Ockerts Kraal No. 200 (Ladismith)

200 on the cadastre · on record 1805–1838 · show on the map

Farm number: No. 200
Also recorded as: Ockerts Kraal No. 502 (Swellendam division, 1838); de Okkers kraal gelegen aan de Groote Rivier onder de Wagendrift (1808); OKKERSKRAAL
On the cadastre: 200, whole farmregistered as OKKERSKRAAL
Extent, as the diagram states it: 3706 morgen (1838)
Modern surveyed area: 3249.3 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

Gerrit Johannes Oosthuizen held it. 133 km from Klaarstroom.

Gerrit Johannes Oosthuizen is on record on this ground directly. No trace needed.

document A document in the collection describes this ground DOC-0347
document A document in the collection describes this ground DOC-0376
lead An open question in this record is about this ground Who was Ockertskraal named for, and does the name predate 1838?
lead An open question in this record is about this ground Which Platte Kloof did the clerks mean - is Pieter Cornelis's Kleine Doornrivier the Riversdale farm or the Oudtshoorn one?
…and 1 more, listed in full further down this page.

What the record holds, in order

before 1805 ownership Gerrit Johannes Oosthuizen (10 February 1760–1825)
loan farm · occupation · confidence medium
23 September 1808 document estate inventory
MOOC8/57.36a and 57.36b
23 September 1808 estate Gerrit Johannes Oosthuizen (10 February 1760–1825)
MOOC8/57.36a and 57.36b · the loan places Buffelskloof 'gelegen over de Plattekloof' and Okkerskraal 'aan de Groote Rivier onder de Wagendrift'
before 1808-09-23 ownership Gerrit Johannes Oosthuizen (10 February 1760–1825)
loan farm · estate inventory · confidence high
1838 document SG diagram 641/1838
1 November 1838 ownership Stephanus A. Forie
quitrent · grant · confidence high

Documents

Scan of Surveyor-General diagram, 641/1838, 1838

Surveyor-General diagram, 641/1838, 1838
10686447.jpg

transcription held, not an image

Estate inventory, deed MOOC8/57.36a and 57.36b, 23 September 1808

Cadastre

Surveyor-General diagram index for this parcel

Research notes

ANSWERS AN OPEN QUESTION IN 9, which records that the provincial cadastre cannot say which farm number Ockertskraal is - the question SRC-497's 1805 opgaafrol asks. SG diagram 641/1838 (DOC-0347) gives it: farm No. 502, Swellendam division, 'Field Cornetcy of Groote Swarteberg'. 3706 morgen surveyed for Stephanus A. ForieH, on the Touw and Doorn Rivers below the Warm Water Berg. Bounded East by ground surveyed for A.J. van Tonderen - a VAN TONDER on the boundary, and Susanna Catharina van TonderM is the mother of the Koup brothers. [TO VERIFY] whether the farm NAME predates the 1838 survey and whether any Ockert stands behind it; a name is not a person.

[2026-09-23, SRC-680] PINNED, AND AN OOSTHUIZEN ON IT IN 1808. MOOC8/57.36a-b: the estate of Susanna la Grange, wife of GERRIT JOHANNES OOSTHUISEN D'OUDE (PER-000239, Ockert's brother), holds 'een opstal staande op de leningsplaats gen:t de Okkers kraal gelegen aan de Groote Rivier onder de Wagendrift', taxed at Rd 150, beside his home place Buffelskloof 'over de Plattekloof' (OWN-000128). THE PIN: the Ladismith cadastre carries OKKERSKRAAL as No. 200, 3249 ha at 21.16E 33.68S, just north of the Warmwaterberg on the Touws; the 1838 diagram's 3706 morgen is 3174 ha, a 2% difference, and its 'below the Warm Water Berg' agrees. Ladismith was cut from Swellendam in 1852, which is how No. 502 of Swellendam became No. 200. WHAT DOES NOT AGREE: the 1958 face of Rietfontein A No. 139 (PAR-000291) names 'Rem of Ockerts Kraal' to its south-east, and No. 200 lies 16 km from it, too far to adjoin; either a second remainder carried the name or the 1958 sheet's neighbour is another ground. [TO VERIFY] on the two diagrams side by side. PREQUEL GROUND; NEVER core.

[23 Sep 2026, FRANS] HIS COORDINATE CONFIRMS THE PIN: 33 41 11.8 S, 21 10 00.2 E falls INSIDE Okkerskraal No. 200 (3,252 ha), one kilometre from the cadastre's own tag point for the farm. Three independent things now agree - the 1838 diagram's extent and its 'below the Warm Water Berg', the 1808 estate's description, and a point on the ground. AND THE WAGENDRIFT IS STILL THERE IN A NAME: the 1808 estate has 'de Okkers kraal gelegen aan de Groote Rivier ONDER DE WAGENDRIFT' (MOOC8/57.36a-b), and WAGENPADS No. 201 lies 3.3 km away. A wagon crossing is what both names remember. WHO THE OCKERT WAS IS STILL OPEN. It is plausible and unproven: that father died young in 1737 and nothing places him here, while the published MOOC8 carries at least three other Ockert BritsMes in this country (d'oude, de jonge and Ockertszoon, appraising estates 1785-1804), an Ockert BritsM married to an Oosthuizen in 1793, and Ockert Olivier next door. A name is not a person. WHAT WOULD SETTLE IT: the loan-farm register entry for Okkerskraal, which gives a place its first holder and year the way RLR 19 p. 94 gave Gamthous Bergh to Jacobus in 1765.

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

Open questions

Who was Ockertskraal named for, and does the name predate 1838? priority 2 · LEAD-0300
Ockerts Kraal No. 502, Swellendam, is surveyed in 1838 for Stephanus A. ForieH (DOC-0347) - a name that has nothing Ockert about it. Farm names in this district routinely outlive the household that earned them, so the question is whether 'Ockerts Kraal' was already the name of the ground when Rawstone drew it, and if so whose kraal it was.

What would settle it A pre-1838 record naming Ockertskraal, with a holder.
Which Platte Kloof did the clerks mean - is Pieter Cornelis's Kleine Doornrivier the Riversdale farm or the Oudtshoorn one? priority 2 · LEAD-0364
MOOC8/23.3 (1800) puts Pieter Cornelis Oosthuijsen's farm at 'de Kleine Doornrivier gel: agter de Platte Kloof'; MOOC8/57.36b (1808) puts his brother Gerrit Johannes's Buffelskloof 'over de Platekloof'; MOOC8/60.16b (1814) puts J.H.C. Oosthuijzen's Eilands Valei 'agter de Platte Kloof onder het district van Zwellendam'. The cadastre has a Platte Kloof in the Langeberg above Riversdale (No. 90) and one in George (No. 131), and a Kleine Doorn Rivier behind each: Riversdale No. 1 and Oudtshoorn No. 216. Which Platte Kloof is the landmark, and so which farm was his?

What would settle it A roll or register that names the Kleine Doornrivier with a district, a field cornetcy or a neighbour; or Pieter Cornelis on a George roll, which would move it. THE ROLL'S OWN DISTANCE COLUMN IS THE SHARPEST TEST: the 1808 opening at SRC-521 gives every farm in hours from the Swellendam drostdy, and the three Ladismith farms already placed (Voorbaat 14, Ockerts Kraal 15, Wolvefontein 17 uuren) calibrate it at about five kilometres to the hour. Riversdale No. 1 would read about 10 uuren; Oudtshoorn No. 216 about 33. One figure against entry 439 decides it.
Align and read the rest of the 1808 Landerijen leaf, image 343, rows 440-472 priority 3 · LEAD-0366
The right-hand leaf of the opening that holds entries 436-472 names the farms of the Touwsberg, the Touws river, the Rooiberg and the Swartberg at 13-18 uuren, with the ward labels 'agter de Swarteberg' and 'agter de Tradouw', but on screen the rows after 439 could not be ruled against the names leaf. Which household holds which farm?

What would settle it Each farm line matched to an entry number, and the column headers of the numeric block on the right-hand leaf read.

What the record is missing

The record stops in 1838 and never resumes second order · B2 trail-ends
Ockerts Kraal No. 200 (Ladismith) was worked as far as 1838-11-01, with Stephanus A. ForieH the last owner on record. 188 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.
30 years, and the ground changes hands to nobody we can follow second order · B1 succession
On Ockerts Kraal No. 200 (Ladismith), Gerrit Johannes OosthuizenH is the last owner recorded from ../1808-09-23, and the next entry is Stephanus A. ForieH from 1838-11-01, 30 years later, with no person in common. DOC-0347 records the later arrival but not the 30 years before it.

What would settle it The Deeds Office transfer register for this farm between 1808 and 1838. A transfer names its predecessor in title, so one deed closes the whole gap.

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.