Articles

The Greyling Family Coat of Arms

If you are here because of a internet search for the Greyling Coat of Arms, i am sorry to disappoint you. There is no such thing as a family crest for a specific surname. A family coat of arms is assigned to an individual and only his direct descendants may bear (use) the coat of arms as a family coat of arms. Any person who wishes to legally use a family crest in South Africa must register it with the Bureau of Heraldry.

Origins of the Greyling family in South Africa

There is a lot of information on the internet about the origins and meaning of the surname Greyling. In the South African context almost all of it is wrong. Most of the information about the meaning of Greyling is pure speculation on sites with “boilerplate” explanations of the meaning of surnames. The progenitor (stamvader) of the Greyling family in South Africa arrived at the Cape of Good Hope as an employee of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1725.

Japie Greyling Child Hero, Capt. Seely's Account

J. E. B Seely is remembered in South Africa as the commander that placed the 10-year-old Japie Greyling (1890-1954) against a wall in front of a firing squad, threatening to have him executed if he did not provide information about the Boer forces in the area. The boy refused to cooperate, and was freed. Several memorials still exist in South Africa today, attesting to the remarkable story. Below is his account of the event in his book FEAR, AND BE SLAIN, ADVENTURES BY LAND, SEA AND AIR

Importing Gedcom files from this site

It is possible to download GEDCOM files from webtrees.greylingfamily.org.za by using the clippings cart menu item. GEDCOM files are text files that contain the information and linkages necessary to exchange genealogical data between two entities. The entities may use the same or different software application. Examples of these exchanges would include: Between two users of the same application - One family member sending new information from Legacy to another family member using Legacy.

Hans Dons de Lange

Johannes de Lange , better known as Hans Dons de Lange (1799–1861) was a Voortrekker scout who accompanied Gerrit Maritz on the Great Trek . He also acted as a scout for Piet Retief and Andries Pretorius . He was appointed the official Resident of the Boers by the Zulu king, Panda , after the victory over Dingaan. He later settled at Ladysmith where he enjoyed great prestige. In 1860 he was charged with the murder of a black man and although the Crown’s main witness denied his own version, which he also provided during the pre-trial investigation, Hans Dons was still sentenced to death.

Dean Greyling

MacGuyver Dean Greyling (born 1 January 1986) was a rugby union player who retired in 2017 at Oyonnax in France. He was educated at Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool. Playing career Greyling was one of the stars of the 2004 Craven Week competition, and represented the Blue Bulls’ age-group teams from 2005 to 2007. He made his Super Rugby debut for the franchise in 2008. In October 2010, Greyling was selected to the Springbok squad of 39 players to prepare for the November tour of Europe.

Greylingstad

Greylingstad is a town about 100km south-east of Johannesburg, 58km north-west of Standerton and 50km south-east of Heidelberg. The name was first borne by a town established in 1910 about 5km south of the present one and name after a local pioneer Pieter Jacobus Greyling, step-son of Piet Retief. In 1914 the name Greylingstad was transferred to its present site laid out in 1913, replacing the name Willemsdal, after Willem Bezuidenhout, owner of the farm.

Franci Greyling

Franci Greyling grew up in a house full of children. As the second eldest of seven children, she often invented stories and games for her younger siblings. She was a real bookworm, started making verses early, and writing essays was the most enjoyable homework. After passing her matric at “Hoërskool Drie Riviere” in Vereeniging, she was a student at the “Burgerlike Beskermingskollege” in George for a year. Here, in addition to marching, shooting, first aid and firefighting, she also learned to type.

Piet Greyling

Pieter Johannes Frederik ‘Piet’ Greyling, born 16 May 1942 in Zastron, South Africa, is a South African rugby union player who has represented the national team, the Springboks, 43 times, captaining them once, and scoring 5 tries in total. Greyling has been described as one of the best and toughest flanks, and is best known for his pairing with Jan Ellis in 24 tests. Early life Piet Greyling was brought up on a tobacco farm in Mashonaland in then-Rhodesia.

Eduard Greyling

Eduard Greyling (born Germiston, Gauteng, South Africa, 1948) is a retired South African ballet dancer. He is the son of Ferdinand Jacobus Greyling and his wife, Jacomina Nicolasina Heyneman. He matriculated from D.F. Malan High School in Bellville, Cape Town in 1965. Biography He first studied with Jennifer Louw, then at the UCT Ballet School and joined CAPAB (since renamed the Cape Town City Ballet Company) in 1967. He danced with the Dutch National Ballet for eighteen months during 1974-75.