I am Petrus Francois Smit. My maternal grandmother is Engela Helena Lombard Opperman, born and baptised in 1901. At that baptism was Engela Helena Lombard and her husband. They were in their forties. I suspect that they were good friends with her parents, Johannes Petrus Opperman and his wife, Elizabeth van Rooyen. Engela Lombard might also have been her appointed god-mother. Be that as it may, the child was baptised with Engela Helena Lombard's full names (including the surname!) That was quite radical in those days seeing that families usually stayed with family names. She was also the only daughter and one would think that she would have been named according to custom. Yet, she received the names Engela Helena Lombard Opperman. My question is why? Was she perhaps the nurse who saved the baby's life? I would love to know.
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