J.W. du T. Melvill (Government Surveyor)
active 1863–1874
Names
- Given
- J.W. du T.
- Surname
- Melvill
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.
What we don't know
- No birth date is recorded.
- No death date is recorded.
- 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.
- Nothing dated is recorded about them at all, they are here because another record names them.
A sourced gap beats an unsourced fill. These are the open questions on this person, stated rather than papered over.
Research notes
[DIAGRAM] Government Surveyor. Framed the 1874 resurvey of Modderdrift No. 106 (SG Dgm 877/1875, DOC-0154) and signed the beacon note on it. Already named in the model as the surveyor of the 1863 Oorlogs Kloof resurvey (DOC-0073's notes) without having had a record of his own until now. [1 Aug 2026]
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.
Open questions
-
Twelve NAAIRS index entries for the Prince Albert division, 1841-1890 - Colonial Office memorials, circuit court cases and Lands files
priority 1 · LEAD-0189
Two were already held (CSC 2/6/1/208 and 2/6/1/269). THESE TWELVE ARE NEW. Which of them are this family's, and which of the four unmatched surnames belong in this record?
What would settle it The files themselves. Each entry is an INDEX LINE - it gives a name, a year and a subject, and nothing about what the paper says.