Ds. van Warmelo

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

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Timeline

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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 as a minister in Potchefstroom. At the time he was the fourth ordained NH Kerk minister in the Transvaal. His first posting was in the remote Zoutpansberg / Schoemansdal area. In the same year he returned to the Netherlands to get married to Josina van Vollenhoven. He brought his wife to Schoemansdal in South Africa. Unfortunately she passed away in January 1865, 11 months after her arrival.

"Ons moet onthou dat die verre bosveld van Zoutpansberg nog gewemel het van leeus en allerhande ongediertes. Die mense het ver uitmekaar gewoon en malaria was 'n gevreesde siekte. Dikwels moes ds. Van Warmelo in die veld oornag. Die pastorie was 'n klei- en rietdakhuis en het altyd oopgestaan vir die gemeentelede."⁶

His first wife, Josina van Vollenhoven⁶

In 1867 he married Maria Magdalena Maré (1850-1916), the daughter of ivory trader, Dietlof Siegfried von Schönfeld Maré (who later became magistrate of Marabastad and Pietersburg in the Zoutpansberg) in Schoemansdal. They had seven children of which two died at a young age. Maria was schooled in English in Pietermaritzburg, and in later life wrote mainly in English, although she was fluent in Dutch.⁴

His 2nd wife Maria Magdalena Elizabeth Maré.²

In 1867, tensions in the Zoutpansberg district (northern Transvaal) reached a breaking point due to disputes over land, labor, and Boer raids on the Vhavenda people. The conflict was primarily led by the Venda leader Makhado, who sought to roll back white encroachment and reclaim sovereignty over his territory. Schoemansdal was burnt to the ground in 1867. Only the cemetery remained. This event was the only time a Boer settlement was successfully forced into a full retreat and destroyed by indigenous forces. The inhabitants moved to Pietersburg / Marabastad where they erected a temporary church for Van Warmelo. Others moved 15 miles east of Schoemansdal where they established the town of Louis Trichardt.⁶

The Reformed parsonage at Schoemansdal where Rev. Van Warmelo began a thorough revision of the 1862 Church Law during the second quarter of 1867. It was burnt down on July 15, 1867, following the abandonment of Schoemansdal.⁵

Heidelberg

He moved to Heidelberg in c.1867 and was formally inducted on 18 July 1868 as the first resident minister of the local NH Kerk. He arrived shortly after the town was proclaimed (1866) and was involved in the building and early life of the first church, the Kruiskerk, on the town square.

"Vanaf Ds. N.J. van Warmelo se koms in Heidelberg in Julie 1868 het die onderwyssake aldaar dadelik begein vorm aanneem... na tye van insinking was dit gewoonlik hy wat ingespring het om weer te reorganiseer en die skool op dreef te kry."³

The Reformed parsonage in Heidelberg where Rev. Van Warmelo lived in 1879 when he was appointed as the first editor-in-chief of the Kerkelijke Courant. In the background is the church building used by the Reformed congregation until 1885, where the General Church Assembly occasionally met.⁵

Despite his Dutch heritage, he identified heart and soul with the Afrikaner community's pursuit of freedom. On the eve of the First Boer War (December 1880), he led the service at Paardekraal - the only minister present at the gathering attended by more than 6,000 burghers. Unlike few other ministers in the Transvaal, he actively strove for the Transvaal's independence from Britain.⁴

He played a leading role in the negotiations that led to the local union of the NH and NG congregations in Heidelberg. The united body was officially called the Nederduitsch Hervormde of Gereformeerde Kerk. Van Warmelo was elected the first skriba (scribe/secretary) of the united church council. His wife and daughters refused to join the United Church, and remaind with the NH Kerk. He remained with the united congregation even after the union later frayed and a breakaway NH group formed.

The fact that two of his sons could afford to study in Europe, and that the two wife and daughter could undertake a long journey to the British Isles and Europe (1897), is an indication that they were financially well-off during that time. Due to impoverishment, most Afrikaners at the time would not have been able to afford overseas travel.

He served there for the rest of his life (almost 25 years).

His youngest daughter, Johanna (Hansie) van Warmelo (1876 - 1964), was part of a spy network that, besides spying on English officers and troops, also acted as couriers to smuggle explosives to the Boers.² Both mother and daughter were involved in the same Boer spy network in occupied Pretoria during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). They operated from their home “Harmonie” in Sunnyside, Pretoria, which served as a safe house for Boer spies (including Captain J.J. Naudé). Maria van Warmelo (the mother) provided support, intelligence, and a base for the network. Hansie was the famous “Petticoat Commando” who smuggled messages, maps, and explosives hidden in her clothing (hence the “petticoat” nickname). She later wrote the book The Petticoat Commando (1913) detailing their activities.

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Sources

1. Fourie, J.J. (1976) Die Geskiedenis van die Afrikaners in Johannesburg 1886-1900. (thesis)
2. Nicolaas Jacobus van Warmelo (Geni)
3. Lotz, P.W. (1952) Geskiedenis van die Ontwikkeling van die Onderwys aan Blankes in die Distrik Heidelberg, Transvaal van 1839 to 1950. (thesis)
4. Van der Merwe, M.E. (2016) 'n Historiese perspektief oor die kontroversiele lewe van Johanna Brandt. (thesis)
5. Rex, H.M. (1974) Die Ontstaansgeskiedenis van 'De Hervormer' (1869-1899). Die Hervormer, Sept 1974.
6. Botha, W.H. (1972) Ons eer hulle nagedagtenis. Die Hervormer, Jan 1972.