Mathilda Egberta (Bergh) Roux (1800 - 1885)

Born 21 Apr 1800 in Dutch Cape Colony

Ancestors

Wife of Pieter (Roúx) Roux — married 21 Aug 1824 in Cape Colony

Descendants

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Mathilda (Bergh) Roux was part of the settlement of the Dutch Cape Colony. Join: Cape of Good Hope - Kaap de Goede Hoop (1652-1806) Project Discuss: dutch_cape_colony

Biography

The Acting Governor, Sir Rufane Donkin, upon whom the task of settling the new arrivals devolved, considered that it would be inexpedient to send at one time the whole body of settlers to the empty territory assigned to them, and as we have seen, he dispatched five Irish parties to Jan Dissel's Valley, near Clanwilliam, about a hundred and forty miles north of Cape Town, and four other parties to the Sonderend River, about a hundred miles east of that city. ^[1]

While the Irish parties proceeded from Simonstown to Saldahna Bay by sea in the Fanny and the East Indian to disembark there, the leader of one of those parties, W.Parker, an ex-mayor of Cork, together with D.P. Francis, a member of Scanlen's party, rode overland to Clanwilliam to inspect the Jan Dissel's Valley where the parties were to be located, and their investigations convinced them that the locality was altogether unsuitable; water was scarce, grazing was poor, and very little of the ground was suitable for agriculture. On meeting the settlers at Saldahna Bay and apprising them of the true position, consternation and anxiety took the place of the former hope and enthusiasm, but it was decided to give the location a fair trial and the five parties accordingly made their way to Clanwilliam. Parker, however,refused to return with them, shamelessly deserted his party, and remained at Saldahna Bay for some time with a few followers attempting to establish a fishing industry and to found a town to be called New Cork -both projects soon proving complete fiascos. ^[1]

The position at Clanwilliam was found to be no better than Parker had described it, and the plight of the settlers was clearly hopeless. On realizing his mistake, Donkin immediately offered to transfer the five parties to the Zuurveld - as had been originally intended - at the Government's expense, and to supply them with free rations until they could manage to support themselves. Several persons decided to move to Cape Town to seek employment there, and two of the leaders, J. Ingram and Captain W. Synnot, together with some members of their parties, elected to remain at Clanwilliam, Synnot becoming deputy-landdrost of that village in the following year. The Rev. Francis McClelland also remained at Clanwilliam, being appointed by the Government as minister to the small body of settlers who had elected to remain. The great majority, however, accepted Donkin's offer, and, re-forming themselves into parties under Captain T. Butler, D.P. Francis, J. Latham, and W. Scanlen, moved overland or by sea to the Zuurveld, most of them sailing in the East Indian which reached Algoa bay on 24th July, 1820. ^[1]

The other four parties under Captain Duncan Campbell, Lieut. V.Griffiths, Lieut. T. White, and J. Neave, who had been sent overland from Cape Town to the Sonderend River, found conditions there very little better than at Clanwilliam, and on Donkin's offering to transfer them to the Zuurveld on the same conditions as had been offered to the Irish parties, they also were moved thither, except two of the leaders, Griffiths and Neave, who remained with a few members of their respective parties." ^[1]

Translated quote from S.H.Pellissier's book: "The eighth child, a son, stayed behind in England and would follow later." S.H. Pellissier states in his book about his father the missionary: "Towards the end of 1831 in Graaff Reinet Rev. Murray married a certain Mary Jane Murray, a daughter of one of the Irish group of the British Settlers of 1820, to a certain John Norval. This Mary Murray had a younger sister Martha who was very likely present at the marriage ceremony and who had demonstrated a very religious attitude from her early childhood. The Murray family were at that stage living on a farm called Hartfell. This farm is on top of Bosberg, a large mountain immediately behind ( on the northern side of ) the newly established town of Somerset East. It is difficult to reach this farm unless one deliberately uses a difficult road up the mountain. We suspect that Pellissier acting on the recommendation of Rev. Murray, travelled the nearly eighty miles From Graaff Reinet to Somerset East in order to make the acquaintance of this young lady, and he would not have left there before he had won her over. The late Mrs. Charlotte Kleynveld of Bethulie, a daughter of Martha Murray, told me what her mother had shared with her regarding this visit of the French missionary to Hartfell. The Frenchman, so she told me, would not take any beating about the bush or no for an answer. He followed Martha all over the yard - out of the front door, around the house and back in the back door. Eventually she agreed. Further detail is not known but the marriage register of Graaff Reinet reflects that Rev. Andrew Murray married John Peter Pellissier to Martha Murray at Graaff Reinet on 22 April 1833." ^[1]

According to S.H. Pellissier in his book, James Murray, "late of the County Meath, Ireland " stayed at Clanwilliam for about a year where a small patch of ground was given to him by Mr Bergh, the then deputy landdrost. He had missed travelling to the Zuurveld with the rest of the party as his wife had been ill. He then moved to Cape Town at his own expense in order to look for work in the business he had been bred to,namely Gardening and Agriculture. After a considerable time there " at great expence " he engaged to work at Chelsea farm near Port Elizabeth,for Captain Ward. He eventually submitted petitions to the Governor,commencing with one dated 26 December 1823 from Chelsea Farm. In this he mentioned that Captain Ward had signified his intention of " disposing again of that Farm." in all, James worked at Chelsea Farm for in excess of four years. His last petition was submitted from Hartfell, near Somerset East, in the middle of 1830. he had finally been allocated ground in neutral territory, probably on the border of ' kaffirland ', but with conditions attached that were unacceptable to him. Without the assistance of his two older sons who were practicing their trades in Port Elizabeth, he did not see his way clear to occupying the ground and providing four armed guards full time at his expense as required. ^[1]

Pellissier states that James Murray never received ground and assumes that he continued to live on Hartfell due to the kindness of Robert Hart, until his death on 31 May 1836. The first indication of his eighth child's name was from his Will in which Alexander is specifically mentioned with the other children. ^[1]

Pellissier draws attention to the fact that a great-granddaughter of Oloff Marthinus Bergh married Samuel Pellissier, the only son and youngest child of the French missionary, in 1878. This great-grand daughter accordingly became the 'stammoeder' of the present Pellissier family in South Africa. When the Murray family lived at Clanwilliam in 1821, and received protection and and help from Oloff Bergh, they did not realise that Bergh's 21-year old daughter, Mathilda Egberta, and Martha Murray, the seven year old daughter of James Murray, would become the joint ' stammoeders ' of a generation in South Africa. Martha Murray later became the spouse of Jean Pierre Pellissier, the missionary. Her only son Samuel married Elise Roux 57 years later in Cape Town. Elise was the daughter of Pieter Roux of Three Anchor Bay who, in turn, was the only child of Mathilda Bergh. ^[1]

Pellissier and his wife tried to find the graves of James and his wife Sarah both in Somerset East and on Hartfell, without success. He believes that they lived on Hartfell from 1827 - 1836. ^[1]

Name

Date: Egberta Marthina Magtelda Bergh ^[2] / Mathilda Egberta Bergh ^[3][4]

Birth

Date: 1783 ^[2] / Apr 21, 1800 ^[3]

Place: Cape Town, Cape Of Good Hope [South Africa] ^[3]

Marriage of Parents

Date: 06 May 1781 ^[2]

Place: Cape Of Good Hope [South Africa] ^[2]

Death

Date: Nov 19, 1885. ^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8} Added 15 September 2010 by Anton Bergh. Sources:
   • "...Settler members of the House of Assembly ( the Lower House ) during the same period were ....... R.W. Murray, .., C. Pote, ...." Page 173
   • " APPENDIX A ROLL OF HONOUR 1820-1853 ... ON THE CAPE FRONTIER
   • Seventh Kaffir War, 1846-7: Murray, James
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} WikiTree profile Bergh-47 created through the import of Bergh_2010-09-14.ged. on 15 September 2010 by Anton Bergh.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} WikiTree profile Bergh-627 created through the import of Law family tree 2012.ged on Jan 8, 2012 by Charlene Deacon.
   • Source: Geslagsregister CD/IGI
4. ↑
   • Van der Bijl, J. “Die Familie Roux” Instituut vir Geskiedenisnavorsing, 1978, ISBN0-86965-464-0, Page 5. Added by Esmé van der Westhuizen, 25 Jan, 2015