1. Ernst Jacob HECKRATH was born in Germany.
Ernst's descendant, Greta, who has a copy of his letter book, says: " [Ernst] had emigrated to the Cape in 1799 after living for a few years in London. He became a merchant in Cape Town and when I went there I went to the Cape Archives to look at his letter book (which had been donated in 1953 by my great aunts) in which he kept copies of all the letters he wrote.( No carbon paper in those days!) So I had many letters copied and some are just like reading a history book. Also not only are there letters that he wrote to friends in England in English but also letters written in old German to relatives in Germany and ones in Dutch to his son who was living in the Eastern Cape. The letter book spans 22 years.".
Ernst Jacob HECKRATH had the following children:
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2. Adolph HECKRATH, son of Ernst Jacob HECKRATH, married Charlotte Rebecca SMITH in 1834.
Charlotte Rebecca SMITH, daughter of John SMITH ( -1813) and Charlotte BURNETT ( - ), was born in 1808. She died in 1871. She and Adolph HECKRATH had the following children:
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3. Edmund Walter HECKRATH, son of Adolph HECKRATH and Charlotte Rebecca SMITH, was born in 1848. He married Elizabeth KIFT in 1875. He died in 1935.
Elizabeth KIFT and Edmund Walter HECKRATH had the following children:
| 4 | Adolph James HECKRATH (1876-1958). Adolph was born in 1876 in Kiberley, SA. He married Ida Laurie Beatrice SKATES in 1905. He died in 1958. |