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Friedrich
Wilhelm Karl was Baron von Kluckow. I
(Mollie) saw a letter addressed to him from the German Embassy in
Durban. He was
connected with the Hohenzollern Line.
Friedrich and his brother left Germany.
Friedrich was sixteen years old. Friedrich left the
ship at Port Elizabeth and
his brother sailed on.
His brother was supposed to have left the ship in South America where he
became a very wealthy man. Sad to say the two brothers lost touch.
Friedrich
went to King William’s Town where he purchased a wagon and oxen.
He
started trading as a 'desert rat' in the Kalahari Desert during which time he met and married Sarah
Ann OPENSHAW, whose
people were also ‘desert rats.’
They continued trading. One
hears of the first white woman who visited Lobengula in Bulawayo and we
believe this was Sarah Ann. While
in the desert they found an abandoned black baby who Sarah Ann
reared as if she were her own. Ada stayed
with the family until she married one of her own
people.
Sarah
Ann’s family were part of the missing link to the CLARK Millions
– it is believed that the papers proving this were burnt in a fire in
a Solicitor’s office in Kimberley.
During the 1914 - 1918 war Friedrich was
interned in a concentration camp. Because of his a large family he was
allowed out to see his wife and, on returning to camp, would take some
minerals (which were laced with Scotch) from his factory (this period
of internment must
still be confirmed, but what has been recorded is his stay in
Tin Town, Ladysmith during the Boer war which took
place in 1899 - 1902)
Friedrich had a mineral water factory in Heidelberg in the Transvaal.
One day Edward Richard and one of his brothers were doing
deliveries, driving a horse and cart. It was at the time when the
Chinese were brought out to work on the mines. The boys picked up
one of these Chinese men and were so nervous that they kept on giving
him minerals. Hardly had one been finished when they opened
another. On their return home their father wasn't one bit
pleased and gave Edward a hiding with the cart handle. Edward bore
the scar for the rest of his life.
The name Kluckow was originally spelt Klückow, which makes the u
softer.
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The
Mafeking Mail
March 14 1931
Mr
and Mrs Kluckow can
rightly be called the pioneers
of the
‘Little
village midst the hills.’
For
over twenty years Lobatsi has been their home and as a mark of respect
all businesses were closed
at the time of the funeral of the ‘dear old
lady’
by which epithet she was known.
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Thoughts
"Twenty years from now,
you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t
do,than by the ones you did.
So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds
in your sails.
Explore, Dream .."
Mark Twain
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Family Tree |
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Abbreviations and Symbols
* - born, x - marriage, xx - second marriage, xxx - third marriage,
+ - death, ca. - circa (about)
÷ - divorce, (a) - adoption, n/c - name changed to Kluckow,
s.p. sine prole (without descendents), NN - surname unknown
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