family legends, call them what you will. As you're finding now, where to start exactly?
The only way to proceed is be methodical. Trace your husband's family back to the 1880s/1890s in the normal way (BMDs, census etc). You'll then be able to shortlist any likely individuals (and with a bit of luck they may even be listed as soldiers in those records). Then maybe we can suggest where to go next.

[Geoffers]

Welcome to the B-G forums

As Neil has mentioned above, with such flimsy evidence to go on this will be tricky to solve.

Depending on whether or not the couple had married and settled down by then, you might possibly try a search of the 1911 census using the three surnames mentioned and a birth place of South Africa to see if you get any possible matches which can be traced.

By 'ancestors' - do you specifically mean "A person from whom one is descended? (OED) - or more generally someone who is related within your family?

If this is an ancestor in the true meaning of the word, tracing birth and marriage certificates may show a mother with a Dutch sounding surname - which when combined with census returns helps to identify the truth of the story.

[ChrisW]

Hi to you both

Thank you for your suggestions, though I have to say that on two occasions in my 20 years of research I've had just the bare bones of a family story but through making that knowledge public, have found the way to the truth lay with others who shared it. I placed the post on the offchance that some other like-minded person might be on the forum and that it "rang a bell" with them.

I have indeed traced my husband's tree back to the late 1700's. However, I was wrong in using the word "ancestors" in my posting - the people concerned are not direct ancestors as such, but closely related to them. I guess the answer is to repeat my research, but this time widening it out considerably.

I think this is a lovely opportunity to delve again in the census records!

Again many thanks for your responses