BACK IN TIME: Cecilia Johanna Steyn (1872–1918)

Antoinette’s paternal great-grandmother; Susan’s maternal great-great-grandmother

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In the late nineteenth century, the interior of southern Africa was a region of migration, frontier farming, and political tension between Boer settlers and the expanding British Empire.

Cecilia Johanna Steyn was born in Kroonstad, Orange Free State, South Africa, on Thursday, 16 May 1872, under the star sign Taurus in the Chinese year of the Monkey. She belonged to the Missionary Generation, also known as the Post-Victorian Generation.

She was the second child and the second daughter of her parents, Johannes Hermanus Steyn (1846) and Susara Susanna Knoetze (1852).

The year Cecilia Johanna Steyn was born, Victoria Woodhull became the first woman to run for President of the United States. She was part of the Equal Opportunities Party, and an important activist for women’s rights, labor reforms, and the freedom to marry, divorce, and bear children without government interference.

Cecilia Johanna Steyn lived during a period of enormous change in southern Africa.

Important events during Cecilia’s life

• 1872 – 30 June: Cecilia is baptized in Harrismith, Orange Free State, South Africa.
• 1877 – Britain annexes the Transvaal, increasing tension between Boer republics and the British Empire.
• 1880 to 1881 – First Boer War between the Boer republics and Britain. This war restores independence to the Transvaal.
• 1884 – Germany establishes the colony of German South West Africa (now Namibia).
• 1885 – Berlin Conference divides Africa among European colonial powers, shaping Angola’s Portuguese colonial administration.
• 1880s to 1890s – Continued Dorsland Trek migrations from Transvaal through present-day Namibia toward Angola.
• 1890 – 25 March: Cecilia Johanna Steyn marries Pieter Jacobus Vorster (1868) in Middelburg, Transvaal, when she’s 17 years old.

• 1890s – Boer trekker communities establish farms in southern Angola.
• 1892 – 24 January: birth of son, Barend Johannes Martinus. His baptism was on 3 April, and he likely died before November 1892, as he was not mentioned in the sermon delivered before the Sixth Dorsland Trek departed.
• 1893 – Cecilia and her family join the Sixth Dorsland Trek northward toward Angola.
• 1894 – 15 July: birth of daughter, Susara Susanna, upon arrival in Humpata, Angola.
• 1894 – 30 September: baptism of daughter, Susara Susanna, by Rev. C.J.H. Vorster in Humpata, Angola.
• 1895 to 1900 – Boer farming communities expand in southern Angola.
• 1898 – 18 January: birth of son, Johannes Hermanus, in Catumbela, Angola.
• 1899 to 1902 – Second Boer War devastates the Boer republics in South Africa, while Cecilia and her family are already living far to the north in Angola.

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The Boer Wars were two conflicts fought in South Africa between the British Empire and the Boer republics during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Boers were descendants of mainly Dutch settlers who had established independent states in the interior of southern Africa.

The First Boer War (1880–1881) began after Britain attempted to annex the Transvaal Republic. Boer forces resisted and won several surprising victories against British troops. The war ended with the restoration of limited independence to the Transvaal.

Much larger and more destructive was the Second Boer War (1899–1902). This conflict involved the Boer republics of the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State fighting against the British Empire. The war was partly driven by tensions over control of gold-rich territories and British influence in the region.

After early Boer successes, British forces eventually gained the upper hand. The war became notorious for its scorched-earth tactics and the use of concentration camps, where many civilians died from disease and poor conditions.

In 1902 the war ended with the Treaty of Vereeniging, bringing the Boer republics under British control and laying the foundations for the later creation of South Africa.

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• 1900 – 5 January: birth of daughter, Aletta Johanna, in Catumbela, Angola.
• 1903 – 1 July: baptism of son, Johannes Hermanus, and daughter, Aletta Johanna by Rev. T Hamersma in Philipstown, Catumbela, Angola.
• 1903 to 1908 – The Vorster family treks from Catumbela to Que.
• 1903 – 9 December: birth of son, Pieter Jacobus, during their trek to Que.
• 1903 – 17 December: First powered flight by Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright.
• 1904 to 1908 – Herero and Nama Genocide in German South West Africa (now Namibia).
• 1906 – 14 January: baptism of son, Pieter Jacobus, in Que, Angola.
• 1906 – 25 April: birth of son, Hermanus Johannes, in Que, Angola.
• 1906 – 27 May: baptism of son, Hermanus Johannes, in Que, Angola. This child probably died as a baby.
• 1908 – 21 October: birth of son, Paul, in Que, Angola.
• 1908 – 15 November: baptism of son, Paul, in Que, Angola.
• 1908 to 1911 – The Vorster family treks from Que to Sacanjimba.
• 1910 – 2 October: birth of daughter, Cecilia Johanna, in Cubal, Angola.
• 1910 – Formation of the Union of South Africa under British rule.
• 1911 – 18 June: baptism of daughter, Cecilia Johanna, in Sacanjimba, Angola.
• 1914 to 1918 – World War I; South African forces invade German South West Africa.
• 1915 – South African troops defeat German forces in South West Africa during World War I.
• 1916 – 5 June: birth of daughter, Cornelia Catharina Adriana, in Mombolo, Angola.
• 1917 – Russian Revolution.
• 1918 – 5 May: baptism of daughter, Cornelia Catharina Adriana, in Mombolo, Angola.
• 1918 – Cecilia Johanna Steyn dies in Angola, most likely during the Spanish Flu pandemic.

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The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918–1919 was one of the deadliest disease outbreaks in history. Caused by a highly infectious strain of influenza, it spread across the world in the last months of World War I and killed at least 50 million people.

The virus reached South Africa in September 1918, most likely carried by ships arriving from Europe at the port of Cape Town. It rapidly spread inland by rail and road, and within weeks, towns and rural districts across the country were affected. Hospitals couldn’t handle the number of patients, and many communities had little access to doctors or medicine. Roughly six percent of the population – an estimate of about 300,000 people – died in South Africa within a few months.

The epidemic also spread north into Namibia, under South African administration at the time. Remote farms, mission stations, and settlements were hit hard, often without medical assistance.

From there the disease moved further into southern Angola along trade and migration routes. In sparsely populated rural areas, entire communities could be affected. Although the most severe wave lasted only a few months, the pandemic left a lasting mark on families throughout southern Africa.

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16 May over the years…

• 1770 – Marie Antoinette marries the future Louis XVI of France.
• 1827 – Birth of Pierre Cuypers, architect of the Rijksmuseum and Amsterdam Central Station.
• 1905 – Birth of Henry Fonda, legendary Hollywood actor.
• 1929 – The first Academy Awards ceremony takes place in Hollywood.
• 1953 – Birth of Pierce Brosnan, famous for playing James Bond in the 1990s.
• 1960 – The first working laser is demonstrated.
• 1975 – Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

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Remarkable women

Cecilia Johanna Steyn’s life spanned a remarkable period in southern African history—from the independent Boer republics of her childhood to the global upheavals of the First World War. Her family’s journey from South Africa to Angola reflects the wider migrations and struggles of many Boer families during that era.

We mentioned remarkable women in this piece: Victoria Woodhull, the first female candidate for the presidency of the United States in 1872, and Junko Tabei, the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Yet the most remarkable woman in this story is our own ancestor, Cecilia Johanna Steyn. She gave birth to her second child in extremely difficult circumstances, and at least two more of her children were born somewhere along the long road to a new home. The blood of this strong woman still flows in our veins.