Gallery Samples Stories of our Ancestors | Page 28

pioneers themselves were educated or considered it necessary for girls to be educated?
Gradually schools were built but both girls and boys had work to do at home and on the farm,
so formal education was not considered essential, especially for girls.
Interesting that with the marriage of Jack
and Ida in the Wesleyan Church,
Catholicism took a back seat. Jack would
most likely have taken the line of least
resistance and gone along with whatever
Ida and her parent’s wanted which seemed
to be the An derson’s way of being. Sure
saved a lot of stress! Ida must, though,
have promised to bring the children up
Catholic as she saw to their going to Mass
every Sunday and in fact converted to
Catholicism herself some years later. Ida
took well to the most serious and strict
side of her new religion, and she took her
responsibility for the children’s religious
education most strenuously. I very much
doubt whether the happy-go-lucky Jack
would have bothered too much with their
religious upbringing although he picked up
Catholicism again when he was old.
The young couple set up home in
Grahamstown. Jack, along with other
members of the Anderson family, bought
or leased farmland in the little community
of Riebeek East which was a farming
village 42 Kms west of Grahamstown. J A C K I N 1 9 1 5 ( N O TE T HE Z E P P E L I N U S E D I N
(Riebeek East was founded in 1842 and
still functions today, being a pleasant retreat for commuters to and from Grahamstown)

WW1)

Their main product was wheat. In town, Jack was still involved in the building industry where
he was reputed to be a good craftsman and builder. His visits to the farm were made on
horseback and goods were sent by wagon.
According to Ruby, Jack was something of a ‘ladies’ man’, a born raconteur who kept everyone
entertained moving from English to Afrikaans in his stories and jokes and songs. Apparently he
had a fine tenor voice, happily joining in any party and sing-song that was happening. Ida
played the piano for him to sing until well into Ruby’s childhood.
Jack was also an adventurer who had Great Schemes, no doubt led on by stories of gold and
diamonds. He and his brothers and friends were pioneering men and enjoyed nothing more
than outback riding and roughing it in the great open spaces of Africa; while Ida worked on the
farm and in town managed the increasing number of children and decreasing amount of funds.
Out of all the excitement and honkey-tonking came nine pregnancies, births and babies: Nine
little ones to take care of and nurture and feed and clothe and wash and cook for and teach. The
task ceased to be fun, and Ida’s control of her life and farm dissolved.
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