Also found this article, which doesn't refer to Robert Thomas Bird Dixon (as he married in Potchefstroom in 1858 and died in 1880) but might give further insight into the Free State Dixons:
http://www.eggsa.org/newspapers/index.php/queenstown-free-press/956...
Tuesday Septembers 18, 1888
TERRIBLE FATALITY.
A Lady and three children drowned.
(Potchefstroom Budget.)
It is our painful duty to record one of the most distressing calamities which have yet come to our notice, and one which, it is no mere figure of speech to say, has cast a gloom over the whole community. Yesterday afternoon, Mrs T.H. DIXON, with her family, consisting of three little boys between the ages of three and eight, left town by cart, on a visit to Kronstad, in the Free State, where it was Dr DIXON's intention to join her in a few days. About eight o'clock in the evening the driver returned, bringing the horrifying news that the unfortunate lady and all her children had been drowned in the Vaal River. His account of the catastrophe is as follows: They were attempting to cross the river at De Wet's Drift, and when about in the middle of the stream, the cart struck fast, and the horses got restive. Mrs DIXON became alarmed, and anticipating danger, jumped out into the river with the youngest child, while the driver's attention was occupied with the horses. The children, who were naturally terrified, followed their mother. The water was breast high, and the stream running very strong, so that Mrs DIXON was immediately swept away by the current, and was never seen again. The poor children were of course at once out of their depth, and their fate was certain. Up to the present, we understand, only the body of the second child has been recovered. The driver was a native in the employ of Mrs MANDERS, from whom the cart and horses were hired, and his conduct of the affair is the subject of considerable comment. His narrative is not very clear, and it does not appear that he made any attempt to effect a rescue, but he declares he was so busy with the horses he did not know what was going on until too late. The probability is he lost his head, and was unable to do anything...
[Just as we go to press, we are informed that a Dutchman, who witnessed the accident from the bank, states that the cart went into a deep hole in the river, and when it came out the four occupants were missing, having been washed out. It is said the river was rising at the time. The body of the child has been brought into town.]
