Frederik Langerman SV/PROG

There have been a few new facts to emerge about Frederik thanks to the amazing work of Jan Kooistra at the Vele Handen project in Amsterdam which is currently indexing notary documents in the archives there.

The first is that Frederik was actually engaged to a Maria Kols before he left Amsterdam on the Groenendaal and signed a will in her favour about three months before he left. At the time he was living at “de Stad Oldenburg” in Rozenstraat which Jan believes may have been an inn, possibly one with German connections given the name. His betrothed lived in Laurierstraat, the parallel street from Rozenstraat. At the very least it suggests that Frederik spent some time in Amsterdam before leaving for the Cape.

The will can be viewed at:

https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/inventaris/5075.nl.html#NOT...

There is also a discussion on the willl at:

https://velehanden.nl/berichten/opmerkingen/bekijk/project/amsterda...

Frederik Langerman's schuldbrief can also be viewed at the National Archive site:

http://www.gahetna.nl/en/collectie/index/nt00444/d7454f2e-c864-11e6...

Interestingly as Jan has pointed out the schuldbrief indicates Frederik was actually destined to go to Batavia but stopped at the Cape because of an illness.

So far we have been unable to uncover any marriage between him and Maria before he left or any other definite information about her.

The second important piece of information was found by Corney Keller in the valuable work she is doing in transcribing the late 18th century / early 19th century Dutch Reformed Church records. In these records she finally solved the puzzle of when Frederik and Anna Catharina were married. Despite most of their children being born before the turn of the 18th century they were only married in 1803. It seems curious they waited so long unless he was previously married though he is described as a "jongman" (single) in the document -- he would certainly not have been young in years!

The transcript states:

1803, 22 Sept. Fredrik Langerman uijt 't Hanoversche oud capt. lieutenant der athillerij alhier jongman met Anna Catharina Heckroodt van Cabo de Goede Hoop wed: wijlen den burger Jan Bruijns

Thank you Jan and Corney for putting together another few pieces of the puzzle.

Melissa Langerman 21 November 2017

It might be worth considering adding Johan and Carel and Christiaan to this name as well. In his VOC schuldbrief he is referred to as Fredrik Langerman. Most of the time in the Resolutions of the Council of Policy he is referred to a Frederik/Fredrik. However on one occasion there is mention made of: Luitenant Christiaan Fredrik Langerman (1 Oct 1794) Reference code: C. 226, pp. 78−161.This can only be him in the context of the mention. None of his sons would have been old enough to warrant a mention and there was nobody else with a similar name in the Voc shipping lists. In MOOC8/23.34 there is reference to "de manhafte Carel Fredrik Langerman". Given the date of April 1801 it is again unlikely to be any of his sons.. This is one of the only references I have found to "Carel", though the name was clearly carried on to his sons. Then there is this 1795 reference: DEPOT KAB SOURCE NCD TYPE LEER VOLUME_NO 1/37 SYSTEM 01 REFERENCE 20 PART 1 DESCRIPTION NOTARIAL PROTOCOL. NOTARY, JJF WAGENER. DEED OF CESSION. CAPTAIN JOHAN FREDERIK LANGERMAN ACKNOWLEDGING RECEIPT OF MONEY FROM THE LUTHERAN DEACON JOHAN M ELSER.

Source: Melissa Langerman 17 March 2015

Several wills/death certificates are of interest in trying to establish which children were his by marriage with Anna Catherina Heckroodt or possibly by adoption/a liason with her daughter Sara Maria Bruyns.

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I have found no definitive evidence to date that Anna Catharina, Fredrik (Ferdinand) Willem and Johannes (Jan) Louis Langerman were the "biological" children of Frederik Langerman SV/Prog. They were certainly the children of his stepdaughter Sara Maria Bruyns. It seems odd he would be having children with his wife and stepdaughter at the same time and it is possible he gave them his name. In one will with her husband (Mooc7-1-11ref 85-89) the three are referred to as her "natural" children. Frederik is however named as the father of Johannes (Jan) Langerman on his death certificate by his wife.MOOC 6-9-121 ref 4362 

In a will dated September 1803 (Mooc 7/1/49 ref 4) where he was accompanied by his "huysvrouen" Anna Catharina Heckrood, his beneficiaries are listed as follows: 1 Sara Maria Bruyns 2 Frederik Bruyns (These were both children of Anna Catharina's first marriage) 3 Christiaan Langerman (Johan/Johannes Christiaan Langerman) 4 Catharina (Catherina Alesia Langerman) 5 Wilhelmina 6 Carolina (Anna/Johanna Carolina) 7 Carel George

Wilhelmina must have died young as there is no further record of her, interestingly the will does not mention another son, Carel Willem Langerman who was born about Jan 1791 and should have been included?. There is also no mention of any of Sara Maria Bruyn's three illegitimate children.

Estate documents of his son Johan Christiaan Langerman also give some idea of the family in 1840/41. In this document (Mooc 13/1/95 ref 3) Anna Catharina is acknowledged as one of his sisters though she is named in Sara Maria Bruyns' will as one of her "natural" children. Neither of her direct siblings Johan (Jan) Langerman nor Willem Ferdinand Langerman is mentioned, Jan had no children and died in May 1840 where the details of his half-brother's estate naming his siblings were only filed in June 1841. It is stated this general liquidation account, relinquished by Johan Christiaan's intestate death on 30 May 1840, has been made in favour of his "brothers and sisters and their descendants viz":

1 The children of the late Catharina Alesia Langerman procreated in wedlock with Jan Willem Stuckeris... 2 The children of Carel Willem Langerman and Bernadina Magdalena Roedeloff both deceased.... 3 Anna Catharina Langerman married to Johannes Richert. 4 The children of Carel Georg Langerman deceased, and Anna Maria Cornelia Greffrath... 5 The children of the late Sara Maria Bruyns (half sister of the deceased) procreated in wedlock with the late Andreas Richert..."

Neither Wilhelmina, mentioned in the 1803 will, nor Catrina Maria (where the christening documents state Frederik Langerman was her father) are mentioned in this will, possibly they both died early. Also not mentioned in the will, though she was very much alive, is Anna Carolina Richert (Greffrath/O'Brien)t, the sibling of Maria Jacoba Richert and Frederick Willem Richert, (both stated as being children born in wedlock of Sara Maria Bruyns and Andreas Richert)

While Frederik's 1803 will was filed with the Orphan Chamber in Jan 1804, the year commonly accepted as his year of death, the christening document of his daughter Catrina Maria, appears at first to throw this date into doubt but maybe not!

She was baptised in a Langerman family (and relations) baptism at St Francis Church in Simonstown on Jan 17 1819. On the baptism page it states her father was Frederik Langerman and that she was born on 6 May 1807. However the Mar 1805 Opgaafrol states that his wife was a widow at that point so he obviously died before then and his daughter mysteriously appeared two years later thanks to an 1800s sperm bank!!!

In relation to Frederik's origins....so far no evidence has come to light that he was born in Hildesheim. His VOC documentation states that he was from Hildesheim but it is possible, given information on the Tanap site about other VOC incoming employees, that it was his last place of residence rather than his place of birth.

The Langerman family crest used by my family is that of the Mecklenburg Langerman/ns/Von Langermanns. So far I have been unable to find a definitive date of birth but a family portrait of him suggests he would have been well into his early 60s by around 1800.His employment in the artillery and as a pyrotechnician also suggests some experience of a military career before he came to SA.

The profile picture attached has been in the Langerman family for generations. It is pastel on paper/card and the background is brown/black ink or paint. Not a lavishly painted portrait!

Melissa Langerman Dec 2016 Updated Jan 2018