Descendants of Michiel Otto
Michiel was the first of 31 Otto patriarchs who came to South Africa and of those 23 Otto families came from the eastern part of Germany.

Michiel OTTO * 27 AUG 1688 in Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany. 1 He † 1743 in Somerset-West,
Western Cape.1 Michiel’s parents were Johann Heinrich OTTO, born in 1665 and Dorothea
MAUERSBERGER, born in 1668. They were married on 5 OCT 1687 in Chemnitz. Michiel
arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on 1 APR 1714 aboard the Dutch East Indian Company’s ship
“Rijksdorp” sailing from Trondheim, Norway. According to his testament, he originally came
from Stettin, which was ruled politically by Sweden at the time. This city is a port on the Baltic coast on the East Side of the Oder River in Poland. Michiel was the first of 31 Otto patriarchs who came to South Africa and of those 23 Otto families came from the eastern part of Germany.
Michiel’s signature on a document dated 1 February 1723 Michiel was a sailor in 1714. He was made superintendent of the Woodcutters, behind the Steenbergen Mountains of the Western Cape. The Dutch East Indian Company released him from contractual service responsibilities in 1719 upon completion the obligatory five years of service. He married Barbara Conterman on 19 NOV 1719. No children were born from this marriage. Through his second marriage to Anna Margaretha Siek on 1 MAR 1723, widow of Barend Gildenhuyzen, he became the owner of a fourth-part of the ‘Vergelegen’ farm, on which the house stood. Anna was the daughter of Johann SIEK and Geertruyd HELM. Anna ~ 13 MAR 1695 in Cape Town.4 She † about 1751.
Vergelegen Estate
This farm originally belonged to Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel and is currently a
South African heritage site. The estate is located a kilometer beyond the eastern extremity of the urban area of Somerset-West, Western Cape. Presently, the estate is one of Western Cape’s tourist attractions, with a Cape Dutch style house, restaurant and wine cellars built into the hillside. Vergelegen has been called, "The Versailles of Southern Africa", with its octagonal gardens and 300 year old majestic Camphors. The old Camphor trees are reputed to have been planted by Adriaan van der Stel. The Otto family owned this fine estate during 1723-1752.
Michiel also owned the farm Kleine Zwarte River till 1727 and the farm Kromme River, near
Elgin in 1730.
In the book, “Cape of Good Hope” published in 1787, there are serious allegations made
against Michiel, in the extract from Otto Friedrich Mentzel, page 64. He writes, “In my time, a farmer named Michael Otto (commonly known as Michel Ox) owned the best farm in Hottentots Holland, noted for viticulture; but he was a savage, tyrannical to his slaves. Consequently he lost through desertion many of his slaves who fell into the hands of the Fiscal and the law.
Flogging seemed to him far too mild a punishment for the smallest offence. Generally in summer he used to bind slaves who had committed some offence naked to a tree or pole in the sun, had their entire bodies smeared with honey and thus they were tortured unbearable for hours by flies, wasps, bumble-bees and other pests, especially by the African blind flies, called “Mosquitoes” in India. But after he had suffered great loss of slaves and also been severely punished several times by the Government on account of his inhuman conduct, he became annoyed, left his wife to farm alone on the estate and bought himself a house in the city; there sold his own wine at retail and what he could not sell he drank himself being never quite sober. When any farmer had a disobedient slave, the mere threat to sell or give him to Michael Otto unless he improved, was often more effective than other punishments would have been since every slave was afraid of this man.”
Michiel’s self-destructive drinking, abuse of self and those around him proved too much for his marriage. Tormented by his demons, he divorced Anna in 1741.683 She was left to manage the farm and family. Michiel † two years later in 1743 in Somerset-West.
1 His Testament and Will indicates he was relatively a rich man at the time of his death, which was most likely acquired through his second marriage.

Michiel was the first of 31 Otto patriarchs who came to South Africa and of those 23 Otto families came from the eastern part of Germany.