TOPIC:

Larneyjeany, unfortunately those familysearch links only work for subscribers of that site.
The deportation documents might be useful for us to see, I think, if you can post pdfs.
Otherwise we wait to see what his medal application (Vorm B - Dewald Nel can provide) tells us about his Boer War service.
What are your unanswered questions about him and the Boer War?

Rob D,

Yes I'm aware of that - but it's easy enough to register on FamilySearch and it's free. Anyone on this forum who might be interested in helping me could simply sign up - it's not possible to download all documents from the site anyway and that site is a tremendous tool in finding and validating historical information so I'd recommend anyone to use it even if they're just doing research (not even personal Genealogy is required) . I'm not going to be able to download every single document from FamilySearch and reupload here - that's just totally unrealistic.

Regarding unanswered questions - if there was some kind of key information / situation to consider which could help me positively confirm which Johannes van Brummelen was my Great-Grandfather, based especially on information specific to the anglo boer war (so that it's applicable to this forum). That's the objective.

That's clear.
The Vorm B would give you his date of starting military service, what were his units and rank, and when/where/why he stopped serving. It would also give you his address when he applied (1920 onwards).
You could compare this information to the deportation documents.

I've received the military files & letters on a Johannes van Brummelen and I'm attaching them as I believe they may be of historical interest to others as well.

Regardless of the English text therein; I'm still working to translate some of it but my skills in Afrikaans & Dutch are not 100% and would like to know exactly what is written there word-for-word. As interesting as the information is and from what I can gather so far; there's no concrete evidence herein as to whether or not he is my ancestor (as is written by my 2x great-grandmother, Sarah Maria Venter, on her affidavit in 1907). His home address in Rotterdam as shown on page 2 in the attached files is probably the best bit in terms of genealogical value to me personally - but I'm open to hear anyone's opinions on this. I would need to create a timeline or where this man has been and where in order to try narrowing things down more.

If anyone else could perhaps comment on any specifics from these documents, such as towns / places he was certainly in (and when) then that would be helpful. I must admit the military-specific information here is of a secondary interest to me personally and not something I'm overly familiar with. Also if anyone knows the specific medals he would have earned then please let me know as well. It's clear that by working for NZASM and later being part of a reconnaissance unit & scout that he would travel around a lot.

I'm still searching through Dutch archives and Nederlands-Zuid-Afrikaanse Spoorwegmaatschappij’s archive (NZASM) to see if I can find specific references to a Mr J Van Brummelen but it's very time-consuming, difficult to work through the information in Dutch and in some areas they require annual subscription fees before revealing data so I cannot really proceed there easily.

My 2x great-grandmother claimed they lived in and got married in Ficksburg in 1892 before the war (which is questionable as I've explained on other parts of this thread) and I'm trying to see if there's any connection between NZASM and Ficksburg and where the railways actually connected, so I'm researching their old maps as well - trying to see if it's possible this man might have used the NZASM company (while working for them) to travel up and down the country and to ultimately meet my 2x great-grandmother, where and when:

According to records:

1. Susarah Maria Venter and several other families were taken from De Hoop farm in Ficksburg, Orange Free State (the farm belonged to a Paul Bester) and put into the Brandfort Concentration camp on 15.09.1901.
2. S.M Venter left the Concentration Camp on 30.10.1901 with destination of Brandfort.
3. The daughter of S.M Venter and J van Brummelen (Ernestine Ronnetti van Brummelen) was born 19.03.1902 according to her baptism record in Brandfort.
   
4. This means that a Mr Van Brummelen had to be with S. M Venter roughly around June - July 1901 - which I'd need to compare to this man's entire military campaign in South Africa...

All assistance would be welcome.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread and for all the information and recommendations - much appreciated.

Fascinating!

"I'm still searching through Dutch archives and Nederlands-Zuid-Afrikaanse Spoorwegmaatschappij’s archive (NZASM) to see if I can find specific references to a Mr J Van Brummelen but it's very time-consuming, difficult to work through the information in Dutch and in some areas they require annual subscription fees before revealing data so I cannot really proceed there easily."

Dewald Nel can perhaps assist with this. I have worked with him in the recent past on the NZASM records that are held in the Pretoria Archives - I know that some registers exist giving very basic details such as date appointed, rates of pay where deployed etc. He is contactable on dewald@nelantiques.co.za and doesn't charge the earth.

I wish I had the time but will have to leave it to others to assist with the translation, place names etc. The mere fact that he served in the TVK - Verkenners Korps - with Danie Theron elevates his status in the eyes of almost every Boer War enthusiast.

Regards

Rory

Based on the Vorm A and Form B declarations, there is no doubt that those concern the van Brummelen in the photographs below. J.van Brummelen did receive an ABO (Commandant J.van Brummelen, Hollander Korps) but is not listed with the DTD recipients. (second photo credit: Neville Constantine)