Red Book 1912 - N.H. Visser - Naivasha

Gazette 2 Feb 1960 application for bankruptcy discharge

The whole family joined the Joubert trek

Willie Joubert: When Rooi Piet Joubert and others left the German territory and moved the Kenya, the Vissers were among those who stayed. Great-grandpa Nicolaas Visser cleared land and began his farm in the Ngare-Nairobi area – Northeast of Kilimanjaro. He was there in 1906. One by one the children got married and many stayed there for some time, working and hunting to survive. Roelf Naude and Anna Visser married the same day as her sister Chrissie and Daantjie (Briek) van Wyk in 1907. Ludewikus Visser left with Great-grandpa Rooi Piet Joubert when he moved to Kenya where he married Great-grandpa’s daughter Nelie. On February 20, 1911 grandpa Hansie (Johannes Nicolaas Joubert) married grandma Hessie (Hester Susanna) Visser at Moshi. Grandma was born in Lydenburg on January 17, 1891. Like many of the Visser family they settled on the farm at Ngare-Nairobi. It is interesting that in 1907 others like the Von Landsberg’s tried to clear land there too, but soon left, as it was too unhealthy with Malaria. It could be that the clue to the Visser’s’ ability to survive and thrive there had something to do with the ‘medical abilities’ of Chrissie van Wyk (Visser). She had her own secret recipes for any ailments and her success rate often far surpassed that of any doctor. More about that later. The land was cleared and canals dug for irrigation. They planted many fruit trees and had all kinds of fruit – oranges, nartjies, mango’s, guavas, custard apples and granadillas to name some. They grew vegetables and got cattle and began to grow corn. Wild game was plentiful and they had meat to eat. The skins were cured and used in many ways, from making shoes to ropes. They made their own soap from animal fat and began to settle down. Grandpa Hansie and brothers in law Daantjie van Wyk and Roelf Naude farmed with Oupa Visser in Ngare-Nairobi. Piet Nieuwenhuizen started his own farm close to Great-grandpa Visser.
One day elephants were damaging the fields. The future sons in law were sent to get them out. Daantjie was a good hunter and decided to climb a tree and check the elephants. He wanted to be sure to only shoot at one if the tusks are big. If not, he intended simply to fire a few shots to scare them. Grandpa Hansie was not much of a hunter and ignored the advice to show his brother-in-law he could shoot an elephant. Suddenly Daantjie heard a yell and the noise of a charging rhino. Grandpa yelled out for Daantjie to shoot and in desperation dove underneath a bush with the rhinoceros running past him. Grandpa was very upset and accused Daantjie that he wanted him out of the way so that he could court Hessie! Great-grandpa Visser just laughed when Daantjie told him the story. Oupa Hansie was very much in love with Ouma Hessie.

Willie Joubert Great-grandpa and Great-grandma’s son, Jan Visser, died at Chunya in 1943. His wife, Ellie, and the children and grandchildren later moved to Kenya where they settled. The firstborn, Nicolaas Hendrik (Nick), was named after Great-grandpa Visser. In Kenya he married Sophie Joubert in 1938. Her one brother, Jan Joubert was tragically killed by an elephant. The animals were destroying the corn and he took a gun to scare them off without realizing that the gun was defective. An enraged bull charged him and, in the rush to escape, he stepped in an aardvark hole and fell and the elephant killed him. Nick and Sophie had the following children: Rita – Magdalena Maria Magrieta, born April 23, 1940, Elsie Josina, Hester Sophia and Willem Petrus, born March 8, 1939. Another boy died at age 3 when he had measles and wandered outside while his mother was also sick. He got sunstroke and died. My guess is that he was the oldest boy and named after his grandpa Johannes Stephanus Visser, as the other boy was named after his grandpa Joubert.
In Kenya Nick caught rhinoceroses for export overseas. They were kept in big enclosures and put in cages for export. Hester recalled how she climbed on the cages when she was a little girl before she went to school at Eldoret Hill. She also helped to make ‘hoodjie’ – runny sweet cornmeal porridge – that her dad gave the big animals and they could not get enough. They literally ate out of Nick’s hands.
Jan and Ellie’s oldest daughter, Ellie (Elsie Josina) was widowed in Chunya when her husband Lewies de Jager had contracted malaria on safari and died. Ellie and her three children, Louis, Elsie and Francis, moved to Kenya. She then married Thomas (Tommie) Pienaar. He was the brother of the Andries Albertus Pienaar, better known by his pen-name Sangiro, a very well-known Afrikaans author. Their parents with nine kids had settled in German East Africa in 1907 and most of them later moved to Kenya. Tommie worked for the municipality in Nairobi. Ellie and Tommie had one son, Abraham, better known as Awie. From Kenya they moved to Pretoria.
Ellie’s sister, Maggie, was also married at the Lupa and she and her husband, Lang Gert van der Merwe, with their two girls, Elsie Josina and Elizabeth Helena moved to Kenya. In Kenya the family grew as three more girls were born: On May 31, 1944 Margaretha Maria was born; on May 7, 1948 Dorothea Jacoba and on March 30, 1952 Christina Susanna (Kate). Years later when they joined the many that had left Kenya, Gert and Maggie bought a little farm near Brits.
Jan and Ellie’s fourth child was the son named after him, Johannes Stephanus Visser. He was born in 1921 and married Maria Jankowitch. They had two boys, Jannie and Hannes. The family also lived in Kenya, before moving to South Africa.
Jan and Ellie’s next child was a little girl, Annie, but she died at 9 months old. Next, they had a boy, Jacobus Cilliers (born Feb. 24, 1914). He was known as Koos and married Hendrina Cecilia Joubert (born June 4, 1918). She was the sister of Sophie Joubert who was married to his brother Nick. This family also stayed in Kenya and later moved to South Africa. Koos and Hendrina had six boys: Willie, Koos (Jacobus Cilliers, born April 6, 1941), Joof (Josua born June 4, 1944), Johannes Hendrik (Jan, born Oct. 18, 1946), Philippus Johannes and Johannes George (born March 6, 1955) and a daughter Lenie (Magdalena Elizabeth Smits, born Jan 10, 1946).
Philippus Jacobus Visser was the youngest boy of Jan and Elsie Visser and known as Flip. He was born in April, 1927. He married Margaretha van Rooyen, the daughter of Gert and Anna van Rooyen from Eldoret. This couple had two boys, Gert (Gerhardus Johannes) and Flippie (Phillippus Jacobus) and two girls, Anna (Anna Elsie) and Magriet (Magrietha). Before he married Margaretha van Rooyen, Flip had a relationship with Poppie Joubert. She got pregnant, but her father was angry and Flip was not allowed to visit. She gave birth to a girl, Cathy. His other children were not aware of their half-sister and only found out years later. They had brief contact with her, before she passed away. Flip served as Policeman and was called up to serve during the Emergency with the Mau-Mau. He also worked with the Locust control. His health suffered due to the insecticide used to spray the locusts. They moved to South Africa in the 60s.
Jan and Ellie Visser’s youngest, born on November 6, 1929, was Christina Susanna. She was known as Kittie or Kate. She married Johannes Marthinus Prinsloo at the courthouse in Nairobi in 1947. Johannes’ brother was a very colorful character, known as Groot Koos (Big Jack). They lived in Kenya. Kittie and Johannes had three children: Louisa Susanna born in 1949, Edward Charles born in 1951 and Maria Magdalena born in 1953. Kittie later settled in Barberton when they moved to South Africa.