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Name: KRUGER, Johan Christian 'John'
Nee: bro of Hendrik Willem Kruger
Death Date: 23 Apr 1956 Wynberg, Orange Free State, pulmonary embolism and bleeding ulcer
First Date: pre-1914, crossed Nzoia River to start farming before 1914
Profession: Farmer
Area: Farm No. 3, Kinanga Estate, Hoey's Bridge, Kitale
Married: Daisy Bruwer
Children: Elgonia (Bosman; Swan) (1914-1991); Rita; Ralph
Book Reference: Hut, Red 22, Gazette, KFA, Nicholson Memoirs, Hut
General Information:
Gazette - 7/4/15 - Liable for Jury service, Uasin Gishu Plateau - J.G. Kruger, Farm No. 3, Trans Nzoia
Gazette - 29/10/1919 - Register of Voters - Plateau North - John Christian Kruger - Farmer, Soy
Gazette - 26/9/1923 - Voters Register - Plateau North - John Christian Kruger, Farmer PO Soy
Gazette 6 Dec 1938 Nyanza Voters List mechanic, Kakamega
Gazette 23 Oct 1956 probate
Nicholson - Pioneer farmer in the Trans Nzoia
Kitale School Mid-Year Newsletter 2023 Johnny and his brother Henry Kruger were among the many South Africans invited by the British Government to help develop Kenya. They were from the town Tweeling in the Orange Free State and travelled to the Trans Nzoia district where the first sale of farms took place on the 24th of May 1913. They bought a farm some 15km from Kitale on the Eldoret road.
The majority of the farms were 1500 to 2500 acres, situated in a high rainfall area where crops and cattle would be the main farming enterprise. Johnny Kruger and his wife Daisy (née Bruwer), also from the Free State, soon left the farm to Henry Kruger and went to work on the gold mines at Kakemega. Henry Kruger had an only son who died tragically at a young age while travelling by ox wagon.
Johnny and Daisy Kruger had three children, Elgonia, Rita and Ralph Kruger. Elgonia was the first white girl born in the Elgon district, hence the name Elgonia. Albert Steyn, also from a South African family, was the first white boy to be born in the Trans Nzoia district. At the Kakamega gold mines the Krugers met a young man from Middelburg in the then Eastern Transvaal by the name of Danie work on the gold mines in Kakamega. There he met Elgonia Kruger, born in 1914, whom he married in 1936. From this marriage a son John was born in 1937. Shortly afterwards Johnny Kruger and his son in law Danie Bosman bought a farm in the Ngare Dare district some 48km north of Nanyuki past Timau to a farm just north of Mount Kenya. The 14000 ft high Mount Kenya was always a beautiful sight with snow on the top, but down on the farm it could be hot. On the Southern side of Mount Kenya are the Aberdare forests where the Mau Mau in later years found a hiding place. Closer to the foot of Mount Kenya lived the Swan family with six sons and a daughter. Closer to Isiolo the Engelbrecht family lived. Soon after arriving at the farm, Danie and Elgonia’s ways parted, and John was left in the good care of his grandparents. In 1944 the Bosman family, now with a mother and Willie and Denkie van Deventer, built a house on the farm where a waterfall provided electricity and drove a saw mill. The soil below the waterfall next to the river was excellent for crop production.
There was a fair amount of game on the farm. The sheep were penned at night because of leopards. In the latter part of WW II many Italian prisoners were stationed in camps around Nanyuki. Father and son in law used to chase zebra on horseback, producing and selling biltong to the POWs. They used mules that could match the speed of the zebras.
In 1945 John and his father left for Eldoret by train for John to attend the Hill primary school. The train was single carriage with no other passengers. He recalls this journey as a bad experience. Going to a faraway school, leaving the freedom a farm offers, to be put in a huge dormitory with strangers and foreign rules, was not a good experience. But soon friends were made and it became acceptable. Young people adapt quickly.
During the latter part of World War II people on the farm were told to run for cover when war airplanes flew over. Some 1 km from the house a deep ditch was dug where everybody would hide till danger had passed. A discomforting phenomenon in the Ngare Ndare was the presence of small little jiggers. They would dig in under a person’s skin and host there, causing much itching. They would be visible and under protest could be dug out with a needle.
In 1948 Johnny Kruger and Danie Bosman sold the Ngare Ndare farm and both bought new farms in the Kitale district. Danie Bosman bought a farm 16 km on the Kitale road to Mount Elgon farming with maize, dairy cattle and pigs.
In 1956 Johnny Kruger visited South Africa and died in the Paarl due to a bleeding ulcer.
Nicholson - Pioneer farmer in the Trans Nzoia
Kitale School Mid-Year Newsletter 2023 Johnny and his brother Henry Kruger were among the many South Africans invited by the British Government to help develop Kenya. They were from the town Tweeling in the Orange Free State and travelled to the Trans Nzoia district where the first sale of farms took place on the 24th of May 1913. They bought a farm some 15km from Kitale on the Eldoret road.
The majority of the farms were 1500 to 2500 acres, situated in a high rainfall area where crops and cattle would be the main farming enterprise. Johnny Kruger and his wife Daisy (née Bruwer), also from the Free State, soon left the farm to Henry Kruger and went to work on the gold mines at Kakemega. Henry Kruger had an only son who died tragically at a young age while travelling by ox wagon.
Johnny and Daisy Kruger had three children, Elgonia, Rita and Ralph Kruger. Elgonia was the first white girl born in the Elgon district, hence the name Elgonia. Albert Steyn, also from a South African family, was the first white boy to be born in the Trans Nzoia district. At the Kakamega gold mines the Krugers met a young man from Middelburg in the then Eastern Transvaal by the name of Danie work on the gold mines in Kakamega. There he met Elgonia Kruger, born in 1914, whom he married in 1936. From this marriage a son John was born in 1937. Shortly afterwards Johnny Kruger and his son in law Danie Bosman bought a farm in the Ngare Dare district some 48km north of Nanyuki past Timau to a farm just north of Mount Kenya. The 14000 ft high Mount Kenya was always a beautiful sight with snow on the top, but down on the farm it could be hot. On the Southern side of Mount Kenya are the Aberdare forests where the Mau Mau in later years found a hiding place. Closer to the foot of Mount Kenya lived the Swan family with six sons and a daughter. Closer to Isiolo the Engelbrecht family lived. Soon after arriving at the farm, Danie and Elgonia’s ways parted, and John was left in the good care of his grandparents. In 1944 the Bosman family, now with a mother and Willie and Denkie van Deventer, built a house on the farm where a waterfall provided electricity and drove a saw mill. The soil below the waterfall next to the river was excellent for crop production.
There was a fair amount of game on the farm. The sheep were penned at night because of leopards. In the latter part of WW II many Italian prisoners were stationed in camps around Nanyuki. Father and son in law used to chase zebra on horseback, producing and selling biltong to the POWs. They used mules that could match the speed of the zebras.
In 1945 John and his father left for Eldoret by train for John to attend the Hill primary school. The train was single carriage with no other passengers. He recalls this journey as a bad experience. Going to a faraway school, leaving the freedom a farm offers, to be put in a huge dormitory with strangers and foreign rules, was not a good experience. But soon friends were made and it became acceptable. Young people adapt quickly.
During the latter part of World War II people on the farm were told to run for cover when war airplanes flew over. Some 1 km from the house a deep ditch was dug where everybody would hide till danger had passed. A discomforting phenomenon in the Ngare Ndare was the presence of small little jiggers. They would dig in under a person’s skin and host there, causing much itching. They would be visible and under protest could be dug out with a needle.
In 1948 Johnny Kruger and Danie Bosman sold the Ngare Ndare farm and both bought new farms in the Kitale district. Danie Bosman bought a farm 16 km on the Kitale road to Mount Elgon farming with maize, dairy cattle and pigs.
In 1956 Johnny Kruger visited South Africa and died in the Paarl due to a bleeding ulcer.