Petrus Jacobus Theron (bef. 1780 - 1827)

Born before 20 Aug 1780 in La Rhone, Tulbagh, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa

Ancestors

Husband of Hilletje Maria (de Waal) Theron — married 28 Oct 1804 in Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa

Died 4 Jul 1827 after age 46 in La Rhone, Tulbagh, Cape Colony, South Africa

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Biography

Special Heemraad Petrus Jacobus Theron (1780-1827)^[1] was the son of Gabriel Theron (bef.1750-abt.1798) and Geertúij Woútrina (de Vos) van Heerden (bef.1752-abt.1789). On 28 Oct 1804, in Swellendam, Petrus Jacobus married Hilletje Maria de Waal, born at the Cape.

They had 4 children:

1. Gabriel Cornelis (1806-<1814)^[2]
2. Helena Josina (1809-1837)^[3]
3. Geertuida Woutrina (1812-1883)^[4]
4. Gabriel Cornelis (1814-1834)^[5]

The two sons both died young. Helena Josina married Carel Frederik Scholtz, with whom she had 5 children. She died in 1837. Geertruida Woutrina married Charles Edward Niehaus, and had 12 children. In 1834, the slave registers show most slaves being transferred to the two daughters (their husbands' slave registers).

Birth, Baptism

The baptism of Petrus Jacobus was in the church of Tulbagh^[6]:

• [No.]50..[ in 1780] 20 Augustus
• 't Kind: Pieter Jacobus
• Vader: Gabriël Theron
• Moeder: Geertruij Woutrina de Vos
• Getu[igen]: Jacobus Theron en Anna Sophia de Vos, Thomas Arnoldus Theron en Elisabeth du Toit.

Marriage

The church register at Cape Town gives the following entry in the list of marriages on 28 October 1804^[7]:

• Pieter Jacobus Theron van Cabo--- Burger aan Stellenbosch Jongman met
• Hilletje Maria de Waal van Cabo voorn. Jonge Dogter

Note that the administrative area defining 'Burger aan Stellenbosch' included the later Tulbagh area.

Death

The Koster of the Tulbagh Church kept a register of deaths, listing the death of Special Heemraad Petrus Jacobus Theron on 4th july 1827^[8].

The Death Notice^[9] of the widow Hilletje Maria de Waal in 1834 confirms that she died at haar plaats Leron, which must be the farm Le/La Rhone. This is a strong indication that this was also the farm of Petrus Jacobus, and is consistent with their large numbers of slaves.

Farm

Petrus Jacobus seems to have inherited the farm, Le Rhone, granted in 1714 to Jacques Theron, one of the first official farmers settled in the area. The evidence for this is from the Death Notice of his wife, who is said to have died at "haar plaats Leron".

Additional (confusing) support comes from a farm survey diagram of the "Old Drostdy" farm in 1829/30, on which the name of the neighbour is noted down as "P.F.Theron, G.son". Since there was no G.Theron with a son called "P.F.", the conclusion is that this is an error, and it should have been "P.J. Theron" (it was rare, but such small errors did occur in these survey diagrams, as is sometimes clear when two neighbouring diagrams have inconsistent initials).

Special Heemraad

P.J.Theron was the Special Heemraad in Tulbagh, which was not quite a sub-landdrost. He complained about the Drostdy being moved from Tulbagh to Worcester, which made added quite a long distance to how far farmers of the Bokkeveld, Witzenberg and 24-rivers areas had to travel for their administrative duties at the Drostdy. A major problem was caused by the additional crossings over the Breede River, which in some periods could become hazardous, or even impossible.

To facilitate administration, some of the duties of the Drostdy in Worcester had been delegated to the Special Heemraad in Tulbagh, for which he had a local clerk in Tulbagh. He was also responsible for helping communicate government policy about slavery to the population in the region: farmers, townspeople, craftsmen, servants and slaves. P.J.Theron proposed, supported by a 'memorial' from people in the region, that his role would be upgraded to that of a 'sub-landdrost', so that the farmers of the region could deliver their 'opgaaf' (tax) in Tulbagh. His report also describes the status of the buildings of the Old Drostdy, after Thomas Heatlie had acquired it, and repaired damage from a previous storm.

Houdenbek Slave Revolt 1825

The Slave Revolt at Houdenbek in 1825 was a clear sign that something went wrong in the communication of policy changes for slavery. Both farmers and slaves in the Bokkeveld had unrealistic expectations and fears, and they developed unreasonable levels of resentment, which lead to the revolt in feb 1825.

The farmers had a long tradition of calling up a 'commando' to fight groups of Khoi/San raiders, or to hunt after runaway slaves. This rather quickly led to the breakdown of the solidarity among the slaves and other workers, and even inside the central group of rebels. P.J.Theron, as Special Heemraad, received reports from various Fieldcornets in the region, exchanged the information, and passed it on to the Drostdy in Worcester.

Thomas Heatlie, the neighbour of Petrus Jacobus who occupied the "Old Drostdy" farm, blamed the revolt on confusing and contradictory communications sent around in the previous year(s), which according to him caused the uncertainty, fear and resentment that led to the revolt. Thomas complained that the news letters from the Drostdy were sometimes circulated by rather low servants, who sometimes could not even themselves read. That means that they would neither understand the subtleties, not be able to explain any misconceptions to the population.

The report of the trial in Worcester, details the reports received and forwarded to Worcester by P.J.Theron, giving an interesting view into his role in the administration of the region around the town of Tulbagh.

Slave Owner

In 1816, Slave Registers were set up by the Cape Authorities under Lord Charles Somerset, for each district^[10].

Pieter Jacobus (and since 7th June 1827 his widow) eventually (1834) registered 48 slaves at the Tulbagh Slave Register, in Ledger T, Folios 9^[11], 10^[12], 83^[13].

He registered 23 slaves in 1816, when the registers started.

• Mercuur, Achilles, Carolus, Damon, Adonis, David, Arontes, Adriaan, Patis, Arend, Mercuur(2), Frans, Silvester, Rosalyn, Eva, Lena, Saartje, Rachel, Sabina, Dina, Mina, Victoria, Lys

Three babies were born in 1816, and registered with birthday:

• Philida, Jaap, Lena

In 1817, he bought one last slave:

• Apollos

After that 24 more slave babies were born till abolition in 1834(38):

• Abraham, Lea, Gedult, Jacob, Simson, Flora, Africa, Carolus, Adriaan, Isaac, Willem, Styn, Saartje, Sabina, Thomas, Dina, Adrian, Jaap, Lena, Mercuur, Geduld

This number of slaves was not needed for a sheep and cattle farm, but it is more consistent with the much more intensive hand work on a.wine farm., combined with the technical work of making and maintaining presses, containers, bottling. This number of workers was consistent with the fact that the farm of "La Rhone" had already been producing wine for a long period.

Research Notes

Easily confused at/near Tulbagh

• This profile, Petrus Jacobus, Gabriel son, Le Rhone, Special Heemraad Tulbagh
• Petrus Jacobus Theron (bef.1764-1830), Pieter Lodewijk son
• Petrus Jacobus Theron (bef.1788-1858), son of previous
• Petrus Johannes Theron (bef.1765-1834), at Witzenberg
• Johannes Stephanus Theron (bef.1793-), Veldcornet Warm Bokkeveld
• David Johannes Theron (bef.1781-1842), Gabriel son, Veldcornet

Sources

1. ↑ Petrus Jacobus Theron (1780-1827), ID L2ZT-YW3 at Familysearch.org
2. ↑ Gabriel Cornelis Theron (1806-<1814), ID G63G-TGP at Familysearch.org
3. ↑ Helena Josina Theron (1809-1837), ID KNHZ-T6Y at Familysearch.org
4. ↑ Geertuida Woutrina (1812-1883) ID LH3S-KW2 at Familysearch.org
5. ↑ Gabriel Cornelis (1814-1834), ID G42C-KFG at Familysearch.org
6. ↑ Tulbagh Baptism register, pages for 16 Jul - 12 Nov 1780, second record, including Petrus Jacobus, images at Familysearch.org
7. ↑ Cape Town Church marriage register, 9 sep - 8 nov 1804, other version for 30 sep - 11 Nov, images at Familysearch.org
8. ↑ Tulbagh Church death register, page for 1827-29, including entry for Special Heemraad Petrus Jacobus Theron, image at Familysearch.org
9. ↑ Death Notice of Hilletje Maria de Waal, 1834
10. ↑ Slave registers, and how to find relevant images at familysearch: Slave Owners and Slaves in South Africa
11. ↑ Tulbagh Slave Register, Ledger T, Folio 9, Petrus Jacobus Theron, Gabriel's son, and his widow, image at Familysearch.org
12. ↑ Tulbagh Slave Register, Ledger T, Folio 10, Petrus Jacobus Theron, Gabriel's son, and his widow, image at Familysearch.org
13. ↑ Tulbagh Slave Register, Ledger T, Folio 83, Widow of the late Petrus Jacobus Theron, Gabriel's son, born Hilletje Maria de Waal, image at Familysearch.org