THE STORY OF SARAH-RACHEL'S LANDING IN CAPE TOWN

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Click on Sarah (1937) to see her as a young mother in Dvinsk (1904?)with her first two children who died in a flu epidemic. Her step mother is seated.

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At the beginning, the whole family settled in Jo'burg. When Sarah arrived at Cape Town harbour, Joseph didn't come to meet her (not sure why) but he asked a pal (a Mr Abel )to find Sarah and Chaim and put them on a train to Jo'burg. According to Mr Abel, he found mother and son huddled in a corner
awaiting a query from the Immigration officers.
They weren't happy with Sarah's explanation that she was re-joining her husband and being at a disadvantage with English, she could not convince the officials that her 6 month old son's father was already in the country.
Mr Abel, who had been waiting patiently for their disembarkation, eventually took up the search for them himself. He knew he was looking for a mother and a 6 month old baby and when he saw them, he examined her papers and satisfied the officers
that this was a legitimate situation.
Without Mr Abel's intervention, maybe they would have been returned to Dvinsk and I might have been able to speak Russian today !
As far as I know, your Dad (Lewis) was definitely born in Jo'burg and then the brothers - David and Joseph split and Joseph relocated to Cape Town."

Click on Joseph (1937) to see him a young man(1904?)

Click on the buttons below to see
Joseph's Naturalization Certificate.

The Catzel family lived in a poor neighbourhood of Cape Town where the first Jewish immigrants settled.
As they grew more affluent, the Jewish population shifted out of the area and it was thereafter mainly populated by the Cape Coloureds and became known as District Six. In later years, the area was mowed down by the Apartheid regime and "annexed" as a "white" area.
My father worked in his father's business with three brothers - Hymie, Lionel and Willie. The fourth brother, Jack (Castle) became a doctor.
The Catzel brothers and a sister, Mary, have all passed away. As I am writing this, only sister Becky (Musikanth) remains.
Of my generation, only one, namely Sigi, joined the Catzel business. The business closed down about 5 years ago and Sigi emigrated to Australia, joining two of his son's who have settled there.