(Author: Hazel Dakers, Vol. 65, No. 3, Chanukah 2010)
- Feature image: Unmarked probable graves of Benjamin and Abigail Norden, Ramsgate Jewish Cemetery (author’s photo)
Some years after the death of my South African grandfather, my aunts and my mother agreed to pass on to me the small folder containing the only information he kept connected with his own life and that of his family. Amongst other items, it included a fading scrap of newsprint recording the marriage of his parents. There was also a small (undated) article by SA Rochlin, archivist and researcher at the SA Jewish Board of Deputies, in a column entitled ‘Curios of SA Life: First Jewish Marriage in OFS’.
That first Jewish marriage to be celebrated in the Orange Free State was that of my great-grandparents, “Mr Julius Heimann and Miss Sarah Norden, both of Bethulie”. Samuel Rapaport, who had been recently appointed marriage officer for the Eastern Cape, Griqualand West and the Orange Free State, officiated. The Cape Argus reported on the wedding, which took place on 19 February 1874, as follows:
The inhabitants of the little village, as though sensible of the importance of the occasion turned out en masse (including the Landrost, and other dignitaries) to drink the health of the newly-wedded pair, and that of the worthy host and hostess (Mr and Mrs Arnholz), the uncle and aunt of the bride, and that of Mrs Solomon, the bride’s grandmamma.
We will only add that Mr Heimann was a former resident of Bloemfontein; that, like a true burgher, he did good service in the late Basuto war; and that we hope he and his young wife will live to enjoy very many years of wedded bliss.
It was a letter from my great-grandmother, Sarah Heimann (nee Norden, 1855-1937) to my grandfather Herman Paul Heimann (1888-1981) that provided the other initial clues to my Norden ancestry. Manny, as my Grandfather was known by his friends, had by this time been living in England for more than twenty years. He had initially come to the UK after studying at SACS to continue his education at Cambridge. From afar, he had clearly written to his mother inquiring about his forebears. (He was her youngest and, at this point, one of three surviving children).
In this letter, dated 30/5/1930, Jacobsdaal, Sarah wrote: “The Ben Norden mentioned was an uncle of my late Father’s. The Joshua Norden, Captain Norden, was a brother to my late father. My late father’s name was Louis Norden, son of old Mark Norden of Grahamstown.”
Some 12-13 years ago, I began to get to grips seriously with my family history. I had by then discovered entries for Nordens in the Dictionary of South African Biography. This early discovery gave me the false impression that unearthing the Nordens and sorting out their relationships to me would be simple and quick! I took an early decision to investigate any South African Nordens, and to this later added the associated family of Nortons. Essentially, I also researched any Jewish Nordens I found elsewhere in an attempt to fit the missing pieces of the jigsaw. So what I describe now is the story as I know it in 2010, largely supported by documents found in archives in South Africa, the UK and elsewhere by myself and by other researchers, some professional, some amateur, by some cousins and, of course, with the assistance of colleagues in libraries and archives. To all of these I am exceedingly grateful. It is a developing story to which I continue to add each year and sometimes correct earlier assumptions.
London in the 1790s
In London in 1791, as shown in archival documents,there was a certain Abraham Norden, son of Yehuda. The civil name of Yehuda remains a mystery to me, as does the place of birth and marriage of both Yehuda and of Abraham and his siblings. Where, also, were Abraham’s children born? Yehuda also had at least two other sons, Pinchas and Jacob (who had a large, well-documented and interesting family) and possibly a daughter, Beile or Betsey.
Abraham was married to Abigail (or Adel). They lived at this time near the Tower of London, with various addresses around Upper East Smithfield. He was in business as a slop seller. Only the very wealthy at that time would have had new clothes. Others bought second hand. However, the fact that he had insurance cover with Sun implies that his was a not inconsiderable concern. Abraham and Abigail may have had as many as ten children, although I am more inclined to believe that eight is the correct number.
Nordens to the Cape
My direct ancestor, Marcus or Mark,was the eldest child of Abraham and Abigail, and was probably born around 1791. His sister, Sarah, who was married to John Norton, and brothers Benjamin and Joshua Davis (another uncle to my great-grandmother’s father rather than a brother as she claims above) were amongst the earliest British Jews who settled in the Cape. I believe that Mark and his family actually followed in 1830.
The youngest sister, Julia, came after the death of their parents. She married James Hamilton Parker in Grahamstown (‘Graham’s Town, as it was then called) in 1843 and died in Cape Town in 1864. Born in 1811, she would not have known most of her siblings when she joined them. Francis, Jane and Hannah (the last I surmise was a daughter) remained in England as far as can be established to date.
Immigrating to the Cape was, in fact, Abraham’s idea, not his children’s. In 1819, he applied to the British government to lead a party within the planned settlement. His list is entirely made up of London Jews living close to him near the Tower of London. The list includes his sons and others,who do in fact appear in the lists of those who eventually went to theCape. Unfortunately, Abraham’s application was rejected and the younger generation took their chance without him. Shortly after their departure, Abraham and Abigail made what seems to have been a mysterious move to Hammersmith, where he is recorded in rates documents and business directories of 1838 and 1839 as being a ‘general dealer’in 1823. It was an unusual move as it was far from the Jewish community in which they were used to living. It was a three-and-a-half mile walk from Hammersmith to the Westminster Synagogue. However, the move coincided with the opening, for a period of eight years, of a school at Wallborough House on Hammersmith Mall in 1825. This was owned by Henry Naphtali Solomon, earlier in his career first headmaster of the Jews Free School and later at Edmonton.(1)
John and Sarah Norton (she was the sister of Benjamin et al) are listed in the various versions of the List for Thomas Willson’s Party on the Belle Alliance. It has been difficult to prove that Benjamin and Joshua were also onthe ship, but the balance of evidence is towards presence rather than his absence – probably under other names. (This was not unusual,as the weather was stormy at the time of departure and many booked on the vessel had cold feet at the last moment!).
Arrival in the Cape June 1820
The documents still remain making it possible to track the Willson Party’s progress on arrival: By 8 June 1820, arrangements were being made by the military at Uitenhage for the transportation of the settlers arrived in Algoa Bay by wagon to their eventual destination. It was foreseen that the convoy’s route would be: “4thJuly, Tuesday, to Swarthoss River; 5th, Wednesday, Sundays River; 6th, Thursday, Bautenbacks Drift; 7th,;Friday, Assaigaay Bush” and then, “somewhere between the Karriga and Kowie – the latter is preferable – finally on the 6th night reaching their locations”.(2)
Willson’s Party was to be located at no. 30 on the plan enclosed with the memorandum, which had previously been intended for a Mr Erith, “running up along the same river to Mr. Southey’s location”. They were to go by Assaigay Bush, to cross the barrage and Kowie Drift and as far as the cross road coming from Graham’s Town. From there, they were partly to turn off towards Bathurst, along the road to the first River (the place where Mr Erith was first intended to be located), and partly to continue to where it comes out of the rocky Hills westerly of the place where Mr Southey was now located.
The progress of the settlers can be followed again in 1823. In May of that year, the Return of the Settlers was published. By then, Willson’s Party occupied locations 30 and 33, including the intermediate lands. At the time of landing, there had been 94 adults in this party. Now,on the 1000 acre location, there were only 34 men and 22 women, as well as 73 children. Their livestock comprised mainly cows and sheep,and they were growing a fair range of crops, with the exception of rye and oats. Whilst most of the general remarks upon the industry of the various parties are brief – “an industrious/idle and undeserving party” – there are several comments with regard to Willson’s Party. This was a very large group, abandoned by their head on arrival. The location allotted to them was: “badly divided, and no good arrangements made for their general advantage. With the exception of a few individuals, little or no industry has been employed on the location”.
In a formal request to the authorities (ii) John Norton asked for a pass to trade in cattle in any of the districts. The response: “I have no objection to this, nor of egress and ingress for the purposes expressed.The Landrost must examine and may grant a pass for a specific time and purpose and write to the Landrost of the district John Norton goes, to inform them”.
A February 1824 statement of settlers then actually residing on their locations within the Field Cornetcy of Bathurst includes, from Willson’s Party, 28 men, 20 women and 46 children. On Norton’s Location are listed by name 11 men, 5 women and 14 children. There are no Nordens or Nortons amongst them. John Ayliff, in his fictionalised account of the Willson Party’s experience The Journal of Harry Hastings Albany Settler, almost certainly refers to John Norton (‘JN’) in his account of some trading during August 1820. In this, he takes a younger man to learn how to barter such goods as watches, silver spoons and forks and clothing in exchange for much needed cattle.
Grahams Town 1824 –1846
As mentioned above, I believe that it was not until 1830 that my direct ancestor Mark Norden and his wife Ann Levy settled in Grahams Town. My evidence for this comes from Masonic records. What I do not know is whether they had previously visited the Cape Colony. Whereas his brothers were known as local auctioneers,whose advertisements feature in most issues of the early Grahams Town Journal, Mark opened a shop which sold everything under the sun. The front page of the 15 September 1836 issue of The Graham’s Town Journal includes an announcement that Mark Norden had “opened a General Job Store corner of New Street and High Street”. The brothers and brother-in-law John Norton were active within the local Masonic Lodge. Their business partnerships with each other and other citizens seemed to fluctuate. There were major rows both within the family and within the masons.
During this period the Jewish community of Grahams Town increased with, amongst others, the families of Myer Schrijver, Simon Marcus and Michael Benjamin settling there. So what had been at first a very brave step away from both London and the Jewish community they knew gradually became more familiar. However, apparently no early Jewish community records exist for the town. Cory Library manuscript: MS 1112A, extract from Journal of Rev. F Owen, 29.1.39 -30.4.1839 provides a flavour: “Calling at a shop (Mr M Norden’s) I perceived that the shopkeeper’s wife was an Israelite, & whilst she sent for change had some conversation with her. She said the Jews at Grahams Town, of whom there were but few, could not keep up the customs or observations of their religion. They kept open shop on the Sabbath, & the only solemnity they observe is the white fast, one day in the year, in commemoration of the destruction of Jerusalem”.
1846 was one of disaster for my family.On 17 April Louis Norton, aged 30,died after being thrown from his horse. The Grahams Town Journal mourned him as being ‘among the young men of the highest promise.’ He left behind his wife Kate, John Robert (2) and Joshua (only a few weeks old). Just aweek later, on 24 April, Joshua Davis Norden (brother to Mark and Sarah) died in battle,a hero of the 7th Frontier War, aged 42. A graphic description of the incident (his body was mutilated after his death) is provided in the Grahams Town Journal.There is a memorial plaque for him in the Grahamstown Cathedral. On 31 July, Mark Norden died, aged 55. Sarah Norton (nee Norden) died, aged 52, on 7 December.
In the following two years, Sarah was followed by another son, Philip (1847) and by her husband, John (1848). Together with my friends Sally and Gray Poole and my cousin Chante Norton (descended from Sarah), I believe we identified Sarah’s grave a few years ago in the Jewish Cemetery at Grahamstown. We just managed to make out the vestiges of the engraving on the weathered stone.
Benjamin Norden (1798-1875)
Of all the Nordens, the one best known is undoubtedly Benjamin. He was clearly a successful business man judging from those of his houses I have visited: in Grahamstown; in Cape Town (the part of the Mount Nelson Hotel claimed to have beenhis home has a plaque commemorating the first Jewish Prayer meeting in 1841); what is now a post-war reconstruction of the Post Office in Baker Street, London; and the home of his retirement in Ramsgate, from which on a clear day France can be seen.
Benjamin clearly stands out within the family as the one with both exceptional business acumen and drive but also as one who wished to be involved in the community around him. He bought and sold a great deal of property. The plain Georgian style house he built for himself overlooking the Market Place in Grahams Town has since been added to and is now a guest house, called The Cock House after its next owner. Benjamin was a public notary and elected a city commissioner in Cape Town (municipal councillor) in 1848. In 1854 he stood for the Lower House of the Cape Legislative Assembly.
Not only was Benjamin a daring enough young man to go to the Colony as an 1820 Settler in the first place,but he later he also represented the British Governor to the Zulu Chief Dingaan in Natal and furtherconductedbusiness with the Chief. He is said to have traded up the Wild Coast between Port Elizabeth and Durban (then Port Natal), which was daring, and maybe foolhardy, to say the least. So self-confident was Benjamin that he wrote up some of his own exploits in the Grahams Town Journal, under a pseudonym of course! He was in business with Aaron de Pass and a friend of Piet Retief’s. That Benjamin led the group who founded the first synagogue in South Africa is well known. I do not know whether he provided funds for the Jewish cemetery in Grahams Town, but most certainly he did both in Cape Town and in Ramsgate, where the tahara house commemorates both him and his wife, Abigail, on each of its walls.
In addition to contributing to the building of the first synagogue in Cape Town, Benjamin likewise contributed to the building of various churches. He, of course, registered the births of his own children in church registers,this being the only way to do so at that time in Grahams Town.
However, Benjamin was not universally liked. This could well be the case with some other successful businessmen, as to achieve in business may take a certain toughness and lack of sentimentality. Heart-rending letters were written by John Norton to his son Lewis in 1844 at the time of his insolvency (Cape Archives). He recommends Lewis to his Uncle Joshua and warns him away from his Uncle Ben and brothers, Joshua and Philip. These letters are found amongst documentation concerning the case of JH Bartman and Benjamin Norden, 1852, versus the executor of the estate of John Norton.
Benjamin had a Cape Town office from 1839 onwards. In 1849, he decided to voluntarily supply the convict ship Neptune, then berthed in Cape Town on its way from England to Australia. This angered the whole of Cape Town’s white society, including the Jewish community, and resulted in Benjamin’s house and person being stoned by an angry mob. His health never recovered, though the British Government did reimburse him. Eventually, he retired to England, returning only once to the Cape. The story of the silver cup (now in the Jewish Museum in Cape Town) with its engraved thanks presented to him and the verbatim account of the speeches given at the presentation dinner and published in the Cape Argus of 31 October 1857 is well known. The latter was reprinted 100 years later by SA Rochlin in Jewish Affairs, November 1957.
Benjamin and his wife retired first to central London and finally to Ramsgate, where both eventually died.
Families of the Settler Nordens
For me, the fascination is for this family as a whole and in particular for the less usual aspects of their lives. To protect the privacy of descendant cousins, many of whom have become my friends, I am mentioning by full name mainly public figures. In all sorts of ways, the lives of the settler descendants make a quite intriguing patchwork of stories. For the sake of space, I shall select but a few.
My Great-Great-Great Grandfather Marcus Norden had five children who survived infancy.
Of these, Ester first married Samuel Moss in 1833. They had four children, whose descendants continue to thrive to this day and some of whom have remained Jewish. Then –Samuel Moss still living – she married Saul Solomons in 1853. Divorce was then extremely unusual and I have found no record thereof.
Joshua Joseph Emanuel Norden married four times, having four children by his first wife and five by his second. Both these wives have Dutch names and the children seem to have been brought up in their traditions, one of his descendants being a leading contemporary academic in the field of Afrikaans literature. At least two of Joshua’s descendants became Church of England ministers.
Benjamin Norden (son of Marcus) had three children by his wife, Mary Anne Susan Maguire, before his early deathat the age of 36. One of their descendants was Lucie Norden van Huyssteen,who during her lifetime researched and wrote about the family but whose conclusions were not always the same as mine!
Louis Norden, my Great-Great-Grandfather, had four children who survived infancy, including Sarah mentioned at the start of this piece. Some of Louis’ descendants remain Jewish – I mention this because the vast majority of Norden descendants have not been Jewish for several generations. As this is my own branch of the family, I have probably traced a higher proportion of the descendants than elsewhere in the tree. Eleven years after the premature death of his wife, Marion, or Miriam Heilbronn,in 1863, Louis remarried New York-born Leah Pass, in 1870. I can find no further traces of Leah thereafter, whether in the Cape, in the UK or in her childhood home of Barbados.
Louis’ behaviour became increasingly erratic, to the point where Rev Joel Rabinowitz, having failed to persuade him to return to England with the gift of a ticket, nearly succeeded in having him incarcerated in the Lunatic Asylum on Robben Island. His brother-in-law, Bernhard Arnholz, became guardian to the children. In the years 1874-9, Louis was intermittently a patient in the Old Somerset Hospital.(iii) Beyond this point, he is mentioned no more – living or dead. Does any reader of Jewish Affairs know the fate of Leah or Louis?
Louis’ eldest son Mark had a great many children before being divorced by his wife on – in my opinion – very reasonable grounds. I have made some very good friends amongst his descendants. The one I shall mention in particular is Althea Norden Duncan, who passed away just a few years ago. Before the days of the Internet, she built up a magnificent amount of family information, largely through writing to every Norden she could find in the South African telephone directory. Althea delighted in corresponding with these cousins and most generously allowed me copies of her archive not long after I started my research.
Louis’ son John, or Jack, Norden was the father of leading Durban Chartered Accountant Bert Norden, who in turn was step-father to my celebrated step-cousin Professor Phillip Tobias (who has also written about the Norden family).
Hannah, or Anna, Norden married Thomas McCabe. Whilst I have traced some McCabes during the 19th Century, I am far from certain that they are indeed Hannah’s family. If indeed they are, they were in business in Queenstown, Dordrecht and Birmingham. The fortunes of these businesses, like those of so many other small enterprises at this time, fluctuated considerably.
Descendants of Sarah Norden and John Norton
I have referred to the untimely deaths of some Nortons in 1846. The family is so large that I shall simply highlight a few of the most unusual lives. Amongst the descendants of Sarah and John were many who married the descendants of other well known settler families, such as White and Bowker.
One granddaughter of Philip Norton, whose death in 1847 is mentioned above, was Ellen Mary Anne Norton (1864-1942). She married Maximillian Sackville-West, an illegitimate scion of the famous literary family whose seat is at Knole in Kent and whose niece was Vita Sackville-West. The latter lived at Sissinghurst and was famous for the garden she created with her husband, Harold Nicholson.iv
Sarah’s son Joshua Abraham’s story is without a doubt the best known and most extraordinary of all. As a child of two years, he was an 1820 Settler. After losing much of his close family in the 1840s, he set off to become a Forty-Niner in the 1849 California gold rush. His business partnership in grain came to a sticky end and he found himself penniless. Using his wits, he arrived in San Francisco and announced himself to be Emperor Norton I of the United States of America (later taking Mexico into his ‘protectorate’). The broader populace good-naturedly indulged the fantasy. The City provided him with a new Emperor’s uniform with plumed hat each year, railways provided free travel and restaurants entertained him as befitted one of his ‘status’. He printed and used his own currency and his doings were followed by the local press. When one of the dogs who followed him died, its obituary was written by local journalist, Mark Twain.
Another San Francisco reporter, Robert Louis Stevenson, is said to have based a minor character on Joshua in a novel The Wrecker. Whilst Joshua lived this feted life, he in fact apparently slept in a very dilapidated lodging house. Yet such was the affection he engendered amongst his public that tens of thousands turned out for his funeral after he dropped dead in the street in 1880. I can claim no original research on his life in the United States, for which in this case I am merely summarising secondary sources. When my son visited his grave, he was told that a transvestite calling herself Empress Norton, who has a grave plot reserved beside his for herself, has held regular ceremonies at the gravesite to raise funds for Aids charities. How Joshua would have relished knowing that 130 years after his death, he is still in the limelight!
A Great-Great-Grandson to John and Sarah – through their son Benjamin John Norton – was the last Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Hill Norton. Shortly after the early death of his father Martin, known as Jack Norton, Peter’s mother decided to send him to the Naval School at Dartmouth as a 13 year-old cadet. It goes without saying that his naval career was outstanding, taking him to be Chief of the [UK] Defence Staff and then Chairman of the NATO Military Committee. His eventual retirement led to active participation in the House of Lords where, in addition to defence topics, he asked questions regarding sightings of UFOs. His reputation, according to the obituaries, was formidable, yet knowing him only in the last few years of his life by correspondence and then meeting a couple of times to exchange research on family history, I only found him charming, interesting and glad to share a mutual hobby.
Esther Norton married Henry Benjamin Kisch – another vast family. Their children later changed the name to Kyshe. One of their great-grandsons, said to be the inspiration for James Bond, was Fitzroy Maclean, writer, diplomat, adventurer and war hero who fought alongside Tito.
Descendants of Benjamin Norden
It must have been tough to be in the shadow of a father as successful as Benjamin Norden. Perhaps, then, it is no surprise that it was one of his sons-in-law, Joseph Levy (husband of Abigail Ann Norden), who most shared his talent for business. I have followed Joseph’s business career from managing a store for Benjamin through to leaving £37000 gross as his estate in 1901. At this point, most people earned less than £100pa. Their son, Samuel Benjamin Levy, seems to have been an unforgiving sort of father. Amongst his grandchildren was the dedicated paediatrician Professor Lucy Wagstaff who, even in her eventual retirement, would slip back to the famous Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto – where she had been based through much of her career – to assist the then dreadfully understaffed medical team. She also filled her retirement with work for UNICEF and was Adviser on Child Health to the Gauteng Government. Lucy, whose interest in the here and now was far greater than in family history, kindly gave me some wonderful photographs from her branch of the family.
Descendants of Joshua Davis Norden
Battle hero Joshua Davis died leaving a widow and young family in 1846. Three sons survived to adulthood. Of these one, sharing his father’s name, eventually settled in the Kimberley area and had children of his own whose descendents still live in South Africa today. It took Joshua Davis Norden’s American wife Catherine some years to obtain her due from his business interests that often involved his brothers – and from the British Government – as he died fighting on its behalf. I am not sure when it was that they left the Cape, but by 1860 Catherine and her youngest son, Ben, were living in Portland Oregon with Myer and Rebecca Mansfield. Myer is referred to as Ben’s uncle in the obituary following Ben’s death. Ben had four daughters and a son. It is his son – another Ben – who during World War I was a surgeon in the navy aboard the U. S. S. South Dakota. He later returned to private practice.
And more……….
I cannot hope to cover the details of the lives of all the Nordens and Nortons in the space of a single article. Instead, I have tried to give you a flavour of the wider family and to highlight some who may be said to have led unusually interesting or high-achieving lives. I have purposely not dwelt at great length on the well known stories which have been recounted in many other articles and books.
My own great pleasure has been in the friends I have made amongst the cousins – many of them not mentioned here – and with those who, like me, research their family history, exchanging recent finds and stories. Whilst I have met many of these in person, others are email correspondents who have come to me through my website www.hazeldakers.co.uk, on which you will find a reasonably current family tree for the Nordens and Nortons as well as for my other families.
I think there are several reasons for which this family has caught my imagination and so engaged my research skills more than the seven families of my other Great-Grandparents. My favourite period of social history is Georgian England. I live in a house largely built around 1700. The Nordens left an extraordinary paper trail, much of which is well indexed by the National Archives of South Africa. This made it possible to uncover much of their story. As the Cape was a British Colony, its goings on are well logged in the Colonial Office Records and most fully reported upon in contemporary newspapers of the Cape and the UK. I look back with awe at the spirit of adventure which took them from the shadow of the Tower of London, from a close knit Jewish community within that part of London and across the seas and into the unknown.
Biog: Hazel Dakers, a Fellow of CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals), has worked in a variety of libraries, from school libraries to the British Library. During the 1990s, she taught a series of courses in London for Black South African teacher librarians, funded by the British Council in partnership with READ. She further carried out research in libraries in Gauteng while studying for an MSc in Training. Her maternal grandfather Herman Paul Heimann was South African and his mother was born Sarah Norden. Her genealogy website is at www.hazeldakers.co.uk.
NOTES
- CO 48/76 p309-11 UK National Archives
- CO 48/76 p.392-3 The National Archives (UK) Kew
