Oertel Family History (Charlotte Julia Botha Oertel)

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Oertel or Ortel, is an abbreviation of the German surname, Ortolf, which means ”point of the sword”.  Samuel Veit Oertel, born 1763 in Wendelstein, Germany, was the son of Jacob Gabriel Oertel.  In 1792, Samuel went to South Africa, and in 1794 he was appointed as the Court Messenger in Graaff-Reinet in the Cape Province, South Africa.  On 12 July 1795 he married Fransina Elizabeth Wilke and in November 1797 he became the Provisional Secretary of Graaf-Reinet. In 1799 he was involved in the suppressing of the so-called Van Jaarsveld-rebellion.  In years following the suppression of the rebellion, Samuel became a man of means.  Investigations of old documents in the South African State Archives reveals that Samuel Veit Oertel helped to finance the “Great Trek” by loaning 1,000 riksdalers to the pioneer leader, Andries Pretorius, even though Samuel himself did not participate in the “Great Trek”.  Samuel Veit Oertel died on Thursday, 14 June 1838 at the age of 75 years, 11 months, and 3 days.

 

1.    FIRST GENERATION:

1.1.           Jacob Gabriel Oertel

Child                    Samuel Veit Oertel              1763

 

2.    SECOND GENERATION:

2.1.           Samuel Veit Oertel (1763) married Fransina Elizabeth Wilke on 12/07/1795

8 Children           Samuel Veit Oertel

                              Christiaan Philip

 

3.    THIRD GENERATION:

3.1.           Christiaan Philip Oertel married Mary Ann Spiller (an 1820 settler) on 23 July 1837.  This branch of the Oertel family become English speaking (British-South African in nature). They had 8 children, 6 sons and 2 daughters.  Their eldest, Charles James Philip was born on Graaff-Reinet shortly before his grandfather Samuel’s death.  In 1858 Charles moved from Graaff-Reinet to the province of the Orange Free State.

8 Children           Charles James Philip (the eldest)

                              Henry (the youngest)

 

Henry married Maggie Goodale, the younger sister of Jane Goodale (Charles Oertel’s wife) on 30 April 1878.  Their first son, Reginald, is born early in 1879. A second son was born in September 1880, but he died that same year. On 3 November 1883, Maggie Goodale  dies, just a few months after her sister Jane (February 1883) and her father (August 1883). Henry moved to the farm Bayswater (this farm would later become a suburb of Bloemfontein with the same name), and married Mary Francis Bell, the daughter of a Scottish surgeon, Dr. John Benjamin Bell.  The famous Sir Charles Bell is part of this family, as is Dr. Joseph Bell, the original Sherlock Holmes in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective series.

 

 

4.    FOURTH GENERATION:

4.1.           Charles James Philip Oertel married Jane Goodale (daughter of the mayor of Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State Republic, James and Alice Goodale) on 2 January 1865.

9 Children:          George                    10/12/1865

                              Alice

                              Charles

                              Jim

                              Amy

                              Albert

                              Mabel                      1878

                              Christian                 13/02/1881

                              Baby                        31/01/1883 (died shortly after birth)

Jane Goodale Oertel became very ill with an infection that she contracted during the birth of her 9^th child (the midwife’s hands were dirty).  The morning of 9 February 1883, she asked Charles to gather the children around her deathbed, at which time she requested Charles to marry her youngest sister Sarah, because she knew that Sarah loved her children.

 

4.2.           Charles James Philip Oertel married Sarah Goodale on 26 April 1884 (14 months after Jane’s death). 

6 Children:          Inez

                              Kathy

                              Evelyn (twin of Kathy)

                              Mary

                              Vera

                              William

 

5.    FIFTH GENERATION:

Marriages:

George Oertel to Anna Jordaan in1897

Alice Oertel to Ronald Cribb on 2 July 1895 = 1 Son, 1 Daughter

Charles Oertel to Sophie Mulke in 1896

Jim Oertel engaged to Eliza (Jim died during the Anglo-Boer war)

Amy Oertel to Arthur Austin on 20 September 1892

Albert Oertel

Mabel Oertel to Bertie Fichardt (engaged when the Anglo-Boer war breaks out)

Christian Oertel to Tillie Mulke (younger sister of Sophie Mulke)

 

5.1.           Charles Oertel married Sophie Mulke in 1896.

Children:             Hilda

                              Charles

                              Philip

                              Jane Lilian             16/10/19??

                              Lore

6.    SIXTH GENERATION:

6.1.           Jane Lilian Oertel married Willem Eduard Denis Botha

4 Children:          Charlotte Julia      21/08/1932                      Died 13/11/1995

                              Leon

                              Valerie                    22/03/193?

                              Willem Eduard Denis

 

7.    SEVENTH GENERATION:

7.1.           Charlotte Julia Botha Oertel married Willie Moss Oosthuysen Marais on 23/02/1954

4 Children:          Christiaan de Wet 16/10/1954

                              Willem Eduard      04/03/1956

                              Jane Lilian             27/08/1957

                              Marie-Louise         24/03/1960

 

8.      EIGHTH GENERATION

8.1.           Marie-Louise Oosthuysen Botha married Luis Emiliano Gutierrez Santos Poucel (born 09/03/1945) on 29/07/1989

2 Children:          Cassandra Andrea                                         23/02/1990

                              Alexandra Sabrina                                         31/07/1992

 

NOTE:

The historical information reflected on this page is based on the book “Punt van die Swaard” (Point of the Sword) by L.J. Bothma.