Welcome to a website for the Coleske/Colesky and Kolesky family. With the help  of a few dedicated C/Kolesk/y's we have been able to start the process of  putting together a definitive family tree.

The de La Rey legend
 In the course or researching the Kolesky family name, it never ceases to amaze me how quickly people ask me if I’m aware that we are actually not Kolesky's at all but that we are all de La Rey's. I think it must be the deep seated need to have an exciting ancestor that so readily allows us to and accept that we are not whom we think we are or that an exciting forefather somehow makes up for our own, very ordinary, lives.  I suppose anything is possible when it comes to genealogy, but the facts that I have at hand certainly poke a number of holes in the de La Rey legend. But let’s start at the very beginning. What is the de La Rey legend? Well, it’s far from simple and there are a number of versions to it as well. It goes something along the lines that de La Rey was a member of Napoleon’s secret police (a super-spy is also mentioned) and was desperately trying to escape the clutches of the British forces that were scouring the world for him. Doesn't that opening line itself sound exciting?? This de La Rey was so important that the greatest nation in the world, at that time, were searching for him. In the rush to leave France he left (or lost) his passport or papers behind. Obviously he couldn’t exist in the new world without passport/papers and as he didn't have one of his own he needed one before jumping ship in Cape Town. This is where the luckless Kolesky comes in. On the ship, carrying de La Rey away from his pursuers, he killed John Kolesky for his passport/papers. I have also heard the rather less blood thirsty and more boring version that he just stole the passport but most people seem to prefer the idea of murder at sea and the throwing of the lifeless Kolesky’s body overboard. Then, cool as a cucumber, de La Rey, or now rather John Kolesky, stepped ashore in Cape Town and proceeded to be the forefather of all Coleske, Colesky and Kolesky’s in South Africa. 
 Variations on the story I've heard also have it that the passport stolen was actually the Russian ship's captain's passport(why suffice with the ships bilge boy's passport, when you can steal the Captains passport??? And why Russia?). Where is Steven Spielberg when we need him? Yes, I’m being very flippant and considering the large number of Kolesky’s who believe these stories to be the gospel truth I will also plead guilty to being a little irreverent. It’s just that it all sounds so very dramatic and a little too romantic for me. It appeals to our need for drama and excitement in our histories but is, to my knowledge, and the facts at hand, probably also very far from the truth.

The facts are the following. John (Jean according to the authoritative Dr Heese – author of South African Genealogies and Jan in most documents in the Cape Archives -  but let’s stick to John for sake of simplicity and to differentiate him all the succeeding Jan’s) Kolesky could not read or write. All the documents I have found were either written for him on his behalf or, where a signature was required, we have an “X”.  If John Kolesky was this great Napoleonic spy why could he not read or write? The request of John Kolesky to remain in the Cape colony, dated 13 January 1817 to be found in the Cape Archives) is signed with an “X”. His petition for a “piece of land” in the Langekloof, District of George, dated 15 January 1847(also in the Cape Archives) is written in fancy script, in the third person, and signed by the writer of the letter who was, most probably, a bureaucratic official or lawyer. Surely a great spy would have been able to read and write or, at least, sign his own name?
 We also know from his petition requesting land, that he served 6 years in the Cape Auxiliary military unit. Yet he never advanced to the rank of an Officer - surely not the standard of a member of Napoleon's secret Police! 
 But what if we discard the claims that he was a Napoleonic spy? What if he was just an ordinary, run of the mill, Frenchman named De la Rey? Not some super spy but a murderer or thief of passports at best? Well, there are a number of reasons I find the probability of this being the case remote. The very earliest official documentation I have been able to trace of John Kolesky is the Staff List of the 8th Company of the 1st Battalion, 60th Regiment of Foot, of the British Army on the 24th of September 1810 - six and a half years before he requested permission to remain in the Colony of South Africa. Without going into too much detail it is interesting to note that John Kolesky’s name does not appear on pay sheets of the Battalion in March 1810 so he was probably only enlisted in the Battalion after its return from Jamaica, to England. Considering the March 1810 pay sheets listed 200 men and the August 1810 Staff list contains over 1000 men we can deduct that the Battalion returned to England in order to supplement its ranks and not for fighting purposes. So where did all these recruits come from? It’s difficult to say with certainty. He was probably one of the many Polish soldiers captured by the British somewhere in Europe and brought to England. The majority of Polish soldiers enlisted in the 1st Battalion were captured by the British in Holland during the infamous Walcheren campaign where up to 5000 men were taken prisoner of war. Unfortunately no record has yet been found of John Kolesky being taken prisoner amongst these 5000 but other Polish soldiers, who later served alongside John Kolesky in the 60th Regiment, were captured here. Prisoners-of-War from the Walcheren campaign were also held on the Isle of Wight and considering the Head Quarters of the 60th Regiment was close by it is logical that active recruitment of fighting men would have taken place there. So it appears, in all probability, that John Kolesky “turned coat” and decided to fight for the British. Now, realising the term “turncoat” has a rather nasty connotation today as a traitor and a man of no principal, it must be remembered that the life expectancy in prison-of-war camps at the beginning of the 19th century was very short. Starvation, pestilence and disease were the order of the day, so to remain a prisoner-of-war was to languish and probably die a rather horrible death. Also bear in mind that the Napoleonic Wars were a French, English affair and that John Kolesky was Polish. In reality “it wasn’t his fight”. So, by turning coat he got fed, he got clothed, he got paid and he got to live!

So John Kolesky was taken up into the ranks of the 60th Regiment together with hundreds of other Poles, and about six months later the Regiment set sail for the Cape to take up position in the Castle of Good Hope. We also know that the journey to Cape Town on the HMS Lion (which could possibly explain why Dr Heese says Kolesky originated from Lyon, France – but that’s a whole different story!) took three months and they landed in the Cape in September 1811 – the real anniversary date of the first Kolesky to set foot on South African soil!

Now, let’s get back to de La Rey. What are the chances that some French super spy could kill the Polish Kolesky on board a British Navy ship, surrounded by other Poles and get away with it? Rather infinitesimally small I would think! I have spoken in length to a Polish genealogist who specializes on South African families of Polish origin, Mariuz Kowalski, on this matter and he agrees that it would be far easier for a Pole to pass himself off as French (if well educated) than the other way around and amongst a ship full of fellow Poles – practically impossible!

But, let’s assume he does get it right.  Not only does he pull off the impossible and murder the Polish Kolesky and steal his identity under the noses of a ship full of Poles he then proceeds to remain in the 60th Regiment in the Cape for another 6 years, living a lie, before he is discharged in 1817. Maybe I have got it wrong – maybe this is one super-duper spy after all and more than worthy of being my forefather!

My last reason for not believing the de La Rey legend is “a gut feel” I have picked up while researching the family name over the past 5 years. The Kolesky’s are big on family names. The number of Johannes’, Okkert’s and Jacobus’ blows the mind. In days past it was standard practice to name your children after your parents, the in-laws, close family or even yourself (and likewise for your children’s children). I would think that de La Rey, who had given up his precious surname would, after being discharged and living safely in the Langekloof for some time, re-introduce the name De La Rey into his bloodline. If not him for whatever fear, surely his children, but it takes 4 generations before we have a Hendrik De La Rey baptized in the family. Four generations!! Maybe I just don't want to believe the legend. I suppose I’m in awe of a man who lived, as a young boy, with his family in Warsaw during what was probably the most politically unstable and violently destructive time in Polish history until World war II, left his family at an early age to fight for the Polish nationalist cause on the side of Napoleon, was probably taken prisoner during one of the bloodiest campaigns of the Napoleonic wars,  turned coat in order to survive, joined the British Army only to be sent to the tip of Africa where he served for 6 years before gaining his ”freedom” and taking the bold decision not to return to Europe, but to remain in Africa. From Cape Town he made his way to George where he married his first wife who died not long after she had given birth to his first two children and then married his second wife who gave him another five children. He battled and scraped an existence as a farmer eventually owning his own farm and died on 10 November 1847 with an estate valued at 1718 pounds and is the forefather of the hundreds of Coleske, Colesky and Kolesky’s in South Africa today. Now, if that’s not something to be admired and marveled at, then I suppose you do need the legend of de La Rey to make your ancestor seem worthy.  Until it is proved conclusively, through documentation (or perhaps DNA testing one day), I like to know I’m a Colesky and the de La Rey legend is just that – a legend - a pretty story passed down through the generations as supposed fact - but who really knows????

I think the above clearly illustrates that the variations in the spelling of our surname is unimportant. We all originate from John Kolesky.

But, in order to differentiate from the many "C/Koleske/y's" the search engine on  this website does not accept surnames, other than those married to C/Koleske/y's. In  order to find yourself please enter your christian name only and then find yourself  among the options given. The letters and numbers appearing before the spelling of the  surname determine the generation from the original "A1" (Jean/John Kolesky).  Therefore if you are an "F" you are six generations downline from Jean/John Kolesky.

In order to gain access to the website you will need to contact me in order to gain  the necessary password. As with anything in life, nothing is for free. In return for  me giving you the password and the key to your heritage I request that you provide me  with all your details and as much as you can of any other C/Koleske/y's in order that  I can add them to this website and so, further build the definitive family webiste.  Once you have entered the website and have spotted errors, or have more complete  information, I will be pleased to amend the website.

Please contact rcolesky@icon.co.za for further information.