Untangling the Rosettas

This profile: "UNTANGLING THE ROSETTAS" is a temporary document repository for all the references to the SA slaves called Rosetta. Please go to the TIMELINE on the profile & add according to date any you have, using the actual name given in the Source

Profiles for Different Rosettas:

• Rosetta van Batavia Slave of Prince of Ternate. Baptised a 1 year old Creole girl "Johanna" in 1717, manumitted by her owner the prince a month earlier. Could be the same person as the Prince's slave Rosette van Ceijlon who had 3 children with him, if she had travelled and stayed in the VOC HQ Batavia, en route to the Cape.
• Rosetta van Java Jonker van Makassar's wife, mother of part-Dutch Jacob Jansz, 3 children by Jonker van Makassar (baptised in 1730's as Adolph, Johanna and Catharina Jonker), and 2 children with her 2nd husband Arij Bastiaans van Ceilon (Johannes and Adriaan Bastiaans). She died Dec 1731.
• Rosetta van Bengale owned RvJava & names her kids in her (1739 / 1747) will. Frees & marries (1742) her slave Aron van Balij. Childless. Jonker van Makassar and his wife Rosetta van Java's children are beneficiaries in both her wills, and their mother is identified as this Rosetta van Bengale's former slave. She calls her Rosetta van Boegies.
• Rostta van Bengalen m Johannes Jansz v Ceijlon. mo Johannes (c1736), Frans Jansz (c1737), Jan Adriaan Janse (c1738), Johannes Valentyn Van Cylon (c1741), Hendrik Jan Van Cijlon (c1746). According to her liquidation & distribution a/c MOOC 13/1/7:4 1769-1770 and 16/10/1769 will (ref MOOC8/13.23), she was the widow of Jan Jansz van Ceijlon and 4 children are mentioned: Johanna (Anna?) Rebecca, Appolinia, Johannes Adriaan en Maria Juliana.

It seems as if Appolonia was a voorkind of this Rosetta van Bengale and Arnoldus Koevoet (baptised 13/7/1732 as child of Rosa van Bengale and Arnoldus Koevoet). Her husband Jan (Johannes) v Ceylon bought the slave girl Appolonia vd Caap from what appears to be her father and owner Arnoldus Koevoet 3 1/2 years later on 4 Jan 1736 (slave transactions). So Appolonia was brought up by Rosetta van Bengale and her husband Jan Jansz van Ceijlon, but was a voorkind of this Rosetta van Bengale and Arnoldus Koevoet. One wonders if the father could not just 'give' her over to the mother's care - did she have to be 'bought', or was he just being somewhat harsh...one wonders what kind of person Arnoldus Koevoet was...... Fortunately Appolonia and her mother was united and remained close life-long, as evidenced to her being mentioned in her mother's 1769 will.So the story that seemed to have a bit of a sad beginning had a happy ending.

• Rosette van Ceijlon mo Amel, Talie, Adel by Prince Mamoetie (kids freed 1733, Rosette still a slave then)
• Rosetta van Macassar do Albert Van Macassar & Lena Van De Kust bap 1715
• Rosetta do Roselijn Van Macassar

Rosetta can Ceijlon. 6 Feb 1707 burgher slave baptism of dogter Catrina, father Adam of Batavia, owner Willem v d Stel. Catharina was bought by WA vd Stel on 20/6/1704 aged 18 so she would have been born ca 1686 and would have been ~21 years old when baptised. This also means her mother Rosetta van Ceylon would have been born ~1670 or earlier, so would not have been the same Rosette van Ceijlon who was the slave of the Prince of Ternate and had 3 children with him before he was incarcerated in 1722.

Rosetta van Bengale - yes, yet another one!! 1758 Rosetta van Bengale x Johannes Jansz, widow of Rosaleijn van Bengale (latter seems + ca1757) This is NOT the same couple as the Rosetta van Bengale who x Jan (Johannes) Jansz van Ceijlon in 1737. Just coincidentally similar names!!!

Data on Place Names

• MAKASSAR is on the South Sulawesi Island of Indonesia
• BUGIS/ BOEGIIES in South Sulawesi (as is Makassar) NOT Java. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugis

- so Rosetta van Java (aka Batavia?) is only likely to be an aka for Rosetta van Boegies/Macassar, if her husband, Jonker van Macassar, is from Bugis.

Why should this be?Forgive me but the latter statement makes no sense to me! Why should Rosetta's toponym revolve around the origin of her husband? (Em)

What must be taken into account when reading about Java, Bugis and Makassar is that there was massive migration in the latter part of the 1600's in this area (1669-1696). There was an exodus of thousands of people, especially noblity involved in trade with the Portuguese in Sulawesi, after the Dutch took over trade there. They fled in their thousands to other nearby areas, including Java where diaspora communities were set up. A person could thus be from Java, previously from Bugis or Makassar - no problem. And depending on where they met or had connection with others, could easily be referred to by all or any of those toponyms. In the case of Jonker;s wife she was called by a range of toponyms in opgaafrolle and other documents - but all essentially showing an Indonesian origin, and her identity as Jonker's wife concurrent with this.(See detail recent Familia article)

As per Networks of Empire: Forced Migration in the Dutch East India Company: "perhaps the most dramatic demonstration of group flight were the migrations of Bugis and Makassarese nobles and their followers in the wake of cintinued disturbances during the course of the 17th century (1669-1696), especially after the Dutch combined with the Bugis leader Arung Palakka to defeat Makassar in 1669. As many as 2000 individuals could be included in one fleet, and because of their reputation as fighters and traders most kins were ready to receive them. In Sumbawa, Flores, Java, Madura, etc...."

There is a fascinating book written by Kerry Ward - Networks of Empire: Forced Migration in the Dutch East India Company, which we cited in our article. It deals with these migrations which sometimes were voluntary to other areas in Indonesia, and other times resulted in people being enslaved and taken to other VOC strongholds, including the Cape.

Considering that he was called “Jonker” which was a Dutch form of address for a nobleman or son of a nobleman, it is quite possible that Jonker’s family could have suffered this fate, resulting in him eventually being enslaved and taken to the Cape. Ditto for Rosetta's family. So she could have been born in Boegies/Makassar on Sulawesi, but fled or were taken to Java in this extreme turmoil and lived there before being enslaved and taken to the Cape. The fact that Jonker spoke Portuguese further strengthens the theory that they may have been some of this nobility diaspora who fled or were forcefully moved after the Dutch destroyed their trade links with the Portuguese.

While most freeblacks were very poor, soon after being manumitted Jonker was able to own a fishing boat and purchase slaves of his own. In his 1727 estate he left 4 slaves to serve his family members. He was without doubt very hardworking, but his business acumen, ambition and will to improve his family’s lifestyle could perhaps also be an indication of a privileged prior life.

• TERNATE is on the North Maluku Island of Indonesia - quite a distance away beyond Java/Sulawesi.

http://www.sott.net/image/s10/215897/full/ternate.png

• BATAVIA (now Jakarta) is on JAVA. It was the VOC's head quarters.

-So, Rosetta van Java could be Rosetta van Batavia (who, documentation tells us , baptised her daughter Johanna by herself in 1717. This daughter previously freed by her owner Prince Mamoeti) – (although that contradicts the Stamouers article.)

The toponym "van Batavia" does not necessarily mean someone was born there, it was the VOC HQ and thousands of people would have been transported through there and some would have stayed there for periods of time. So 'van Batavia" is probably not a very useful toponym to assess birth origin.

Rosetta van Java was married to Jonker van Makassar and they both appear in the 1719 & 1721 Opgaafrolle with only 2 sons. No daughter. One of these sons Jacob Jansz was a part-European voorkind of Rosetta by a Dutchman from Amsterdam. Jonker and Rosetta van Java were muslims, Jonker van Makassar died a muslim in Oct 1727. Rosetta converted to the Christian faith and baptised her 2 sons by her next husband Arij Bastiaans and two daughters she had with Jonker van Makassar (born 1722-1724 as per opgaafrolle) in 1730-31. Sadly Rosetta died whilst still of childbearing age in Dec 1731. One of the daughters born about 1722/3 was baptised Johanna in 1731, aged about 8 or 9. She got married quite late in her life to a German physician Johan(nes) Braun Olckers on 12/10/1755 and they only had one child, a son Johannes Adolphus baptised 16/5/1762. Johanna Jonker born ~1722/3 would have been about 39 years old when she had this child.

Rosetta van Batavia was the prince of Ternate's slave and had a Creole daughter (part-European) around January 1716 who was manumitted aged 1 called Johanna van der Kaap by the child's owner the Prince of Ternate on 14/1/1717 and baptised by her mother a month later on 14/2/1717 as Johanna. This part-European Johanna van der Kaap was NOT Johanna Jonker.

• BENGAL is in north-east India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal
• CEYLON (now Sri Lanka) is an island off India – but sufficiently far apart from Bengale to be unlikely to be confused.

-Whichever Rosetta married Bastiaens of Ceijlon could have accrued the van Ceijlon toponym in some documents, and it wouldn’t have to have been Rosetta van Bengal. (The Stamouers article links the Bastiaens to the Jonkers – who they see as connected to Rosetta van Java)

If you read the stamouers article (especially the full length version as published in familia) in detail and take note of the opgaafrol entries and baptismal witness entries it is very clear that the Rosetta who married and had 2 sons with Arij Bastiaans van Ceijlon was the widow of Jonker van Makassar, recorded by a few Indonesian toponyms but called Rosetta van Java by Jonker himself in his will. She NEVER took the toponym van Ceijlon.

-But we also know that Rosetta van Bengale (freed 1734) married a Johannes Jansz van Ceylon.

He had nothing to do with Arij Bastiaans whom Jonker van Makassar's widow Rosetta van Java married. And neither did the Rosetta van Bengale who married Jan (Johannes) Jansz van Ceijlon have any connection to the Jonker family.

• JAFFNA is in Northern Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) "In 1658, Portuguese lost Jaffapatao to the Dutch East India Company after a three-month siege" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffna

- So the "Rosetta van Jaffnapatnam" who was sold on 12 May 1702 by Gerrit Koek to Cape Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel for Rds. 95 - is likely to be an aka for a Rosetta van Ceijlon & not for a Rosetta van Java.

Definitely not Rosetta van Java. Thousands of people were enslaved from all over India, Ceijlon and Jaffnapatnam. No documented evidence has been found to connect Rosetta v an Jaffnapatam and Rosetta van Ceijlon, so no evidence of an aka here.