Petrus Johannes Meiring (1799-1876)
30 November 1799 – 2 January 1876 · Meiring line
Connection to the Koup
Took part in something recorded here: Meiringspoort opened (1858-03-03).
Names
- Called
- Petrus
- Given
- Petrus Johannes
- Surname
- Meiring
The formal baptismal name and the name a person was actually called are both kept, and neither is derived from the other. Spelling drift between records is evidence, not noise.
A life in the record
- 30 November 1799 born Born
-
3 March 1858
event
Meiringspoort opened
[SRC-010, Rose Willis Klaarstroom cameo. TERTIARY, TO VERIFY] Twenty-two kilometres, twenty-five river crossings, built in 223 working days from 1856. Reconnoitred in 1854 by John Charles Molteno with Charles Pritchard, Andrew Geddes Bain and his son Thomas, who preferred Toorwaterpoort but conceded
- 2 January 1876 died Died
Stories
What we don't know
- Neither parent is recorded, so this person is not attached to the tree above them.
- No dated record ties this person to a specific piece of ground.
A sourced gap beats an unsourced fill. These are the open questions on this person, stated rather than papered over.
Sources
- Rose Willis and Doreen Atkinson, with Judy Maguire and Bruce Rubidge, "Klaarstroom: Ancient place of clear waters" (Karoo Cameos, 2021) Karoo Development Foundation, Karoo CameosKaroo Cameos, 2021
- "Frederick Oosthuizen - die man wat die Zeekoegat Kerkie 100 jaar gelede gebou het", Lydia Barella Prince Albert Friend (blog)29 Sep 2007
Research notes
[SRC-010, Rose Willis Klaarstroom cameo. TERTIARY, TO VERIFY] MEIRINGSPOORT IS NAMED FOR HIM, and the poort is why Klaarstroom exists. Born Swellendam 30 Nov 1799, eldest son of Alberthoma Thomas Meiring of Overijssel and Elsje Maria nee Wagenaar; his grandfather Dominee Arnoldus Meiring arrived from Lingen, Germany, on 28 March 1743 to a post at TULBAGH. Came to the Swartberg in the mid-1800s as foreman to Marthinus Bekker of De Rust; when Bekker died in 1821 Meiring married his widow ALIDA MARIA nee PITZER (PER-000506) - eleven children - and after her death on 21 Nov 1842 married CATHERINA HELENA GELDENHUYS (PER-000507) - ten more. Died 2 Jan 1876 aged 77. He found the route with two friends, GEROLM MARINCOWITZ and a Worcester man named BENECKE (PER-000508), and campaigned for an official road for twenty years. HE IS IN THIS MODEL BECAUSE I ATTACHED HIS LIFE TO A PETRUS OOSTHUIZEN BY MISTAKE EARLIER TODAY. Keeping him properly is the honest repair.
These are working notes, not finished prose: they carry the reasoning, the corrections and the things still marked to verify. They are kept here so the page itself can read as what is known.