Andrew Hewat 1839-1909 South Africa

"As with John who went to Australia, Andrew must have had a bit of wanderlust. We've speculated that he might have been a bit of a "bad sheep" because of a few letters we have from his father and brother, Thomas, admonishing him to be careful with his money, reputation, etc. We know he ended up in England and possibly Scotland at some point, but eventually he arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. He went to work there at a department store named, Stuttaforts, which still exists."

"For reasons unknown to us he went east to what was then British Kaffraria, a very primitive region of South Africa which the English government had been trying to settle for years as a buffer against Zulu tribes and the Dutch."

"He apparently went to work for the Ushers who owned a store in Kingwilliamstown. George and Caroline Usher had come to South Africa in 1851 or so, and George had become a very prominent citizen (bank board-of-directors and so forth.) We think that Caroline was a widow by the time Andrew came into the picture. In any case he married their daughter, Elizabeth."

"Andrew and Elizabeth went on to have 11 children after their 1873 marriage. Twin boys died in infancy. A daughter died at age 2, purportedly after taking a drink out of a little cup. The rest of the children survived to adulthood. The great tragedy for the family was for the "baby", William Duxbury, to die in WWI in 1918 in France. He was 21 years old and missing in action for many months. Both of his parents were long dead (Elizabeth in 1901 and Andrew in 1909), but the rest of the family never really got over it. They were extremely close, and I am fortunate that my grandmother, Blanche, who basically raised the younger 5 children after her parents died, kept letters from her brothers that they wrote during the war. (All 3 brothers fought together in France.)"

"John Hewat in Cape Town, with whom I know Jo has corresponded, is the son of one of those brothers, Ronald, who was a war hero. Lionel the third brother never married. So "our" Hewat line only continues through John's sons."

"My grandmother, Blanche, married Harold George Bower in 1915 when he was home on leave from the war. My mother, Hazel Hewat Bower, is the eldest of their 3 children. Ironically Mom was born in Edinburgh because my grandfather received money to attend college after WWI, and he went to Edinburgh U."

"My mom joined the South African Nursing Corps after she finished college and was sent to Italy during WWII. My dad was a U.S. Air Force officer, and they met on a blind date. When the war ended my mom took a ship from South Africa to the U.S. and married my dad. The rest of her family remains in South Africa."