Vizes in South Africa

So far two migrations of VIZEs to South Africa have been identified.

Thomas Charles VIZE
Thomas Charles VIZE was born in Ireland but spent most of his childhood in England and Wales. His father was an Anglican cleryman.

After a brief stint as a tutor at a boys boarding school in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, Thomas travelled to Kimbeley in the Cape Province, where he worked as a law clerk. Thomas arrived sometime between the 1881 England census and his marriage in Kimberley which took place on 4 February 1885.

Thomas unfortunately died in 1887, though he still has descendants living in South Africa today. More on Thomas and his family can be found under their Family Group Sheet.

Ernest VIZE
Ernest VIZE served in the South Africa campaigns 1900-1902. On his discharge from the army in 1902 he elected to stay in Kimberley rather than returning to Great Britain. Ernest's origins are not known, but he probably came from England or Ireland.

Ernest first appears on records found in South Africa in 1908 when he and his wife Caroline baptised a daughter, Constance Maud VIZE in Kimberley. Constance died a week after the baptism. A second child, Edward Liver VIZE, was baptised in 1911 in Kimberley. The final record for this family found to date is Ernest's burial. He died 7 June 1920 in Kimberley. It is not known whether his wife and son survived him and stayed on in South Africa.

Kimberley, Cape Province
Kimberley is  located approximately 110 km east of the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The city has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and the siege during the Second Boer War. The roots of the De Beers company can also be traced to the early days of the mining town.

In 1866, Erasmus Jacobs found a small brilliant pebble on the banks of the Orange River, on the farm De Kalk near Hopetown, which was his father's farm. The pebble was purchased from Jacobs by Schalk van Niekerk, who later sold it. It proved to be a 21.25 carat  (4.25 g) diamond, and became known as the Eureka.

In 1869, an even larger 83.50 carat (16.7 g) diamond was found on the slopes of Colesberg Kopje on the farm Vooruitzigt belonging to the De Beers brothers. Rawstorne took the news to the nearby diggings of the De Beer brothers — his arrival there sparking off the famous "New Rush" which was practically a stampede. Within a month 800 claims were cut into the hillock which were worked frenetically by two to three thousand men. As the land was lowered so the hillock became a mine – in time, the world renowned Kimberley Mine.

From: Wikipedia (additional detail at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley,_Northern_Cape)

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