Saturday 2 February 1889

DIPHTHERIA
This dreadful disease (the Cradock Register hears) is still carrying off numbers of children in this town and district. Mr. S.J. VAN RENSBURG lost a child last Wednesday. Mr. J.G. WELGEMOED, of Bultfontein, lost a girl of 10 years on the 11th inst. Mr. C. COETZEE, of the Tarka, lost three children within a week. There is quite a panic among the farmers.

BEREAVEMENT
The Colesberg Advertiser says that the Rev. Harvey WILKINSON, who has been absent from home for ten days or more at the Wesleyan District Meeting in Kimberley, arrived home on Thursday only in time to attend the funeral of his infant daughter, who died the day before. The child had been ailing for some time. Difficulty in teething and a disorder of the stomach were the cause of death.

BUYING A WIFE
The latest scandal (says the Dispatch) is that a young farmer bearing an honoured name in Kaffraria has purchased a native wife for six cows.

Tuesday 5 February 1889

DEATH AT PRETORIA
Mr. J.A. DE VILLIERS, a well-known resident and a fortunate speculator in recent share operations, died yesterday of typhoid. A great outcry is being made about the sanitary state of the town.

Thursday 7 February 1889

SAD DEATH
We regret exceedingly to hear that Mr. Geo. SCAER has lost another child from diphtheria. Little Lily SCAER was a child of great promise, and it has often been our pleasant privilege to admire her paintings on the occasion of the half yearly visits of the reporters to the Convent. Mr. and Mrs. SCAER have our sincerest sympathy in the great loss they have sustained. [See following issue]

Saturday 9 February 1889

DIED at Grahamstown on the 7th inst, after a short and painful illness, Daisy Constance, aged 9 months and 9 days, the beloved daughter of John and Chrissie KIDSON.

A PRETTY FUNERAL
Seldom have we seen a prettier funeral than that of Miss Lily SCAER, on Thursday afternoon, which was followed by a procession of her girlfriends in white with wreaths. We are requested to correct a wrong impression to which we gave currency, that death resulted from diphtheria. In reality the cause was paralysis.

DEATH OF MR. CAIRNCROSS
Mr. Charles CAIRNCROSS, we (Independent) are informed, died yesterday morning at Capetown of apoplexy. The deceased gentleman has been a prominent figure on these Fields for years and was recently Secretary of the Griqualand D.M. Company. The announcement of his death will be received with the deepest regret by his many friends here.

DEATH OF A CLERGYMAN
The Beaufort Courier relates that a fortnight since the Rev. J.W. SPARK, accompanied by his sister, arrived there on his way to Kimberley, where he was temporarily engaged to work under Archdeacon GAUL. But the tedious journey by rail on a very hot day exhausted the invalid so greatly that he had to be carried from the Station on a stretcher to his quarters at the Orange-grove Boarding-house. In spite of medical skill, and every attention, the sufferer sank rapidly, and died on Thursday morning last.

DEATH OF A MINISTER
The Cradock Register regrets to learn that the Rev. J.L. SCHUMANN, Pastor of the Independent Church, has died. He had been ailing for a considerable time.

Tuesday 12 February 1889

FELL ASLEEP at the Masonic Hotel, Capetown, on the 8th inst, Mabel Ada, infant child of Frederick and Harriet PAXTON, of Kimberley.
Suffer little children to come unto Me.

DEATH THROUGH A CRICKET BALL
A gloom was cast over Woodstock yesterday (says the Cape Times) by the death of Thomas ROTHSCHILD, who although but 14 years and 5 months of age, was highly esteemed for his abilities and general good qualities. More particularly will his loss be felt by the choir of St.Mary’s, of which he was an energetic member. His death was caused by a blow from a cricket ball on the knee; mortification setting in finally terminated his agonies by death.

Thursday 14 February 1889

DIED at Woodville House, Grahamstown on the 14th February 1889, Susan, widow of the late Hon’ble George WOOD.
FUNERAL NOTICE
The Funeral of the late Mrs. George WOOD Sen. will leave her late residence, “Woodville”, tomorrow (Friday) afternoon at 4 o’clock. Friends invited to attend. No special invitations.

OBITUARY
Mrs. Geo WOOD Sen.
It is our sad duty to record the death of Mrs. WOOD, which occurred at her residence, Woodlands [sic], this morning, shortly after 1 am. For many hours the patient had been slowly but evidently sinking, and there was little or no sign of pulse. She passed away without pain, tended by the loving care of her sons and daughters, at the age of 79 years. Mrs. WOOD, whose maiden name was GARBETT, was practically one of the Settlers, having come out in 1820 in the Belle Alliance, the same ship which brought the Rev. J. AYLIFF and his still-surviving widow. The deceased lady was universally esteemed, and her charities and benevolent actions were very numerous. She was a devout and consistent member of the Wesleyan Church, and died in the full enjoyment of the Christian peace and hope. Her funeral will leave Woodlands tomorrow afternoon at 4 o’clock.

Saturday 16 February 1889

DIED on February16th at the Wesleyan Mission House, Grahamstown, Alfred Hardwick, infant son of Robert and Mary MATTERSON, aged 10 months and 13 days.

FUNERAL OF MRS. GEO. WOOD SEN.
The funeral of Mrs. WOOD took place yesterday afternoon, the procession leaving Woodville a little after 4 o’clock. The chief mourners were the three sons of th deceased, Messrs. John E. WOOD M.L.A., J.G. WOOD and Henry WOOD, with Messrs. Alfred H. WOOD and Geo. PEACOCK. The pall-bearers were Messrs. B. ATTWELL, R. AYLIFF, W. AYLIFF, P. GORDON, Dr. GREATHEAD, B. HOOLE, J. SLATER and G.G. WRIGHT.
At Commemoration a large number of friends had gathered, and the service was conducted by the Rev. F. MASON, the Revs. R. MATTERSON, N. ABRAHAM and W.S. HOLDEN also taking part. An obituary notice of the deceased was read by Mr. MASON, which testified to her blameless and amiable life and her numerous charities. The long train having been reformed, and being preceded by the pupils of the Wesleyan High School for Girls, in which both Mrs WOOD and her late husband the Hon. Geo. WOOD took in their lifetime a constant kindly interest, made its way to the Cemetery, where the service was concluded, the Rev. G.W. CROSS offering prayer. The coffin, which was of polished teak, bearing on a silver shield the name and age of the deceased, was then lowered into the family vault, where it rests side by side with that of her husband. Another link that connects us with the memories of the early founders of the Settlement is thus removed, in the departure of one of the very few survivors of that historic band that still lingered amongst us.

Tuesday 19 February 1889

DIED at Edinburgh on the 17th January, James Rae SHAND, Solicitor before the Supreme Courts, in his 30th year.

CROFT’S TINCTURE
The Dispatch says: As a little girl, aged about ten years, daughter of Mr. David LITTLE, was walking in the veld near Fort Grey the other day, she accidentally trod on a large puff-adder. The snake at once threw itself over and bit her on the leg, just below the knee. Croft’s Tincture was used, and the child was next day brought into town, where under medical aid she is in a fair way of recovering. The leg is immensely swollen, though the bite was sucked by Mr. LITTLE, who was close by a t the time.

Saturday 23 February 1889

MARRIED on the 19th inst at Christ Church, by the Rev. M. Norton, Ernest John Tree GUNNING, of Kimberley, to Marianne Jane, daughter of F.E. ORREN of Grahamstown.

MARRIED at Christ Church, Grahamstown, by the Rev. Wm. Impey, Henry Arnold GALPIN to Amy Gray BANKS.
21st Feb, 1889

DIED at “Good Hope”, Mancazana, Division of Bedford, on 7th February 1889, Sarah Elizabeth, beloved wife of W.H. PRINGLE and second daughter of Rev. W. SARGEANT, after a severe and long illness borne with Christian patience and fortitude, aged 36 years.

Electors! Don’t be misguided and hoodwinked! Put DOUGLASS into quarantine for five years and vote for Alexander WILMOT.
[Transcriber’s Note: This was one of five large banners across the pages of this and subsequent issues. In addition, in this issue alone, I counted 17 “VOTE FOR WILMOT”s flanking smaller articles.]

SAD DEATH
We tender our sincerest sympathy with Mr. and Mrs. James DEAMAINS in the trouble they have sustained in the loss of their eldest son. Deceased, who was in his 21st year, expired at Klerksdorp on the 13th Feb, regretted by numbers of friends to whom his generous and open character had endeared him.

Tuesday 26 February 1889

DIED at his residence, Ballisocher, Waterford, Ireland, Colonel Francis James BAKER (late of “Baker’s Horse”), after a long illness.

Thursday 28 February 1889

[Leader] Our unavoidably brief report in Tuesday’s issue could not give a very perfect record of the protracted meeting held on that day. It was one of the most important and exciting nominations ever held in Grahamstown, and at first the proceedings bade fair to be conducted with not more than the ordinary amount of disturbance. The remarks of Mr. T.H. COPELAND, who nominated Mr. DOUGLASS, were in the best spirit, and the same courtesy was observed by the mover and seconder of Mr. A. WILMOT’s nomination, who both carefully avoided anything in the shape of bitterness or personality. It is to the discredit of the next speaker, Mr. A. DOUGLASS, that he pursued an opposite course, and promptly turned the meeting into a beargarden. That was a minor inconvenience; but it was much more lamentable to see the exhibition he made of himself as a public speaker. Every unprejudiced elector who noted his ungovernable excitement, his frantic attitudes, his insolent bluster, his incessant distortion of the facts, and his incapacity to deal with the political questions before the meeting, must have been shocked at the thought of our being represented in Parliament by such a man.......

Without wishing to be in any way malicious, we may remark that Mr. DOUGLASS’s statements that he was the first person in South Africa to introduce dipping-tanks, wire-fencing and ostrich-farming, are each and all contradicted by those who should be well-informed on such matters.