James Montjoy
Saddler. Owned a house and erf at Cradock worth £90. His 1840 death notice gives his parents as NOT KNOWN — the oldest document here, and the top of this line. 15 SEPTEMBER 2026 — A MAN WHO SLEPT IN HIS HOUSE SAYS WHERE HE CAME FROM. John Montgomery, founder of Burgersdorp, in The Friend of the Free State of 25 November 1869, recalling his arrival at Cradock in January 1822 when the place held about six people: “Messrs. SOLOMON and S.M. DE BEER, the Rev. Mr. EVANS, Mr. P. GIE, JAMES MOUNTJOY (A SADDLER, WHO WAS DISCHARGED FROM THE 21ST LIGHT DRAGOONS), the two Messrs. ZIERVOGEL, Mr. HEILBERG, Fieldcornet B.J. VORSTER, and Gert VAN DEVENTER. After some trouble I obtained lodgings for the night from Mr. MOUNTJOY.” THERE IS NO ROOM IN A VILLAGE OF SIX FOR TWO SADDLERS OF ONE NAME. The 21st Light Dragoons were the cavalry of the Cape garrison from the 1806 expedition until the end of that decade, so HE ARRIVED IN UNIFORM — which is exactly why no Cape document can say where he was from, and why the marriage register of 1817 rules a line through the column and leaves it empty. He was not a passenger on anything. THE RECORD THAT ANSWERS IT IS WO 97 AT KEW, the Chelsea discharge papers, arranged by regiment before 1855, which give a soldier's PARISH AND COUNTY OF BIRTH, his age at enlistment and his trade. 16 SEPTEMBER 2026 — HIS DISCHARGE NOW HAS A DEADLINE, AND IT CAME FROM THE LONDON PAPERS. The 21st Light Dragoons were relieved at York in MAY 1806 and sailed from Portsmouth for the Cape; part of them went on to SOUTH AMERICA in 1806 and came back to the Cape in 1807; Parliament complained in MARCH 1809 that they had been sent “WHERE THEY COULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO”; a large reinforcement followed in OCTOBER 1810; SIR JOHN CRADOCK reviewed them and pronounced them “IN THE HIGHEST STATE OF DISCIPLINE”; a DRAFT OF 140 MEN embarked for the Cape in OCTOBER 1813; and then, in a letter from the Cape dated 1 AND 10 SEPTEMBER 1817 and printed in five London papers that November, “THE 21ST LIGHT DRAGOONS HAVE EMBARKED FOR INDIA”. HE MARRIED AT GRAAFF-REINET ON 9 MARCH 1817. HIS REGIMENT SAILED FOR INDIA SIX MONTHS LATER. A man who married in March 1817 and was keeping a house and a saddler's trade at Cradock by January 1822 was discharged at the Cape BEFORE SEPTEMBER 1817, and what he was choosing between was a wife at Graaff-Reinet and a transport to Madras. THE TOWN HE SETTLED IN IS NAMED AFTER THE GOVERNOR WHO REVIEWED HIS REGIMENT.
Every record naming James Montjoy →
The marriage record
Married Anna Catharina Sleer · 9 March 1817 · Graaff-Reinet a record read hereShe was a widow; his origin is left blank on a page where the clerk filled everyone else's in. The blank predates the 1840 death notice by twenty-three years.The 1817 register →
The record
| Name | James Montjoy |
| Also written | Mountjoy, Montyoy |
| Born | c. 1782, “Europe” |
| Died | Sep 1827, Cradock |
| Line | Mountjoy |
| Confidence | Documented |
What the archive holds
Saddler. Owned a house and erf at Cradock worth £90. His 1840 death notice gives his parents as NOT KNOWN — the oldest document here, and the top of this line. 15 SEPTEMBER 2026 — A MAN WHO SLEPT IN HIS HOUSE SAYS WHERE HE CAME FROM. John Montgomery, founder of Burgersdorp, in The Friend of the Free State of 25 November 1869, recalling his arrival at Cradock in January 1822 when the place held about six people: “Messrs. SOLOMON and S.M. DE BEER, the Rev. Mr. EVANS, Mr. P. GIE, JAMES MOUNTJOY (A SADDLER, WHO WAS DISCHARGED FROM THE 21ST LIGHT DRAGOONS), the two Messrs. ZIERVOGEL, Mr. HEILBERG, Fieldcornet B.J. VORSTER, and Gert VAN DEVENTER. After some trouble I obtained lodgings for the night from Mr. MOUNTJOY.” THERE IS NO ROOM IN A VILLAGE OF SIX FOR TWO SADDLERS OF ONE NAME. The 21st Light Dragoons were the cavalry of the Cape garrison from the 1806 expedition until the end of that decade, so HE ARRIVED IN UNIFORM — which is exactly why no Cape document can say where he was from, and why the marriage register of 1817 rules a line through the column and leaves it empty. He was not a passenger on anything. THE RECORD THAT ANSWERS IT IS WO 97 AT KEW, the Chelsea discharge papers, arranged by regiment before 1855, which give a soldier's PARISH AND COUNTY OF BIRTH, his age at enlistment and his trade. 16 SEPTEMBER 2026 — HIS DISCHARGE NOW HAS A DEADLINE, AND IT CAME FROM THE LONDON PAPERS. The 21st Light Dragoons were relieved at York in MAY 1806 and sailed from Portsmouth for the Cape; part of them went on to SOUTH AMERICA in 1806 and came back to the Cape in 1807; Parliament complained in MARCH 1809 that they had been sent “WHERE THEY COULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO”; a large reinforcement followed in OCTOBER 1810; SIR JOHN CRADOCK reviewed them and pronounced them “IN THE HIGHEST STATE OF DISCIPLINE”; a DRAFT OF 140 MEN embarked for the Cape in OCTOBER 1813; and then, in a letter from the Cape dated 1 AND 10 SEPTEMBER 1817 and printed in five London papers that November, “THE 21ST LIGHT DRAGOONS HAVE EMBARKED FOR INDIA”. HE MARRIED AT GRAAFF-REINET ON 9 MARCH 1817. HIS REGIMENT SAILED FOR INDIA SIX MONTHS LATER. A man who married in March 1817 and was keeping a house and a saddler's trade at Cradock by January 1822 was discharged at the Cape BEFORE SEPTEMBER 1817, and what he was choosing between was a wife at Graaff-Reinet and a transport to Madras. THE TOWN HE SETTLED IN IS NAMED AFTER THE GOVERNOR WHO REVIEWED HIS REGIMENT.
Where the archive puts James
Each carries the document that puts them there. The atlas →
- 9 Oct 2026 — James Montjoy's death notice cited as image 338 of film 007844936
IT IS AT IMAGE 339, AND 338 IS ANOTHER FAMILY'S DEATH NOTICE. Both frames were opened on 9 October: image 338 is the death notice of CHRISTOFFEL HENDRIK OLIVIER, trader, aged 56 years 4 months and 10 days, who died at his own house in the town of Graaff-Reinet on 15 June 1840 — his parents, not he, are the Cornelis Hermanus Olivier and Agnieta Elizabeth van Wyk on line 3, and this draft said otherwise for ten minutes before line 1 was read. Image 340 is WILLEM JACOBUS VAN DER MERWE of Bouwbosch Fontein. NO CONNECTION TO THIS ARCHIVE'S OLIVIERS IS CLAIMED OR LOOKED FOR; the name is here only to prove the frame is not Montjoy's. The James Montjoy notice, stamped 4393, is at 339, which is where the FamilySearch record ark 1:1:QP4Z-WK68 lands. THE READING OF THE DOCUMENT WAS NEVER IN DOUBT — every fact this archive published off it is confirmed: saddler, born in “Europe”, parents NOT KNOWN, a house and erf at Cradock worth £90, died in the village of Cradock in September 1827, and four children named James, George, Johanna and Jacoba, all minors. WHAT WAS WRONG WAS THE WAY BACK TO THE PAGE. A citation off by one sends the next reader to a stranger's family, and this one was published in THREE places — /sources/, question 12, and /documents/, which also sets out the arithmetic that produced it. THAT ARITHMETIC IS THE LESSON AND IT IS BEING KEPT: the reference numbers do not ascend by exactly one per image, because an estate running to two or three frames breaks the step, so interpolating from image 330 at reference 4386 predicts 4393 at image 337 and the narrowing stopped one frame short. An interpolated citation is a PREDICTION and has to be re-read off the frame it landed on. Where it stands → - 9 Sep 2026 — The tree contradicts itself on 1827 and 1840
It does not. 1827 is when James Montjoy died and 1840 is when the notice was filed. The contradiction was the archive's. Where it stands →
The Booyzen Archive
…Both of them lie under a cut-stone monument at Burgersdorp — names, London birthplaces, farm and dates carved into it — about forty miles from where that notice was written. The family forgot them inside seventy years, with the headstone still standing. And it had happened before, on the other side of the house. In 1840 a relative of James Montjoy filled in the same printed form at the same box. He knew the dead man's trade, his house, what it was worth, the village he died in and the name of his wife's first husband. Where it asked for the parents, he wrote: "Names of the Parents of the Deceased. Not Known ." — and for birth-place, only "Europe" . James Montjoy had died thirteen years earlier .…
The Spine
…This family's link to him is not demonstrated here, and must not be assumed. The name → The other line — through his mother The male line stops at generation 7 with a man who has no dates. The line through Johanna Catharina Mountjoy runs a generation deeper, and every step of it is now on paper. Name Born Died Carried by James Montjoy saddler at Cradock; his parents recorded as Not Known c. 1782, "Europe" Sep 1827, Cradock His 1840 death notice, KAB MOOC 6/9/21: 4393 Anna Catharina Sleer his wife, m. 9 Mar 1817 Graaff-Reinet; previously widow of William Pietersen 1787 1885 — aged 98 The 1840 death notice; the 1817 marriage index Johanna Catharina Mountjoy m.…
The documents
…(NEE MONTJOY). DEATH NOTICE. KAB MOOC 6/9/104, 499 1863 MONTJOY, JOHANNA CATHARINA. LIQUIDATION AND DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNT. KAB MOOC 13/1/221, 6 1866 Filed 25 July 1863 , reference 499 . The form, as completed 1. Name of the Deceased Johanna Catharina Montjoy 2. Birth-place Graaff Reinet 3. Names of the Parents James Montjoy and Anna Catharina Sleer 4. Age 44 years & 19 days 5. Condition in life farmer's wife 6. Married or unmarried Married to Petrus Jacobus Booysen 7. Day of decease 19th May 1863 8. At what House Zevenfontein, Brak River 10. Property Moveable property Line 3 — the generation the archive did not have from any document: James Montjoy and Anna Catharina Sleer .…
The plates
…21 Juli 1889; Ouders Hercules Johannes Mountjoy and Maria Sophia van Niekerk; among the witnesses Jakobus Jonathan Mountjoy and Maria Sophia Mountjoy . Read it on The documents → Filed 25 July 1863 , reference 499 . Read it on The documents → Line 3 — the generation the archive did not have from any document: James Montjoy and Anna Catharina Sleer . Read it on The documents → One Major , seven Minors . Read it on The documents → The widower signs. Read it on The documents → Filed 9 July 1840 , reference 4393 . Read it on The documents → Names of the Parents of the Deceased. Not Known.…
Households
…Anna Catharina Mountjoy b. 5 Aug 1852 Maria Elizabeth Mountjoy b. 12 Jun 1858 Johanna Catharina Mountjoy of Burgersdorp b. 28 Jan 1860 George Herkules Johannes Mountjoy b. 16 Jan 1862 Elsje Petronella Frederika Mountjoy b. 10 Jun 1864 Hercules Johannes Mountjoy 16 Jul 1866 – 12 May 1941 Jacoba Regina Mountjoy b. 14 Jun 1868 James Montjoy and Anna Catharina Sleer 5 head born c. 1782 – Sep 1827 a record read here Married at Graaff-Reinet, 9 March 1817 — on a page where the clerk recorded everyone else's origin and left his blank. The 1817 marriage register Thomas Jacobus Mountjoy 1818 – 1827 Johanna Catharina Mountjoy 30 Apr 1819 – 19 May 1863 the direct line Jacoba Catharina Mountjoy 1820 – 1842 George Mountjoy b.…
The Marriages
…3 Feb 1846 one marriage Orange Free State 13 Jul 1871 one marriage Bloemfontein 4 Jun 1872 one marriage Lady Grey 22 December 1879 Cape Colony Union of South Africa 1820The 1820 Settlers 1834Emancipation at the Cape 1899The South African War begins 1902Peace of Vereeniging Petrus Jacobus Booysen & Anna Maria van der Merwe · Graaff-Reinet James Montjoy & Anna Catharina Sleer · Graaff-Reinet George Augustus Kolbe & Margaret Downing · London Petrus Jacobus Booysen & Elizabetha van der Merwe · bef. 1828 David Schalk van der Merwe & Jacoba Catharina Mountjoy · Cradock Petrus Jacobus Booysen & Johanna Catharina Mountjoy · Cradock John Augustus Barry I & Margaretha Wilhelmina Elizabeth Mary Kolbe · Colesberg George Mountjoy & Maria Sophia Botha · Cra…
The People
…The Documents The Women Disputed Susanna Frederika Aletta Meyer also written Boshoff Documented — — Her mother, named on the 1890 Mossel Bay baptism. Her granddaughter Susanna Fredrika Aletta Booyzen carries all three of her names. The 1940 estate Namesakes The Women James Montjoy also written Mountjoy, Montyoy Documented c. 1782, “Europe” Sep 1827, Cradock Saddler. Owned a house and erf at Cradock worth £90. His 1840 death notice gives his parents as NOT KNOWN — the oldest document here, and the top of this line. 15 SEPTEMBER 2026 — A MAN WHO SLEPT IN HIS HOUSE SAYS WHERE HE CAME FROM.…
Anna Catharina Sleer
…Married James Montjoy 9 Mar 1817 at Graaff-Reinet, having first been the widow of a Pietersen. 15 SEPTEMBER 2026 — SHE HAS PARENTS, A BAPTISM AND THREE SIBLINGS.…
George Mountjoy
…Married Maria Sophia Botha at Cradock, 20 Aug 1848, certificate 735. Thirteen children. George Mountjoy · 11 Jun 1823, Cradock – — Parents James Montjoy c. 1782 – Sep 1827 record Anna Catharina Sleer bapt. 14 Oct 1787 – 1885 record George Mountjoy b. 11 Jun 1823 Mountjoy married Maria Sophia Botha 1827 – 1911 record 7 children with Maria Anna Catharina Mountjoy b. 5 Aug 1852 record Maria Elizabeth Mountjoy b. 12 Jun 1858 record Johanna Catharina Mountjoy of Burgersdorp b. 28 Jan 1860 record George Herkules Johannes Mountjoy b.…
Hermanus Pietersen
…THEY ARE A FATHER AND A SON. His own parents were unknown to the book, as James Montjoy's would be to the clerk ten years later: TWO MEN IN ONE WOMAN'S LIFE AND NEITHER OF THEM HAD A RECORDED FATHER. Hermanus Pietersen d. bef. Mar 1817 Mountjoy married Anna Catharina Sleer bapt. 14 Oct 1787 – 1885 record 2 children with Anna Willem Hermanus Pietersen b. bapt. 12 Mar 1809 record Johan Christiaan Pietersen b. bapt.…
Jacoba Catharina Mountjoy
…Married David Schalk van der Merwe at Cradock, 24 Mar 1838. Parents James Montjoy c. 1782 – Sep 1827 record Anna Catharina Sleer bapt. 14 Oct 1787 – 1885 record Jacoba Catharina Mountjoy 1820 – 1842 Mountjoy married David Schalk van der Merwe record 4 siblings Thomas Jacobus Mountjoy 1818 – 1827 Johanna Catharina Mountjoy 30 Apr 1819 – 19 May 1863 George Mountjoy b. 11 Jun 1823 James Mountjoy b.…
James Montjoy
…Owned a house and erf at Cradock worth £90. His 1840 death notice gives his parents as NOT KNOWN — the oldest document here, and the top of this line. 15 SEPTEMBER 2026 — A MAN WHO SLEPT IN HIS HOUSE SAYS WHERE HE CAME FROM.…
James Mountjoy
…Parents James Montjoy c. 1782 – Sep 1827 record Anna Catharina Sleer bapt. 14 Oct 1787 – 1885 record James Mountjoy b. 1826 Mountjoy 4 siblings Thomas Jacobus Mountjoy 1818 – 1827 Johanna Catharina Mountjoy 30 Apr 1819 – 19 May 1863 Jacoba Catharina Mountjoy 1820 – 1842 George Mountjoy b.…
Johanna Catharina Mountjoy
…Married 4 Nov 1838 at Cradock. Her death notice gives her age to the day and names her parents. Parents James Montjoy c. 1782 – Sep 1827 record Anna Catharina Sleer bapt. 14 Oct 1787 – 1885 record Johanna Catharina Mountjoy 30 Apr 1819 – 19 May 1863 Mountjoy married Petrus Jacobus Booysen 10 May 1812 – 1884 (probate) record 9 children with Petrus Jacobus Nicholas Booysen bef. 1842 – 1923 record Johanna Catharina Booysen b. 15 May 1844 record Petrus Jacobus Booysen b.…
Thomas Jacobus Mountjoy
…Parents James Montjoy c. 1782 – Sep 1827 record Anna Catharina Sleer bapt. 14 Oct 1787 – 1885 record Thomas Jacobus Mountjoy 1818 – 1827 Mountjoy 4 siblings Johanna Catharina Mountjoy 30 Apr 1819 – 19 May 1863 Jacoba Catharina Mountjoy 1820 – 1842 George Mountjoy b. 11 Jun 1823 James Mountjoy b.…
The Register
…Jun 1854, Cape Province · 22 Dec 1937, Barkly East no public link reconstructed by this archive James Montjoy Death South Africa record ↗ South Africa, Cape, Probate Records of the Master of the High Court, 1822-1990 James Montjoy with: Anna C Sher record ↗ South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Registers (Cape Town Archives), 1660-1994 James Montjoy reconstructed c.…
The Timeline
…Where a document was written long after the event it records, both dates are given — that gap is one of the things this archive is about. Two hundred and thirty-four years 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 c. 20 Mar 1754 — Johanna Booyzen born “in this Colony” 1779 — The spelling BOOYZEN is already in use at the Cape c. 1782 — James Montjoy born, in “Europe” c.…
Our line, drawn
…1825 Anna Maria van der Merwe c. 1785 – bef. 1825 Petrus Jacobus Booysen 1812 – 1884 James Montjoy's parents James Montjoy c.1782 – 1827 Anna Catharina Sleer 1787 – 1885 Johanna C. Mountjoy 1819 – 1863 Willem Hermanus Booyzen 1851 – 1905 John Barry, died 1853 — no birth, no arrival, no burial John Barry — – 1853 John Augustus Barry I 1819 – 1903 Johan Gottlieb Kolbe 1765 – 1845 George Augustus Kolbe 1802 – 1844 John Paul Downing — – — Margaret Downing 23 Feb 1803 – 25 Nov 1867 Margaretha W.…
The women
…The register → Three times the form asked, and three times it was the mother who was gone This is the clearest thing the documents say about women in this family, and it was not visible until the third one was read. Written Death notice of "Names of the Parents of the Deceased" 1840 James Montjoy "Not Known." Both parents, together. 1884 Petrus Jacobus Booysen Father written out in full. "Mother's name, not known" — underlined. 1915 Margaret Elizabeth Barry née Kolbe "Father: Kolbe, thinks James was christian name. Mother: Unknown ." Read down the right-hand column. In 1884 the father has a full name and the mother has none.…
Others on the Mountjoy side
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