1a James McCarthy (1835 – 1866)

The Irishman Who Disappeared into the South African Frontier

1. Story Introduction
Somewhere between the green hills of Ireland and the wide plains of South Africa, the story of James McCarthy begins.
Very little is known with certainty about his early life. Family records and later documents suggest that James McCarthy was born around 1834 or 1835 in Ireland, possibly near Killarney in County Kerry, during one of the most difficult periods in Irish history.

Ireland in the 1840s was a land marked by famine, poverty, migration, and uncertainty. Like many young Irishmen of his generation, James may have looked beyond his homeland in search of survival, opportunity, or simply a future.
At some point between the late 1850s and early 1860s, he likely travelled through Cork or Liverpool before boarding a vessel bound for the Cape Colony in southern Africa. Whether he arrived as a labourer, mason, transport rider, or simply another anonymous migrant stepping onto the shores of Algoa Bay, we do not yet know. What is certain is that by the mid-1860s he had moved inland into the farming districts of the Eastern Cape.

By then, the du Preez family had already spent generations moving steadily eastward across South Africa. Their journey had begun in the old Cape districts around Tulbagh before moving through George, Swellendam, Riversdale, Wolwekraal, the Gamtoos Valley, Zuurbron, and eventually Humansdorp. These were hardy farming families living in a difficult and changing world shaped by wagon routes, droughts, grazing land, frontier conflict, and continual movement deeper into the interior.

Into this world came James McCarthy.
Unlike many immigrant stories, James does not appear surrounded by a large Irish community. The church records and baptisms of his children tell a different story. Again and again, the names surrounding him are Afrikaner farming families — du Preez, van Zyl, Fourie, Barnard, Opperman, Lourens, and others tied to the eastern districts.

Somewhere within this farming community, James met Catharina Magdalena du Preez, daughter of Hercules Jacobus du Preez and Margaretha Isabella van Zyl.
They married in Humansdorp on 18 July 1866.
Their marriage represented more than the union of two people. It marked the meeting of two very different worlds — an Irish migrant and an old Cape farming family already shaped by decades of movement across southern Africa.
Over the years that followed, James and Catharina raised their family within this expanding farming network. Their children were born in the eastern Cape districts while the family gradually moved inland with the changing patterns of settlement.

By 1872 the du Preez family had settled near Donkerpoort in the Winburg district of the Orange Free State, and James followed the same route. In time the family settled on the farm Waterval near Ladybrand, close to the Basotho border in the eastern Orange Free State. There, among sandstone mountains, grazing land, wagon tracks, and isolated farms, James spent the final years of his life.
On 30 April 1881, James McCarthy died on the farm Waterval at the age of 46.

He left behind a widow, several young children, a modest estate, and a mystery that would survive for generations.
For more than a century, James McCarthy remained little more than a name carried quietly through family memory. His origins faded into uncertainty. No one knew exactly where in Ireland he came from, how he arrived in South Africa, or where he was buried.
Then, many years later, the search began again.
On a quiet evening in Richards Bay in January 2005, I sat awake while the rest of the family slept. I found myself thinking about a young Irishman who had crossed oceans and disappeared into the South African interior more than a century earlier.
At that stage I knew almost nothing. Only that somewhere in our family history there had once been a man named James McCarthy.
The journey that followed would lead through archives, old church registers, forgotten death certificates, dusty museum shelves, mountain farms, graveyards, and long roads across South Africa.

Along the way, remarkable people helped guide the search. Friends like Basie Haasbroek encouraged me to begin researching the family history. Experienced genealogists such as Gerda Pieterse, Eileen Russell, Fritz Fourie, Sandra Gurney, Tinkie de Lang, and Thys du Preez all contributed pieces to the puzzle over the years.
Slowly, fragments began emerging from the past.

One of the first breakthroughs came through a small document sent by a Scottish researcher named Sandra Gurney. Hidden within it was confirmation that James McCarthy had married Catharina Magdalena du Preez in Humansdorp. For the first time, the mystery Irishman became real.
Another breakthrough came after deliberately misspelling the surname “McCarthy” while searching the South African archives database. Under the spelling “Maccarte”, a death notice appeared from the Free State. Genealogist Fritz Fourie kindly transcribed the document.
At last, there was physical proof that James McCarthy had existed.
The death certificate revealed that James was born around 1835 in Ireland, that his father was also named James, that he worked as a farmer, and that he died on 30 April 1881 on the farm Waterval near Ladybrand.

The search had finally moved beyond family stories and into documented history.
In January 2006, I travelled to Humansdorp hoping to uncover more about James and Catharina. The old Dutch Reformed Church still held its original registers dating back to the 1800s. Turning those fragile pages felt like stepping back into another world.
There I found records connected to the du Preez family and the baptisms of the McCarthy children. The old entries confirmed that James and Catharina had indeed built their early family life within the Humansdorp farming community.

But it was another journey that would leave the deepest impression.
In June 2006, while staying near Golden Gate in the Free State, I realised that Ladybrand lay only a short distance away. That was where James had died. I could not resist going there.
The road to Ladybrand led through some of the most beautiful country I had ever seen. Sandstone mountains glowed red and gold in the winter light. Old churches, graveyards, museums, and forgotten records slowly revealed fragments of the past.
At the municipal offices, one of the officials remembered the farm Waterval and drew me a rough map. Following the road toward Maseru, I eventually found the turnoff and travelled along the dirt road toward the farm.

Then came a moment I will never forget.A sm all hand-painted sign appeared beside the road. “Waterval.”

Turn off to the farm Waterval

Suddenly the past no longer felt distant. After more than a century, I was standing on the same ground where James McCarthy had once lived.
The farm was quiet and almost deserted. An elderly foreman guided me toward old graves hidden high in the hills among long grass and scattered stones. We searched carefully, but James’s grave could not be identified. Some graves were damaged and unreadable. Nearby stood the ruins of old farm buildings, one still marked with the date 1913.
Perhaps James once stood there.
Perhaps he watched cattle moving across the valley in the late afternoon light.
Perhaps he too listened to the wind moving through the dry Free State grass.
Driving away from Waterval that afternoon, I realised that genealogy is about far more than names and dates. It is about recovering forgotten lives and reconnecting families to the places where their stories unfolded.

The search for James McCarthy continues.
But slowly, through church records, death notices, frontier farms, photographs, and long journeys across South Africa, the life of James McCarthy has begun to emerge once more from the grey mist of the past.

2. Timeline

Year	Event
c.1834 –1835	James McCarthy born in Ireland (possibly County Kerry)
1850s –1860s	Likely travelled via Cork or Liverpool and arrived at Algoa Bay, Cape Colony
18 Jul 1866	Married Catha McCarthy born, Humansdorp
1 Feb 1872	Son Daniel Christoffel Benjamin McCarthy born, Humansdorp
22 Nov 1872	Hercules Jacobus du Preez died at Donkerpoort, district Winburg
c.1874	Son Theunis Cornelis McCarthy born
30 Apr 1881	James McCarthy died at Waterval farm, district Ladybrand
1898	Son Hercules Jacobus McCarthy married Susanna Cecilia Stoffelina Elisabeth Therblanche
22 Sep 1900	Son Daniel Christoffel Benjamin McCarthy died at Kromspruit, Vryburg district, during the Anglo-Boer War
1902	Catharina Magdalena McCarthy (born du Preez) died at England farm, district Vryburg
6 Mar 1928	Daughter Margaretha Isabella McCarthy died

3. Documents & Evidence

Key documents discovered during the research include:

• Marriage certificate of James McCarthy and Catharina Magdalena du Preez (Humansdorp, 1866)
• Death certificate of James McCarthy (Ladybrand, 1881)
• Estate papers of James McCarthy
• Baptism records of the McCarthy children
• Death certificate of Catharina Magdalena McCarthy (Vryburg, 1902)
• Estate documents from the Cape Archives
• Dutch Reformed Church registers from Humansdorp
These documents gradually transformed family legend into documented history.

4. Open Questions
Despite years of research, several important questions remain unanswered:

• From which county or townland in Ireland did James McCarthy originate?
• When exactly did he arrive in South Africa?
• Which ship brought him to Algoa Bay?
• Was his father connected to the British Army?
• Who was Michael Riley and what role did he play in the McCarthy story?
• Where exactly is James McCarthy buried?
• Is the farm I went to the correct one, graves never identified
• Can additional church or farm records still be found in the Humansdorp or Ladybrand districts?