Historical records matching Jan Jurgens Kotze
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About Jan Jurgens Kotze
Baptism 1734 - right, 3rd from last.
Recent research brought to light that Johann/Jan Kotze, SV had another son, Hans Jurgen Kotze, the eldest of all his children, with his first wife. The sequence code of the “B”-generation of the descendants of Johann/Jan Kotze, SV, therefore shifts 1 position, e.g. the “genealogy code” for Rooi Dirk, the son of Johann/Jan Kotze, SV and Hillegonda Boone, is now b3 and not b2 as usually presented. See the discussion in the “About” section of Johann/Jan Kotze, SV’s profile (Johann Hannsz Kotze, SV/PROG).
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Dates of birth (and here and there dates of death) for the children of Rooi Dirk has been taken from a document transcribed from a set of notes written by Jan Ernst Heydenrich (1751-1815), husband of Francina Helena, b3c11. The transcription was published by CJ Raath in 1974 in Familia #1 Uitgawe 4, p102-110.
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MJK 16/01/2015
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Married to Susanna Francina van Aarde, 13 September 1766
Daughter Maria Magdelena Kotze born 9 June 1771
From: Willie Kotze <wkotze@iafrica.com>
To: Mike Rushby <rushby@dnet.aunz.com>
Date: 9, January 2003 10:34 AM
Subject: Re: Maria Magdalena Kotze
Subsequent to the earlier seafarers rounding the Cape on the way to the East ( Dutch East India Company and the Portugese ), Jan van Riebeeck managed to secure the appointment to establish an intermediate replenishment facility at the Cape of Good Hope, sometimes the Cape of Storms, with a reasonably safe harbour . He stepped ashore in 1652. Initially the "foreigners" were not allowed to move out into the country and settle, but this changed and with the increased contact with the Hottentot and Bushman inhabitants, stocktheft and retaliation led to increased tension between the nomadic tribes and the settlers. However by the time Jan Kotze arrived as paying passenger by ship in 1691 the borders of the settlement was already pushed inland past the present Stellenbosch. The first mineral finds were the Copper deposits in Namaqualand ( Nama beign an ethnic grouping of nomadic Hottentots that were mainly living up the westward side of the country into the present day Namibia). The older copper mines around Springbok (Carolusberg) , Okiep and Nababeep are largely exhausted but other finds in the area are still keeping the mining operations in the North West Cape going today. At the time there was no indication of the alluvial diamonds along the river beds and coastline.
The undisturbed country at the time of settlement had abundant wild animals. Today we refer to the shorter course grassveld around the Cape as Renosterveld ( Rhinocerous Veld). All game was eventually driven from the Cape due to overuse and many animals became extinct in time. The Cape Quagga beign one. Other game that one would expect to have roamed around the Cape at the time would be : Ostrich, Oryx, Kudu, Springbuck, Steenbuck, Hippopotamus, Cheetah, Leopard, Lion, Wild dogs etc.
The Hottentot used oxen for transport and in battle. Their weapons were spears and bows. The Bantu ethnic groups along the East coast comprising of the Xhosa, Pondo and the Zulu used spears, clubs (Knobkieries) and hardened Ox skin shields.
The latter Bantu groups were settling in big compounds called a "stat" building large mud and grass huts , whereas the Hottentot were nomadic using transportable dwellings comprising of thin wood frames and woven grass mats as covering. These structures are still used to this day and are surprisingly cool in the hot semidesert areas. The Bushmen appears to have at best used a smaller and simpler structure to the Hottentot huts, and also made extensive use of natural cave dwellings.
Farming activities changed from the original grain, vegetables and meat to the present grain, vineyards/wine, and deciduous fruits. Wines of extremely high quality originate from Stellenbosch and even inland from the drier areas. The Cape climate is mediteranean with winter rainfall along the west coast. The East coast and inland country has mainly summer rainfall. Rainwater runoff is high and we don't have slow water release from heavy snowfalls. Farming is therefore very dependant on artificial irrigation through most of the inland and West coast areas. However from about 150 km north of Cape Town the west coast becomes semi desert eventually becoming the Namib desert in Namibia.
With the eventual opening up of the interior, oxwagons as the main form of transport were in very high demand. The Paarl, Wellington and Tulbach areas became the manufacturing mecca for the builders of the oxwagons. This lasted well into the last century when finally the motorcar and other vehicles became the transport medium. I still have tools of the wagon builders, one of which is known as the spoke-shave and another is a modified single handed adze (ax) which the tradesman used to rough shape the timber for spokes and beams.
Cedar wood out of the mountains beyond Tulbach was very popular and is today a protected specie.
Whereas our branch of the family spread out into the West and North West Cape, the other seemed to have moved East from where the later Boer trek ( Voortrekkers ) to the inland started in the later 1800's to escape the British rule. The republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal came into being but some moved further afield to settle in Natal. All three areas were eventually seized by the English, partly due to the imperialist vision of Rhodes seeing the Empire stretching deep into Africa and also the Gold finds in the Transvaal ( trans= across , Vaal = the Vaal river ). The Anglo Boer wars started and ended with the Boers and their displaced families being the big loser. This led to some families crossing the dry Bechuanaland ( Now Botswana) and North East Namibia into Angola in the epic Dorsland Trek with substantial loss of life and stock. Others emigrated to South America ( Argentina). I am not sure whether some families at this stage also made the trek to the Dutch East Africa which I think later became Tanganyika. Tanganyika and Zanzibar is now Tanzania.
As far as the ancestors go:
The family appears to have been settled in the Magdeburg area of Germany since the 1200's, and being fairly prominent. The von prefix to the von Kotze surname is I think the equivalent of a knighthood of old. They seems to have been involved in trade and farming. Our branch of the family starts with some of the sons going to battle in France on the side of the Protestants. The Protestants were subdued and the Kotze warriors returned to Germany. Their descendants seems to have then moved to the Dresden area and settled in Konigstein which is close to the Chech Republic border. Both Konigstein and Dresden lies on the Elbe river which eventually passes by Magdeburg and enters the sea at Hamburg. The family appears to have had some interest in trade and this may explain their attachment to the Elbe. The Elbe being navigable from Prague to the sea. Our ancestor then seems to have moved to Amsterdam, married several times and lost his wives to illness. The family then moved from Amsterdam to the Cape settlement.
The Cemetry in the town near Gross Germersleben in Germany has a section dedicated to the Von Kotze family. A small monument in the cemetry bears the names of soldiers that died in the two German wars, and the highest ranking officers were all of the Von Kotze family.
Regards,
Willie Kotzé
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Jan Jurgens Kotze's Timeline
| 1734 |
August 27, 1734
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Caap de Goede Hoop, Suid Afrika
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September 7, 1734
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Caap de Goede Hoop
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| 1767 |
April 12, 1767
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Paarl, Caap de Goede Hoop, Suid Afrika
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| 1769 |
August 19, 1769
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Swartland, Cape Of Good Hope
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| 1771 |
1771
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| 1773 |
1773
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| 1774 |
October 29, 1774
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Malmesbury, Swartland, Suid Afrika
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| 1777 |
June 12, 1777
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Malmesbury, Swartland, Suid Afrika
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| 1791 |
1791
Age 56
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Swartland, Malmesbury, West Coast DC, Western Cape, South Africa
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