Koddo van de Caep van Guinea, SM/PROG - Alternative Data After Merges

Hi Sharon Doubell,

The data that I saw on the internet (Wikitree: http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van%20de%20Kaap-7) said she was from Popo Benin, what I could not understand where the name Van Guinea then came from. Was that area also called guinea in those years? Or is it a mistake?

I then tried to enter Popo Benin onto Google maps to try and see where it would indicate. Google Maps could not recognize Popo. It could only recognize Grand Popo.

So I am now completely in the dark regarding this issue. I am glad you raised it, maybe someone else would be able to clarify it for us.

Thanks

Johan

More than one maps of Africa from that era shows Guinea as a vast area, with some of them covering the southern part of West Africa from approximately the present day Guinea to the present day Equatorial Guinea (and even beyond). A few distinguish Upper Guinea (being more or less the part starting with modern Guinea in the west extending up to more or less the eastern border of Nigeria) and Lower Guinea (proceeding more or less from that border of Nigeria and extending south - maybe even to the Congo River or so). Present day Benin would certainly have been a (smallish) part of Upper Guinea in terms of such maps.

The source for this info in the About is important to find:
"She arrived enslaved at the Cape on board the Hasselt from Popo, Benin, amongst 220 slaves acquired in Benin - and described by Jan van Riebeeck as
'bijsonder fraey, cloeck ende lustich volcq", i.e. goodlooking, strong and energetic
6 September 1665 she was a slave owned by the VOC at the Cape"

On the matter of what was called Guinea at the time, Johan and
Petrie Coetzee: Have a look at the headings I've been using on the Slave DNA Mapping project here: https://www.geni.com/projects/DNA-Mapping-of-the-Slave-Routes-to-So...
(I've sent you both invites to the project)

At the same time, the fact that the ship came from Benin, doesn't mean she was born there.

Still, if we can find the source for the Hasselt port of departure, it does feel to me that it's a more specific location than just Guinea.
Delia Robertson or Em Lo might be interested in this Discussion too.

Wikipedia entry for Grand Popo, Benin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand-Popo
Looks quite likely to me.

I think we should start searching for more information on the ship, the Hasselt. Maybe someone kept a diary on the ship and the diary is lying somewhere in a museum or library.

Good idea

Benin was a very well known area where slaves were shipped from - see http://theincidentaltourist.com/post/2745163778/benins-ouidah-trade...

I placed a map in Ansela van die Kaap's "About" section that shows the Popo, Benin location. See Ansela van de Caap, SM/PROG

It will be extremely useful to discover if Koddo van Guinea perhaps shares a haplogroup L1a1b2 with Ansela van die Kaap (mother likely from west Africa) and Regina van Guinea. If the slave hunters rounded up many people from one village it is quite possible that several people on the slave ship were then from the same extended family, sharing mt-DNA. Very interesting undeed!

In 1658 two large groups of slaves from West-Africa were brought to the Cape.

On 28 March 174 slaves arrived from Angola in the Amersfoort, and on 6 May the Hasselt arrived with 228 slaves from Popo, Guinea. (Bauermeester EM, Die Kaapse slawe in kultuurhistoriese perspektief-1652-1838, 2002, MA dissertation, University of Pretoria, http://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/29316 ).

So if Koddo was recorded as having come form Guinea, then it would have been on the Hasselt.

I have added the map to Koddo's page too.

You're a treasure, Em. Thank you.

Thank-you Em. Yet it would be interesting to see if the haplogroup would be shared. From my research, during the time Koddo was alive, the King of Benin had an annual sacrifice of his own people of about 2500 who would be beheaded for the Kings ancestors. It may have been a case for Koddo, that her or her relatives saw this as a chance to either live as a slave in another country, or die in the upcoming Kings beheading.
Alison

Here is another interesting document about Guinea and the surrounding areas: https://tracingafricanroots.wordpress.com/lower-guinea/

WOW Alison that sounds like an awful practice!

Very interesting article indeed Johan - thanks! ☺

Thank you Sharon, Em & Johan for your interesting and enlightening information.

Hmmm....I am just reviewing the facts surrounding Koddo since I have not researched her before. I find a few things a bit puzzling - can someone please clarify if proof really exists that:
1. VOC slave Koddo who baptised 2 children Maria and Derkje on 6/9/1665 was indeed from Guinea
2. this slave Koddo was indeed the slave with whom Willem Schalksz van der Merwe had a child out of wedlock prior to his marriage to Elsie Cloete in 1668.(he was not married to this unnamed slave).

I looked at the wikitree reference http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_de_Kaap-7. It names her as the wife of Willem Schalk van der Merwe. Yet as per Oude Kaapsche Familien by CC de Villiers, his wife was Elsie Cloete and he never married a slave.
Stamouers is referenced in this article. It just says that WIllem Schalk had a child with a slave (nameless):

DOGTER BY "n SLAAFIN
Willem het "n dogter gehad met "n slavin wat Simon van der Stel aan hom geskenk het, die kind se naam was Maria. Hierdie slavin was in 1686 vrygestel (Attestasie 1664 in C 326 pp 478-9, p 6 en 27). Maria het die stammoeder geword van die Heyns familie, sy trou in 1696 met Paulus Heyns.

Karel Schoeman in Armosyn van die Kaap bladsy 535 haal die volgende aan uit "n hofsaak:
"n sekere slavin by wie hy teenswoordig "n kind verkry het, en wat hy, Schalcq, met haar bevalling in hierdie kombuisie (by die Skuur) ondergebring het; hy het haar ook ten alle tye versorg deur kos te berei en water en brandhout te haal, ja, wat meer is toe sy moes beval, het Schalq my Kruijthoff, opgeklop en gevra dat ek hom tog sy brandewyn (rantsoen) sou gee, waarop ek hom twee mutsjes verstrek het, wat hy vir hierdie slavin gebring het, en (hulle?) het dit as hartversterking genuttig.

I can only find one baptismal record involving a slave named Koddo:

Den 6 Septemb. 1665
een zoon van Abraham Gabbema by Petronella Does, wierd genaamt Valentyn: als getuigen Zaccharias Wagenaar, en Joanna Boddys
Noch van de slavinnen <kinderen> der Ed. Oostindische
Compangie,
de moeder Catharina, diens kind is genaamt Petronella
de moeder Helena, diens kindt Joannes
de moeder Lisabeth, diens kind Anthony
de moeder Catharina, diens kind Anthonij
de moeder Francyn, diens kind Pietertje
de moeder Cicilia, diens kind Fl[or]nci
de moeder Koddo, diens kinderen Maria, Derkje [unclear if they are twins or 2 young children of different ages, I suspect more likely twins since all VOC slaves children had to be baptized]
een slavinne zoon van W. Mostaart diens naam Sabba, het kind Dirik

FFY cites this baptismal record as reference that a person Koddo van Guinea was born ~1640. However, she is not named "Van Guinea" at all in this record and no indication of her age is given....???

Do primary source records exist that reference this slave Koddo definitely being "van Guinea" and clearly link her to Willem Schalksz van der Merwe?

Another thing that looks suspicious to me about the claim that this Koddo was a slave given to van der Merwe by Simon van der Stel, was that of the slaves that arrived in the Cape with the Amersfoort and Hasselt in 1658 from Angola and Guinea, 60 were allocated to the slave lodge (likely including Koddo!), 172 slaves were sent on to Batavia, 79 were sold to company officials and 51 to vryburgers. (362 total).

So the Company slaves were different people from those sold to company officials. Unless specific evidence exist for this being factual (can Delia or Mansell help here please?), it seems to me unlikely that this Koddo a company slave would have been given to van der Merwe by van der Stel, and likely that she would have been a totally different person.

Anyone's thoughts on this?

EM Lo, some of that information that you are now questioning just have been taken from this report: https://www.google.co.za/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;s...

Sorry Em Lo, I meant to say that some of that information that you are now questioning must have been taken from this report: https://www.google.co.za/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;s...

Another inconsistency: Isabella van die Kaap is mentioned as getting baptised as an adult in 1691:
The 16 ditto (September) 1691 sijn baptized versceiden bejaerde persons, upon her voorgaende given confess nisse,
Urbanus of Madagasker
Claes Janse of Caep,
Clemintra of Caep,
Isabella of Caep,
Lijsbeth of Madagasker as mead Manuel of Macasser slaef of E : Admintr. Andries de Man.

According to the VOC baptismal policy which was based on the decisions made during the Synod of Dortd in 1618, all slaves born in the slave lodge had to be baptised. (Paths to Freedom: Manumission in the Atlantic World by Rosemary Brana-Shute, Randy J. Sparks, p106, 2009).

So if Isabella was the child of Company slave Koddo, then one would expect her to have been baptised as a child already, not as an adult only in 1691...

If you study that report, you will see that under C1 they mention the name Evert and the farm Evertsdal that was bought by Eksteen. Chances are that Evert was in fact Evert van Guinea: http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Guinea-3

It says: '[c1] Heyns,Sara *17.12.1685 †1713
× 13.07.1704 Kaapstad met Eksteen(Eckstein),Hendrik(Heinrich) Oswald *Lobenstein, Thuringen 23.02. 1678 †Kaap, 63jr oud 23.09.1741 ΩGrote Kerk, Kaapstad : s.v. Michael Eckstein en ?, albei oorlede in 1695 toe Heinrich 17 jr oud was; kort hierna het hy sy vaderland verlaat; by die Hollandse Oost Indiesche Companje aangesluit en in 1698 vir die eerste keer in die Kaap aangekom. In 1699 sluit hy 'n kontrak met die vryburger Evert waarvolgens hy laasgenoemde se landgoed `Eversdal', groot 60 morge, van hom koop; hy ontvang egter eers in 1714 transport. Hy moes weer vertrek het want in 1702 kom hy weer in die Kaap aan as adelbors aan boord die 'Oostersteyn'; neem 1704 sy ontslag uit die Kompanje se diens om burger aan die Kaap te word; onder andere lid van die burgerraad en weeskamer, pagter van die wyn-en brandewynvergunning, het ook vissery by Saldanhabaai, verkoop vis aan die H.O.I.K.;'n ryk man -- besit onder andere die plase "Lobenstein" en "Elsjeskraal" '

Interesting thanks Johan, I notice though that in the article no name is mentioned for the slave with whom Willem Schalks v d Merwe is supposed to have had a child. She is not called Koddo van Guinea. I still have not found the origin of that connection, but will keep looking. Maybe Delia can assist.

I have found mention of 3 company slaves manumitted in 1686, one of them named Maria Schalk, but no mention of her mother being Koddo is made:

Resolutions of the Council of Policy of Cape of Good Hope
Reference code: C. 18, pp. 28-29.
Woensdag 8 Maij 1686.
D' E.Heer Commandeur, kennende 't gewigt van een welgestelde regering, en wetende dat om deselve in vrede en voorspoed te bestieren niet meerder vereijscht word als wel te belônen en scharpelijk te straffen; en hebbende so goede als kwade zedert dat sijn E. 't bewind deses commendements anvaarde van beids volslage preuves gehad, en thans sig bij 't versoeckschrift van drie der E.Comps. lijfeigene slavinnen gelegentheid anbiedende om door een kragtig voorbeeld an die dienstbare menschen den weg tot d' onwaardeerlijke vrijheid door haar trouw en deughdsâmheid te banen, en op dat de hoop om deselve t' eniger tijd te konnen erlangen, d' andere onder 't jock van een sware slavernij anmoedige, So is 't dat sijn E., overwogen hebbende de langduurige en trouwe diensten der drie voors. slavinnen, maria Schalck, Armosijn van de Caap en Jannetje Bort, der selver versoeck in Rade voor te dragen, bewôgen is; waarop eenpaarlijk geresolveerd, angemerckt de supplianten alle drie gedoopt en van Christe vaders zijn en dat eene van deselve bereids lidmaat der Gereformeerde Kercke is, en dat d' andere twe haar in dit Christelijk werck in korten staan te volgen; en dewijl 't niet geraden soude zijn dese elendige menschen, bij de reductie die d' E.Hr.Commandeur ontrent sijn dienstboden heeft gemaackt, deselve wederom na Comps. logie bij dien ruijgen hoop te senden, haar in volle vrijdom te stellen en te vergunnen haar alhier bij alle toegestâne neringen nevens andere vrije personen 't erneren.

If we can find the 1714 transport document they are referring to, the full names of Evert might be indicated on it.

Hi Johan, sorry - I am not sure how Evert van Guinea and company slave Koddo relate...have not got that far yet!

Just saw what we were talking about earlier in the link...
a1 Van der Merwe,Willem Schalk *Nederland 1643 †12.07.1716 :
x buite eg met ?,? : Slavin van Simon van der Stel wat in 1686 vrygestel is Attestasie 1664 in C 326 pp 478- 9 C.O. pp 6 en 27

I have not seen this "attestasie" yet, but I suspect it does not mention the manumitted slave Maria's mother's name...as the case in the above-mentioned Resolution of 1686 regarding the event too. I will try and find a copy.

Here they are saying the same things about a woman with totally different names: https://www.google.co.za/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;s...

Thanks Johan! ☺ Hmmm...sounds a bit fishy doesn't it....it seems to me the name of Willem Schalksz v d Merwe's slave is not mentioned, and different people have made different assumptions about who she may be. It will be nice to stay clear of assumption and stick to what we can confirm with documentary evidence. Might take a little time...

Okay, here is something a little more solid:

'Citations
1. [S397] NGK G1 1/1, Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, Kerken Boek (Bapt.), 1665-1695: Noch van de Slavinnen kinderen der Ed. Oostjndesche
Compangie,
de Moeder Catharina, diens kind is genaamt Petronella
de moeder Helena, diens kindt Joannes
de moeder Lisabeth, diens kind Anthonij
de moeder Catharina, diens kind Anthonij
de moeder Francyn, diens kind Pietertje
de moeder Ciciliaa, diens kind [Floor]ci
de moeder Koddo, diens kinderen Maria, Derkje
een slavinne zoon van W.Mostaart diens naam Sabba, het kind Dirik, transcribed by Richard Ball, Norfolk, England, (May 2006), Genealogical Society of South Africa, eGSSA Branch http://www.eggsa.org/. Hereinafter cited as Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, Kerken Boek (Bapt.).'

http://www.e-family.co.za/ffy/g7/p7961.htm

Private User

& Private User seem to be the people who set up the About details to start with. Perhaps they can help?