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Name: KRUGER, Elgonia

Birth Date: 1914 Kenya

Death Date: 1991

Area: Trans Nzoia; Ngare Ndare

Married: 1. 1936 Danie Bosman; 2. Peter Swan (1926 Nanyuki-1985); 3. James Swan (14 Dec 1922 Timau-22 Dec 1982 Alberton, S. Africa, prev. m. Pamela Sargent 1928-2008); 4. Jacobus Nicholas Stepanus Maritz (11 July 1915 S. Africa-1983)

Children: 1. John (1937 Kenya) 2. Lenise (de Jongh) 4. Peter

Book Reference: KFA, Eldoret

General Information:

KFA - One of the first European babies in the Trans Nzoia - 1913/14.
Eldoret - Elbert Steyn Jnr. and Elgonia Kruger were the first European children to be born on the Plateau.
Kitale School Mid-Year Newsletter 2023 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 (d. 1991 – has family tree entry). 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.
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.
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.
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.
Elgonia was married to Peter Swan from the Ngare Ndare and they had a daughter Lenise who is married to Pieter de Jongh.

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