Willem Prinsloo
Full name: Willem Petrus Prinsloo
Nicknames: Willem Wragtag / Willem Wragtig / Willem the Voortrekker
Lifespan: 1820 Somerset East - 1898 Zorgvliet, Bronkhorstspruit
Occupation: Voortrekker, farmer, hunter, carpenter
Nasionale Kultuurhistoriese en Opelugmuseum, Pretoria.
Timeline
Early life
His parents were carpenter and voortrekker Willem Petrus "Willem Spreeu" Prinsloo (1797-1878) and Maria Elisabeth Prinsloo (1791- ) (Spreeu's cousin and widow of "Hendrik Kasteel" Prinsloo).
He received his nickname due to his regular use of the word "wragtig".
Prinsloo married Johanna Maria de Lange (1822-19l9).
Prinsloo and his parents took part in the Great Trek, joining Gerrit Maritz. They took part in the Battle of Blodriver. They later trekked to Natal, Winburg, Potchefstroom, Orighstad and Pretoria.
As a carpenter (like his father) he made inlaid furniture for his friend Paul Kruger. He was also an avid hunter and explorer during the 1850s-90s).
Modderfontein
In 1873 Prinsloo bought the farm Modderfontein for £300 from EMK Struben. In c.1888 gold was discovered on the farm. Even so, Prinsloo was reluctant to sell the farm. In 1894 Mr WP Taylor convinced him to sell his Modderfontein farm to mining magnate Hermann Eckstein of "De Modderfontein Restante Syndicaat". The price was £30,000 (Bailey says £21,000), 40,000 shares in the mining company, plus a milk cow for his wife.
Oom Willem was a typical old Boer, tall, spare, white-bearded, with a felt hat and much worn clothes. He trekked into the Transvaal and settled on a property on the West Rand called “Modderfontein” because of its swamps and slush in rainy weather. As prospectors appeared in the neighbourhood oom Willem snorted angrily he wanted to be left alone. The “uitlanders” had already descended upon the country and the new village of Johannesburg was spreading fast. (Rosenthal).
He initially deposited his money with Standard Bank in Johannesburg, but later withdrew it and kept it at his house next to a loaded rifle.
Other ventures
With the money, he purchased various Bushveld and Highveld farms. In 1896 he bought the northern portion of the farm Elandsfontein for ₤570 from the Minnaar family.
“The owner Prinsloo was somewhat difficult: indeed when I sent a man to inquire of him whether he would give me the farm under option, he told this man that under no circumstances would he give me any such option, nor, he said, did he want to sell his farm, nor must my emissary come again on such business. A few days afterwards, however, thinking that Prinsloo might have changed his mind I again sent my man. When the farmer saw him approaching he said ‘You had better not get off that cart or I will shoot.’ It was obviously useless to try and do business. The Anglo-Boer War intervened.” (Cullinan).
After the discovery of diamonds on Elandsfontein, his daughter Maria Prinsloo eventually sold it to Thomas Cullinan for ₤52,000, who founded the Premier Diamond Mining Company (1902).
In 1887 he bought the farm Zorgvliet from Frederik Hendrik Geyser.
In 1889 he bought the farm Kaalfontein (2802 morgen) near Rayton from Frederick William Munro where his son Lang Willem Prinsloo lived. The farm originally belonged to Phillip van der Merwe, who traded it to Mr Struben, a trader, for a plough and goods. (Possibly the same person as EMK Struben from whom he purchased Modderfontein?). It passed to Frederick William Munro, and was then bought by Willem in 1899. He also briefly live in the farmhouse which was built by Bap Massyn and Koos Koekemoer in 1882.
Kaalfontein farmhouse pre-restoration. Restorica, 1979.
Kaalfontein farmhouse. Nasionale Kultuurhistoriese en Opelugmuseum, Pretoria.
Willem Prinsloo (right) with his son "Lang Willem" (left). Photo: Die Brandwag (1948).
At the time of his death he was considered a very wealthy man: his legacy to his wife and children included £13 094 in cash, sixteen farms, and a stand in Pretoria.
Miertjie le Roux (Lang Willem's granddaughter) inherited the farm Kaalfontein and lived in the 1880 dwelling on the old farmyard until 1976. When Miertjie’s brother died in 1976, she donated 16 hectares of the farm, including the 1880 dwelling and outbuildings, to the National Cultural History and Open-air Museum. A few years later, the National Cultural History and Open-air Museum purchased a portion of the adjacent farm on which the 1913 and 1927 homesteads are. The development of the Museum started in 1976 with the construction of the main building and storage areas. The Museum officially opened in 1980.
See: Willem Prinsloo Agricultural Museum
Sources
- Shovel and Sieve. c.1959. Rosenthal, E. George Allen and Unwin: London.
- Ditsong: Willem Prinsloo Agricultural Museum.
- Willem Petrus Prinsloo - 'n Kleurryke Transvaalse Pionier. 1988. Bailey, A. South African Journal of Cultural History, Volume 2, Issue 4.
- Stories from a Diamond Mine. 2018. Lincoln, J. The Heritage Portal.
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