A letter from Franceska Rattray (née Mähler) to her grand-daughter Daphne Bowman
April 8th 1951
DOWNING
ULSTER ROAD
Avondale, SALISBURY, S.R.
My Darling Daphne,
Ive written out the family tree as far as I can remember; you must
excuse pencil, used because I found Id never get it all in with my thick
pen. I never knew all the names of my great-grandmother's children,
several of whom died young, I think. She was a marvellous woman; died
when I was about seven or eight. I remember going to see her - a tiny
pretty old lady in a white starched muslin cap, pink cheeks. Her husband
had been married before and had already had six children! He was manager
of a mine in Brazil, and Great-Grannie went out to him, with thirteen
children in a sailing ship which took six months to get to Rio. Then
they had to go a three weeks journey into the interior. Those old enough
rode mules, Grannie Keogh and the little ones were carried in what we
call machilas - sort of hammocks. Minnie and Fanny were twins, eighteen
years old; their father had sent out the mine doctor and the engineer to
Rio to meet the family and escort it up. By the time they arrived Minnie
was engaged to the engineer, Fanny to the doctor. Fanny and her doctor
husband were out at the Crimean war when their first child was born and
Florence Nightingale was its godmother. My Grannie also went out to the
Crimea, but did not stay there. She was in Spain once when there was a
rebellion on, and little Clara nearly got shot for going out on the
verandah and shouting ,,Viva Prim" - who was the rebel general! Clara
went to Brazil when she married, and died there. She had three children,
two boys and a girl, who lived with us for some years after she died.
Harry, my grandmother's youngest child, also married and had two
children. I think they are still alive, but we lost touch with them
years ago.
Well now, That's all I can tell you of the family history - I hope it is
what you wanted to know.
Your pullover for Badminton looks very nice - do you really like shorts
better than skirts? I always think a girl looks so smart and dainty in a
white pleated or gored skirt for tennis - it has such a jaunty swing to
it!
It is nice for you to have a pen friend in England. A girl in Australia
wrote to me for about three years - she'd seen my name in a Rhodesian
Herald in which their butcher had wrapped their meat! She thought I
,,sounded nice" so we wrote to each other till she got married two years
ago!
Well, 'bye for now - Lots of love to you and all the family.
ever yours
Grannie
1 Another version of this story has also been passed down.
2 'Great-Grannie' was Catherine Lewis who married George Drew Keogh who was the manager ('Superintendent') of the Morro Velho gold mine in Brazil from 1846 to 1853. Mary (Minnie) Keogh married (William) Henry Richards and Frances (Fanny) Keogh married Dr Hugh Birt.
3 The trip to Brazil would have been about 1848.