Archistori

Full name:  Frederik (Frikkie) Korsten Maré Lifespan:  1821 Uitenhage - 1895 Heidelberg, Tvl Occupation: Magistrate ( landdrost) Family: He married Johanna Helena Josina van Niekerk (1827 Graaff-Reinet - 1921 Heidelberg) in 1845. They had more than 11 children. Timeline House F.K. Maré was born in the Cape Colony (Uitenhage/Graaff-Reinet area) as one of the youngest sons of Paul Maré . The family trekked to Natal in 1838. Paul died in a Scotch Cart accident. His widow and the children trekker further where they joined the party of Gert Maritz at Klein Tugela. After the Battle of Bloodriver (1838), the Maré  family trekked to Pietermaritzburg. His younger brother Dietlof remained in Pietermaritzburg and became a wagon maker and ivory trader. He would later become landdrost of Soutpansberg. Paulus Maré (or Maree) (1767 Stellenbosch - 1838 Bethlehem) was a landdrost of Graaf-Reinet. Dietlof Siegfried Maré (1824 Uitenhage - 1890 Pietersburg). Frederik attended school ...

Full name:  Nicolaas Jacobus van Warmelo Lifespan:  1835 Netherlands - 1892 Heidelberg, Tvl Occupation: NH (Nederduitsch Hervormde) Kerk minister Family: Married (1) Josina van Vollenhoven (1832 Netherlands - 1865 Schoemansdal) in 1864 in the Netherlands. (2) Maria Magdalena Elizabeth Maré (1850 Pietermaritzburg - 1916 Pretoria) in 1867 in Schoemansdal. His three sons participated in the 2nd Boer war - two were prisoners of war. Van Wermelo Timeline Biography Netherlands Van Warmelo, like many of his male family members (including his father and two of his sons), studied Theology. He graduated at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. Due to the overabundance of ministers in the Netherlands at that time, he did not succeed in receiving a call to a congregation. Van Warmelo as a student. ⁶ Schoemansdal In 1862 he moved to South Africa as a young minister with hope of finding employment in the Cape. In 1864 he travelled to the Transvaal where was ordained a...

AKA: Sometimes refered to as 'Dorpskool' during ZAR period (pre-2nd Boer War) Built: 1890 : 1973-74 Architects: Unidentified Original School. n.d. This was the main government/public school in the town during Superintendent H. Mansvelt’s period of educational reform. The school was founded by magistrate F.K. Maré. A key condition of its establishment was that the medium of instruction would be Hollands (Dutch/Afrikaans). It was the town’s main government school in the late 19th/early 20th century. Frederik (Frikkie) Korsten Maré (1821 Uitenhage - 1895 Heidelberg) became the first magistrate of Heidelberg in 1866. Op 27 Desember 1888 is die volgende besluit geneem in sake die nuwe gebou wat opgerig sou word: " Het schoolgebouw moet ingericht worden voor zeventig kinderen; er moet ruimte zijn voor twaalf kostleerlingen, die twee slaapkamers nodig hebben, zes voor iedere slaapvertrek. " Die koste moet nie meer as £1400 bedra nie. Die gebou sou op erf nr. 61 opgerig wor...

Full name: John Eustace Fannen Lifespan:  1834 England - 1905 Belgium Occupation: Natal pioneer, surveyor, magistrate, advocate, judge. Family:  Married Etheria Goldwina Gower (c.1848 - ?) in 1868. They had 12 children. Brother of  land surveyor, Thomas Fannin . Brother of  Marianne Edwardine (Edda) Fannin (1845 Ireland - 1938 Heidelberg, Transvaal, naturalist and artist. Young Fannin (Geni) Photo from the cover of "The Fannin Papers" Timeline Biography In 1845, the Fannin family emigrated from Dublin to the Cape. After two years in Cape Town (1847) they were transported to Natal by Dick King, and settled in the Midlands, some 30 km north-east of Pietermaritzburg. Their farm was named The Dargle, after a place which Thomas Sr. had known in Ireland. They were one of the earliest settler families in the region and derived their income mainly from cutting timber on the farm. John became a clerk and interpreter at the Magistrate's Court in Ladysmith, and later at...

Built: 1890-1891 : 1954 Architect:  A.C.  Brislin & H.G. Veal (won in an architectural competition) Contractor: J.B. Kirton View from east. Source: Elizna Coetzer on FB (2025) The NG congregation was formally established in 1865. The very first church on the site was the Kruiskerk (demolished 1898), a simpler building erected in 1865 by the Nederduits Hervormde (NH) congregation on the same square. Heinrich Ueckermann (the founder of Heidelberg) acted as secretary of the early church council - he was responsible for authorising payments to the contractor for that first structure. By the 1880s, both NH Kerk and NG Kerk groups had a presence in the small town, leading to overlapping congregations on the same square. NH Kerk (Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk), the original “state church” of the ZAR, was established in the 1850s (first congregation in Potchefstroom 1842/1853) by Voortrekkers who wanted complete independence from the Cape Colony’s NG Kerk (Nederduitse Gereformee...

Built: 1897 Architect: Unidentified Location: Cnr Van der Westhuizen & H.F. Verwoerd St., Heidelberg Early Photo.¹ When Rev. Adriaan Jacobus Louw arrived in Heidelberg on 8 April 1893, there was no parsonage available for him and his family. This was because of the ongoing bitter property dispute between the united NG/Hervormde congregation and the breakaway NH faction (the old Hervormde pastorie of Ds. N.J. van Warmelo was at the centre of the conflict). His family stayed temporarily in a hotel; because of his wife’s health, he sent them back to the Cape while he stayed on alone. The new NG pastorie (the house he and his family eventually occupied) was built using stone and materials salvaged from the old Kruiskerk (the first small church, demolished in 1891). In December 1896 the church bought two erven (numbers 98 and 99) in Van der Westhuizenstraat from J.A. Smit. The house was officially taken into use on 5 November 1897 (the boundary wall was not yet completed). This is ...

Aka:  Magistrate's Residence Built: 1903 Architect: Unidentified Photo: Heidelberg Heritage on FB. "It was previously known as the Magistrate’s residence. From early times the stand was designated for the official residence of the Magistrate of Heidelberg. The house would have replaced the previous official residence of the Magistrate."¹ Map location Sources Heidelberg Heritage: Stop 13: The Old Drostdy versus de Rust.

Date: 1906 Original owner:   Frederik Jacobus Bezuidenhout Architect:  Mattheus Carel August Meischke Builder: Johannes Stephanus Joubert (1870-1949). Also involved in construction of the Union Buildings in Pretoria. Locality:  Farm  Boschfontein (6 morgen). R42, west of Heidelberg The 792m² historic mansion known as De Rust (sometimes referred to as the Bezuidenhout mansion or De Rust Homestead). It is an impressive Edwardian-era mansion with 14 rooms (including 4 bedrooms, a men's smoking room, a ladies' lounge, and a spacious entrance hall). It was built as a substantial country residence for the wealthy Bezuidenhout family. The house reflects the prosperity of early 20th-century Transvaal farming families and the architectural tastes of the period. While many old farmsteads in the region are simpler, De Rust was designed to be more elaborate and stately. Materials and fittings were imported. It has Oregon Pine floors and pressed steel ceilings. The mosaic ...

Date: 1934 Architect: Unidentified Style: Cape Dutch Revival, H-plan Location: Devon Valley, Stellenbosch Source: Perfect Hideaways The house is set on a private estate with its own vineyards (linked to Le Grand Domaine winery). It features an original H-shaped layout, deep stoeps (verandas), and gabled roofs. According to multiple sources, it was constructed as a wedding gift for the daughter of a neighboring estate and designed by an unnamed student of Sir Herbert Baker. The property itself is surrounded by old magnolia trees and hundred year old oaks planted back in the 1930s. The property has strong garden emphasis - hence the name "Le Grand Jardin" (French for "The Great Garden"). Today, it's marketed as a whimsical, heritage-rich retreat with 360° vineyard and mountain views. Aerial view. Source: Le Grand Jardin on Instagram. Entrance view. Source: LekkeSlaap Source: InsideGuide Staircase: Source: The Citizen Staircase. Source: The Citizen Locality map ...

Full name: Thomas William Fannin Lifespan:  c.1830 Ireland - 1865 Heidelberg (died aged 36) Occupation: Land surveyor Thomas Fannin was a British settler in Natal who worked as a government land surveyor and is best remembered for laying out the town of Heidelberg (Transvaal) shortly before his death. He was the eldest son of Thomas Fannin, Esq. (c. 1793-1852), who arrived in Natal from the Cape in 1847 and purchased a large farm called "Buffels" (or similar) in the Dargle area near Pietermaritzburg. His brother  John Eustace Fannin became a government surveyor. John Eustice Fannin (1834 England - 1905 Belgium) arrived in Natal in 1847, where his family settled in Dargle. He became Government Surveyor. Married Etherea G. Gower in 1868. Fannin was active as a surveyor in Natal and ventured into the northern Transvaal for work. In the early 1860s, while returning from surveying expeditions further north (where he had contracted malaria), he passed through the area near the fa...

Lifespan:  1856 SA Scotland - 1938 Heidelberg Occupation: Medical doctor Family: He married Catherine Elizabeth "Cassie" Marrable (1861 Scotland - 1930 Heidelberg). They had three children. Cassie and James O'Reilly. Source: Von Geusau Album via The Citizen. Biography The O'Reilleys moved from Scotland to Heidelberg in the 1880s.³ O'Reilly served as district surgeon in Heidelberg, with records noting him in the post as early as 1888 (he held it for at least 11 years before the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1899). During the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902), O'Reilly and his wife served on an ambulance train to Elandslaagte after consulting the Red Cross in Pretoria. Cassie O'Reilly worked as an (unqualified) nurse, including in the context of concentration camps or related relief efforts. She was voted onto the hospital committee and given the nursing portfolio. Due to local Afrikaner politics, Cassie was forced to resign from the hospital committee...