TOPIC:

Good Morning

I would like to know how does one go about tracing members of the family who served in the Anglo Boer Wars.
What information would be required and how does one go about it.
The Family surname is Coetzee and during that period the family was active in the Free State, around the Reddersburg area.

Thanking You
Stephen Coetzee

Hi Stephen,

You have come to the right place; David has created a fantastic resource for finding what you are looking for (provided it exists).

I would suggest starting with a family and first name, even an initial will do, and then use the name search function from this website.

It will generate a lot of information from medal rolls to POW's etc, so be prepared to go through all of them.

Whatever information you have, like date of birth/death, will help to narrow it down....but it takes some effort at times.

Good luck.

Hello Stephen,

With a surname like Coetzee, there can be many matches.

The roll for the Anglo Boer War Medal to Boer forces lists 143 men who applied for the medal. The prisoner of war page ( www.angloboerwar.com/other-information/8...oer-prisoners-of-war ) lists 365. The advantage of the latter list is that it lists where the person was captured and gives an indication of where they were from.

As Sturgy says, the more information you have the better.

You can also trawl the familysearch site once you have more details.

Good luck! Do let us know how you get on.
David

Stephen, the name Coetzee is often spelled differently: Coetsee, Coetzer, Kotsé, Kotze, Kotzé etcetera. Also, given the fact that families in those day were very large by our standards, it would really be helpful if you had some Christian names or initials to narrow the search.

Hello Stephen

See attached pow's names: Coetzee, Coetzer, Coetsee/ Kotse, Kotze, Kotzé, Kotzee

Thank You for your Guidance, this however is like hunting in the dark as I do not have any relevant information.
I also do not have any family member who might recall if anyone served.
Maybe I should just give up the cause, or should i look at date that they where alive and see if the records reveal anything.
Thanks again