f.5. Maria Christoffelina VAN DER WESTHUIZEN, geb. 14/07/1832, ged. 19/08/1832

f.5.  Maria Christoffelina, geb. 14/07/1832, ged. 19/08/1832, Swartland, oorl. 04/01/1893, Ongegund, Riebeek-Wes, dist. Malmesbury x 29/04/1851, Tulbagh met Pieter van der Byl SMUTS, geb. 21/11/1825, oorl. 09/01/1888, s.v. Michiel Nicolaas Smuts en Maria Magdalena van der Byl.

Maria Christoffelina was die dogter van Hendrik Jacobus van der Westhuizen en Maria Johanna Elizabeth van Schie.


Haar naam kom voor in hulle pa se sterfkennis van 1868.

Ongegund Farm

The first land grant in these environs was to Andries van der Heide in 1708. There is very little information in the archival records for the property during the 18th century; and no transfer or title deeds were recorded in the Deeds Office registry. Prior to it becoming part of the Ongegund Farm in 1818, it is known only that it was transferred to J. van der Heyde in 1727. Michiel Nicolaas Smuts (Jan Christian Smuts great'grandfather) was granted 'Ongegund' in 1818 as Stellenbosch Quitrent (Erfpag) 4.12. In 1856 it seems as though a portion of this quitrent came off and was consolidated with the original 1708 freehold (Farm 505).  Ongegund also called 'Boplaas', was originally a very large farm, but was repealedly subdivided until at one stage, prior to JC Smuts's time, five Smuts families lived on the same farmyard ! The property has been subject to many regrants and permutations, but remained in the Smuts family until 1946, when it was bought by the Portland Cement Company. The Smuts family ancestry is both German and Dutch, as paternal ancestor Michiel Cornelius Smuts emigrated from Middleburg, Holland around 1692, and his maternal ancestor, Johann Christiaan Davel (after whom he was named), had emigrated from Bautzen, Germany, in 1734. 9 The family originally settled in the Swartland in 1786 on the farm Zoutfontein, and purchased Ongegund in 1818. Jan Christian Smuts was born in a cottage on the farm on the 24 May 1870. Farm 506, 'Ongegund adjoining between Vlakkerug and Sout Rivier.(https://www.sahra.org.za/sahris/sites/default/files/heritagereports/HIA_PPC_Cement_Hart_TJ_Mar08_0.pdf)

Ongegunt was a mixed wine and stock farm situated between Riebeeck Kasteel and Malmesbury. First documented in 1708, the transfer of 1727 (T122 17.3.1727) indicated that the 60 morgen property was left by their father to Jacobus and Andries van der Heyde. It remained in the extended family line for another 105 years until being sold to Michiel Nicolaas Smuts in 1813 (T 198 15.10.1813), great -grandfather of famous South African statesman General Christian Smuts. Three inventories recorded the contents of this farmstead in 1750 (Aletta Nobel and Sybrand, van Dyk MOOC817.51), 1788 (Sara van der Westhuysen and Johannes de Waal MOOC8/50.39) and 1812 (Johannes Burger and Margaretha Louw MOOC8/28.61). The inventoried layout of the house did not change from the four-roomed dwelling first recorded with voorhuis, rooms to right and left and kitchen. It was probably in the form of the common T-plan house but may have been rebuilt. The inventories recorded a rural household of the middling sort of farmer. Hendrik de Waal's father was certainly a rich man (de Villiers & Pama 1966: 1089) but the de Waals at Ongegunt were still a young couple when she apparently died in childbirth with their second child- who survived. Farm labour was supplied by eight male slaves in 1750 and there was only one woman slave, and similarly in 1788 there were eleven men slaves and one woman. The 1812 list was more descriptive so we learn that eight men slaves included a wagon driver, coachman, shepherd and gardener and there were four women slaves. Deeds Office information showed that the farm was quickly passed on from person to person in the 19th century. Andries Gobregt's daughters married Johannes Abraham Burger and Jacobus Andries Louw and the farm passed from Gobregt first to Louw (Tl63 26.8.1808) and then to Burger (Tll 2.2.1810) and then to Burger's brother Petrus (T 164 18.9 .1812) and after his death it was sold to Michiel Smuts who had recently married Maria Magdalena van der Byl (Tl98 15.10.1813). There was a dramatic drop in price from f39500 in 1808 to f18000 in 1810, and then it shot up again to f43000 in 1812. Did Burger alter or rebuild it between 1810 and 1812? Fransen and Cook (1980:253) suggested that an H-plan house was built by Smuts in about 1815 but it seems that rebuilding may already been started. For instance, a zolder was first listed in 1812 and the number of farm outbuildings increased with the addition of a stable, wagon house and buitenvenrek. The voorhuis in a four-roomed farm house like this acted as entrance hall, reception and eating area. Racks on the wall held copper and pewter spoons in 1750 and porcelain in 1788 but there were none in 1812. There were also wall-cupboards in the voorhuis in 1788 that contained glassware, and twelve turned (gedraayde) chairs were particularly pointed out by the appraisers. In 1812 the wall-cupboards were gone, or not rebuilt, because they were presumably no longer in fashion as tableware was not displayed here. A rustbank is listed both in 1750 and in 1812 in the voorhuis. The front rooms were simply furnished with emphasis on the left-hand one. In 1750 the bed was accompanied by a desk with silver spoons and forks and jewellery in it, a large chest of clothes, two tables and eight chairs. There was a tea kettle there too. In 1788 a cabinet replaced the desk and chest, and two white earthen chamber pots were mentioned but it is difficult to know if they were tin-glazed refmed earthenware or coarse earthenware with pale glaze. It is unlikely that they were Staffordshire creamware at this date. In 1812 the room had become more crowded. There were two beds, two tables and nine chairs, a wardrobe held clothes and the tea machine was on a table but there was also much tableware of copper, pewter, dishes and plates, bowls and pots and glasses. The most valuable items of furniture apart from beds were the groat kist (with brass fittings) in the front room in 1750, a cajatonhoute cabinet in 1788, and klederen kast in 1812. The other front room may have been a smaller room, used as a store in 1750 and 1788, and only by 1812 housing a couple of beds, gun rack and two chairs. The kitchen iri 1750 and 1788 contained the copper, pewter and iron utensils for food preparation but in 1812 the tableware had been removed to the living room. Tablewares at Ongegunt in 1750 were dishes, plates and a bowl and were of pewter only and kept in the kitchen. In 1788 a rack and wall-cupboard in the voorhuis held porcelain and glassware but pewter was still in the kitchen, and in 1812 the voorhuis had a shelf with porcelain pot and pewter coffee pot on it, but the (unspecified) tableware and glassware were in the front room along with the tea machine. .(Malan, Antonia:  Households of the Cape, 1750 to 1850:  Inventories and the archaeological record, 1993, P. 144 – 145)

eGGSA library Gravestones in South Africa Weskaap : Western Cape Western Cape, RIEBEEK-WES, Urban area Western Cape, RIEBEEK-WES, cemetery S - Surnames :: Vanne - S SMUTS Pieter van der Byl 1825-1888 & Maria Christoffelina VAN DER WESTHUYSEN 1832-1893

Kinders:


g.1.  Hendrik Jacobus SMUTS, geb. 25/02/1854, Riebeek Kasteel, ged. 26/03/1854, Swartland.

g.2.  Maria Johanna Magdalena SMUTS x Pieter van der Byl Smuts, s.v. Michiel Smuts

g.3.  Pieter van der Byl SMUTS, geb. 04/1858


g.4.  Albertus Jessie SMUTS, geb 1860, oorl. 27/10/ 1934, Riebeek Wes, dist. Mallmesbury

g.5.  Anna Catharina SMUTS x Jacobus Abraham van Aarde

g.6.  Christina Margaretha SMUTS

g.7.  Marthinus SMUTS

g.8.  Johannes Matthys Basson SMUTS

g.9.  Aletta Gertruida SMUTS

g.10  Josias Martinus SMUTS

g.11.  Daniel Jacobus SMUTS