Willem Frederik Hertzog

Who's Who of Stellenbosch

Hertzog, Willem Frederik

Town Surveyor who in 1814 gave shape to the northern part of Stellenbosch - under his direction several of the old streets were projected and straightened out. Drew the remarkably accurate and beautiful map of the town in 1817. F Smuts writes, “In 1810 … the Governor expressed a wish that a plan of [Stellenbosch] be drawn up, and that each street be given a name, and each house a number. Louis Thibault, who was Government Surveyor, was requested to undertake the task [but] he never put in an appearance to do the work. In the meantime there was a huge backlog of surveyor’s work.

In 1813 Landdrost Van Andringa noticed … that the young WF Hertzog (21 years old) had been
sworn in as a surveyor, and … was invited to come to Stellenbosch. … Apart from surveying farms, he also worked in the village and … mapped out the extension of Ryneveld Street … and in 1814 it was probably completed …” Fransen writes, “He had been a private pupil of no one less than Anton Anreith, and later taught at Anreith’s Technical Institute – South Africa’s first art school. Hertzog became surveyor for the Stellenbosch district in 1813, and in 1817 was instructed … to map the entire village. In 1828 he was appointed Assistant Surveyor-General of the Cape Colony.” Willem Frederik Hertzog was born in 1792, the son of the great-grandfather of General Hertzog. He married Susanna Hiddingh in 1835 (4 children 1837-41) and died in 1888 at Newlands House. (De Villiers and Pama 1981, Smuts ed 1979:88, 172).

GEDCOM Note

Assistant Surveyor General in Cape Colony. Uncle of Prime Minister Gen JBM Hertzog.They lived at co Boom and Buitenkant St.*After his death, her mother came to live with his widow at that address. (See also more on S C Hiddingh) *Converted into a Mission hall by his daughter Susanna M J Hertzog in 1892. Visited St Helena Island in 1832 and made a sketch of Napoleon's grave and acquired Napoleon's reputed wash jug and bowl.

Peter Milligan has his Dutch bible