Jan Hendrik Blignaut, 3

The Whites of Enkeldoorn 1880-1980 is a history of the families of European descent who settled in the area of Enkeldoorn (renamed Chivi) Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). Author - Sarel van der Walt.

BLIGNAUT

1922 Jan Blignaut and Dirk Renier van Rooyen Trek from Vryburg. The trek consisted of Jan Hendrik Blignaut with his second wife and their children, three married sons from his first marriage with their families and his brother-in-law Dirk Renier van Rooyen and family. (the two wives were sisters nee Rinke).

The trek numbered seven donkey drawn wagons Starting from their farm Papiesvlakte between Vryburg and Mafeking just before sunset of a day in June 1922 , four families including the Van Rooyens trekked via Mafeking and Zeerust to Marico where it was joined by another group. After crossing the Crocodile (Limpopo) river to the East, to ensure nearby water they kept close to the river, across country with no roads. Sundays were observed as a day of rest with a mid-morning service led by the trek leader.

They arrived at Liebigsdrif , (later Beitbridge) where they were obliged to change the narrow wagon wheel iron tyres for wider tyres that had to be procured from Johannesburg. They set up camp by the Vogelsang mine near Messina where the children quickly made friends with the miner's children. The trek was delayed for about three months waiting in sweltering temperatures for the new iron tyres. They made ovens for bread baking by hollowing out antheaps. They had fowls, that travelled in crates slung under the wagons but no livestock other than the donkeys and some horses. It was necessary to hook several teams of donkeys to each wagon in turn to cross the Limpopo river. Thereafter, throughout the trek overnight stops made it necessary to protect humans and animals from predators. The wagons were parked in a circle and nearby trees were felled to form an enclosure. Throughout the night a ring of fires were kept burning. The trek arrived at Enkeldoorn on 24 December 1922 and the families went their separate ways.

Jan 2x(second marriage) in 1905 to pre- Enkeldoorn Maria Rinke, born 1877. The five families Jan and Maria, three married sons and Maria's sister Lettie Rinke and her husband Dirk van Rooyen, with children, travelled in a convoy of seven donkey-wagons with Jan Blignaut as leader, they left Vryburg, South Africa for Enkeldoorn in1922 and settled on their portion of Swartfontein. On arrival at Swartfontein Maria, tired after the long journey, declared that they had gone far enough, "Dit is vergenoeg" and so, without intending to, named the family farm Vergenoeg.