Wilger Fontein No. 59

59 on the cadastre · on record 1872–1921 · show on the map

Farm number: No. 59
On the cadastre: 59, whole farmregistered as WILGER FONTEIN
District: Prince Albert
Extent, as the diagram states it: [?8]827 morgen 450 sq. roods
Modern surveyed area: 7572.8 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

Frans Stephanus Botma (1881-1921) lived on this ground. Connected to the Oosthuizen, Marincowitz or Van der Merwe lines BY MARRIAGE, not by blood, 2 steps on the shortest path. 88 km from Klaarstroom.

Frans Stephanus Botma (1881-1921)
child of Frans Stephanus Botma (1860-1936)
married to Magdalena Maria van Tonder, born 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 is set on this ground The Botmas of Spreeufontein
parcel Ground cut out of this farm: Deelfontein (Wilger Fontein No. 59 Ptn 1)
parcel Ground cut out of this farm: Maraisdal (Wilger Fontein No. 59 Ptn 2)
border Shares a boundary with Scruif Paal No. 2 Scruif Paal No. 2
…and 2 more, listed in full further down this page.

Stories

set here The Botmas of Spreeufontein
Four generations of one family on the ground the district called Gatsplaas. A Botma laid out a village there during the 1891 gold rush; his grandfather held the farm when the first gold was found; and a son of the house married four times and buried three wives before he was twenty-six. Two le Grange women married two brothers, and Botes and Niehaus run through the whole of it.

What this farm became

From 1906 this ground stopped being one farm, and the story continues on the pieces cut from it. Its own record above ends there; what happened afterwards belongs to a portion, not to the whole.

Still filed here, and probably should not be. These rows are dated after this ground stopped being one farm, so under the rule above they belong on a portion. They are shown rather than hidden, because a misfiled row is only fixable once somebody can see it.

1921-12-09 residence Frans Stephanus Botma (1881-1921) (1881-05~–1921-12-09)

What the record holds, in order

1872 document SG diagram 581/1873
P.A.Q.2-11
1872 document SG diagram verso 581/1873 (verso)
17 May 1875 ownership Nicolaas Francois Marais, Charl Johannes Antone Marais
quitrent · grant · confidence high
1906 boundary change subdivision: becomes Deelfontein (Wilger Fontein No. 59 Ptn 1)
1911 boundary change subdivision: becomes Maraisdal (Wilger Fontein No. 59 Ptn 2)
9 December 1921 lived here Frans Stephanus Botma (1881-1921) (about 1881-05–9 December 1921)
death notice · to 1921-12-09

Ground cut out of this farm

Deelfontein (Wilger Fontein No. 59 Ptn 1) 3260.5 ha
Maraisdal (Wilger Fontein No. 59 Ptn 2) 886.1 ha

Bordered by, as the diagram names them

NE Blaauw Draay
E Kruid Fontein
S Riet Fontein
W Jacobs Kraal
SW Scruif Paal

On the 1915 divisional map

As the Surveyor-General printed this farm in 1915: the registered holder, the date the title was issued and its quitrent reference, copied off the sheet as written. The whole map, farm by farm

Farm, as printed	Holder	Title	Quitrent	Note
WILGER FONTEIN	N. F. Marais	17th May 1878	P.A.Q. 2.11 · fol. 1437	The year disagrees with DOC-0352 and OWN-000119, which read this title as 17 May 1875. LEAD-0349.

Photographs

The Botma family of Wilger Fontein, Prince Albert, about 1918: Frans Stephanus Botma (1881-1921) seated with his... — The Botma family of Wilger Fontein, Prince Albert, about 1918: Frans Stephanus Botma (1881-1921) seated with his second wife Aletta Magdalena de Koker and eight children, four standing behind, three seated on the mat and an infant in her lap. — Print found and posted by Renè Berry, who bought it in a second-hand shop in Oudtshoorn; identified with Andre Franken. Photograph itself circa 1918 and out of copyright.

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, 581/1873, 1872

Surveyor-General diagram, 581/1873, 1872
11025620 PA 59.jpg

Scan of Diagram verso, 581/1873 (verso), 1872

Diagram verso, 581/1873 (verso), 1872
11025621 PA 59.jpg

Cadastre

Surveyor-General diagram index for this parcel

Research notes

[SRC-595, SRC-596; 27 Aug 2026] THE FARM'S OWN DIAGRAM ARRIVED, and this row had held nothing but a polygon and a name. Dgm. 581/1873, surveyed 1872, Crown land of [?8]827 morgen 450 sq roods in the Field-cornetcy of GOUPH No. 4, taken into QUITRENT TITLE on 17 MAY 1875 in favour of NICOLAAS FRANCOIS MARAIS and CHARL JOHANNES ANTONE MARAIS jointly (title P.A.Q.2-11). Bounded north east by Blaauw Draay, east by Kruid Fontein (PAR-000315), south by Riet Fontein, west by Jacobs Kraal and south west by Scruif Paal (PAR-000258); Vogel Fontein, Seven Fontein and Welgevreden are labelled beyond. TWO PORTIONS, BOTH ALREADY NAMED ON THE 1872 FACE: DEELFONTEIN, cut in 1906 as Portion 1 (PAR-000325), and MARAISDAL, cut in 1911 as Portion 2 (PAR-000326), leaving a remainder near 4,001 morgen. AND THIS IS THE FARM THE BOTMAS LIVED AND DIED ON: Frans Stephanus BotmaL the younger (PER-001931) died here of fever on 9 December 1921 and was buried here (SRC-594), with his wife reporting it from the same address. The diagram gives the ground its title history; it does NOT yet say how the family came to be on it - no Botma appears anywhere on either sheet, and the 1875 grantees are Marais.

*** THE CADASTRE SETTLES THE ILLEGIBLE DIGIT, 27 Aug 2026. *** The 1873 figures in morgen and the modern polygons in hectares agree to a fraction of a percent, which they could not do if the parent were 2827: parent [?8]827 mg = 7,561 ha against a measured 7,572.8; DEELFONTEIN 3813 mg 530 = 3,266 ha against 3,260.5; MARAISDAL 1013 mg 520 = 868 ha against 886.1. And the remainder predicted from the deduction table, about 4,001 morgen or 3,427 ha, is exactly what is left when the two portions are taken off the measured parent. A surveyor's arithmetic of 1873 and a satellite-era cadastre closing on each other is as good a corroboration as this project gets, and it was reached without ever guessing at the ink.

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

Open questions

Four farms where the 1915 divisional map and this record give a different title date priority 3 · LEAD-0349
The 1915 divisional map prints a title date and quitrent number on every farm. On four farms this project already holds, it disagrees with the record: which is right? (1) HAGAS No. 145: the map prints B.W.Q. 5.31 to J.M.J. v. Vuuren and another, dated 24 October 1842; DOC-0131 carries Bf.W.Q.5-31 with a title date of 15 April 1841. (2) WILGER FONTEIN: the map prints 17th May 1878 against P.A.Q. 2.11; DOC-0352 and OWN-000119 read the same title as 17 May 1875. (3) WILGEMOND: the map prints 16 April 1841 against B.W.Q. 5.9; OWN-000075 has 15 April 1841, the grant day. (4) KLIPGAT: the map prints an amended title to the estate of the late L.D.F. v. Zyl as 9.9.191[?1]; OWN-000088 and DOC-0158 have 24 September 1911, P.A.Q. 6-7.

What would settle it The date written on the quitrent title itself, which both the map and the diagrams copied.

What the record is missing

The record stops in 1875 and never resumes second order · B2 trail-ends
Wilger Fontein No. 59 was worked as far as 1875-05-17, with Nicolaas Francois MaraisH and Charl Johannes Antone MaraisH the last owner on record. 151 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.
“Riet Fontein” is named as a neighbour 5 times and we hold no parcel for it second order · B3 unheld-farm
5 separate surveys in this model put Riet Fontein on the boundary of ground we do hold (PAR-000005, PAR-000020, PAR-000025, PAR-000259). 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 `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.