Ockert Almero Oosthuizen

27 November 1836 – 2 January 1922 · Oosthuizen line

Connection to the Koup

Held ground in this district: Klein Valie No. 182 (../1878).

land Drooge Kloof ../1897
residence Middelwater 1836-11-27
marriage Aletta Catharina Maria Helena Hitge 1863-12-01

Names

Baptismal name: Ockert Almero
Called: Ockie
Given: Ockert Almero
Surname: Oosthuizen

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.

Photographs

The grave of Ockert Almero Oosthuizen (1836-1922) in the Prince Albert DR church cemetery: a polished black granite... — The grave of Ockert Almero Oosthuizen (1836-1922) in the Prince Albert DR church cemetery: a polished black granite tablet in a brick-kerbed plot with iron posts and chain. — Frans Oosthuizen

Ockert Almero Oosthuizen (1836-1922) as an old man, seated in a studio chair beside a draped table, in a dark frock... — Ockert Almero Oosthuizen (1836-1922) as an old man, seated in a studio chair beside a draped table, in a dark frock coat and waistcoat with a watch chain. A patterned curtain hangs behind him, a patterned carpet under his feet. — Family collection

Three generations around this person

Ockert Almero Oosthuizen 1786 Adriana Cecilia Venter 1792

Johannes Adriaan Oosthuizen 1816

Cornelis Andries Oosthuizen 1792 Johanna Machteld Petronella Strydom 1792

Susanna Catharina Oosthuizen (b.1819) 1819

Ockert Almero Oosthuizen 1836 Aletta Catharina Maria Helena Hitge m. 1 December 1863

Jan Adriaan Oosthuizen 1864 Charles Frederick Wright Oosthuizen 1868~ Almero Jacobus Hitge Oosthuizen 1878

Work out how this person is related to somebody else →

Click any name and the same three generations are drawn around that person instead. There is no first couple here and no top to the tree: it is only ever the family standing closest to whoever you are reading about, and a blank is a gap in the record rather than a statement about anybody.

Immediate family

Father: Johannes Adriaan Oosthuizen
Mother: Susanna Catharina Oosthuizen (b.1819)
Brothers and sisters: 1838Johanna Petronella Oosthuizen

1839~Anna Magdalena Oosthuizen

1840Cornelis Andreas Oosthuizen

1840Cornelis Andries Oosthuizen (b.1840)

1840Roelof Daniel Jacobus Oosthuizen

1842Jan Adriaan Oosthuizen (b.1842)

1844Petrus Marthinus Lodewicus Oosthuizen

1847Adriana Cecilia Oosthuizen (b.1847)

1849Susanna Catharina Oosthuizen (b.1849)

1852Anna Magdalena Oosthuysen

1855Roelof Daniel Jacobus Oosthuysen

1856Martha Magdalena Oosthuizen

1861Johanna Elizabeth Eliza Oosthuizen

1865Anna Petronella Oosthuizen (b.1865)

·Adriana Oosthuizen
Married: Aletta Catharina Maria Helena Hitge 1 December 1863
Children: 1864Jan Adriaan Oosthuizen

1868~Charles Frederick Wright Oosthuizen

1878Almero Jacobus Hitge Oosthuizen

A life in the record

before 1878 land Held it, Klein Valie No. 182
before 1897 land Held it, Drooge Kloof
27 November 1836 born Born
27 November 1836 land Lived on it, Middelwater
27 November 1836 event Ockert Almero Oosthuizen born at Middelwater
5 March 1837 event Ockert Almero Oosthuizen baptised at Beaufort West
Born on Middelwater 27 November 1836, baptised at Beaufort West on 5 March 1837 - a fourteen-week wait, which is what distance did to these families. Both paternal grandparents stood as witnesses, with a Venter and a Strydom for the other two sides. Nineteen years earlier his father had been baptise
5 March 1837 occasion Baptism at Beaufort West
1 December 1863 married Married Aletta Catharina Maria Helena Hitge
1 December 1863 event Ockert Almero Oosthuizen marries Aletta Catharina Maria Helena Hitge
[SRC-074] At Prince Albert. He was born on Middelwater in 1836; she brings the HITGE name, which then runs down the line as a given name for three generations.
10 February 1878 event Almero Jacobus Hitge Oosthuizen baptised at Prince Albert
Born on 18 January 1878 and baptised three weeks later - by now the family is in the Prince Albert congregation, founded within living memory, and the church is close enough that a baptism no longer waits fourteen weeks as his father's did in 1837. Third son, so by the naming pattern he carries his
10 February 1878 occasion Baptism of their child, Almero Jacobus Hitge Oosthuizen at Prince Albert
1892 event The great perdevrekte of 1892
Horse-sickness swept the district: of 95 horses and mules on Kouwveldt (PAR-000088), 14 were left. 'Na hierdie vrekte het die donkie sy tuiste in ons wereld gekry' - the donkey arrived in the Koup's world because the horses died out of it. The diary ranks it with the fall of the ostrich-feather mark
1897 event Kouwveldt sold; the family moves to Droogekloof
Ockert Almero Oosthuizen sells Kouwveldt - properly Klein Vallei, PAR-000088 - to Jan Muller and moves his household to his other farm, Droogekloof (PAR-000007). The same year the brandsiekwet came from Rhodes; 'die enigste goeie ding wat hy in Suid-Afrika gedoen het', the diary says, with the distr
January 1922 buried Buried, Prince Albert NG Kerk cemetery
TER GEDACTENIS AAN OCKERT ALMERO OOSTHUIZEN, GEB. 27 NOV. 1836, OVERL. 2 JAN. 1922. Below a rule: ZALIG ZYN DE DOODEN DIE IN DEN HEERE STERVEN.
2 January 1922 event Ockert Almero Oosthuizen dies in Church Street, Prince Albert
A retired farmer of 85, dead of gastro enteritis after a month, attended by Dr P.C. Luttig, and buried in the DR church cemetery at Prince Albert. His son signed the form from DROOGEKLOOF - the piece of annexed Government ground that sat inside the Middelwater loan farm when Stretch surveyed it in 1
2 January 1922 died Died
3 January 1922 occasion Death registration at Prince Albert

Ground they are on record on

Klein Valie No. 182 held it · before 1878 to 1897
Drooge Kloof held it · before 1897 to 2 January 1922
Middelwater lived on it · 27 November 1836

Who stood with them

Who signed at a baptism, a will or a survey is not incidental. It is the clearest surviving record of which families stood close to which.

stood for them Ockert Almero Oosthuise baptism · 5 March 1837 · grandfather (father's father)
on Middelwater · stood at 3 other occasions
stood for them Adriana Cecilia Venter baptism · 5 March 1837 · grandmother (father's mother)
stood at 1 other occasion
stood for them Jan Louies Venter baptism · 5 March 1837 · mother's grandfather?
on Middelwater
stood for them Susanna Catharina Strijdom baptism · 5 March 1837 · mother's family
no other trace in this model
stood for them A.J. Oosthuizen death registration · 3 January 1922 · son, present at death
on Hartebeest Voedpad (Rondabel No. 124 Ptn 5), Elandsfontein (Rondabel No. 124 Ptn 6), Drooge Kloof…

Stories

mentioned Rondawel's history: from a widow's mark to today's Marincowitz farm
subject Middelwater's story since 1777
mentioned Vrolykheid's story
subject Who are the two people from the loft at Klueplaas, on old Middelwater, about 1875?
mentioned The war reaches the Koup
mentioned Four grandparents, four countries, from 1684
subject The Oosthuizens of the Koup
ancestor The Oosthuizens of the Koup
mentioned From Modder Fonteyn to the Koup, 1809-1841
subject Brokkies uit oupa Almero Oosthuizen se dagboek

Others of the same name

Afrikaans naming repeats hard, and the Cape Dutch naming pattern reuses a name on purpose, a child who died young has the name given again to a later sibling. These are different people. Never match on a name alone.

What we don't know

7 other people in this model carry the same name. Never match on a name alone.

A sourced gap beats an unsourced fill. These are the open questions on this person, stated rather than papered over.

Sources

FamilySearch Family Tree - Oosthuizen direct line FamilySearchperson pages 972X-2LJ, LZ1Q-GDF, LDQC-R1B, LDQC-R17, LDQC-RTX and their family views
Baptism, 5 March 1837: Ockert Almero, child of Jan Adriaan Oosthuise and Susanna Catharina Oosthuise, Beaufort West FamilySearch, "South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Records (Stellenbosch Archive), 1690-2011"; citing GISA, StellenboschSouth Africa > Cape > Beaufort West > Baptisms 1819-1844 > image 198 of 302; ark 3:1:S3HY-68TW-G3P; cc=1392488, wc=M64H-PNL:13850901,13850902,14731201,14762701
Form of Information of a Death, 2 January 1922: Ockert Almero Oosthuizen, Prince Albert FamilySearch, "South Africa, Cape Province, Civil Records, 1840-1972"ark 1:1:W46D-53W2; registered 3 Jan 1922, district Prince Albert, entry no. 5; form B.&D.2 under Act 7 of 1894 (Cape)
Baptism, 10 February 1878: Almero Jacobus Hitge, child of Ockert Almero Oosthuizen and Aletta Catharina Maria Helena Hitge, Prince Albert FamilySearch, "South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Registers (Cape Town Archives), 1660-1994"; State Archives, Cape Provinceark 3:1:3Q9M-CSK6-T996-Z; cc=1478678; Doop Register, Prins Albert, page 458, entry 59
'Brokkies uit oupa Almero Oosthuizen se dagboek', Klaarstroom - Zeekoegat 1885/1933 - Die Oudtshoorn CourantSame page and issue as SRC-585; date [TO VERIFY], after October 1961Scans DOC-0348 (left), DOC-0349 (page), DOC-0350 (right); published verbatim as story STO-0048

Research notes

born Middelwater; Frans 2x-great-grandfather

29 Jul 2026: son of PER-000003 and PER-000135, born on Middelwater. NOTE THE NAMESAKE: his uncle Ockert Almero (PER-000133) was born in 1839, three years AFTER him.

29 Jul 2026 [SRC-083] BAPTISM REGISTER READ, Beaufort West: born 27 November 1836, baptised 5 March 1837; parents "Jan Adriaan Oosthuise" and "Susanna Catharina Oosthuise". FOUR WITNESSES, and they are exactly the two sides: his paternal grandparents OCKERT ALMERO OOSTHUISE and ADRIANA CECILIA VENTER, plus JAN LOUIES VENTER and SUSANNA CATHARINA STRIJDOM - a Venter for his grandmother's line and a Strydom for his mother's mother's line. The left margin of the entry reads "ldg: C. HATTING" - see SRC-083 and PER-000055.

29 Jul 2026 [SRC-084] DEATH REGISTRATION READ. Died 2 January 1922 at CHURCH STREET, PRINCE ALBERT, aged 85 1/12 years, a RETIRED FARMER - so like his own grandfather (PER-000001, who died in his own house in the village in 1859) he came off the land into the town at the end. Cause: gastro enteritis after a month's illness; attended by DR P.C. LUTTIG - the same doctor later named executor in the Swanepoel estate (SRC-072). Buried in the DR CHURCH CEMETERY, PRINCE ALBERT, which means the grave should be findable. THE INFORMANT WAS HIS SON, "A.J. Oosthuizen", present at death, LIVING AT DROOGEKLOOF - see PER-000016.

29 Jul 2026, death record read in full [SRC-084/DOC-0061]: he did NOT die on Middelwater - "Retired Farmer", usual residence and place of death CHURCH STREET, PRINCE ALBERT, 2 Jan 1922, gastro-enteritis after a month (Dr P.E. Luttig); informant his son A.J. Oosthuizen (PER-000016), "present at death", of DROOGEKLOOF; intended burial DR Church cemetery, Prince Albert; registered 3 Jan 1922, entry 5. The old man had retired to town; the son farmed Droogekloof (PAR-000007), the ground annexed to Middelwater in the 1833 survey.

[31 Jul 2026 SRC-171] CONFIRMED AS THE FATHER of Charles Frederick Wright OosthuizenH (PER-000164) by that son's 1930 death notice, which names 'Ockert Almero OosthuizenL (deceased)' and 'Aletta Catharina OosthuizenL born Hitge, widow, Prince Albert'. FamilySearch has the record attached to the WRONG Ockert Almero - his uncle GVZF-ZHH, b.1839. FIX-0003.

[SRC-303] PROBABLY CONFIRMED AT PRINS ALBERT ON 31 MARCH 1856, aged 18. The ledematenregister lists OCKERT ALMERO OOSTHUYZEN among fifteen young people taken into membership that church year. He was born 27 November 1836, so he was 19 years 4 months on that date and the register says 18. Register ages are commonly a year out and this project has just seen the same thing on a death notice. [TO VERIFY], AND THE WARNING IS THE USUAL ONE: 6 records that OCKERT ALMERO OOSTHUIZEN as a bare string matches NINE people in this model. The age and the date make this one the best candidate and not a certainty.

[15 Aug 2026, SRC-442] CALLED OCKIE. His great-granddaughter, writing in 2011: "Ockie Oosthuizen and his wife Lettie were my great-grandparents." Recorded in `noemnaam` per 5b.

HIS HOUSE IN PRINCE ALBERT IS NOW THE ONSE RUS GUESTHOUSE, which is how this correspondence began: Frans found a photograph of him on that guesthouse's website in January 2011 and wrote to ask about it. The same portrait is MED-000047 here.

HIS ORIGINAL GRAVESTONE IS NOT THE ONE THIS PROJECT PHOTOGRAPHED - see MED-000018.

[25 Aug 2026] HIS SON'S DIARY (SRC-586) FILLS IN HIS GROUND: he held KOUWVELDT - properly Klein Vallei, PAR-000088 - through the 1880s (mixed farming: grain, vineyards, fruit, ostriches, horses, cattle; 600-700 sacks a season), SOLD IT IN 1897 to Jan Muller (PER-001919), and moved to DROOGEKLOOF (PAR-000007), 'sy ander plaas' - which squares with the death record: he himself ended at Church Street in the village in January 1922, retired, his son the informant living at Drooge Kloof - and it CORRECTS the loose claim elsewhere that he died on Middelwater. In 1892 the perdevrekte left him 14 of 95 horses and mules.

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

The Prins Albert ledematenregister is a census of this congregation. Work it as a run. priority 1 · LEAD-0128
Four openings of the members' register have now been read and they name well over a hundred people between 1854 and 1861, with ages, dates and the kerkraad's signatures. What does the whole register give if it is read as a run rather than looked up name by name?

What would settle it Nothing settles a question this shape; it produces a roll of who was here and when, against which every other record can be checked.
Three photographs named in the 2011 Onse Rus correspondence that this project does not hold priority 1 · LEAD-0203
The January 2011 exchange about Onse Rus names photographs the model has no file for: (1) the broken MARBLE original of Ockert Almero OosthuizenL's gravestone, lying on Vischat, which Frans attached to his own email; (2) a studio photograph of three of the grandchildren - Ette, Ockie and Belle - on the guesthouse website; (3) whatever else that website carries. Can they be got?

What would settle it The files, and permission for anything that is not Frans's own.
Two Jan Adriaan Oosthuizens, one wife: are PER-000163 and PER-000398 one man? priority 2 · LEAD-0098
PER-000163 (tree, FS GQKX-JX7) and PER-000398 (tree, FS GHXS-ZVD) carry the same name and the same wife, Johanna Susanna De VilliersM born 3 August 1867. Are they one man duplicated upstream, or two men the tree has confused? And whose dates does PER-000163's row actually hold?

What would settle it A death notice. The two candidate deaths are fourteen years and a province apart, so one notice decides it outright.
Are the Klueplaas attic sketches Ockert Almero and Lettie Hitge? The woman does not fit. priority 2 · LEAD-0201
Two framed portrait sketches found in a Klueplaas attic have been SUSPECTED since July 2026 of showing Ockert Almero OosthuizenL (1836-1922) and his wife Aletta Catharina Maria Helena "Lettie" Hitge (1846-1933), on dress-dating and provenance alone. Photographs of both have now arrived. The man is consistent; the woman is not - the sketch shows an elderly woman in a bonnet of the 1860s-70s, and Lettie was twenty-four in 1870. Who is she?

What would settle it A name on the backing, or a costume date that fits a woman born in 1846.

What the record is missing

45 years, and the ground changes hands to nobody we can follow first order · B1 succession
On Klein Valie No. 182, Christian Hatting JuniorM (Klein Valie, 1833) is the last owner recorded from ../1833, and the next entry is Ockert Almero OosthuizenL from ../1878, 45 years later, with no person in common. No document records the handover at all.

What would settle it The Deeds Office transfer register for this farm between 1833 and 1878. A transfer names its predecessor in title, so one deed closes the whole gap.
19 years, and the ground changes hands to nobody we can follow first order · B1 succession
On Klein Valie No. 182, Ockert Almero OosthuizenL is the last owner recorded from ../1878, and the next entry is Jan MüllerM (bought Klein Vallei, 1897) from 1897, 19 years later, with no person in common. No document records the handover at all.

What would settle it The Deeds Office transfer register for this farm between 1878 and 1897. A transfer names its predecessor in title, so one deed closes the whole gap.
The record stops in 1897 and never resumes second order · B2 trail-ends
Klein Valie No. 182 was worked as far as 1897, with Ockert Almero OosthuizenL the last owner on record. 129 years follow with nothing. Who held it after that, and is it still one farm?

What would settle it The current title deed traced backwards, each transfer names the one before it, or the Surveyor-General's subdivision diagrams, which are what usually explain a farm going quiet.

Found by breaks.py reading the model against itself, not written by hand, each one is a shape of missing record, not a fault in the data. The whole set is on the questions page.

Elders

FamilySearch profile LDQC-R1B