Valentyn van Dapoer (putative father)

Matronymically named after hisTamil? slave mother,Dapor van Malabar [until recently known as Dapor van Macassar],although presumably born at the Cape as recorded in August 1714 Slave Lodge Census as schoolchild. Manumitted(freed) only in 1757.

August 1714 Slave Lodge Census: ID No. 286  Document No. C:336 pg. 468  Date: 31 Aug 1714  First name:	 Falentijn	Matronym: Dapoer	 sex: M	age: C(child) Slave occupation:  SCHOOL

Falentijn was a pupil of the Lodge's long-time half-caste slave schoolmaster,Jan Smiesing,his future brother in law. His sister,Anna was a pupil of Smiesing's mother,her future mother in law, the slave Manda Gratia. They survived the 1713 smallpox epidemic that decimated more than half the slave population of the Lodge,after a slave washerwoman washed a smallpox-infected sailor's clothing in the stream running into the water supply! Mother Dapor was probably not so lucky,as she is not in the 1714 census.

Manumitted[freed] 29 August 1758: "En is Laatstelijk op het diesweegens Meede bij Request gedaan Versoek, door 's Comp:s Slaaf Valentijn Van dapoer goed gevonden en Verstaan, om ter Consideratie, dat denselven niet alleen het Sacrament des Doops heeft ontfangen, ende Neederduijtsche Taal Volkomen Wel Spreekt, maar ook bovens dien een Cloeke Mans Slaaf genaamd September van Bougies die bij gedaane Visitatie gesond en Van de Vereijsche Lichaams gestalte is bevonden in Sijn plaats aan d' E: Comp: presenteerd te geeven; gem: Valentijn Van dapoer dierhalven uijt Slavernije t' ontslaan en in Vrijdom te Stellen."[Resolutions of the Council of Policy of Cape of Good Hope-C. 136, pp. 285-308] Having met requirements of baptism & proficiency in Dutch,over and above this,he provided September van Bougies to take his place as Company slave. Valentijn bought September's freedom 5 years later.

Married Maria Magdalena van de Kaap in 1761(NG Kerk,Cape Town Huweliksregister). Anna Dappora born to Valentyn Dappora & Maria Magdalena vd Kaap same year?(NG Kerk Cape Town Doopregister: baptised 26 April 1761). Lena born c. 1733 to Valentyn van de Kaap & Mariana van Batavia 'in oneg'(illegitimate): NG Kerk Cape Town Doopregister. Could this be our Valentyn,still a slave therefore prohibited from official marriage? Records often have him as 'van de Kaap' after he bought his freedom to become a 'Vryswarte'(Free Black).

In 1786 Valentyn forged a 'butcher's pass' letter in the name of butcher Jonas Albertus van der Poel(using his Slave Lodge schooling)for a group of escapee slaves attempting to reach freedom in 'the land of the Xhosa'.[When settlers later tried to keep slaves in the Fish River frontier area,droves escaped to be given sanctuary by the Xhosa chiefs according to Robert Ross' research]. Unfortuntely the group indulged in a murder & robbery spree on an isolated farm & squealed after their capture,so Valentijn was sentenced to 13 hours of public humiliation-tied to a pole,with a placard proclaiming 'forger' on his chest,followed by 5 years exile on Robben Eiland[Nelson Mandela was its most eminent prisoner],where he may have died,being quite elderly by the standards of his time. His punishment would no doubt have been far more severe had he not already been a 'Vryswarte'(Free Black) of some standing in Cape society. The younger Tuan Nuruman["Imam Norman"/Paay Schaapie] was exiled along with him for having contact with the same slaves & giving them an azeemat[Malay talisman] to protect them from harm & capture! Nuruman lived into his 80's,died c. 1810 & buried in the family plot-Tuan Baru Cemetery,Bo-Kaap[a traditional Malay suburb on the slopes of Signal Hill.Cape Town]. Nuruman is honoured among Cape Town Muslims as a saint,his kramat[grave] being a holy site along with many others encircling greater Cape Town believed by many locals to provide protection against evil. A more elaborate kramat of another saint was built on Robben Eiland. [www.capemazaarsociety.com/ ]

Valentijn was last mentioned in official documents with reference to his banishment on 27 November 1787 in the case of :Johannes Smith van Dilburg,banished to Robben Eiland also, over confiscation? of his estate held in community of property with his wife who averred she had no intention of forsaking him while he was banished or something to that effect-turgid 18th century Dutch 'legalese' being difficult to decipher...

Resolutions of the Council of Policy of Cape of Good Hope Cape Town Archives Repository, South Africa Reference code: C. 176, pp. 176−222. Dingsdag den 27 Novemb: 1787