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FREE BURGHERS a the Cape of Good Hope .
VRIJBURGHERS
Please add all those Burghers at the Cape
Free Burghers (Dutch: Vrijburgher, Afrikaans: Vryburger) were early European settlers at the Cape of Good Hope in the 18th century
30 October 1655 Van Riebeeck received a reply from the HERE XVII that they accepted his proposal and that he could continue with setting up the farms.
The employees who choose to enter the program had to stay for ten years and their children 20 years before they may go back to their country of origin.
First applicants selected 21st of February 1657.
The families entered the program on 21 February 1657, and they could do so until 13 February 1658.
The region in which they settle next to the Liesbeeck river became know as the Amstel. By 1658 three groups of Vryburgers were recognisable namely the "Coornhoop Colonie ", the "Hollantse Thuijn Colonie" and the "Groenevelt Colonie".
Coornhoop Colonie:
Hendrick Boom
Wouter Cornelisz Mostert (forefather of the MOSTERT family)
Jan Reijniersz
Hollantse Thuijn Colonie:
Steven Jansz Botma, a deck hand from Wageningen (forefather of the BOTMA family)
Hendrick Elberchtsz, a young gentleman from Ossenbrugge (forefather of the ELBERTS family)
Frans Gerritsz
Otto Jansz, a soldier from Vreede
Jacob Cornelis Rosendael, SV/PROG
Groenevelt Colonie:
Jacob Cloete, SV/PROG
Warnar Cornelisz, a deck hand from Nunspeet
Roelof Jansz, a soldier from Dalen
Jan Martensz, a Gunner from Vreelandt
Jan van Passel, a soldier, builder and brandy maker from Geel in Brabant
Harman Remajenner, a Gunner from Ceulen
Huguenots, along with other Free Burghers, had been granted rights to land by the VOC management (1652-1795), and began farming to generate income. In the area of the Cape Peninsula, where they had limited access to education and cultural opportunities, these Free Burghers soon established grain and wine farms, which thrived due to favourable economic conditions.
The Founders of Harman’s Colony in 1657
Name City of Birth Occupation
Herman Reemanjenne Cologne Marine
Jan Maartensz de Wacht Vreeland Marine
Jan van Passel Geel Soldier
Warnaar Cornelisz Nunspeet Boatman
Roelof Jansen Dalen Soldier
The Founders of Stephen's Colony in 1657
Name City of Birth Occupation
Steven Jansz Bothma, SV/PROG Sailor
Heinrich "Hendrik" Elberts (Elbrechts), SV/PROG Ossenbrugge Cadet
Otto Jansen Vreede Soldier
Jacob Cornelis Rosendael, SV/PROG Soldier
"More comfort, better prosperity, and greater advantage": Free burghers, alcohol retail and the VOC authorities at the Cape of Good Hope, 1652-1680
"Meer gemack, beter welvaert, en grooter vordeelen": Vryburgers, die drankkleinhandel en die VOC-gesag aan die Kaap de Goede Hoop, 1652-1680
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Full age in 1600's Dutch Netherlands was 25 years
As of the Middle Ages 25 years (regional differences)
1804/1811 – 1838 (Napoleonic era) 21
1838 – 1901 23
1901 – 1988 21
01 Jan 1985 – to date 18 or earlier marriage.
With reference to Nationality law
This article contributes to a larger historical investigation of out-of-wedlock births in Cape Town from its beginning as an outpost of the Dutch East India Company. The near-two centuries when the fact of slavery was central to the history of illegitimacy have been the subject of earlier research.1 Here the focus is on the mid- to late nineteenth century when patterns of sexual behaviour and family formation, shaped by that history, came under the scrutiny of policy-makers steeped in British traditions and jurisprudence.2 The essay asks to what extent the Cape's family law was reshaped by the altered circumstances, and how the welfare of out-of-wedlock children and their parents (or caretakers) was affected.
Under Roman-Dutch law, 'crimes of incontinence' were defined as 'adultery, polygamy or bigamy, rape, fornication, concubinage, sodomy, and incest'.3 The Company soon learned to treat its servants' resort to concubinage as inevitable given the shortage of marriage partners, that is, of women from Europe. Numbers of European men formed relationships with slaves and freed slaves (vryswarten) or, more rarely, with Cape indigenes. From the founding of the Cape settlement, the churches - exclusively, to begin, the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) - partnered government as guardians of the colony's morals. The DRC encouraged cohabiting couples to marry (possible only when both parties were baptised) and present their offspring for a Christian baptism.4 With the passage of time, and with gender parity amongst the settler population, the crime of adultery joined that of concubinage as a threat to stable families - perceived as the bedrock of well-ordered polities.
The short-lived Dutch ('Batavian') government, which followed Britain's first occupation of the Cape (1795-1803), enacted a measure facilitating secular marriage.5 On their return in 1806 the British reinstated marriage as a religious (specifically Christian) event. In 1818 the option of marriage by special licence was introduced;
in 1829 the age of majority /Full age was lowered, from
25 to 21
a change which freed a cohort of youths from parental control at the point of marriage.6 Potentially of great significance were ordinances of 1823 and 1826 which permitted slaves to enter into legal marriage - if they were Christians. Few applicants presented themselves. The early decades of British rule were more remarkable for the rate at which slaves embraced Islam and sought marriage by Muslim rites despite the fact that such marriages lacked legality.7 By mid-century, crucial measures prompted by emancipation were in place. Britain's Marriage Order-in-Council of 1838 (in effect from 1 February 1839) had formalised certain slave unions as marriage. It also eased access to that rite by authorising civil marriage officers.
Reference / Source
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Burghers
2. https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/afrikaner
3. https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/first-enslaved-people-arri...
4.. https://habsburg-legal-services.com/dutch-historical-age-of-majorit....
5. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/37410568.pdf
6. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-01...
7. https://steemit.com/history/@krabgat/south-african-history-the-firs...
8. https://journals.co.za/doi/10.10520/AJA0018229X_1634
9. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0018-22...
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