G.M. Theal (ed.), Records of the Cape Colony, vol. II (1897): the Swellendam letters of July-August 1799, including a letter from Okker Oosthuyzen in the Kammanassie
published records · a copy, index or transcription · consulted 2026-09-22
- Type
- published records
- Repository
- Records of the Cape Colony 1793-1831, copied for the Cape Government from the manuscript documents in the Public Record Office, London, ed. George McCall Theal, vol. II (London: Government of the Cape Colony, 1897). Internet Archive, recordsofcapecol02theauoft. Private OCR copy: the private research folder/Records-of-the-Cape-Colony-reference
- Reference
- vol. II pp. 448-453 (the July 1799 letters, 'Copy of Translation'), p. 469 (Faure, 13 Aug 1799), p. 472 (Dundas, 20 Aug 1799)
- Consulted
- 2026-09-22
The citation as it was given
Supplied by [FAMILY] See p 450 for letter from okker oosthuizen (b 1755) further placing him in this region. Public domain (1897). THE LETTERS ARE ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS made at the time for the British authorities and printed from the Public Record Office copies; the Dutch originals are not held here, so this English is the text. THE LETTER, pp. 449-450, verbatim as printed: '[Copy of Translation.] Letter from Okker Oosthuyzen. | My Dear Friends, - These serve to let you know that the Rogues have murdered H. Strydom and J. Scheepers with their wives, and burnt everything. All the Inhabitants on the Baviaans Kloof have fled. The wachtmeester and the widow are with me and relate that the enemy approach. One of the Rogues reconnoitring the farm of Anthonie Nortje has been taken prisoner and says that his party have yesterday night attacked the farm of Pieter Goos and that the Hottentots divided in three parties are proceeding to destroy the country as far as the Cango. | I remain &c. | (Signed) Okker Oosthuyzen. | Cousin Piet, pray come speedily to our assistance for it is high time.' It is undated; SALOMON FERREIRA forwards it to the landdrost of Swellendam on 31 July 1799 ('the accompanying letter signed Okkert Oosthuyzen'), asking for armed men and ammunition. WHERE HE WAS: the Lange Kloof field cornet PETRUS HENDRIK VAN ROOYEN writes on 31 July 1799 that he has 'this moment received two letters from O. Oosthuyzen and B. Lindeque IN THE CAMMASIE' (the Kammanassie), reporting 300 armed and mounted rebels in three parties, and tells the landdrost 'how near the enemy is to ourselves, for OKKER OOSTHUYSEN LIVES ONLY AT THE DISTANCE OF HALF A DAY'S JOURNEY ON HORSEBACK FROM HERE' (pp. 450-452). 'Cousin Piet' of the postscript is van Rooyen, whom B. Lindeque also addresses as cousin the same day (p. 449). THE CONTEXT: the Khoikhoi rising of 1799 in the eastern Swellendam and Graaff-Reinet districts. Stephanus Ferreira, provisional field cornet, Lange Kloof, 21 July 1799 (p. 448-449); B. Lindeque to P.H. van Rooyen, 31 July (p. 449); Salomon Ferreira to the landdrost (p. 450); van Rooyen to the field cornets and to the landdrost (pp. 450-453). On 13 August 1799 Landdrost A.A. FAURE of Swellendam - who inventoried Ockert's estate at de Modder Fonteyn in 1809 - reports 'from the Olifants River that the enemy is in possession of all the country as far as Van der Wald's, who is now most exposed, and opposes the enemy with a party of Armed Burghers' (p. 469); on 20 August Major-General Dundas writes of 'Van der Walt, who has stopped the progress of the Savages at the Olifants River' (p. 472). WHICH OKKER: very probably Ockert Oosthuizen (b. 1755, PER-000118), whose household is 'woonende aan Oliphants Rivier' in 1808 (SRC-514) and whose son Roelof was baptised at Graaff-Reinet in September 1799 (SRC-515). His son Ockert Almero was thirteen in 1799. No other Okker Oosthuizen is placed in this country in the model [TO VERIFY]. The Rogues and Hottentots of the letter are the words of the settlers and their British translators, quoted as written; it was a rising of the Khoikhoi, joined by Xhosa groups. | [22 Sep 2026] WHERE 'HALF A DAY'S JOURNEY ON HORSEBACK' PUTS HIM. A day's ride in these papers is reckoned in uren te paard of roughly 5-6 km, so half a day is about 30-35 km. Straight-line distances computed on this project's cadastre and town positions: Moerasfontein No. 27 (Uniondale, the very probable de Modder Fonteyn) lies 28 km from Uniondale, 31 from Avontuur, 30 from Haarlem and 28 from Misgund - the western Lange Kloof. The De Rust end of the Olifants (d'Oude Muragie) is 58-93 km from the same places, and Dysselsdorp at the Kammanassie's mouth 64-97 km, a full day or more. So IF van Rooyen wrote from the western Lange Kloof, Okker was at the EASTERN, Uniondale end of the Kammanassie, which is Moerasfontein's ground. The caveat is van Rooyen's own place: the Lange Kloof is some 150 km long and his farm is not named in these letters [TO VERIFY]. THE FIELD CORNET: De Villiers (SRC-656) has Petrus Hendrik van Rooyen, bapt. 6 March 1768, burger of Swellendam, married 5 March 1786 Johanna Elisabeth Schutte; this project already holds him as PER-001889 (1767-1842) with his wife PER-001890, great-grandparents of Cecilia Maria du Plessis. That he is the Lange Kloof field cornet of 1799 is probable on name, district and age, not proven [TO VERIFY]. THE DEAD: none of the people named as killed (H. or Hendrik Strydom and Stephanus Scheepers of the Winterhoek with their wives; Jan Ferreira, F. Scheepers and Jan du Preez; Johannes Laas and Daniel Strydom at the Zwartkops) is in the model; the published MOOC8 has no estate for any of them in 1799-1801; the private tree has only a Johannes Strydom 1760-1799 whose place string cannot be trusted. FamilySearch is the next place to look, signed in.
Kept verbatim. This project contradicts published genealogies and corrects a family's own oral tradition, so every claim has to be checkable by someone who was not in the room.
What rests on this source
People
- Ockert Jacobus Oosthuizen (b.1755) 1755 – about 1809-04
- Petrus Hendrik van Rooyen 1767 – 1842