The Story of the Oberems – one of the Kaffraria German families

Jakob and Gertrud Oberem, then aged 41 and 39 respectively, came from Angermund Dusseldorf and settled at Kwelegha (near East London). They sailed from Hamburg on 31 March 1878 on a ship named the "Papa" under the command of Captain Bannau. The transhipped to the "Asiatic" in Cape Town and arrived in East London on 27 June 1878.

They were accompanied by their six children, listed in the ships passenger list as Jacob, Johanna, Wilhelm, Anton, Gertrude and Maria Oberaupt. Their last town in Germany was Rotthausen Essen. While the family knows him as Jacob, there is evidence [including archival records] to suggest his full name was Johann Jacob.

The surname has been changed over the years. The passenger list for the Papa records the name as Oberaupt/Oberempt, but it is evident the spelling of the surname caused difficulties, as Johann Jacob is variously called Oberaupt, Oberempt or Oberumpf in different records. Over the years, the name was simplified to Oberem.

Both Jakob and Gertrud died in 1911. The South African archives list him as Johann Jacob Oberem, alias Oberumpf. Gertrud is recorded as Gertruida Elida Oberem, nee de Bier.

The information we have about the children is as follows:

· Jacob Wilhem b 1860, Angermund Germany; application for letters of naturalisation 1906 [South Africa]; d about 1911 East London, South Africa

· Johanna Oberem, b abt 1862, Angermund, Germany; d unknown

· Wilhelm Oberem, b abt 1864, Rheinland, Germany; d abt 1920, Cape Province, South Africa

· Anton Oberem, b abt 1869, Rheinland, Germany; application for letters of naturalisation 1908 [South Africa]; d unknown

· Gertrude Oberem, b abt 1872, Rheinland Germany; married name Robinson; d 1930, Cape Province, South Africa

· Maria Oberem, b abt 1874, Rheinland, Germany; married name Staffen; d 1946, Cape Province, South Africa

Jacob Wilhelm Oberem was around 18 years old at the time of his emigration to South Africa with his parents. The only known photograph we have of him shows him in the attire of a past Grand Master of the Buffalo Lodge, a mature man of around 40 to 45 years old.

Jakob Oberem

Jacob married Rosa [Rosalie] Kaber around 1888. By family reputation Rosa is from Baden Baden in Germany. However, it is also possible that this could refer to her parents place of origin, and that Rosa was born in South Africa. I have been unable to find her or the name Kaber in the German Shipping Lists for South Africa. She was born on 24 June 1870.

Jacob and Rosalie had three children, William Frederick Anton [b1889], Johanna Gertrude Kathleen [b1892], and Thomas, b 1894, all born in either East London or King Williamstown. Thomas died in infancy, and Johanna died in 1915 as a young woman. She is buried in the cemetery in King Williamstown – her griefstricken mother had a special stone statue of an angel with wings spread out imported from Germany, to watch over her child. I understand the angel still watches over her to this day. Her father died only a year later and is also buried in the family plot in King Williamstown.

Rosalie Oberem with her children William and Johanna

Rosalie is a particularly interesting character, as she was involved in a business partnership with a Mr H Brauer, to run a Merry Go Round and other sideshows in a travelling fairground that operated in the last decades of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. Here we have a couple of photos of their caravan, which we can see was constructed at the Buffalo Works in King Williams Town, and here is a photo of the caravan set up behind the side show tents.

Caravan
(in the background) photograph also shows the carriage works at King Williams Town where it was manufactured.

The centrepiece of H Brauer’s Merry Go Round was of course the ornate and very beautiful carousel, imported from Germany. Here are several photos of the carousel in operation, surrounded by happy children. One of the photos is of the Krugersdorp fair, all apparently taken around the turn of the twentieth century.

Carousel

We also find a switchback, which is owned by C Feit, an exquisite organ, and General Darwin, the performing chimpanzee.

Switchback
Proprietor Joy Weel and photo by AkkersDyk or Akkers & Dyk, Cape Town. The Great Invention of the Twentieth Century.

Organ

General Darwin - Performing Chimpanzee

Of course any sideshow in those days wouldn’t be complete without the obligatory freak shows. While we cringe these days at such political incorrectness, freak shows were very much a feature of the times. In H Brauer’s fairgrounds, we find The Leopard Skin African, a Freak of Nature and Nobonti, the Spotted Girl, the Wonder of the Nineteenth Century.

Nobonti, the Spotted Girl

Leopard Skin African

A number of visiting freak shows also made their way to these fairs, and so we find:

· Harvey’s Royal Midgets a well known ‘family’ of midgets

Harvey’s Royal Midgets
An overseas troupe who visited the Oberem's sideshows. A well known historic circus sideshow attraction.

· Jo Jo die HundeMenschen an unfortunate man with excessive body and facial hair

Pamphlet/flyer

· Simon Aigeur L’Homme Protee an extremely athletic and thin contortionist

Postcard
One of the visiting attractions at the showground.

Rosalie seems to have been a very independent woman for her times; working on the shows both before and after her marriage. Here are a couple of portraits of the people who worked on her shows, including an inscription on the back of one of them “With compliments to Miss Kaber”.

'Fred' one of the people working at the shows

Carousel at Krugersdorp fair

The Oberems prospered from their association with the showgrounds – enough for the family to buy two houses on Kimberley Road East London in about 1907, in which several generations of the family lived for many years. They were also able to establish her son with a vehicle [surely something quite unusual in the early twentieth century] and a business . The people photographed in the car here, which was nicknamed The Star, include William and Johanna Oberem, as well as Mr and Mrs Claussen, friends of the family. My grandmother has dated the photo to December 1912.

Car
William Oberem and Mr Klaussen in the front; along with Rosalie and Johanna Oberem in the back seat, with Mrs Klaussen in the background. Taken around 1917, I understand, in or near East London / King Williamstown.

Business card

Here is a photo of Rosalie Oberem in her later years, with her grandchildren. Rosalie died in 1944 at East London, aged 74 years, just a few months after the birth of her second great-grandchild.

In the late 1920s. Rosalie Oberem [Kaber]
with two of her grandchildren - my grandmother, Rosalie Johanna Gertrude Oberem, and her brother Bill.

The ‘Star’, William Oberem’s car.
Photo is dated about 1917. The car is in front of the Oberem house at Kimberley Road East London, with William Oberem and Johanna Oberem in the front seat. I don’t know the name of the other people in the car.

Rosalie and her husband Jacob were both German speaking. Once they had emigrated to South Africa, the family assimilated into South African life and in common with so many other Germans in South Africa, their language and culture was largely lost over time. Rosalie’s grandchildren were sent to the German school in East London – their German primary school readers are still in the family – but to my knowledge no one in the family now speaks German.

The descendants of the Oberems today are spread over three continents, with some branches of the family still bearing the family name, while for others this remarkable family is a part of our heritage and our memories, even although we carry different names.

Michelle Gilmore

August 2008