1769 Gerrit Hartog
This is a case of a dispute which broke out on a farm when the owner and his wife were away. Gerrit Hartog also lived on the farm1 and accused the slave Juliana van de Caab of being insolent and inattentive when serving him food. His subsequent physical attack on her led to her miscarriage. There was also a knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ present, and the incident reveals that slaves were subject to the authority – and abuse – of other settlers apart from their owners, perhaps in this case because their owners were absent.2
Footnotes
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The opgaafopgaafThe annual census return, for tax purposes, which enumerated burgher families, knechten, slaves, livestock, and crops sown and harvested. Only the names of the household head and spouse were recorded. for Hercules Adrian Malan for 1769 records that he owned twelve adult male, two adult female and one boy slaves on his mixed wine, cattle, sheep and grain farm (J 173, Stellenbosch district, f. 8). Gerrit Hartog was listed separately in the same opgaafopgaafThe annual census return, for tax purposes, which enumerated burgher families, knechten, slaves, livestock, and crops sown and harvested. Only the names of the household head and spouse were recorded. as having only a horse, and was seemingly without a farm of his own, although it is not clear in what capacity he was living on the Malan farm (J 173, Stellenbosch district, f. 2). There is no record of a knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ on the Malan farm in the opgaafopgaafThe annual census return, for tax purposes, which enumerated burgher families, knechten, slaves, livestock, and crops sown and harvested. Only the names of the household head and spouse were recorded. and he might have been a bijwoner. ↩
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The case does not appear in the records of the Council of Justice for 1769 (CJ 51 and CJ 396) and so was evidently not considered important enough to be sent to Cape Town. ↩
1/STB 3/11 Criminele Verklaringen, 1759-1782, unpaginated.
Statement given, on the requisition of the honourable landdrost, Lucas Sigimundus Faber, by the slave Juliana van de Caab, of competent age, belonging to the heemraadheemraadThe origin of this word is uncertain, but is connected to the Dutch words heem (‘homestead’) and raad (‘councillor’). This was the title of a free burgher who served on the Collegie van Heemraden in the rural districts of the Cape, usually for a term of two years., Monsieur Hercules Adriaan Malan, of the following content, namely:
That on Friday the 14th of this month, when the testifier’s owner and wife had ridden off, the burgher Gerrit Hartog, who lives on the farm, ordered the testifier to set the table, which she did, and when she served the food, the said Hartog asked her if she had brought the eggs into the house, whereupon the testifier answered that there were no eggs as they had already been collected in the morning. That the said Hartog then continued to repeat this question, and that the testifier continued to persist with her previous answer, that there were no eggs, and that the said Hartog then took up a chair and dealt the testifier four blows with it on her right-hand side. That the testifier then went from the voorhuijsvoorhuijsLiterally the ‘front house’, this referred to the first area entered from the main door or stoep (porch). In most houses this was a room, although in the later design of some Cape houses it referred to a narrower passage (like a hall or vestibule) flanked by one or more front rooms. into the galderijgalderijNot a ‘gallery,’ but usually a family room behind the public front rooms of a house where families ate together or where domestic chores were performed. In some earlier Cape houses it referred to a passageway or linking area between the front room and the kitchen area., whereupon the aforementioned Hartog demanded from the cook a piece of smoked biltong, which belonged to the testifier and which he had previously asked the testifier to sell him, for which he was willing to offer her a handkerchief, which the cook gave him and which Hartog angrily threw against the left-hand side of her stomach, next to her navel.
That when the testifier had retreated to the kitchen, the aforementioned Hartog asked her why she was so impudent with him, to which she answered: “I was not impudent”. Hartog then, in the presence of the knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ Frederik Jansz, who was also in the kitchen, picked up a piece of firewood and dealt the testifier about four blows, both on her back, neck as well as her head, in such a way that this piece of wood came to break, whereupon Hartog took a second piece of wood and again dealt the testifier some blows. This piece of wood then touched the foot of the knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’, whereupon he leaped up and pulled the said Hartog from the testifier, after which the testifier went outside.
That in the forenoon of the following day, the testifier, who had been two months pregnant, had a miscarriage as a result of the blows she had received, over which maltreatment the testifier complained to her owner when he came home in the evening.1
There being nothing further to relate, the testifier asserts to be convinced of the accuracy of her statement as in the text, being willing, if so required, to subsequently confirm the above.
Thus related on the farm of the aforementioned heemraadheemraadThe origin of this word is uncertain, but is connected to the Dutch words heem (‘homestead’) and raad (‘councillor’). This was the title of a free burgher who served on the Collegie van Heemraden in the rural districts of the Cape, usually for a term of two years. Hercules Adriaan Malan, situated in the Stellenbosch district, on 17 July 1769, in the presence of the heemraadheemraadThe origin of this word is uncertain, but is connected to the Dutch words heem (‘homestead’) and raad (‘councillor’). This was the title of a free burgher who served on the Collegie van Heemraden in the rural districts of the Cape, usually for a term of two years. Jan Bernard Hoffman and the burgher surgeon George Carel Lodewijk Geering, as witnesses.
This mark X was set down by Juliana van de Caab with her own hand.
As witnesses, [signed] J.B. Hoffman, G.C.L. Geering.
With my cognisance, [signed] A. Faure, secretary.
Footnotes
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This testimony was taken three days after the event, and on the farm, which suggests that Malan may have acted on this complaint. ↩
Relaas gegeven, ter requisitie van den heer landdrost, Lucas Sigimundus Faber, door de slavinne Juliana van de Caab, van competenten ouderdom, toebehorende den heemraad, monsieur Hercules Adriaan Malan, van de volgende inhoud, namentlijk:
Dat wanneer, op Vrijdag den 14e deeser, des relatantes lijfheer niet <t’ huijs was en den burger Gerrit Hartog>1 en vrouw waren uitgereeden, den op den woonplaats wonende burger Gerrit Hartog de relatante belast had de tafel te dekken, zij relatante sulx ook gedaan en het eeten opgebragt zijnde, en gemelde Hartog de relatante gevraagd had of zij geen eijers in ’t huijs had gebragt, waarop de relatante g’antwoord hebbende dat ’er geen eijers waren, vermits deselve ’s morgens reeds uitgehaad [sic] waren, dan geseijde Hartog dit, zijn gesegde, blijvende repiteeren, en den relatante bij haar vorige gesegte dat er geen eijeren waren, blijvende persisteeren, gemelde Hartog een stoel opgenomen en de relatante daarmede vier slagen in de regter zijde heeft toegebragt. Dat de relatante vervolgens uit het voorhuijs in de galderij gegaan zijnde, meergemelde Hartog van de kock een stuk gerookte biltong, ’twelk de relatante toebehoorde en hij bevorens van de relatante had versogt te kopen, waarvoor hij de relatante een neusdoek zoude vereeren, gevraagd had, ’twelk de kock hem gegeven hebbende, had hij Hartog, in grammen moeden, den relatante daarmede tegens de linkerzijde van de buijk bezijde den navel geworpen.
Dat de relatante alstoen zij na de combuijs geretireerd hebbende, meergedagte Hartog haar toegevoegd had waarom zij zo assurant jegens hem was geweest, en de relatante geantwoord hebbende: Ik ben niet assurant geweest, veelgenoemde Hartog, ter presentie van de in de combuijs mede present zijnde knegt, Frederik Jansz, een stuk brandhoud genomen en haar relatante daarmede een slag á vier zo op de rug, nek als hoofd heeft toegebragt, dermaten dat dat stuk hout is komen te breken, waarop hij Hartog een tweede stuk hout genomen en de relatante opnieuw eenige slagen heeft gegeven. Dan dat stuk houd de knegt tegens de voet geraakt zijnde, was denselven toegesprongen en had geseijde Hartog van de relatante afgerukt, waarna de relatante sig naar buijten heeft begeven.
Dat de relatante des anderen daags voormiddags, door de ontvangenen slagen, als zijnde reeds twee maanden swanger geweest, een miskraam heeft gekregen, over welke mishandeling de relatante des avonds, wanneer haar lijfheer t’ huijs gekomen was, aan denselven klagtig had gevallen.
Anders niet relateerende, geeft de relatante voor reedenen van wetenschap als in den text, bereijd zijnde, het voorenstaande, des vereischt werdende, nader te zullen gestand doen.
Aldus gerelateerd ter woonplaats van opgemelde heemraad Hercules Adn. Malan, gelegen onder ’t Stellenbosch district, den 17e Julij 1769, ten overstaan van den heemraad Jan Bernard Hoffman en den burger chirurgijn George Carel Lodewijk Geering, als getuijgen.
Dit merk X is door Juliana van de Caab eijgenhandig gesteld.
Als getuijgen, [get.] J.B. Hoffman, [get.] G.C.L. Geering.
In kennisse van mij, [get.] A. Faure, secretaris.
Footnotes
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The phrase between angled brackets is crossed out; however, the rest of the sentence only makes sense if the preceding niet is also crossed out, which the scribe probably forgot to do. ↩