The Chronicle of Jeremiah Goldswain – 1820 Settler
Edited by Ralph Goldswain
Reviewed by Steven Lang
Published by 30o South Publishers. Web: www.30degreessouth.co.za
The Chronicle of Jeremiah Goldswain – 1820 Settler
Edited by Ralph Goldswain
Reviewed by Steven Lang
Published by 30o South Publishers. Web: www.30degreessouth.co.za
I doubt there is any better description of what life was like for the 4 000 British settlers who came to the Albany area in 1820.
The Chronicle of Jeremiah Goldswain is a vivid, first-hand account of a young sawyer’s journey from Great Marlow in England to Grahamstown on the Eastern Frontier.
The Chronicle is unique in that it was written by an artisan who evidently had very little formal education. Most accounts of early life in Grahamstown reflect the lives of senior military or government officials and show us the settler life from a rather privileged point of view.
Goldswain’s Chronicle, on the other hand, describes much of the day-to-day existence of brave artisans and common workers who came out to the Cape in search of a better life. Most of the Chronicle reflects the rather mundane tribulations that Goldswain and his fellow settlers had to deal with, but because the descriptions are so lively, the book makes for fascinating reading.
It reveals how much life has changed not only in physical respects such as having to search for stolen oxen for several days before continuing with a journey that today would take less than an hour, but also in terms of our customs. For example, before Jeremiah could marry the 22-year old Eliza Debenham, she had to have written permission from her father as well as consent from the leader of the Hyman Settler party.
Large sections of the book are taken up with wars between the British Settlers and the indigenous populations. The Goldswain Chronicle uses a term to describe the locals that would certainly not be acceptable today. A footnote explains that the use of such a word today is ‘actionable’, but at that time it was ‘simply a descriptive term for a particular ethnic group’.
The conflicts claimed the lives of many people on both sides and while history tends to reduce the human losses to facts and figures, Goldswain’s frank accounts reveal the horror of relatively minor skirmishes. He tells the story of how a group of wagoners volunteered to go in search of the body of British settler adjutant, John Armstrong, who had been missing. They’d hoped to find him alive.
“But alas, poor man, he found that he had fallen among murderers. He must have defended himself most desperately for several of his fingers were broken and his arms were much bruised, and also his head. Several assegai wounds were found on his body; one or more had gone through his heart.”
Jeremiah Goldswain wrote his Chronicles in the 1850s and 90 years later Una Long transcribed the settler’s memoirs virtually word-for-word into two volumes. She remained faithful to his original text only making the smallest changes for purposes of clarity.
Ralph Goldswain, editor of The Chronicle of Jeremiah Goldswain, has revised the original text to make it more accessible to the general reader. He explains in the introduction that the original text was difficult to read because his ancestor used very little punctuation and spelled out a large proportion of the words phonetically according to his own Buckinghamshire accent.
The Chronicle of Jeremiah Goldswain is a fascinating book that anyone who is even mildly interested in the history of the Albany region should read.
Grocott's Mail and 30o South are giving away one copy of The Chronicle of Jeremiah Goldswain – 1820 Settler to a Grocott's Mail reader.
Email sarah@grocotts.co.za with Book Giveaway in the subject line or sms her at 0724363088 with your answer and full name.
There is one giveaway copy available. Simply answer this question: What was the name of Jeremiah Goldswain's bride?
