Oscar Pistorius

Pistorius in 2012, photo by Prphotos.com

Birth Name: Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius

Place of Birth: Sandton, Johannesburg, Transvaal Province, South Africa

Date of Birth: 22 November, 1986

Ethnicity: Afrikaner [Dutch, German, some French Huguenot, distant Belgian Flemish and Walloon], English, as well as Danish, remote Malagasy, Bengali, Indian, and Indonesian, evidently one eighth Italian

Oscar Pistorius is a South African sprint runner. His legs were amputated below the knee when he was eleven months old, and he competed in events for single below-knee amputees and for able-bodied athletes. He was nicknamed “Blade Runner,” “the fastest man on no legs,” “Tink Tink,” and “Oz” Pistorius.

Oscar is the son of Sheila Francis and Heinrich Carl Wilhelm “Henke” Pistorius. His mother was born in Kenya. He is mostly of Afrikaner [Dutch, German, some French Huguenot, distant Belgian Flemish and Walloon], English, and evidently one eighth Italian, ancestry, from his mother’s grandfather, an Italian emigrant to Kenya. He is English-speaking. His aunt is forensic/investigative psychologist and author Micki Pistorius.

Oscar was found guilty of the murder of his girlfriend, paralegal and model Reeva Steenkamp. In February 2013, he shot her in his Pretoria home.

Oscar’s paternal grandfather was Hendrik Wilhelm Carl Pistorius (the son of Theodor/Theodore Georg Joseph Pistorius and Anna Sofia/Sophia Magdalena Stander). Hendrik was born in Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng. Theodor was the son of Carl Wilhelm Heinrich/Hendrik Pistorius and Anna Maria van Staden. Oscar’s great-grandmother Anna was born in Rustenburg, Bojanala, North West, the daughter of Johannes Hendrikus Stander and Johanna Frederika Elizabeth Schoeman.

Oscar’s paternal grandmother was Gertruda/Gertruida Jacoba de Beer (the daughter of Arnoldus Stephanus de Beer and Martha Johanna Maria de Beer). Gertruda was born in Transvaal. Arnoldus was the son of Johannes Christoffel de Beer and Emmerentia Petronella Swanepoel. Martha was born in Doorndraai Dam, the daughter of Dewald Lambertus de Beer and Martha Johanna Maria Scheepers.

Oscar’s maternal grandfather was named Len Bekker.

Oscar’s maternal grandmother was named Joyce W. Sugar (the daughter of parents surnamed Sugar and Brocklesby). Joyce was born in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England.

The original Pistorius emigrants to South Africa were Friedrich Heinrich Pistorius (b. 16 March 1789, Tondorf, Sachsen-Weimar, Germany), his elder brother, Maximilian Ernst Ludwig (b. 1781), and the eight children of Friedrich, who arrived at the Cape, South Africa in 1838, onboard the “Cape Packet.” The family moved to Natal in 1842. The brothers were the sons of Wilhelm August Pistorius and Fredericke Maria Voigt. Friedrich Heinrich (1789-c. 1863), a brick-maker, is considered to be the Progenitor/Stamvader of the Pistorius family in South Africa.

Oscar is a seventh cousin, once removed, of model Candice Swanepoel.

Sources: Genealogy of Oscar Pistorius – http://www.geni.com

Birth record of Oscar’s maternal grandmother, Joyce W. Sugar – https://www.familysearch.org