Are We Prepared?

The Thompson and Van der Merwe Family History

I have always known that my family had come from different countries in Europe, but I did not know anything more than where the immediate generations had come from.

My mother’s maiden name is “Van der Merwe”. The Van der Merwes originated in the 5th Century in Southern Holland. The name came from King Merovaues, who was the King of the clan he had established in an area called Dordrecht, on the river Waal.

 The remains of the Merwede Castle in Dordrecht, Holland

Over the centuries, the name changed, and it became "Merwede" in the 11th Century. During this time, the “mighty” King built a beautiful palace on the Waal river, which he renamed the Merwede River in honor of his family. The section of the river is still called the Merwede River to this day. From the year 1150, the firstborn son of each generation was called Daniel (pronounced "Däniel"). Daniel the First had been knighted and later took over from his father as King.

The clan eventually came to rule the whole of southern Netherlands, but the King of the Netherlands wanted to establish the country as one nation, without the other princetons. This decision caused the Netherlands to experience a period of great wealth and prosperity, and led to the establishment of the East India company, which brought many french Huguenots to South Africa in the 1680s.

By the time that South Africa had been established in 1652, the name had changed to Merwe. 
The Van der Merwes came to The Cape of Good Hope (modern day Cape Town) in 1656. Willem Van der Merwe, one of the first Van der Merwes to settle, married a French Huguenot in 1668, and the two had twelve children together. Many of the children then married other French Huguenots who came over in the 1680s.
The first Van der Merwe born in South Africa was known as Schalk (pronounced "Skulk") Van der Merwe, in 1673, and he was Willem’s grandson. 

My mum’s maternal grandfather was from England, and though we do not have as much information about his ancestors available with us, we do know that they came out to The Cape of Good Hope with the 1820 settlers. 



My family name from my father’s side is “Thompson”, which is from early Scotland and means “Son of Thom”. My dad’s paternal grandfather is Scottish, which explains the name, and his paternal grandmother is of Irish descent, which accounts for the family middle name of “Hatton”, deriving from the old English words for “heathland” (“hoed”) and ”farm settlement” (“tun”).

My father’s maternal grandmother is descended from the French Huguenots, who settled in South Africa in the 1680s, as part of a migration of Huguenots from Holland to South Africa.

The Hatton family Coat of Arms, with the motto
 "nil conscire sibi", meaning "never surrender"

His ancestors moved from Scotland into England, where the more recent generations of Thompsons settled in Sheffield, and the Hattons settled in Oxford, where they ran a haberdashers. The premises of this shop still exists today, although it is no longer under the same name or occupation. The Thompsons then emigrated to Kimberley, South Africa, during the time of the Diamond Rush, in the 1860s. 

During the First World War, my paternal great-grandfather volunteered to fight, but lied about his age as he was too young. His name was Colin McKay (pronounced "Kai") Thompson and he fought in the Battle of Delville wood, with other volunteers, and liberated French villages. Although he was South African and did not have an obligation to fight, he felt as though he must, because of his French and English heritage. He was discharged with severe injuries, which he gained when he went back to carry other injured men out under enemy shelling, and was one of only 320 survivors of Delville wood. 

The next Thompson move was when my parents came to England towards the end of 1998. My parents took advantage of a Commonwealth visa, with plans to work and travel in and around the UK for 2 years. My father worked for an American investment bank that offered him a job back in Johannesburg in South Africa, but had to withdraw the job offer because of "Affirmative Action" policies that were introduced by the South African government. As a result, the bank offered my dad the job in London instead, which he took. In 2000, my parents moved to Surrey, England, where my older brother and I were born. In 2006, when I was three, my parents became naturalized British Citizens, and my brother and I therefore became British Subjects as we were both born in Chertsey, England. 
Most recently, in the summer of 2019, our family relocated to Winnetka, Illinois, following a move by my dad to his company’s head office in Chicago. We made the move because we have no immediate family in England, but do have family in the United States, who moved from South Africa around the same time that my parents left.  We have now been in the United States for two months.