The Swiss in Southern Africa 1652-1970
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ADOLPHE LINDER THE SWISS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA 1652-1970 PART I ARRIVALS AT THE CAPE 1652-1819 IN CHRONOLOGICAL SEQUENCE Originally published 1997 by Baselr Afrika Bibliographien, Basel Revised for Website 2011 © Adolphe Linder 146 Woodside Village 21 Norton Way Rondebosch 7700 South Africa Paper size 215x298 mm Face 125x238 Font Times New Roman, 10 Margins Left and right 45 mm, top and bottom 30 mm Face tailored to show full page width at 150% enlargement 1 CONTENTS 1. Prologue ………………………………………………………………………………2 2. Chronology 1652-1819 ……………………………………………………………….6 3. Introduction 3.1 The spelling of Swiss names ………………………………………………….6 3.2 Swiss origine of arrivals………………………………………………………..7 3.3 Location of Swiss at the Cape…………………………………………………..8 3.4 Local currency …………………………………………………………………8 3.5 Glossary ………………………………………………………………………..8 4. Short history of arrivals during Company rule 1652-1795 4.1 Establishment of the settlement at the Cape…………………………………….10 4.2 The voyage to the Cape …………………………………………………………10 4.3 Company servants……………………………………………………………….12 4.4 Swiss labour migration to the Netherlands ……………………………………..12 4.5 Recruitment for the Company …………………………………………………..17 4.6 In Company service …………………………………………………………….17 4.7 Freemen………………………………………………………………………….22 4.8 Crime and punishment ………………………………………….…………….. 25 4.9 The Swiss Regiment Meuron at the Cape 1783-1795 …………………………..26 4.10 The end of the Dutch East India Company ……………………………………..29 4.11 Their names live on …………………………………………………………….29 5. Summary of Swiss arrivals during First British Occupation 1695-1803…………….29 6. Summary of Swiss arrivals during Batavian rule 1803-1806 ………………………30 7. Summary of Swiss arrivals during first fourteen years of British colonial rule, 1806-1819……………………………………………………………………………30 8. Personalia 1652-1819 ……………………………………………………………….31 9. Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………..120 10.Index to Swiss names ……………………………………………………………..131 2 1. PROLOGUE Messrs Felix Ernst and Kurt Scheurer initiated the documentation of the Swiss in Southern Africa with a preliminary publication in 1977. Messrs. Oskar Berner and Adolphe Linder continued the work with more detailed publications covering the Province of Cape of Good Hope (now the Provinces of Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape), the former Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and the former South West Africa (now Namibia). This work documents the Swiss in the whole of South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. List of previous publications 1. F. Ernst & K. Scheurer: History of the Swiss in Southern Africa 1652-1977. First edition (Johannesburg, 1977), second edition (Johannesburg, Nov. 1979). 2. Oscar T. Berner: Schweizer im einstigen Rhodesien. Biographische Notizen. Basel 1985. 3. Adolphe Linder: The Swiss at the Cape of Good Hope 1652-1971. Basel 1997. 4. Oskar T. Berner: Die Schweizer im ehemaligen Südwestafrika / The Swiss in the former South West Africa. Windhoek 1998. 5. Adolphe Linder: Die Schweizer in Mosambik 1721-1990. Cape Town 1998. 6. Adolphe Linder: The Swiss Regiment Meuron at the Cape and afterwards, 1781-1816. Cape Town 2000. 7. Adolphe Linder: Os Suícos em Moçambique. Maputo 2001. 8. In preparation, Adolphe Linder: Die Schweizer und der Burenkrieg 1899-1902. 3 4 5 2. CHRONOLOGY 1652-1806 1652, April 6 Commander Jan van Riebeeck of the Dutch East India Company arrives with a leet of three ships and fifty men and establishes a settement on the shore of Table Bay. 1655 The first Company servants become free burghers. The first private farms are established. The settlement grows as more Company servants acquire burgher rights and occupy land for farming. 1700 The settlement had spread eastward to the foot of the Hottentots Holland Mountains and northwards to the foot of the Witzenberg Mountains. 1795, September 6 First British Occupation of the Cape. The settlement now extended northward into Namaqualand and the Karroo and eastward to the Fish River. Its population 16 000– 20 000 Whites, 17 000-25 000 slaves and an estimated 14 000 Khoisan. 1789, July 14 Bastille Day. Start of French Revolution 1796-7 Napoleon’s victorious Italian campaign and rise to power. 1797 Batavian Republic formed. 1802, February By the Treaty of Amens the Cape is restored to Holland now known as the Batavian Republic. 1802 Mar 25 Peace of Amiens ends second coalition war. The Cape is to be restored to the Dutch. 1802 Dec 23 Bato, first ship to arrive in Cape Town with Batavian officials and troops. 1803 Feb 20 General Dundas hands the Cape to the Batavian Republic 1803 Mar 1 General Janssen inaugurated as Governor of the Cape. 1803 May 12 War between Great Britain and France and its allies resumed 1805, October 21 Battle of Trafalgar. Admiral Nelson defeats the combined French and Spanish fleets 1806 Jan 6 Battle of Blouberg, Second British Occupation of the Cape 1815, June 18 Battle of Waterloo, final defeat of Napoleon who is exiled on St. Helena. 1820 The 1820 Settlers from England land at Port Elizabeth 1824 The Zulu King Shaka grants English settlers a strip of coast, which was enlarged 1828. The town Durban was laid out on this land in 1835. 3. INTRODUCTION 3.1 The spelling of Swiss names Names are reproduced as found in the records. Where this might be useful, the possible correct equivalent found in the Familiennamenbuch der Schweiz is added in square brackets. The officials at the Cape, especially during the early years when illiteracy among Company servants was commonplace, wrote down the names as they heard them phonetically correct according to the Dutch alphabet. Some knowledge of Dutch phonetics is thereforee essential for the researcher and will add to the pleasure of the 6 general reader. The following comparisons with English and German spelling might suffice. TABLE 1 Dutch phonetics Dutch English equivalent German equivalent a a as in last a as in Last e e as in den e as in denn g ch as in loch ch as in Loch j y as in yes j as in ja ng ng as in sing in as in singen o at end of word or syllable o as in do u as in gut oe, oo ou as in you u as in du ou ow as in low ou as written sch sch as in school sk as in Skizze sj sh as in show sch as in Schau u u as in the French word du ü as in Tür ui, uy oi as in loins eu as in Reue v f as in fat f as in Fass w v as in vat w as in was y ay as in tray ei as in Ei Very often names would be distorted by usage to adapt to the Dutch tongue. Examples are Loubser and Losber for Laubscher, Yselle for Iseli and Hongerbuydel for Hungerbüller. 3.2 Swiss Origins of Arrivals It is appropriate to mention at the outset that each Swiss is the citizen of a particular commune (village or town) and that he inherits this citizenship from his father irrerspective of where he was born. Thus a family might live for generations anywhere else, yet remain citizens of the commune of origin. Until the beginning of the nineteenth century nearly all families still lived at their place of origin, then industrialisation caused increasing population movements. An example is the watch industry which developed in the Jura attracting many families from, for example, the Bernese Oberland. Since the beginning of this century the place of birth of Swiss increasingly differs from their place of origin. Where both are known, the latter will be shown in brackets. The system of passing citizenship from father to children born in wedlock resulted in anachronisms. The children of a Swiss man and his non-Swiss wife, who were born and raised in a foreign country, would be registered as Swiss, whereas when a Swiss woman married a Non-Swiss, even though he may have been born and raised in Switzerland, lost her Swiss citizenship and both she and her children were assigned the nationality of her husband. In this work we have treated all individuals born in Switzerland as Swiss. Each commune in Switzerland keeps a register of its citizens. When a man marries, a new page is opened for him and his family. This system greatly facilitates genealogical research when the records are accessible. The Familiennamenbuch der Schweiz lists all Swiss surnames both extinct and extant, citing when and in which communes they had received citizenship rights. Extensive but cautious use was made of this book to check or even determine the origin of Swiss where this was not recorded at the Cape. In special cases civil registrars were asked for verification and this was often kindly supplied together with additional information, as in the case of Gabriel Jenny of Ennenda GL, “The Major who turned Farm Labourer”. Information obtained by these means is shown between square brackets. Another point to be remembered is that cantonal boundaries were only given their present shape in 1803. Before that date the Vaud was part of Canton Berne, Aargau belonged to Cantons Berne and Zurich, Thurgau was part of Canton Zurich and Canton St. Gall had not yet been formed. Men from Vaud would for instance name (Canton) 7 Berne as their birthplace. This is the reason why relativeley few men recorded Vaud, Aargau or St. Gall as their Canton of origin. Many cantons bear the same name as their principal town. Origins are cited as recorded. Where this is known to refer to the town and not the canton, the symbol of the relevant canton is added, for instance Berne BE. 3.3 Location of Swiss in Africa Until about 1819 Cape Town, the Mother City, was the only port of entry to South Africa. Generally, it is thereforee only when a Swiss is known to have lived outside Cape Town, that his place of residence is specified.