Annex Modderdrift (Rhemhoogte No. 125 Ptn 3)

· on record 1930–2016 · show on the map

The farm's own history, the grant, the original survey, sits on that page.

Farm number: No. 125
Portion: 3
District: Prince Albert
Extent, as the diagram states it: 2377 morgen 38261 sq ft
Modern surveyed area: 2037.2 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

Ernest Albert Oosthuizen held it. 24 km from Klaarstroom.

Ernest Albert Oosthuizen is on record on this ground directly. No trace needed.

story A written history names this ground Frikkie Oosthuizen's land moves on: Anna Margaretha and her three farms, 1937
story A written history names this ground Oom Frikkie's eighty-one thousand morgen, 1856-1937
parcel Cut out of Rhemhoogte No. 125
parcel Consolidated into: Modderdrift No. 239
…and 2 more, listed in full further down this page.

Stories

mentions this farm Frikkie Oosthuizen's land moves on: Anna Margaretha and her three farms, 1937
On 20 December 1937 one transfer deed put three farms and 11,897 morgen into the name of Anna Margaretha Marincowitz, born Oosthuizen - Tokkie's mother, and one of only seven women in this model recorded holding ground in her own right. Her father had died fourteen months earlier and her brother took the neighbouring portion the same day.
cites this farm Oom Frikkie's eighty-one thousand morgen, 1856-1937
Frederik Simon 'Oom Frikkie' Oosthuizen died in 1936 holding, by one account, 81,000 morgen around Zwartkraal - about a quarter of all the ground on this map. This project holds not one deed in his name. What the money was probably in, what it was certainly not in, and the one document that would settle it.

Before this ground was cut out

This is the history of Rhemhoogte No. 125, the farm this ground was part of until 1931. It is shown here because this ground was that farm, and separately from what follows because before the cut the record says the farm's name and not which part of it. Not everything below necessarily happened on this piece.

1873 document SG diagram verso 861/1873 (verso)
1875 document SG diagram B.876/1875 P.A.Q.2-20
1879-07-01 ownership Abel Albertus Oosthuizen (1849-10-05–1918-06-22) Perpetual Quitrent · grant · confidence medium
1901-02-02 event The skirmish at Remhoogte, and the death of Johannes Kleu [SRC-010, Rose Willis Klaarstroom cameo. TERTIARY, TO VERIFY] The Boers caught the retreating Yeomanry at REMHOOGTE, a farmstead beside the old Prince Albert road, and shot the horses from under them. Lance-Corporal J. Boyd, wounded, sheltered at Wolwekloof; Johannes Kleu, a 23-year-old unarmed rebel walking home to Aberdeen, stumbled on him and was shot dead. That night Scheepers's men stayed at BLOEMENDAL. On 5 February they slipped north across the Witteberg via Boesmanskloof, SLEUTELFONTEIN and BOTTERSKRAAL, reaching ZEEKOEGAT on 7 February and looting two shops. Four of those farms are in this model. || *** [7 Sep 2026, SRC-172 pp.11-13 and SRC-632] THE FARM IS SETTLED AND THE FAMILY IS NAMED. *** Two patrols out of Prince Albert under Capt. McDowell and Lt. Torrane rode towards Klaarstroom on 2 February, took three Boer scouts on the way, saw how many Boers held the village and turned back. 'The Boers gave chase and NEAR THE FARM REMHOOGTE began to close in.' Eight of the Yeomanry were taken with their horses shot under them; Sgt.-Maj. Jackson and Tpr. Mobsby dismounted under fire to get Col. Parke back into the saddle and Jackson was captured doing it; Corp. Boyd was fatally wounded. JOHANNES KLEU DIED IN THE HOUSE. p.13: he 'was seriously wounded and was left behind with the Du Plessis family at Remhoogte'. The family's own account is SRC-632, from Miemie de Wit (PER-002051), who was ten and in the house: the wounded Englishman hid in Wolwekloof, Kleu came upon him, and the Englishman shot him at point blank range through the chest. Her father ROELOF DU PLESSIS (PER-002050) carried him in through the back door and laid him in the room at the far end of the stoep, where he died, and buried him quietly that night. WHICH REMHOOGTE: THE QUESTION FLAGGED ON THIS ROW IS ANSWERED, AND IT IS REIM HOOGTE No. 167. The book states the distance twice and from two different informants - p.36, Anna Snyders: 'the farm Remhoogte, 40 km from Prince Albert on the Klaarstroom road'; p.45, of the grave: 'Forty kilometers from Prince Albert on the farm Remhoogte'. Measured against this project's own cadastre, Reim Hoogte No. 167 (PAR-000092) lies 36.9 km from Prince Albert in a straight line, which is about 40 km by road; Rhemhoogte No. 125 (PAR-000068) lies 46.3 km in a straight line, which cannot be 40 km by road. The grave's own coordinate, which came from eGGSA and not from the book, already sat on 167. Three independent things agree, so the affair belongs on Reim Hoogte No. 167 and the cameo's filing under Rhemhoogte No. 125 is wrong. BOYD WAS BURIED BESIDE HIM AND DID NOT STAY. p.13: 'Boyd was also buried at Remhoogte but after the war his remains were reinterred in the graveyard of the Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd at Klaarstroom.' Miemie de Wit watched it: he 'was buried 50 yards from the Boer. After the war his wife in England asked that he be reinterred. I can well remember the grave being opened.'
1931 boundary subdivision: becomes Annex Modderdrift (Rhemhoogte No. 125 Ptn 3)

What the record holds, in order

November 1930 document SG diagram 1081/1931
13525
1931 boundary change subdivision: from Rhemhoogte No. 125
20 December 1937 ownership Ernest Albert Oosthuizen (24 February 1894–1970)
transfer · confidence high
2016 boundary change consolidation: becomes Modderdrift No. 239
August 2016 document SG diagram 2498/2016
1937-239-13525

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.

Documents

Scan of Surveyor-General diagram, 1081/1931, November 1930

Surveyor-General diagram, 1081/1931, November 1930
11364431 Rhemhoogte 1931.jpg

catalogued, no scan held

Surveyor-General diagram, 2498/2016, August 2016
11364422 125 port 3.jpg

Cadastre

Surveyor-General diagram index for this parcel

Surveyor-General diagram index for the whole farm, where the original survey of this ground sits.

Research notes

Surveyed Nov 1930, approved 30.3.1931 (DOC-0084; survey records E 144/1931; substituted by Dgm 2498/2016). Transferred 20.12.1937, deed 13525, to E.A. OOSTHUIZEN (OWN-000061). Antecedent per the diagram: original dgm 1149/1874, Deed of Grant P.A.Q.2-20 of 1.7.1879 to (J.)A.A. Oosthuysen & another. Cadastre 3/125 measures 2,043.4 ha vs 2,377 mg = 2,035.8 ha - 0.4% fit. Neighbours: Modderdrift, Bulhouwer, Kalk Gat, Remainder of Rhemhoogte.

[3 Aug 2026, SRC-209/SRC-210] TWO THINGS CONFIRMED AND ONE ADDED. The 2016 diagram LG 2498/2016 (DOC-0175) states on its face that it replaces Nr 1081/1931 - which is DOC-0084, exactly as this row already claimed - and carries Transport Nr 1937-239-13525, the deed by which this ground went to E.A. Oosthuizen. The addition: it is CANCELLED, 17 May 2017, into DIE PLAAS MODDERDRIFT NR. 239 (PAR-000141). So Annex Modderdrift ended up back inside a farm called Modderdrift, 133 years after it was cut out of Rhemhoogte.

*** [4 Aug 2026, LEAD-0084 RESOLVED] THE MATCHER WAS NEVER AT FAULT. *** The polygon for this parcel carries WSTATUS='H' - SUPERSEDED. match_cadastre.py indexes superseded features by their LPI ONLY and keeps them out of the name and farm-number indexes, so nothing automatic can land on one. That is deliberate and documented in the loader: a superseded polygon is reachable by an explicit PIN and by nothing else, because a pin is somebody saying "I know, use this one". For a history site a superseded shape is often the only correct geometry there is - Modderdrift Portion 4 is the precedent. PINNED HERE, on the same evidence Modderdrift was: the extents agree - 2 036,0 ha teen 2 043,4 ha, 0,4%. The pin survives future runs of the matcher by design.

[13 Aug 2026] Renamed to the one form this model uses for every portion - the portion's own name, then the parent farm, its number and the portion in brackets - so that a name is legible in a list, a search result and a map popup without the reader having to know which farm number is which. It read "Annex Modderdrift (Rhemhoogte Ptn 3)" before. Nothing about the ground changed.

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

Open questions

match_cadastre.py no longer reproduces the geometry on disk priority 1 · LEAD-0017
Re-running match_cadastre.py against the current CSVs changes 11 parcels and does not reproduce what is in parcels.csv. Which is right?

What would settle it Deciding per parcel whether the script's match or the hand entry is correct, then either fixing the script's name-matching or recording the hand values as deliberate.
Four portions have a polygon in geo/ that match_cadastre.py still will not pick up priority 2 · LEAD-0084
Why does the matcher miss PAR-000023, PAR-000058, PAR-000069 and PAR-000144 when their exact PRCL_KEYs are present?

What would settle it Printing the matcher's computed key beside the cadastre key for one of these four.

What the record is missing

The record stops in 1937 and never resumes third order · B2 trail-ends
Annex Modderdrift (Rhemhoogte No. 125 Ptn 3) was worked as far as 1937-12-20, with Ernest Albert OosthuizenH the last owner on record. 89 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.

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.