Letter of Isaak Johannes "Izak" Malherbe, Pretoria, 5 October 1899, to his sister Minnie
correspondence · an original record · consulted 2026-08-16
- Type
- correspondence
- Repository
- Family papers, held by Frans Oosthuizen
- Reference
- Typed transcript on one leaf, headed "Pretoria. 5/10/99", opening "My dear Minni" and signed "Izak". Pencil corrections in a later hand give "Mimmi", "Issie's", "Annie" and "others".
- Consulted
- 2026-08-16
The citation as it was given
TRANSCRIBED IN FULL, 16 Aug 2026. WRITTEN THE SAME DAY AS HIS BROTHER JAN'S (SRC-444), to the same sister, from the same town. Both men were dead within five months. || "Pretoria. 5/10/99. My dear Minni, I have been so busy of late that you must excuse me that I did not write sooner. Dis waar 'n mens het so baja om jou oor te bekommer dat jy nie jou gedagte kan bepaal by een saak kan bepaal. || Tomorrow John & myself are going to the front. I only hope they won't keep us there doing nothing. Now that things have gone so far I should like to see us bring it to a finish. I hate going to the border & to lie there doing nothing. I have sent Ms money for Issie's Brd & lodging etc. & for Annie as I wont be able to send any from here, being away from home. || One hears so many rumours here now that you do not know which to believe. Some say there is still a chance that war may be averted, but I don't see where the chance comes in & I would sooner see us fight it out now than later, because sooner or later we will have to fight. Nou ja, should I be killed you must look well after Issie & Annie because I don't want Nellie to be bothered with the children. || Goodbye give my love to all at home. Izak." || "John" IS JAN, the brother who wrote the other letter the same evening. The two leaves were kept together for a century and a quarter.
Kept verbatim. This project contradicts published genealogies and corrects a family's own oral tradition, so every claim has to be checkable by someone who was not in the room.
What rests on this source
People
- Isaak Johannes Malherbe 29 August 1859 – 27 February 1900