Margaretha Suzanna (Grieta) GREEFF^{[1, 2, 3]}

1868 - 1938  (69 years)

• Name	Margaretha Suzanna (Grieta) GREEFF
  Alt Birth	12 Jan 1868  [4]
  Born	12 Nov 1868	Zemanangombe, Damaraland   [5, 6, 7]
  Christened	Potchefstroom, Transvaal, South Africa
  Gender	Female
  Alt. Death	5 Jul 1938	Lichtenburg, Transvaal, South Africa   [8]
  Reference Number	H439
  Died	5 Jul 1938	Germiston, Transvaal, South Africa   [8]
  Buried	Manana, Lichtenburg   [6, 8]
  Person ID	I22	Lichtenburgstam
  Last Modified	27 Jun 2017

  
  

  Father	Hendrik Adriaan GREEFF,   b. 26 Jan 1828, Lichtenburg, Durbanville Cape ,   d. 3 Apr 1884, The Farm Rooipoort, District Of Volksrust, S A.  (Age 56 years)
  Mother	Suzanna Maria REDELINGHUYS,   b. 6 Jan 1837, Malmesbury, Cape, South Africa ,   d. 21 Jan 1888, Manana, District Lichtenburg, Transvaal, South Africa  (Age 51 years)
  Married	16 Jul 1855	Hopetown, Cape, South Africa   [9, 10]
  Notes	Married: Getroud deur Ds J Murray.Alt Marriage: Hendrik Adriaan GREEFF, b2c1d4e1f6g1 Date: 16 Jul 1855 Location: Hoopstad, O.F.S., South Africa
  Family ID	F1	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Petrus Arnoldus (Piet, Oompie) DE WET,   b. 15 May 1859,   d. 17 Sep 1932, Manana, District Lichtenburg, Transvaal, South Africa  (Age 73 years)
  Married	1883
  Children	1. Pieter Francois DE WET,   b. 5 May 1885,   d. 9 Sep 1904  (Age 19 years)   2. Susanna Maria (Sannie) DE WET,   b. 26 Jul 1886,   d. 27 May 1966  (Age 79 years)   3. Magrieta Wilhelmina Jacoba DE WET,   b. 29 Mar 1888,   d. 1 Dec 1972  (Age 84 years)   4. Ds. Hendrik Adriaan DE WET,   b. 25 Feb 1890, Lichtenburg, Transvaal, South Africa ,   d. 5 Jul 1977, Benoni, Transvaal, South Africa  (Age 87 years)   5. Johanna Christina DE WET,   b. 24 Oct 1891,   d. 7 Sep 1892  (Age 0 years)   6. Gabriel Johannes DE WET,   b. 22 May 1893, Lichtenburg, Transvaal, South Africa ,   d. 12 Jun 1894, Lichtenburg  (Age 1 years)   7. Jacoba Elizabeth (Ant Non) DE WET,   b. 30 Mar 1895   8. Wouter Johannes DE WET,   b. 22 Jun 1897,   d. 25 Dec 1976, Hoopstad, O.F.S., South Africa  (Age 79 years)   9. Magdalena Susanna (Lenie) DE WET,   b. 16 Jul 1899, Lichtenburg ,   d. 10 Jun 1993  (Age 93 years)   10. Johanna Maria Money (Mary) DE WET,   b. 26 Apr 1901, Manana, Lichtenburg ,   d. 25 Mar 1968, Klerksdorp  (Age 66 years)   11. Ds. Petrus Arnoldus DE WET,   b. 6 Jun 1903,   d. 23 Feb 1992, Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa  (Age 88 years)   12. Pieter Francois (Piet Pote) DE WET,   b. 11 Nov 1909, Lichtenburg, Transvaal, South Africa ,   d. 14 Apr 1993, Krugersdorp, Transvaal, South Africa  (Age 83 years)
  Last Modified	1 Aug 2015
  Family ID	F10	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Born in Bechuanaland (Botswana), in an ox-waggon. A Damara woman helped with the birth. Her older sister, Lenie, wrote memoirs about her childhood in which she describes Grieta's birth. She wrote (translated freely): "One day mother told the children to go play. This we loved, but when we returned to the waggons later in the day, we were overjoyed to see a baby girl dressed in a little dress made by mother using cloth from her own dress. When the baby was two days old, she went off into convulsions. She was terribly ill for two days and then improved slightly. Two days later she really became very sick. It became so bad that father said to mother that we would remove the large chest from the waggon and use it as a coffin for her little corpse. He said that they could mark the spot with a pile of stones so that they could fetch her remains later on, but mother refused to give up. She told father to fetch some of the bitumen run-off from the waggon which she used to manufacture a plaster. This was placed on the baby's back between her shoulder blades. This proved to be a wonderful remedy, because thirty minutes later she opened her eyes and started to improve. Her recovery gained momentum and she never got sick again." Grieta later became a well-known and respected midwife in the Lichtenburg area, where she married Piet de Wet. The couple had thirteen children, eleven of which were raised successfully, an exceptional achievement in those days of very high child mortality. In an obituary to her on 6 July 1938, the Noordwester described her as the most remarkable woman in Western Transvaal. The nursing and midwifery services rendered by her, especially to the poor, was described as legendary. She had seen to the birth of thousands of children throughout the district, in Marico, Lichtenburg, Potchefstroom and Wolmaransstad. She was a devout Christian who led the family devotions until the evening before her death. Not surprisingly, two of her sons became ministers of religion: H A de Wet who served in Christiana and P A de Wet in Deplooysburg. Born: Tombstone gives 12.8.1868 Christened: Gedoop deur Ds D van der Hoff.

  
  

• Sources

  [S57] Greefdesc 150407.ged, Francois Greef, (www.Greeff.info). [S129] HAG Ged 120708.ged, Jan Greeff. [S247] Lichtenburgstam.ged. [S244] Lichtenburg 1865 - 1985, Bosman, A D. 1986, (Lichtenburg Drukkery, Lichtenburg. Sometimes available from Lichtenburg Museum, sometimes out of stock.), p 209 (Reliability: 3). [S206] Begraafplaasregister van Manana familiebegraafplaas, Wouter du Preez. Birthplace was recorded by Gretha du Preez in her book about H A Greeff [S75] Tombstone, http://www.eggsa.org/library/main.php?g2_itemId=5394 (Reliability: 3). [S23] Stigter van Lichtenburg, Kommandant H A Greeff, Gretha du Preez, (Lichtenburgse Drukkery, 5300 Possible other dates of birth are 26 January 1828 (the National Archives) and 19 January 1828 (his tombstone)), 17 (Reliability: 3). [S206] Begraafplaasregister van Manana familiebegraafplaas, Wouter du Preez. [S127] De la Rey, Lion of the West, Johannes Meintjies, (ISBN 978-1-920091-05-7), P.13 (Reliability: 3). [S244] Lichtenburg 1865 - 1985, Bosman, A D. 1986, (Lichtenburg Drukkery, Lichtenburg. Sometimes available from Lichtenburg Museum, sometimes out of stock.), P 209 (Reliability: 3).