In the winter months of 1843 Rachel the 12 year old was part of a trek from the Orange Free State to the south-eastern Transvaal.
During one of their nightly stopovers, the members of the trek realised that a calf called Frikkie, much-beloved by their children, was missing.
Rachel de Beer is entrenched in the Afrikaner culture, which is evident by the number of streets and schools named after her, and musical pieces which have been inspired by her such as a theatrical performance from 2019.
It turns out that there was a De Beer family that fits the names and ages as mentioned in the original story quite closely.
In October 2012, two Afrikaans journalists published their findings that the story of Racheltjie de Beer bears many similarities to that of the American heroine Hazel Miner.
The Afrikaans journalists also posted a more elaborate paper on their findings to the web under the title Die laaste rits bewyse: Racheltjie is bloot 'n afspieëling van Hazel Miner (The last series of evidences: Little Rachel is merely a mirror image of Hazel Miner).