Slave Owners and Slaves in South Africa

Profile manager: NC Brummer [send private message]

Purpose of this free space

My interest in the times of slavery were first raised when my Grandfather told us the stories about Moia van Mosambique (abt.1806-1906), whom he personally knew as a young boy. I will keep notes here about my slave-owning ancestors in South Africa, the places to find information about Slaves and Slavery, and the ways to add this information to your wikitree profiles.

This has to start by adding a "Slave Ownership" heading in the bio of relevant profiles, listing the slaves, the relevant sources, with an estimated birth, and any other personal information. Once some bare minimum is known about a slave, this could be the basis of a wikitree profile. A next step is to see if this same slave had been transferred from another owner, giving more information, and possibly the mother. There is also some information about baptism and marriage of slaves.

The best period for information about slaves is probably in 1816-38, when the British Authorities set up a slave registry, to prepare and work towards the abolishment of slavery in 1834, at which date all slaves still had to remain 'apprenticed' till 1838. In this period, there was also an increased number of manumissions, which have been recorded as well.

It is very unfortunate that neither owners nor the British registration authorities, bothered to give the slaves a meaningful surname. The mother is sometimes given, and then the birth date is also, but the father is rarely noted down.

But who knows, ultimately, some from this last generation of slaves may eventually be connected to their descendents. Descendents from slave holders and slaves can then share a somewhat awkward feeling about our shared history, but also enjoy some perverse version of 'the truth will set you free'.

Other places to look

• US Black Heritage Space:Documenting_Enslaved_People_in_WikiTree. Note that South African colonisation and slavery is comparable, but also differs in many aspects.
• South African Roots project list of resources Project:South_African_Roots/Sources#Slave_Register_during_abolition_period_1816-1838
• Category:Slaves at the Cape of Good Hope

Literature

The Slave Registry of 1816 is a historical gold mine, both for historians and genealogists, where genealogists can try to 'free' people from being unknown, adding them into a human tree of stories.

"One of the first signs of active preparation for abolition came in 1816. On 26th April, 1816, Somerset issued his proclamation making compulsory the registration of slaves. He gave the reasons for this new regulation: Firstly, to control the many voluntary manumissions taking place, secondly, to prevent indentured negroes "prize negroes" (who were not slaves) and their children from being given the status of slaves. "

• James McCall Theal, Progress in South Africa in the Century, 1901, pp. 182-193, Chapter XVI, The Emancipation of the Slaves. A summary of the period towards abolition in 1834/38, and the period of adaptation for farmers, leading to much more sheep farming for wool.
• Text of the law of 1806, abolishing the slave trade, Act 46 George III Cap 52. Clause 13 allowed an exception for the transport of 'domestics', or slaves working on ships as sailor or fisher.
• Slave Resistance at the Cape, the uprising of 1808 in Swartland/Koeberg, and 1825 at Houdenbek, and communities of runaway slaves at Hangklip and Cape Point (more at SAhistory.org).
• When Cape slavery ended: Introducing a new slave emancipation dataset, by Ekama, Fourie, Heese, Martin in 'Explorations in Economic History'.
• Slave Lodge, excavation, museum
• VASSA, by Carohn Cornell, Slaves at the Cape, a guidebook for beginner researchers
• Slaves and Slave Regulations at the Cape: 1806 - 1834, DR. W. J. DE KOCK
• Ekama & Ross, "The Emancipation of the Enslaved in the Cape Colony: Historiography and Introduction". About the larger context of Khoi, Slaves, Owners, mortgages on slaves, credit, banks, capitalism, and how power remained in the hands of the same people. Also about work of historians to figure it out, and work that still needs to be done.
• MA Thesis by A. Bank, "Slavery in Cape Town 1806-1834", Univercity Capetown 1991
• William Wright, Slavery at the Cape of Good Hope, written in 1831
• The Cape Koisan in the Eastern Districts of the Colony before and after ordinance 50 of 1828, Vertrees Canby Malherbe, PhD Thesis, University of Cape Town, 1997
• Records of the Cape Colony, jan 1820 - jun 1821, by James McCall Theal, Vol XIII, 1902 (all volumes are available for download at archive.org)
• Records of the Cape Colony, Oct-Dec 1827, by James McCall Theal, Vol XXIV, 1905
• District Tulbagh, Worcester, Hex river valley settler history: Hex River valley, see p12 section 4, Worcester on Wikipedia
• Wikipedia: History of the Cape Colony 1806-1870, Slavery in South Africa, Slavery Abolition Act of 1833
• Some slaves were from 'Bougis', Bugis in southern Sulawesi, in our times a large island of Indonesia.
• South African Abolitionists: John Harfield Tredgold, Richard Miles, Thomas Pringle, John Fairbairn, ...?
• Cape Governors & other notable people 1816-34: Lord Charles Somerset, Rufane Shaw Donkin, Richard Bourke, Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole, Benjamin D'Urban, Colonel John Graham
• NGI, National Geo-Spacial Information, mapping South Africa, History of mapping of the Cape and South Africa

Special examples of Cape Slave Owner Profiles

For a list all Slaves and Slave owners, look at the category page: Slaves at Cape of Good Hope category (for now, Slaves and Slave holders are categorised together, since for most slaves the only available information is thier the name listed in their "master's" Slave Register, which is insufficient for a proper wikitree profile).

An interesting case of a woman with many slaves, who manumitted a large fraction of them is Jacoba Johanna Cruywagen, or Johanna Jacoba, or Anna Jacoba. We also find her name in separate listings of manumissions, in may 1827^[1].

A new challenge of scale is posed by Pieter Jacobus de Vos, farming at 'Hexrivier', with enough slaves to need 3 Folios of 20 slaves each in the Tulbagh/Worcester Slave Registry. Working out how to record this information is a work in progress.

Hendrik Cornelis, Johannes' son, van Niekerk, registered 66 slaves at Stellenbosch.

An interesting family was Catherina Margaretha Hugo, widow of Jacobus de Wet. Her husband Jacobus owned many slaves that were divided over her and the children in the registry. Some of her children were minors, so she was listed as their guardian.

Another widow was Susanna Elisabeth du Toit, widow of Hendrik Christoffel de Wet. She and her children inherited significant numbers of slaves from her husband. Interesting is that some of her children received slaves when they were very young, under guardianship of the mother (or after death of the mother, an older brother). This family had 51 registered slaves, a part of which were born in bondage, during the period 1816-1834.

A large slave owner, trader, speculator in Stellenbosch was Hendrik Philippus Beyers, with about 60 slaves, while registering 3 slaves jointly for his children, and 1 for his son Jacob Hendrik.

Another possible large buyer, seller, speculator of slaves was Sebastiaan Valentijn van Reenen, Junior, Capetown.

An extreme case of inconsistent administration is that of Marthinus Laurentius Neethling, Senior, who is listed in the index of Ledger N of Cape Town District, for the extraordinary number of five Folios, 80-100 slaves! However, the actual Folios are missing. What happened? Why? When? Some of the Folio numbers were reused for other slave owners, but some are simply missing. He does not appear in the Stellenbosch register either.

The largest slave holder of all, of course, was the Government itself, located in Capetown District, with 227 Slaves registered in 12 Folios of Ledger G: G52, G53, G54, G55, G56, G57, G58, G59, G60, G61, G87, G119.

And a very curious Government Slave was from Mauritius, apparently owned by the Government of Mauritius, and he was put on a boat back to Mauritius^[2]

Category:Slaves at the Cape of Good Hope

Although this Category was set up for the slaves, I will be using it for the slave owner profiles as well, exactly because these profiles contain the first important information to list the slaves themselves. It makes sense to have them together, but it also makes sense to have a separate category for the owners. Some ex-slaves became owners, and they will be in both categories.

Slave Ownership lists: how to report them?

The Slave Registers contain information, but not quite enough for what we are used to as being a wikitree profile for a person. There is 'proof' of existence. There is only one first name. Only a rough age. Rarely a birth date. Rarer a mother. Never a father. Never a surname or 'family', apart from the 'origin', which is mostly an unhelpful 'van de Kaap'. The 'remarks' indicate when slaves died, or were sold, but not from where they arrived. By combining information from all slave registers, one should be able to trace the ownership history of slaves, till they eather died, or became 'free' in 1834-38.

A whole financial can of worms is hidden behind the 'collumn' sometimes added to the 'remarks', listing a "Reference to the Register of Debts". Slaves seem to have often used as guarantee of loans, like a mortgage, or they were sold/transferred to pay off a debt. What is the difference between 'sold & transferred', and just 'transferred'? Often, we see slaves going to family members of the owner. But sometimes, at 'transfer' goes to rather distant places, suggesting that some debt may have been at play? How was this for the slaves involved? How often was this something like a 'punishment'?

My current approach is to not yet analyse the wealth of information hidden in the 'remarks', but simply copy down the list of names. I keep the 'enregisterment' date, as it is important to link between Folios. I had the sloppy age estimates, and convert them to a still rough estimate of birth, that does not depend on that 'enregisterment' date. This is a step towards describing independent persons.

My feeling is that these slave lists belong with the owners, as the list tells a story that is much more than just the collection of individual slaves. These list are a basic piece of information. Not quite sufficient, but basic input for future wikitree profiles.

Once these basic slave ownership lists exist, it will become interesting to mine the rich information in the 'remarks' to add deaths, and link to a next owner after a sale or other transfer. It is already clear that transfers were often between family members in something like slave-owning family clans. It is also clear that slave ownership must have been used as a foundation of a system of finance, mortgage, banking system. The literature also clarifies that when slaves became 'apprenticed' in 1834, these mortgages on previous slaves could be stretched till 1838. Subsequently, the 'compensation' money received from the London government was a huge financial injection, used to set up a new system of finance, with many new banks with intimate relations with previous slave owners. Many of these banks later got in trouble, and went bankrupt, or were taken over, leading to a concentration of power into fewer hands. All of this lager big historical movement can be seen to be hidden in the 'remarks', and how slaves changed hands. Hence it is essential to add the relevant links to new owners/lists.

Once one can string together ownership histories for individuel slaves, preferably starting from birth, and leading to manumission, 'apprencing', baptism, marriage, this together can form the basic documentation for independent individual human beings. A small number of previous slaves became slave holders themselves, artisans, farmers and business people. Most remained cheap labour, still to be exploited, and their information is more likely to have been lost.

Other sources of information to be tapped are records of birth, baptism, marriage, manumission. These were not done in a very systematic way, and often just on separate scraps of paper, in non-standardised formats, until at some point in time some standards developed. Who pushed those standards? Was it the missionary churches who started to keep systematic records, and support having family surnames? There were also older communities like the mostly Islamic Cape Malays.

Cape Colony Slave Registry 1816-1834 - What & Howto

• Catalog of Cape Slave Registers, etc: detailed index is missing, unfortunately.
• Search Page .. will not find everything, but may work
• Not very helpful Familysearch wiki describing the Slave Register contents
• Other images with rules and records about slavery, also starting earlier under the VOC
• Handmade contents of the Film Rolls of the Slave Register, with links

Film Roll 7735106 Introduction, Cont., Albany A-W 1822-36 -- Beaufort B-Z 1821-35 -- Cape Town district B 1828-37

• Permission to microfilm, from National Archives, 1991
• Introduction to situation in 1816, registration by District Clerks
• contents list of registry records
• Farm names in Parochie Zionskerk
• Paarl school children
• Lys van plase, Klein Drakenstein
• Kaapstad NG Kerk registers, contents

Slave Registers by District

Albany

• Albany Ledgers A-4, B-25, D-11,E-11, G-14, H-6, J-3, K-7, L-9, M-11, N-13, O-2, P-10, R-10, T-3, V-6, W-12

Beaufort

• Beaufort Ledgers B-36, C-12, E-11, F-2, G-8, H-9, J-24, K-9, L-10, M-21, N-11, O-7, P-11, R-9, S-26, T-6, V-14, W-23, Z-1

Capetown

• Capetown District B, L

Next Film Roll 7735105

• Capetown District L, M182-279, S, W,

Next subject Capetown with Simonstad?

Capetown District Ledgers A,B, B,

Film Roll 7735104

• B continued
• 4 Loose Notes added
• C, C, D,E,F, G

• Next Film Roll 7735084

• Capetown District Ledgers G continued, H183-323, H1-184, J, K, L

Film Roll 7735085

• next Ledger for L, N, O, P, R, R, S

Film Roll 7735086

• Next Ledger S, S,T, V, W, Z

Film Roll 7735087 Clanwilliam A-W, Z 1821-38 -- Cradock A-L 1822-36

Clanwilliam

• Clanwilliam District A-5, B-39, C-13, E-6, F-2, G-2, H-3, M, K-14, L-29, M-26, N-31, O-5, R-12, S-46, V-17, W-21, Z-43

Cradock

• Cradock District Ledgers A-9, B-83, C-33, D-9, E-39, F-7, G-34, H-46, J-12, K-36, L-26

Film Roll 7735088 Cradock M-Z 1822-36 -- George A-M 1816-35

• Cradock M1-35, N1-19-20, O1-15, P1-70, R1-24, S1-41-42, P1-11, V1-43, W1-26, Z1-6

George

• George A1-3, B1-90-91, B92-111, C1-32, D1-6, E1-5, F1-34, G1-16, H1-34, J1-17-18, K1-30, L1-20, M1-75

Film Roll 7735089 George N-P, R-Z, 1816-35 -- Graaff Reinet A-C 1816-34

• George N1-15, O1-15(O15=Estate Theron+Barnard), P1-33, R1-95, S1-82, T1-28, U1-4, V1-16, W1-38, Z1-8

Graaff Reinet

• Graaff Reinet A1-10, A1-13, B1-129, B1-95, B96-153, C1-64, C1-58, 15=end

Film Roll 7735090 Graaff Reinet C-M, 1816-35

• Graaff Reinet Ccont15-64, D1-15, D1-16, E1-41, E1-41, F1-10, F1-9, G1-19, G-noindex?20-33, G1-32, H1-67-80, H1-80, J1-31, J1-28-31, K1-35-39, K1-39, L1-34-38, L1-38, M1-94

Film Roll 7735091 Graaff Reinet M-P, R-S, 1816-34

• Graaff Reinet M1-97-115, M95-115, N1-47, N1-45, O1-28-30, O1-30, P1-114-131, P1-131, R1-43, R1-42, S1-93-96, S96-98

Film Roll 7735092 Graaff Reinet S-Z, 1816-36 -- Simonstown A-W 1816-34 -- Stellenbosch A 1816-3

• Graaff Reinet S1-95, T1-24-25, T1-24-25, U-1-1, V1-77-93, V1-92, W1-50, W1-50-51, Z1-7-8, Z1-8

Simons Town

• Simons Town A1-3, B1-3-4-1-4,C1-3-1-2-1-2, D1-2-1-2, H1-5-1-5, K1-2-1-4-Lots5, L1-3-Louisa_of_the_Cape4, M1-5-1-5, O1-5, Pietersen, R1-7-1-7, S1-3, W1-1-1-2

Stellenbosch

Stellenbosch District A1-59, A1-59

Film Roll 7735093 Stellenbosch B-E, 1816-1837

• StellenboschB-184, B-148, B149-232, B-index-181-232, C1-80, C1-80, D1-42, D-1-42, E1-34, E-1-34-end

Film Roll 7735094 Stellenbosch E-J, 1816-1837

• Stellenbosch E1-34-36, F1-54-55, F1-55, G1-69, G1-69, H1-140-142, H1-147, H143-146-147, J1-84-85, J1-85

Film Roll 7735095 Stellenbosch K-M, 1816-1835

• Stellenbosch K1-75, K1-75copy, L1-151, L152-182, L1-179, M1-152, M150-293, 194end

Film Roll 7735096 Stellenbosch M-N, 1816-1835

• Stellenbosch M195-293, M1-181, M1-176, M179-327index,M293-375, N1-75, N1-35, 35end

Film Roll 7735097 Stellenbosch N-S, 1816-1835

• Stellenbosch N35-75, O, R, R-index, R, S, S

Film Roll 7735098 Stellenbosch S-V, 1816-1835

• Stellenbosch S40-122, U1-4, U1-4copy, V180-235, V151-235, T1-107, T1-107, V1-179, V1-150 115end

Film Roll 7735099 Stellenbosch V-Z, 1816-1837 -- Swellendam A-J 1816-1835

• Stellenbosch V115-150, W1-94, W1-94, Y1-1, Z1-11, Z1-11copy

Swellendam

• Swellendam District Ledgers A-10, B1-97, B98-131, C-87, D-19, E-40, F-33, G-59, H-44, J-1-53

Film Roll 7735100 Swellendam J-W, 1816-1835

• Swellendam J-53-77, K-81, L-42, M-74, N-21, O-45, P-46, R-96, S-97, S-28, T-57, U-17, V-47, W-67

Film Roll 7735101 Swellendam Z, 1816-1835 -- Tulbagh A-J 1816-1837

• Swellendam Z-36

Tulbagh

• Tulbagh (later Worcester) District A-8, A-8, B-1-92, B-93-137, B-1-132, C-44, C-44, D-11, D-11, E-47, E-47, F-7, F-7, G-20, G-19, H-49, J-1-59, J-1-20

Film Roll 7735102 Tulbagh J-N, 1816-1837

• Tulbagh J-20-59, K-61, K-62, L-68, L68, M1-133, M91-165, M-134-168, N-37, N-39,

Film Roll 7735103 Tulbagh N-V, 1816-1836

• Tulbagh, N-1, O-25, O-23, P-61, P61, R-52, R-52, S-91, S-112, T-90, T-10, T-100, U-1, V-93-102, V-1-92,

Film Roll 7735083 Tulbagh V-Z, 1816-1835 -- Uitenhage A-L 1816-1837

• Tulbagh V-20-92, W-87, W-87, Z-32, Z-33

Uitenhage

• Uitenhage District A-5, B-63, C-16, D-14, E-23, F-26, G-21, H-26, J-13, K-27, L-24

Film Roll 7735082 Uitenhage M-Z, 1816-1836 -- Worcester S 1820-1824

• Uitenhage M-65, N-32, O-16, P-58, R-54, S-54, T-8, U-3, V-33, W-18

Worcester (Tulbagh)

• Worcester District (add-on to Tulbagh records) S-92-115

Government statistics, rules, notes, etc.

Same Film Roll - Various government statistics, rules, importation data, notes, etc

detailed links are a work in progress..

• 400 Slave office, LISTS AND RETURNS: content 7/34-7/38
• 401 Government slaves, bandits, prisoners, invalids in hospital, 30 dec 1802
• Slave Lodge meat distribution list 1803
• Slaves employed on different works 1762-1809
• 417 Slave proprietors in George District 1831
• 421 Alphabetical return of government slaves 1823
• 424 Government slaves, apprentices and free blacks in slave hospitals 1831
• 428 Imported black apprentices and slaves registered at Port Louis, Mauritius 1815-1828
• 436 Numerical tally of slaves by age 1833
• 439 Mozambican slaves taken from captured enemy ships and granted freedom on condition they be apprenticed 1810
• 441 ??? notes about slaves
• 445 Slaves still to be manumitted, transferred or deleted from Orphan Chamber estate list because of death 1829
• 453 Number of slaves registered per district, 31 dec 1830
• 454 Slave Rol 1811
• 456Slaves in the Hospital, 1831, 1832
• 459Camdeboo verkochte slaven
• 461Compensation - Auction of 9th June 1801, prices??
• Various slave returns 1811-1835
• 487 Port Louis, Mauritius certificates for imported slaves 1828-1832
• '502 Index of Cape Colony slave proprietors A-M 1826-1831, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J+I, K, L, M, ... broken off at Mattheys
• 560 Cape slavery rules and regulations 1833
• 595 Notes on Proclamation 18 march 1823 re Slaves
• 627 Mortality in Stellenbosch District 1818/19
• 633 Certificates of Death of Slaves 1817-34
• Slave burial certificates 1803-1804
• Slave baptisms 1824-1832
• Graaff-Reinet slaveholders not in compliance with the King's order 1830
• Numerical register of slaves (Cape) 1829
• Number of slave births, deaths 1825-1829
• Names of manumitted slaves (Cape) 1825-1834
• Slaves erased from registers 1825-1830
• Manumitted slaves (country districts) 1825-1830
• Manumitted slaves (Stellenbosch) 1830-1834
• Cape districts slaveholder and slave numbers 1830
• 774 Names of slaveholding government and military officers, pensioners 1831
• 775 Number of slaves, births, deaths 1831-1834
• 777 Names of keepers of slave registers 1816-1835
• 778 Extract of Parliamentary act abolishing slave trade 1824

Film Roll 7735081

• Slave deaths (alphabetical) 1825-1834
• Slave death register 1824-1842
• Slave birth certificates 1821-1834
• Slave births (alphabetical) A-Z 1825-1826 A-D 1827

Film Roll 7735080

• Slave births (alphabetical) 1827-1834
• Slave marriages M, W 1824-1830

Problems with the Slave Registers, and missing parts

Abolition was a decades long process, very slowly changing society, the machinery of economics, finance and justice, and the way people thought about reality. In 1806/7 British parliament accepted a law to end the international slave trade, but this was partly a strategic part of the war against Napoleon.

When in 1816, Charles Somerset imposed the system of Slave Registries, it was indeed an imposition on farmers who would be much more controlled in their practices of slavery. When the role of 'Protector of the Slaves' was added to the system, the red tape became stronger. Government clearly took part in a war of ideas, and slavery was on the way out, although the date of actual abolition was unknown, and far away.

So in various ways, the Registration system was imperfect, certainly if we now look back at the remaining paperwork. It looks like the records are incomplete, as parts of it seem to have been lost. Other parts of it are available in multiple copies, the reason for which is also not quite clear. When the Tulbagh Drostdy moved to Worcester in 1824, this caused a bit of a rupture in the records. Most of the old Tulbagh Ledgers were just continued, but at least some Ledgers were added under the name of Worcester.

Strange things happened. For example, we see "Martinus Laurentius Neethling Senior" listed in the index of Ledger N, for the enormous number of five Folios: 33, 34, 35, 39, 74(added in pencil). However, in the actual records, on may search for these folios, but some are simply missing, and others contain the record of a different person. What happened? Was he moved to another district? We don't find him in Stellenbosch.

Information about the slaves themselves is very incomplete. To connect them up with their later existence as free human being after 1834(38) is very difficult. For that, it would be necessary to link the slave records with those of baptism, marriage, and what happened in 1834. In the slave records, no slave has a surname, nor are family relations between husband, wife, and even children clear. Only in the most obvious cases, when a women bore a child, was she recorded as the mother, with a precise birth date. Fathers were not recorded.

It looks like the original administration never thought of recording sufficient personal information on the slaves themselves, on which it is possible to base a historical identity. Furthermore, the slaves themselves, understandably, were not interested in recording their historical legacy of slavery, and making clear links with their later existance of freedom, that was still tainted with economic oppression. Both the slave owners and the freed slaves just wanted to forget the awkward and sordid old times. In our times many descendants from both the slaves, and the slave owners, would welcome the actual historical facts being uncovered and being better understood.

It is great news that already long ago, in the 90's, the archival remnants of the Slave Register were photographed and put on microfiche. The database was even put online. However, it is still extremely difficult to find your way, and associate the records with actual slave owners, let alone the slaves and their descendants.