As James clearly (and intelligibly) seems to hesitate on this one (as Paul's "guy" in post #2 could/might be regarded as a plausible namesake), here´s some possible additions, as I think I have found a couple of missing pieces, in the/this puzzle, regarding ...
neergaardi as in:
• Neergaard's Sunbird (
Nectarinia)
Cinnyris neergaardi GRANT 1908 (
here, alt. in Martin's post #1):
This species is named in honour of Mr. P. Neergaard, from whom I received great assistance during my stay in the Imhambane District.
In today's
Key we find this Eponym explained as:
neergaardi
Paul Neergaard (fl. 1907) South African recruiting officer in Mozambique for the Witwatersrand mines (Cinnyris).
However, I think I actually have found some strong indications that the dedicatee indeed was Danish, and also that his Surname truly ought to be Written as
Neergaard, with double-a (also/even in Danish, thus,
not as "Neergård", as claimed in Post #2), just like it is written in the
Key (alt. exactly as it was written in the OD, and in the Death record itself, shown in post #2), all in line with his far more famous relative (see below, far below).
For more info about him see:
Biographical Database of Southern African Science (
here, or the link in Paul's Post #2); "Compiled by: C. Plug, Last updated 2020-04-23 ...", even if it doesn't give us any dates, nor years, neither regarding his Birth, nor his Death, but it does help us with other clues, making it possible to see some connections [my
blue]:
Neergaard, Mr Paul (bird collection)
Born: Date not known, Place not known.
Died: Date not known, Place not known.
Active in: Moz. [Mozambique]
Paul Neergaard was a recruiting officer for the Native Labour Association, Ltd., which supplied labourers for the gold mines on the Witwatersrand. He recruited mainly in southern Mozambique between 1907 and 1927. By 1904 he was stationed in southern Mozambique, where friction arose between him and the governor of the Inhambe district [compare with the location mentioned in the OD: "Imhambane District"]. Around 1907 he assisted Captain C.H.B. Grant ... in collecting birds, during the latter's collecting expedition to southern Africa for the British Museum (Natural History). Neergaard's Sunbird, Cinnyris neergaardi, was named after him by Grant in 1908.
Neergaard subsequently continued his recruiting activities in South Africa and was stationed in Middelburg (Mpumalanga) and Soekmekaar (Limpopo Province). He was also associated with a rest camp near the Soutpansberg in Limpopo Province for labourers recruited in Mozambique. During 1928 he travelled widely in Nyasaland (now Malawi) to recruit extra labour.
Either way I do suspect that his actual First Given name was either Poul or Povl (alt., of course, it could have been Paul, though the latter might, could simply/equally be the English/South African/Africaans version of any of the former/s). In the contemporary
List of Members published in
The Ostrich (Journal of African Ornithology) of both 1930 and 1935, he's listed as nothing but "Paul Neergaard".
Also see the following links;
here (pp.192–193), or
here, and
here.
However, the main piece in this puzzle, in connecting the little we truly now from the OD itself, with a certain Person/Dane, would be following text, from the Paper
De vigtigste af danske foretagne Rejser og Forskninger i Afrika [meaning something like:
The most important Travels and Researches undertaken by Danes in Africa], written by (
Oberst/Colonel) Emil Madsen, published in the Danish journal
Geografisk Tidskrift 22 (1913–1914), pp.121–129, accessible as PDF
here, where we find the following text [on p.127]:
… og Herr P. Neergaard, en Brodersøn til den forhenv. Finansminister, der i 1890 udvandrede til Sydafrika, deltog i Boerkrigen, og derefter i 1903 som Agent for et engelsk Mineselskab blev sendt til Mozambiquekysten for at lede Modtagelsen og Afsendelsen af de mange Negre, som aarlig førtes til Delagoabugten for derfra at transporteres som Minearbejdere til Johannesburg.
Han beboede i den Tid et Sted, der er kaldt Inhambane, i Egnen mellem Rhodesia og Nilsøerne. Da det blev nødvendigt at trænge længere ind i Landet for at hverve Arbejdere, drog han 1909 som Leder af en Ekspedition gennem et Strøg, hvor der tidligere ikke havde været nogen hvid, mellem ca. 15° s. Br. og Sydspidsen af Søen Nyassa, over Bjærgene i Mandimbakæden og tilbage til Inhambane. Han har senere købt en Gaard i Transvaal for at kunne leve i et sundere Klima ...
Which (in English) would be something like :
… and Mr. P. Neergaard, a Nephew of the former Minister of Finance, which in 1890 emigrated to South Africa, participated in the Boer War, and thereafter, as an Agent for an English Mining Company, in 1903 was sent to the Coast of Mozambique to be in charge of the reception and sending of the many Negroes who annually was transported to Delagoa Bay, from there transported as Miners to Johannesburg.
He lived in that time a place that is called Inhambane, in the region between Rhodesia and the Nile Lakes. When it was necessary to penetrate further into the country to recruit workers, he, in 1909, went as leader of an expedition through parts where previously no white had been, between about Latitude 15°S and the southern tip of Lake Nyassa, over the mountains in the Mandimba Chain and back to Inhambane. He later bought a farm in Transvaal to live in a healthier Climate ...
🧩
Surely (in comparison to what's been told above)
, this must be "our"guy?
[And, if any Dane, or Danish knowing, is reading this, don´t hesitate to remark on any part (whatever minor, or major) of my translation!]
Noteworthy is that, according to this Danish text, the Uncle of "our" Mr.
P. Neergaard was the Danish Minister of Finance whom, as this/that text was written in 1913–1914, ought to be
Niels Neergaard [
i.e. Niels Thomasius Neergaard (1854–1936)], Minister of Finance in Denmark, between 1910 and 1913 ... [as well, Minister of Defence (1908–1909), etc., etc. and, then, later Prime Minister of Denmark (1920–1924)].
Wikipedia:
here (or ditto
here, in Swedish), also see
Geni here.
If anyone feel up to it, to search further, with such a distinguished member of the Family, "our guy,"/any certain "P. Neergaard, shouldn´t be impossible to trace. He apparently was a Son to one of the Finance Minister's brothers. And there seems to be a "Poul" or "Povl" Julius Neergard (born in about 1872/73) who was a nephew to the Finance minister (see
here alt.
here), which ought to be a plausible (and highly likely!), candidate. If so he was only about 18 years old when he left for South Africa. Young, yes, but not unheard of ...
Paul (Scofield), is it possible (helped by the/those/any Genealogy page/s) to connect the guy you found (in Post #2) with the above-mentioned Minister of Finance (and later, Prime Minister) of Denmark ...
?
If so, I think we might indeed have found "our guy"!
Cheers
Björn
PS. In any case: he's
not to confuse with the more well-known, Danish agronomist (alt. seed pathologist), and/or esperantist, Paul Neergaard (1907–1987) [whose full name was: Pierre Paul Ferdinand Mourier de Neergaard]. That guy was far, far too young, nothing but a kid/toddler, when Neergaard's Sunbird was discovered/described.
