During 2011 Margaret Thebus in Sydney contacted me about her family. Her mother was a Morkel from Cape Town, and the family originally came from Beaufort West. They were not listed in either Genealogy – PW Morkel or GISA – although GISA had a brief entry of baptisms in 1855 under the “ongekoppelde” (unattached) label. Of mixed race, they included some well-known Morkels such as the former premier of the Western Cape (Gerald Morkel) and the founder of a church (Calvin Protestant Church), reverend I.D. Morkel. Together with her mother, Margaret was able to provide more than a hundred and twenty names and family relationships, and we were able to add names and dates from other sources. I was impressed – not many people I know can lay out family to this extent. We were also able to plausibly link the family to the Morkel genealogy, as described in our story “The Beaufort West Family Line”. Gaps remain – surnames of wives and many dates were not available, but the result is a major contribution to the family tree. Margaret also provided information which allowed me to complete a story about reverend I.D. Morkel and his church.
