Lives Well Lived
Our Story
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As far as I can tell, the Goss family were not very religious. However, for some reason which I have never discovered, half the children became Catholic, and the rest were Anglicans. They all loved horses, particularly Old Stick. They loved company, and socializing. Some of the boys were heavy drinkers, and some were teetotallers! I still wonder how that came about. Old Stick was a lover of horses and an accomplished horseman. They lived at a time when there were fairly frequent uprisings among the Pondo and Xhosa tribes. At these times, settlers would take refuge at Shawbury mission station. The Goss family always received timely warning to seek safety because of an unusual occurrence in the Maguire family. This is how it came about: My great-grandmother, Bridget Maguire, (nickname Biddy) was alone at home when a terrified and breathless Pondo youth appeared at the door, seeking a hiding place. He was Mhlontlo, the future chief, and he was fleeing for his life from the regent, who wanted to kill him. Biddy put her husband's nightcap on his head and hid him under the blankets on the bed. Sure enough, the search party came looking for him. I believe she was a sturdy and outspoken Irishwoman, and she was not intimidated. “You can search the house,” she said, but my husband is very ill in bed, and there will be trouble if you disturb him!”. I am not sure whether they searched the house, or just believed that she was innocent, but they did not discover Mhlontlo, and when he became chief he always sent warning of uprisings to the Maguire and Goss families.
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About the Book
Captured from the rich oral and written history of her extended family, Grace's story gives us unique insight into a lost era of hardy pioneers of 1820 settler origin whose influence and legacy have left an indelible impression on the multicultural South African of today. Letters, articles, and newspaper excerpts offer fascinating personal accounts of those turbulent times in the Transkei of the 1800s and early 1900s. Included is a letter written by her grandfather, detailing his dealings with Mhlonhlo, the powerful Pondo chief of the time and an antecedent of the great Nelson Mandela whose kraal was situated not far from many of the events described in this book. This is also the uplifting story of an inquisitive, courageous, and intrepid woman making her way in the dynamically changing world of twentieth and twenty-first century South Africa. In short, it is, as the title states, “Our Story.”
About the Author
Grace Rawlings was born in 1934 - the 3rd child of Robert and Eileen Tarr - a couple with strong 1820 settler roots. Her father's brother Ralph had married her mother's sister Daisy, and the extended family lived on adjoining farms settled in 1847 by her grandparents in the shadow of the Windvogel mountain outside Cathcart in the Eastern Cape of South Africa . She grew up speaking Xhosa and English in roughly equal parts and developed a love of the Eastern Cape. Though she lost an elder brother and her Father at an early age she blossomed under the influence of the large extended family and her independent, unconventional mother. She and her Cousin Kenneth were home schooled together by her mother before progressing to the village school in Cathcart where they both excelled. She later completed a Bachelor of arts degree at Rhodes University and qualified as a teacher before marrying Vic Rawlings and moving to KwaZuluNatal where she taught for many years. Throughout her life she has maintained a deep connection with the peoples and cultures of the Transkei and Eastern Cape of South Africa, and an interested, optimistic approach to life in a unique period in South African history. Grace's story gives modern multicultural South Africa a personal glimpse of its journey from its tribal and colonial roots to the present.