Varsche Fontein

27 on the cadastre · on record 1834–1925 · show on the map

Farm number

No. 27

On the cadastre

27, whole farm

District

Prince Albert

Extent, as the diagram states it

13869 morgen 347 sq roods

Modern surveyed area

10367.3 ha

The historic extent and the modern surveyed area are two separate measurements and are not presented here as confirming each other. The first is what a surveyor wrote on a diagram, usually in morgen. The second is what the modern cadastre draws.

Why this farm is here

J.R.G. Luttig held it, a blood relative of the Oosthuizen, Marincowitz or Van der Merwe lines, 3 steps away. 62 km from Klaarstroom.

1. J.R.G. Luttig
2. parent of Jan Roeland Georg LUTTIG
3. parent of Susanna Catharina LUTTIG
4. parent of June Oosthuizen

Each step is a recorded parentage or marriage in this model, and the shortest one the record supports, follow the names to check it.

• story A written history names this ground The Prince Albert gold rush
• story A written history is set on this ground The fifteenth of April, 1841
• story A written history names this ground Rondabel No. 124: a farm history
• story A written history names this ground The men who drew the lines
• …and 2 more, listed in full further down this page.

Stories

• mentions this farm The Prince Albert gold rush
  An aardvark turns up a nugget on Spreeuwfontein in 1871; twenty years later a shepherd finds a second one and five hundred people arrive. 1,042 claims yield 504 ounces. The diggers' village was called Gatsplaas.
• about this farm The fifteenth of April, 1841
  One surveyor works the Koup for two seasons. Eight years later, on a single day, the Crown turns a dozen loan farms into freehold - and the map of the district is set for a century.
• mentions this farm Rondabel No. 124: a farm history
  From a loan-farm widow who signed with a mark to the Marincowitz farm of today: the full documented history of Rondabel No. 124 - the Venter household of 1829, the twelve-farm grant day of 1841, the Oosthuizen-Theron partnership of 1868, the 1910-34 subdivisions, and the two graves by the huis nobody has read.
• mentions this farm The men who drew the lines
  Every farm here passes through two officials: a veldkornet who knew the ground, and a surveyor paid by the sheet. Forty-two surveyor signatures over 172 years, a century of ward officers, and a ward boundary changing by hand on a 1934 diagram. The first surveyor, C. Lennox Stretch, was later dismissed for taking the Xhosa side.
• set here Eight stones on Varsche Fontein
  Eight marked graves on the Remainder of Varsche Fontein, from 1848 to 1922. Two Storms in consecutive years seven years after the grant, an infant of 1874 buried apart from the rest, three more children, and finally the patriarch under the only bought stone in the cemetery. None of the families in it appears in the farm's title deeds. A second burial ground twenty kilometres away, on Vredendal, carries the same surnames and shows the families are one intermarried community rather than six.
• mentions this farm Vredendal: three surnames on the stones, one family in the house
  Vredendal is a werf name on Spreeufontein No. 26, the farm the district called Gatsplaas. Five graves carrying three surnames, an 1886 slate slab whose inscription dates a woman to the day and whose line runs unbroken back to Enkhuizen in 1744, and then a household: the van der Merwes, and a man who died on his own birthday.
• mentions this farm The van der Merwes of the Hantam
  The maternal line, from Paarl in 1735 to Vredendal in about 1950, with every kinship spelled out. The crossing from the Piketberg district into the Hantam is dated to a fourteen-year window by two death notices; three farms were surveyed for the Commissie van Inspectie by one man in 1820 and 1823; a man called Kwaai Koos is named after his farm; and twice in three generations the family is standing on ground that came in through a woman.
• mentions this farm Four grandparents, four countries
  How four grandparents out of four lines met: three weddings in four years at Bellville and Williston, and a fourth marriage that tied two of them back together after both were widowed. Each line has its own page; this one is the join. Of the four countries the title promises, this record can point at one on a map.
• mentions this farm The van Rensburgs of the dry north
  Nine generations, of which eight are names and years, and then a boy orphaned sixteen months apart in 1896 and 1898, given to a family called Vos, and turned out at twenty-five with a horse. He bought a boring machine and sold windpumps through the worst droughts the region records. The line that lost the Janse from its surname in one generation.

What the record holds, in order

1. 1834 document SG diagram 353/1834
   Bf.W.Q.6-23
2. 15 April 1841 ownership Charl du Toit (17 September 1797–?)
   Perpetual Quitrent · grant · confidence high
3. 1848 burial B. Storm
   Varsche Fontein farm cemetery, B. STORM 1848, scratched on a slate slab set upright in a stone kerb. Nothing else is cut on the stone.
4. 1849 burial M. Storm
   Varsche Fontein farm cemetery, M STORM / 1849, read across two fragments of one broken slab: 'M S' and '18' on the left piece, 'TORM' and '49' on the right. Deeply and neatly cut, in plain capitals, with no other text.
5. June 1874 burial G.F. Beukes
   Varsche Fontein - the single grave in the veld, 1874 / G F / BEU / KES / Juny, and below it what appears to be 15. Cut by hand into a thin sandstone slab, the letters shallow and irregular and the surname broken across three lines because the stone is narrow. Frans's reading; the 15 is the least certain part.
6. April 1897 document SG diagram No.2 1903 (CL-7)
   PA folio 1048
7. April 1897 document SG diagram verso 2/1903 (verso)
8. June 1902 burial Maria Elizabeth Freysen (infant) (6 October 1901–June 1902)
   Varsche Fontein farm cemetery, MARIHA ELIESABET FREYSEN, GEBOR 6 OCTO[BER] 1901, OVERLEID [4?] JUNY 1902. Above the panel, a rayed sun or star inside an arch.
9. 1903 ownership J.R.G. Luttig (about 1824–4 February 1914)
   amended-title · confidence high
10. 3 August 1907 burial M.J. Beukes, or a child of M.J. Beukes
    Varsche Fontein farm cemetery, [Ter ge]dachtenis aan / [illegible word] M·J·BEUKES / O[verlede] 3. 8. 1907. Cut by hand into a sandstone slab in a mixed script - the first line in cursive, the name in capitals - with a ruled border and an incised cross or star above. The word before the initials is not legible and it is the word that decides who is buried here.
11. 1913 boundary change subdivision: becomes Lot A (Varsche Fontein No. 27 Ptn 1)
12. March 1913 burial Jacobus Johannes Beukes (infant) (26 May 1912–10 March 1913)
    Varsche Fontein farm cemetery, JACOBES : JOHANES / BEUKES / GEB 26 MAAIE 1912 / [O]VER[L] 10 MAART 191[3] / IS HET WEL MET / 'T KIND / HET IS ALLES WEL.
13. 14 October 1914 burial Gerhardus Fransoiys Beukes (30 June 1838–14 October 1914)
    Varsche Fontein farm cemetery, GERHARDUS FRANSOIYS BEUKES, GEB. 30STEN JUNIE 1838, OVERL. 14 DEN OCTOBER 1914
14. 1922 boundary change subdivision: becomes Groot Rivier (Varsche Fontein No. 27 Ptn 2)
15. January 1922 burial Aletta Sophia Jacoba Opperman (born Beukes) (15 April 1872–13 January 1922)
    Varsche Fontein farm cemetery, A BROKEN FRAGMENT AND MOSTLY UNREADABLE. Letters scratched into cement before it set, in at least four lines. What can be read with any confidence: 'TER' on the top line, and 'BEU' at the end of the bottom line. Scattered capitals between them include what may be A, G, J, C, E, R and N, in no order that can be trusted. NOTHING ELSE IS TRANSCRIBED.
16. 1923 boundary change subdivision: becomes Plaat Fontein (Varsche Fontein No. 27 Ptn 3)
17. 1925 boundary change subdivision: becomes Welbedacht (Varsche Fontein No. 27 Ptn 4)
18. 1925 boundary change remainder: becomes Varsche Fontein No. 27 Remainder

Ground cut out of this farm

• Lot A (Varsche Fontein No. 27 Ptn 1)
• Groot Rivier (Varsche Fontein No. 27 Ptn 2) 2/27 · 2565.2 ha
• Plaat Fontein (Varsche Fontein No. 27 Ptn 3) 3/27 · 1786.2 ha
• Welbedacht (Varsche Fontein No. 27 Ptn 4) 4/27 · 2184.2 ha
• Varsche Fontein No. 27 Remainder RE/27 · 3831.8 ha

Bordered by, as the diagram names them

• NE Jan Willems Fontein
• NE Klein Knoffels Fontein
• E Spreeuw Fontein
• SW Klein Fontein
• SW Blaauw-Krantz (part)
• W Abrahams Kraal
• NW Jan Willems Fontein
• NE Jan Willems Fontein
• NE Klein Knoffels Fontein
• E Spreeuw Fontein
• SW Klein Fontein
• SW Blaauw-Krantz (part)
• W Abrahams Kraal
• NW Jan Willems Fontein

Buried on this ground

• Varsche Fontein farm cemetery 7 graves recorded, 4 identified in this project
• Varsche Fontein - the single grave in the veld 1 graves recorded · no coordinate yet

The burials also appear on this farm's timeline above, each at its own date.

Photographs

Also bordered by, as the modern cadastre draws it

Ground that touches this farm on the Surveyor-General's current polygons and that none of the diagrams held here names. Derived from the geometry, not read off a document.

• N Plaat Fontein (Varsche Fontein No. 27 Ptn 3)
• NE Lammers Kraal No. 11
• E Varsche Fontein No. 27 Remainder
• E Lot A (Spreeufontein No. 26 Ptn 3)
• SE Welbedacht (Varsche Fontein No. 27 Ptn 4)
• SE Bokfontein No. 94 (formerly Waterfall)
• SW Groot Rivier (Varsche Fontein No. 27 Ptn 2)
• SW Bloukrans No. 31

Documents

Surveyor-General diagram, No.2 1903 (CL-7), April 1897
11046771.TIF

Surveyor-General diagram, 353/1834, 1834
SCAN208 (3).TIF

Diagram verso, 2/1903 (verso), April 1897
11046772.TIF

Cadastre

Surveyor-General diagram index for this parcel

Research notes

The research behind this page, kept separate from it: dated working notes, open questions, and what is not yet settled.

Open questions

• Who is buried in the Varsche Fontein cemetery? Five of seven now named priority 1 · LEAD-0122

  Four marked graves are now recorded and only one is identified. Who are Mariha Eliesabet Freysen (1901-1902), Jacobes Johanes Bukes, and B. STORM 1848? Frans has undertaken to give names.

  What would settle it Names from Frans, or a burial register entry. For the stones themselves: straight-on photographs in raking light, which would probably give the Beukes dates and the Freysen day and surname outright.

• Two Storms on Varsche Fontein, 1848 and 1849 - who were they, and what put them there? priority 1 · LEAD-0124

  Who is the B. STORM buried on Varsche Fontein in 1848 (GRV-0030), and does the grave connect to either of the two Storm lines this family already touches?

  What would settle it THE LIQUIDATION AND DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNT OF MAGDALENA STORM BORN BOTES, died Prince Albert 10 April 1884. Her death notice says she left IMMOVEABLE PROPERTY to be 'all sold immediately and the account filed'. That account names the land. It is now the single most direct route to whether the Storms held ground on or near Varsche Fontein. Failing that, the estate papers of her husband, died Prince Albert 19 August 1855.

• Is the lone 1874 stone on Varsche Fontein a thirteenth Beukes child? priority 1 · LEAD-0126

  A hand-cut stone standing apart from the cemetery reads 1874 / G F BEUKES / Juny [15?]. Is it an infant son of Gerhardus Francois Beukes whose name was reused in 1877, and why is he buried away from the others?

  What would settle it A baptism or burial entry, or a death notice.

• Read the graves ACROSS the farms, and against the online grave indexes priority 1 · LEAD-0127

  Storm, Botes, Niehaus, Botma, Beukes and Freysen appear on stones on Varsche Fontein and on Vredendal/Spreeufontein, and they intermarry. What does the picture look like when the burial grounds are read as one body of evidence rather than farm by farm, and what do the published grave indexes add?

  What would settle it Nothing settles a question this shape. What it produces is a map: which families are buried where, who married whom, and which farms they moved between.

• Are the Varsche Fontein Beukes related to Christa's Beukes, or is it only the surname? priority 2 · LEAD-0123

  This project has recorded the Varsche Fontein Beukes as 'a cousin line on Frans's wife's side'. Is there an actual path, or was that inferred from the surname?

  What would settle it A shared ancestor with both descents documented, or a demonstration that the two Beukes families are separate at the Cape.

What the record is missing

• The record stops in 1903 and never resumes second order · B2 trail-ends

  Varsche Fontein was worked as far as 1903, with J.R.G. LuttigH the last owner on record. 123 years follow with nothing. Who held it after that, and is it still one farm?

  What would settle it The current title deed traced backwards, each transfer names the one before it, or the Surveyor-General's subdivision diagrams, which are what usually explain a farm going quiet.

• 62 years, and the ground changes hands to nobody we can follow second order · B1 succession

  On Varsche Fontein, Charl du ToitH is the last owner recorded from 1841-04-15, and the next entry is J.R.G. LuttigH from 1903, 62 years later, with no person in common. DOC-0002 records the later arrival but not the 62 years before it.

  What would settle it The Deeds Office transfer register for this farm between 1841 and 1903. A transfer names its predecessor in title, so one deed closes the whole gap.

• “Klein Fontein” is named as a neighbour 4 times and we hold no parcel for it second order · B3 unheld-farm

  4 separate surveys in this model put Klein Fontein on the boundary of ground we do hold (PAR-000002, PAR-000018, PAR-000020). It has no parcel of its own here, so nothing is known about who held it or when, while it borders farms at the centre of the project.

  What would settle it The Surveyor-General's farm index for the registration division will give it a farm number and a diagram; the cadastre pull in `data/fetch_cadastre.py` then places it on the map.

• “Klein Knoffels Fontein” is named as a neighbour 3 times and we hold no parcel for it second order · B3 unheld-farm

  3 separate surveys in this model put Klein Knoffels Fontein on the boundary of ground we do hold (PAR-000002, PAR-000017). It has no parcel of its own here, so nothing is known about who held it or when, while it borders farms at the centre of the project.

  What would settle it The Surveyor-General's farm index for the registration division will give it a farm number and a diagram; the cadastre pull in `data/fetch_cadastre.py` then places it on the map.

• “Blaauw-Krantz (part)” is named as a neighbour 2 times and we hold no parcel for it third order · B3 unheld-farm

  2 separate surveys in this model put Blaauw-Krantz (part) on the boundary of ground we do hold (PAR-000002). It has no parcel of its own here, so nothing is known about who held it or when, while it borders farms at the centre of the project.

  What would settle it The Surveyor-General's farm index for the registration division will give it a farm number and a diagram; the cadastre pull in `data/fetch_cadastre.py` then places it on the map.

Found by breaks.py reading the model against itself, not written by hand, each one is a shape of missing record, not a fault in the data. The whole set is on the questions page.