Jan Thomas Martens, b1c6

Fought at the battle of Blood River and took his 9 year old son with to reload his weapon. Hendrick Jacobus was his brother and the first messenger of the court for the Voortrekkers. Dewald's line is from this brother.

Lede van die Wenkommando wat deelgeneem het aan 
die Slag van Bloedrivier, 16 Desember 1838:

Maartens, Jan T.

AN ACCOUNT FROM THE NATAL WITNESS, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1918

In the year 1823 Jan Thomas married Anne Coetzee. The bridegroom was a young man of 23 and his bride a girl a few week short of her 15th birthdya. They were married at Graaf-Reinet, a town that had already made history by declaring the first South African Republic. The pictures of Jan and Ann were hanging in the Voortrekker museum at one stage but we are not sure were all these have gone in 2012.

The Martens family settled in Maritzburg and, in the east of the town, under the lee of Table Mountain, Jan Thomas staked out his claim to 6000 acres of ground - the Voortrekker's conception of a reasonably sized farm. They called it Doornhoek. In 1853, the British Govt made a grant of land to Bishop Colenso to used for the "uplift of the Natives" and there, adjoining Doornhoek Bishop Colenso established his mission station - Ekukanyeni - meaning the place of light. Later, but  no one knows quite when this name was changed to Bishopstowe and this entire area is known by that name today. Between these 2 neighbours a firm friendship was formed which was to last long after to Colenso's had to leave the ill fated mission station and, in the course of time the Bishop was to play an important part in the life that the youngest Martens chap. See more info under Hendrik (Harry Martens)

Jan and Ann had 16 children the youngest was Hendrik Jan Thomas Martens.
Jan Thomas fought at the battle of Blood River and took his 9 year old son with him to reload his rifle. Granted land near Pietermaritzburg by the Voortrekker government. He is buried in Greytown, Natal.

Hendrik Jacobus Martens
(1849–1935) of Doorn Hoek, which farm had been granted to his father Jan Thomas Martens (1800–1873) in 1847. It adjoined the Bishopstowe (Ekukanyeni) mission station