Frederik Fortunatus Downing Kolbe
THE MAN WHO PROVED THE CONVERGENCE. He carries BOTH of this family's Kolbe names at once — FREDERIK FORTUNATUS off his grandfather, DOWNING off a London marriage of 1819 — and a London surname has no business in the eastern Transvaal except through that wedding. Born seventy-two years after it. Married HESTER GERBINA SUSANNA JOUBERT at Volksrust at twenty-one, the clerk writing his second name as “Daomig”. Dead at Wakkerstroom on 2 November 1918, four months after his brother Daniel, which is the influenza. 9 OCTOBER 2026 — HIS DEATH NOTICE IS READ, AND IT NAMES HIS PARENTS IN HIS OWN FILE. TAB MHG 40293, the document this archive has called its biggest single gap, is filmed and free: the Sterfkennis gives VADER GEORGE AUGUSTUS KOLBE and MOEDER MARTHA SOFIA KOLBE, GEBOREN KLOPPER. Until today that parentage rested on his brother Daniel’s death registration reading “G A KOLBE’S SON” and on his sister Maria Johanna’s 1953 estate file; now it is stated on his own. AND IT DECIDES WHICH GEORGE AUGUSTUS, which is the whole difficulty at Wakkerstroom — two men of that name are buried in one cemetery, and only one of them married a Klopper. The form adds what no index carried: he was a VEEBOER, his ordinary residence and the place he died was VILLIERIA, A PORTION OF KLEINFONTEIN in the district of Wakkerstroom, he was married IN COMMUNITY OF PROPERTY, the marriage was at Volksrust, and he was TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS AND SIX MONTHS old — which puts the birth at about May 1891, where this archive had only the year. He left movables, fixed property, an estate worth more than £300 and a will. THE INDEX WAS WRONG ABOUT WHERE HE DIED AND THIS ARCHIVE WAS RIGHT. FamilySearch standardises the place to “Wakkerstroom, Zoutpansberg, Transvaal” and renders it Villieria, Pretoria; Wakkerstroom is nowhere near Zoutpansberg, and Villieria here is a farm portion, not the Pretoria suburb of that name. The reading that was published on 9 October said the image was not yet read and attributed Pretoria to the index. It is a reason the hedge is written every time.
Three children, not the whole family. These are the three the archive holds documents for. The old man died in 1954 aged 91 having outlived at least two of his sons by thirty-six years, and nothing here claims the household was this size.
The record
| Name | Frederik Fortunatus Downing Kolbe |
| Also written | Frederik Fortunetus Daomig Kolbe, on his own marriage entry |
| Born | 1891, Wakkerstroom — about May, counting back his age at death |
| Died | 2 Nov 1918, Villieria, a portion of Kleinfontein, district Wakkerstroom — aged 27 |
| Line | Kolbe |
| Confidence | Documented |
What the archive holds
THE MAN WHO PROVED THE CONVERGENCE. He carries BOTH of this family's Kolbe names at once — FREDERIK FORTUNATUS off his grandfather, DOWNING off a London marriage of 1819 — and a London surname has no business in the eastern Transvaal except through that wedding. Born seventy-two years after it. Married HESTER GERBINA SUSANNA JOUBERT at Volksrust at twenty-one, the clerk writing his second name as “Daomig”. Dead at Wakkerstroom on 2 November 1918, four months after his brother Daniel, which is the influenza. 9 OCTOBER 2026 — HIS DEATH NOTICE IS READ, AND IT NAMES HIS PARENTS IN HIS OWN FILE. TAB MHG 40293, the document this archive has called its biggest single gap, is filmed and free: the Sterfkennis gives VADER GEORGE AUGUSTUS KOLBE and MOEDER MARTHA SOFIA KOLBE, GEBOREN KLOPPER. Until today that parentage rested on his brother Daniel’s death registration reading “G A KOLBE’S SON” and on his sister Maria Johanna’s 1953 estate file; now it is stated on his own. AND IT DECIDES WHICH GEORGE AUGUSTUS, which is the whole difficulty at Wakkerstroom — two men of that name are buried in one cemetery, and only one of them married a Klopper. The form adds what no index carried: he was a VEEBOER, his ordinary residence and the place he died was VILLIERIA, A PORTION OF KLEINFONTEIN in the district of Wakkerstroom, he was married IN COMMUNITY OF PROPERTY, the marriage was at Volksrust, and he was TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS AND SIX MONTHS old — which puts the birth at about May 1891, where this archive had only the year. He left movables, fixed property, an estate worth more than £300 and a will. THE INDEX WAS WRONG ABOUT WHERE HE DIED AND THIS ARCHIVE WAS RIGHT. FamilySearch standardises the place to “Wakkerstroom, Zoutpansberg, Transvaal” and renders it Villieria, Pretoria; Wakkerstroom is nowhere near Zoutpansberg, and Villieria here is a farm portion, not the Pretoria suburb of that name. The reading that was published on 9 October said the image was not yet read and attributed Pretoria to the index. It is a reason the hedge is written every time.
Where the archive puts Frederik
Each carries the document that puts them there. The atlas →
Households
…What Was Searched Three children, not the whole family. These are the three the archive holds documents for. The old man died in 1954 aged 91 having outlived at least two of his sons by thirty-six years, and nothing here claims the household was this size. Maria Johanna Kolbe 26 Oct 1886 – 1 Oct 1953 Frederik Fortunatus Downing Kolbe 1891 – 2 Nov 1918 Daniel Jakobus Kolbe 3 May 1893 – 19 Jun 1918 Jacob van Staden and Charlotta Elizabetha Dormehl 2 head born d. bef. 1902 a record read here Her first marriage, named on her 1902 death notice with the date of his death entered unknown. Two sons, both of age by 1902, braced apart on the form from the four Roos children below them.…
The Kolbes
…Elizabeth Johanna , baptised at Colesberg in 1876, marries John Charles Pattison there at twenty-one. In both cases the age on the marriage agrees with the font to the year. This is the second proof of the Wakkerstroom connection, and it is the better one. The first was a name: Frederik Fortunatus Downing Kolbe , born at Wakkerstroom in 1891, carrying a London surname that has no business in the eastern Transvaal except through a Shoreditch wedding of 1819. That was decisive but it was a single word on a single record. This is a household — a father, a mother, eight fonts in three towns, and three of the children turning up together at the far end. Names can be coincidence. A family moving is not.…
The Marriages
…12 Mar 1805, ST ANNE’S SOHO 8 Mar 1809, buried 14 Mar 1809, German Lutheran Church Frederick Fortunatus Kolbe of Colesberg 1872, Colesberg 10 Sep 1944, Vryheid, Natal Frederick Fortunatus Werdmuller — 1953 — estate KAB MOOC 6/9/20496, 115/53 Frederick Kolbe of 1816 bapt. 16 Dec 1816, Westminster — Frederik Fortunatus Downing Kolbe 1891, Wakkerstroom — about May, counting back his age at death 2 Nov 1918, Villieria, a portion of Kleinfontein, district Wakkerstroom — aged 27 Frederik Fortunatus Kolbe 1839, Bethulie, Orange Free State 23 Nov 1929, Utrecht, Natal — aged about 90 Frederik Fortunatus Kolbe of Bloemspruit 22 Oct 1859, or 1857 — two documents disagree 18 Dec 1930, Bloemspruit, district Bloemfontein G.A.…
The People
…The Documents The Barrys The Women Hester Gertina Susanna Joubert also written Hester Gerbina Susanna, on the marriage entry · H. G. S. Kolbe, geb. Joubert, in her own hand Documented — — HIS WIDOW, AND SHE SIGNED FOR HERSELF. She completed and signed the Sterfkennis of Frederik Fortunatus Downing Kolbe at Hooipoort, district Wakkerstroom, on 13 February 1919, in the capacity “overlijvende echtgenote” — surviving spouse — and her signature is written out, not a mark. Married at Volksrust IN COMMUNITY OF PROPERTY, which the death notice states and which is why the estate had to be wound up at all.…
Daniel Jakobus Kolbe
…The stone at Wakkerstroom reads DAAN 1893–1918. Parents George Augustus Kolbe of Wakkerstroom 29 Jul 1863 – 28 Sep 1954 record Martha Sophia Klopper 27 May 1867 – 14 Oct 1950 — aged 83 record Daniel Jakobus Kolbe 3 May 1893 – 19 Jun 1918 Kolbe 2 siblings Maria Johanna Kolbe 26 Oct 1886 – 1 Oct 1953 Frederik Fortunatus Downing Kolbe 1891 – 2 Nov 1918 Three children, not the whole family. These are the three the archive holds documents for. The old man died in 1954 aged 91 having outlived at least two of his sons by thirty-six years, and nothing here claims the household was this size.…
Frederik Fortunatus Downing Kolbe
…He carries BOTH of this family's Kolbe names at once — FREDERIK FORTUNATUS off his grandfather, DOWNING off a London marriage of 1819 — and a London surname has no business in the eastern Transvaal except through that wedding. Born seventy-two years after it.…
George Augustus Kolbe of 1914
…NOTHING IS KNOWN OF HIM AFTER 1919. Born more than a century ago and so published in full under the estate’s eighty-year rule; no death, no marriage and no descendants are claimed, because none has been read. Parents Frederik Fortunatus Downing Kolbe 1891 – 2 Nov 1918 record Hester Gertina Susanna Joubert record George Augustus Kolbe of 1914 b. 2 Jul 1914 Kolbe the direct line, argued on the line from a record this archive has read inferred, not stated from the family tree, unverified All 3 relationships shown are written in a record this archive has read.…
George Augustus Kolbe of Wakkerstroom
…He outlived two of his sons by thirty-six years. George Augustus Kolbe of Wakkerstroom 29 Jul 1863 – 28 Sep 1954 Kolbe married Martha Sophia Klopper 27 May 1867 – 14 Oct 1950 — aged 83 record 3 children with Martha Maria Johanna Kolbe 26 Oct 1886 – 1 Oct 1953 record Frederik Fortunatus Downing Kolbe 1891 – 2 Nov 1918 record Daniel Jakobus Kolbe 3 May 1893 – 19 Jun 1918 record Three children, not the whole family. These are the three the archive holds documents for. The old man died in 1954 aged 91 having outlived at least two of his sons by thirty-six years, and nothing here claims the household was this size.…
Hester Gertina Susanna Joubert
…She completed and signed the Sterfkennis of Frederik Fortunatus Downing Kolbe at Hooipoort, district Wakkerstroom, on 13 February 1919, in the capacity “overlijvende echtgenote” — surviving spouse — and her signature is written out, not a mark. Married at Volksrust IN COMMUNITY OF PROPERTY, which the death notice states and which is why the estate had to be wound up at all.…
Maria Johanna Kolbe
…Her birthplace is entered as “Wakkerstroomn, Transvaal, Blanke Unie-burger” — the clerk's spelling, and the Union's category. Parents George Augustus Kolbe of Wakkerstroom 29 Jul 1863 – 28 Sep 1954 record Martha Sophia Klopper 27 May 1867 – 14 Oct 1950 — aged 83 record Maria Johanna Kolbe 26 Oct 1886 – 1 Oct 1953 Kolbe 2 siblings Frederik Fortunatus Downing Kolbe 1891 – 2 Nov 1918 Daniel Jakobus Kolbe 3 May 1893 – 19 Jun 1918 Three children, not the whole family. These are the three the archive holds documents for. The old man died in 1954 aged 91 having outlived at least two of his sons by thirty-six years, and nothing here claims the household was this size.…
Martha Sophia Klopper
…She died four years before her husband. Martha Sophia Klopper 27 May 1867 – 14 Oct 1950 — aged 83 Kolbe married George Augustus Kolbe of Wakkerstroom 29 Jul 1863 – 28 Sep 1954 record 3 children with George Maria Johanna Kolbe 26 Oct 1886 – 1 Oct 1953 record Frederik Fortunatus Downing Kolbe 1891 – 2 Nov 1918 record Daniel Jakobus Kolbe 3 May 1893 – 19 Jun 1918 record Three children, not the whole family. These are the three the archive holds documents for. The old man died in 1954 aged 91 having outlived at least two of his sons by thirty-six years, and nothing here claims the household was this size.…
The Register
…rds from the Master of the Supreme Court, 1869-1961 Frederick William Kolbe Probate Transvaal, South Africa record ↗ South Africa, Transvaal, Probate Records from the Master of the Supreme Court, 1869-1961 Frederick Wm Kolbe Burial 27 Dec 1899 Cape Colony, South Africa | Birth 1821 record ↗ South Africa, Cape, Cemetery Records, 1872-2011 Frederik Fortunatus Downing Kolbe Birth 1891 | Death 2 Nov 1918 Mooipoort, Wakkerstroom, Transvaal, South Africa record ↗ South Africa, Transvaal, Civil Death, 1869-1954 Frederik Fortunatus Downing Kolbe Death 2 Nov 1918 Wakkerstroom | Probate 1918 Transvaal, South Africa | Birth 1891 Wakkerstroom record ↗ South Africa, Transvaal, Probate Records from the Master of the Supreme Court, 1869-1961 Frederik Fortunatus Downing Kolbe re…
Others on the Kolbe side
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