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From: "Editor" <>
Subject: Re: [ZA] Jan Christiaan SMUTS
Date: Sat, 8 Nov 2003 11:45:03 +0200
References: <010901c3a156$a7bf5720$b3b91fc4@ANDERSON> <00fd01c3a20f$3a676690$3de287d9@snook>


Hi All

Discovered among my books "Jan Smuts. An Illustrated Biography" by Trewhella
Cameron (Human & Rousseau, 1994). Must note that throughout Christiaan has
the double 'a' spelling.

Chapter 1. Cape Youth

Jan Christiaan Smuts was born on 24 May 1870 in a house named Bovenplaats on
the farm Ongegund, near Riebeek West. He was the second son of Jacobus
Abraham Smuts, whose father owned Ongegund (Begrudged) and Catherina
Petronella (Cato) néé De Vries. His ancestry was both German and Dutch, as
his paternal ancestor, Michiel Cornelis Smuts, had emigrated to South Africa
from Middleburg, Holland, around 1692, and his maternal ancestor, Johann
Christiaan Davel (after whom he was named), had emigrated from Bautzen,
Germany, in 1734.

The Smuts family had settled in the prosperous wheat- and wine-growing
Swartland in 1786, on the farm Zoutfontein, and had purchased Ongegund in
1818. The house Bovenplaats was situated on the upper reaches of the farm,
overlooked by the heights of Riebeek Kasteel.

The De Vries family, also well-to-do, lived in Worcester, northeast of
Riebeek West, in the Breë River valley. Jan Christiaan de Vries, Smuts's
grandfather, the owner of a shop in Worcester, provided his children with
excellent educations. Cato de Vries, after completing her years at Worcester
School, was sent to the renowned Miss Syfrets's school in Cape Town, where
she studied French and Music. She accompanied her brother, Rev Boudewyn
Homburg de Vries (who had studied theology at Utrecht), to Riebeek West on
his appointment as minister there, and impressed the congregation
tremendously: "so fyn, so goed geleerd" (so refined, so well-educated) they
commented. Before long, Jacobus Abraham Smuts and Cato de Vries were
married, and set up house on his father's 3 000 acre farm. Their completed
family consisted of four sons and two daugthers. Jacobus Abraham entered
politics as a supporter of the Afrikaner Bond, and represented his district
in the colonial parliament. Cato Smuts died during the Anglo-Boer War in
1901, and Jacobus Abraham later remarried, with the happy approval of his
children, a girl named Maria van der Westhuizen who had been at school with
his son Jan.

In 1876, when Jan was six, his father purchased the farm Klipfontein, some
16 km from Riebeek West, with a beautiful panorama of the Winterhoek
Mountains, which Smuts later nostalgically referred to as "the hills of my
beginnings". He spent the greater part of his boyhood in the Riebeek West
area, and retained the distinctive "Malmesbury accent" for the rest of his
life. His lifelong interests were acquired there, and his beliefs and values
were formed. His intense interest in flora and fauna, his deeply
philosophical nature and his love of simplicity, home and family were all
nurtured by the environment of his childhood. His superior intellect was
well balanced by a practical streak acquired as a child, when he worked on
the farm and took responsibility for the free-ranging cattle. He was alloted
a share of the farm livestock, which he later sold to raise funds for his
studies at Stellenbosch and Cambridge.

His elder brother Michiel, like his Uncle Boudewyn, was destined for the
ministry, and began his formal education at T.C. Stoffberg's school in
Riebeek West, where he lodged with the family of Daniël Francois Malan
(later Prime Minister and one of Smuts's main political rivals). The younger
Smuts children were educated at home and Cato Smuts supervised their
education most competently. Jan, who had been "delicate" as a baby, grew
into an intelligent, healthy, lively boy, whose philosophical introspection
was balanced by a curiosity about all natural things.

When he was twelve years old, the course of his life changed completely. His
older brother Michiel died of typhoid, and Jan took his place at T.C.
Stoffberg's school. He board at Die Ark (The Ark), the quaintly named house
at the foot of Riebeek Kasteel where Mrs Stoffberg supervised many of her
husband's pupils. The headmaster commented in later years on Smuts's
brilliance, his remarkable memory and his unique capacity for hard work. He
mastered Ancient Greek in a week for his matriculation examination, and
passed at the head of the list for that subject. In 1885 he came ninth in
the Cape Colony's elementary examination, and a year later, after four years
of formal schooling, he came second in the Colony in the School Higher (Std
8) Examination.

Besides attending school, he taught the younger boys (among them D.F. Malan)
at the Sunday School in Riebeek West, and spent his vacations at
Klipfontein, where he worked on the farm and ran messages for his father, a
leading figure in the social and political life of Riebeek West. He
experienced the spiritual and physical satisfaction of mountain climbing
which, together with his interest in nature, remained a life-long passion.

The school at Riebeek West did not cater for matriculants and in 1886 he
enrolled at the Stellenbosch Gymnasium and then at Victoria College.
<snip>
In 1887 Smuts obtained a first-class pass in the higher matriculation
examination, and was placed third in order of merit. "Isie" Krige, the
remarkable girl who was later to become his wife, was placed ninth.

Sybella Margaretha Krige, or "Isie", as she was nicknamed, was born on 22
December 1870, the second daughter of the nine children of Jacob Daniël
(Japie) Krige, a respected wine and dairy farmer, and his wife Susanna
Johanna (néé Schabort). Their imposing Dutch-gable home, Libertas Parva, was
situated in Dorp Street, Stellenbosch.
EXTRACT ENDS

And the Kriges still live at Libertas, which descendant Johan Krige & his
wife Ode run as a B&B. I stayed there last year when I attended a VOC
history conference in Stellenbosch. Johan & Ode have been involved with the
GSSA for many years & Johan was made an Honorary Member of GSSA this year
for his contributions. They're lovely, friendly people, most helpful & very
knowledgeable, so if anyone is planning a visit to Stellenbosch any time
soon, try & stay there. The house is filled with wonderful antiques -- & the
breakfasts are fantastic! I don't have contact details handy, but they're
listed in many tourist accommodation directories, including online.

Johan's study is filled with books on genealogy, which he allows visitors to
browse through, & on the walls hang portraits of his ancestors. He has a
deep & broad knowledge of Stellenbosch's history, & between him & Dr Hans
Heese, whom I met at the conference, I found the location of the farm
Patryskloof that Pieternella & Daniel Zaaiman lived on briefly in the teens
of the 1700s, after their return from Mauritius, before poverty forced them
to sell the farm -- they could not afford to buy slaves to work it.

Sorry, another long message, but hope it's of interest to some of you.
Regards
Maureen

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Snook" <>
To: <>
Sent: 03 November 2003 03:34
Subject: Re: [ZA] Jan Christiaan SMUTS


Hi Ralph

In 'Jan Christian SMUTS, by his son J.C.SMUTS' pub 1952, his son describes
his ancestry as follows:

pp6
His christian names he inherited from his maternal grandfather Jan Christian
de VRIES. Like his grandfather, he spelt Christian with one "a".

pp 7
Jacobus Abraham Smuts, my parternal grandfather, was a man of some
prominance in these parts, for he was a member of the old Cape Legislature
or supremem parliament of the province. he was the sixth generation of
Smutses to be born in the Cape, he was almost pure Dutch extraction.

The first Smuts to settle in the Cape was Michiel Cornelis who came out from
Zeeland in the service of the Dutch East India company in 1692.

My fathers mother was plump Catherina (Cato) Petronella de Vries, a sister
of Bodewyn, the local padre. She was the seventh generation descendant of
Jacob Cloete who arrived in 1652 with Van Riebeecks's entourage, and in old
age was murdered on a farm by natives. In Ouma Cato's veins was about
one-sixth French blood, which perhaps accounts for her mercurial &
impressionable temperament. Boplaas was, in the 1870's, considered to be
quite an attractive farm, lying high on the sloping ground above Kasteel .
.. .

Regards
Deirdré Snook
Researching Helberg / Hellberg / Buckle
/ Schultz / Pinches / Cramer / Brazer in Southern Africa

----- Original Message -----
From: Ralph Anderson
To:
Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2003 2:34 PM
Subject: [ZA] Jan Christiaan SMUTS


Hi Listers,

In a Cape Archives Depot article of unknown date, possibly entitled " Jan
Smuts as a young man" , Capter 1, CAPE YOUTH, the following sentence appears
in the opening paragraph :-

"His ancestry was both German and Dutch, and his paternal ancestor,
Michiel Cornelis Smuts, had emigrated to South Africa from Middelburg,
Holland, around 1692, and his maternal ancestor, Johann Christiaan Davel
(after whom he was named), had emigrated from Bautzen, Germany, in 1734."

Can someone kindly tell me where to find the genealogical links which will
show how this has occurred especially in connection with his maternal
ancestor.

Regards,

Ralph.

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