• General Notes

  Maria must have been a slave from the South East coast of India. (Familia 1978 p30,31) partner b2 Coenraad Visser, => b2c7 Susanna Visser => b8 Christiaan Hattingh => b8c7 Johannes Dewalt Hattingh => b8c7d4 *Johannes Dewalt Hattingh => b6c7d4e10 Christiaan Johannes Hattingh => b6c7d4e10f4 Martha Rhyna Hattingh => b2c1d2e2f2g3h4 Anna Elizabeth Sophia van Jaarsveldt => b4c2d5e4f11g3 Jacobus Johannes Burger Combrinck => my mother => me
  
  The trading town of Negapatnam which is situated on the Coromandel coast (South East coast of India) was captured by the Dutch in 1659/1660. It served as an outlet for the rich Tanjore hinterland and the Kaveri delta. It was a weaving and textile centre, they also exported rice. This Tamil area produced cotton and thread. Foreigners enjoyed purchasing piece goods from here: sheets, table cloths, serviettes, calicoe shirts, handkerchief, aprons, gowns and petticoats. The name Negapatnam comes from the local word "naga" meaning snake, since there were so many cobra's in this area, and "patnam" meaning city. P Baldaues, Naauwkeurige beschrivinge van Malabar and Choromande
  
  "There was a steady supply of slaves, either by the destitute selling themselves or by conquest in war or kidnapping ... After a severe famine or devastation caused by prolonged warfare, a number of people would betake themselves to the coastal ports and offer themselves for sale" Aratsaratnam p 104, 105 Merchants, Companies and Commerce on the Coromandel Coast. The slaves were then taken to South east Asia to the slave markets of Acheh, Pegu and Arakan. Baldaues p 156, describes it in 1669 The population has no seed to grow and no rice to eat. "duysenden van menschen quamen na de stadt, om haar vrouw en kinderen to verkoopen, van wegen den schrikkelijken hongers-noodt, de straten en wegen lagen met lijken bezaeyt ... men kon zommige om niet en voor de kost tot slaven bekomen" a slave was sold for 4 or 5 gulden. Between 4 and 5,000 were sent to Jafnapatam, and more to Colombo, and thousands to Batavia and other places. He describes them as being very black, the people look like, " doode geraamten", bones poking out, sunken jaws, eyes sunk in their skulls. Fever and chicken poxs left its toll with thousands perishing. In 1677 the Dutch were prohibited from purchasing slaves as they had done under earlier governments. There were even Persian traders that frequented this harbour, refer to the article by Sanjay Subrahmnayam in ed Frank Broeze, Gateways of Asia: Port Cities of Asia in the 13th - 20th Century
  
  In India there were many Buddhist temples which required top crafstmen, surely some of these skilled craftsmen would have come to the Cape.
  
  Jan Coenraad Visser, born ca 1633, Ommen (Overijssel) Netherlands, married ca 1653 in Netherlands to Margaretha Gerrits, born ca 1640 Hardenberg, Netherlands. He arrived in at the Cape 1657, was a soldier and preacher, burger 30 Sept. 1659, had 6 children. Margaretha arrived in SA 1662. She was murdered by a slave, Claas van Malabar, March 1692. Jan Coenraad died c July 1718 in Cape.
  
  b1 Maria Jansz Visser, born 1655, Ommen, Netherlands, arrived Cape 1662 with mother, who married Willem Willemse, but had 2 children with Ockert Cornelis Olivier, a labourer for Willem Willemse. She became stammother of this OLIVIER family.
  
  b2 Coenraad Visser, born ca 1660, Netherlands, arrived Cape 1662 with mother. He married 5 Aug. 1685 Catherina Everts van der Zee, born 1671 aboard the ship Europa. Coenraad had 10 children (I don't know how many Catherina had) - perhaps others can figure out whose children were Catherina's and whose were Maria van Negapatnam's. Coenraad had several children with Maria van Negapatnam or Maria van Bengale. Maria was born c1669, baptised c 1722 at Stellenbosch at the age of 53.
  
  b3 Zacharias Visser, arrived SA 1662 with mother, christened Aug 23/28, 1665 at Cape Town, married three times, Dietrich PUTTER, Johannes BASSON and Andries KRUGEL. SA Genealogies, Vol 4 gives the marriage date to Andries Krugel as 5 Jul 1706
  
  b5 Gerrit Jansz Visser, married Jannetje Hendriks THIELEMANS and had 12 children.
  
  b2c7 Susanna Visser - 7th child of Coenraad Visser (No. 2 above) was a daughter of Maria van Negapatnam. (Maria had 3 children by Coenraad Visser?) Susanna was born ca 1693/98, married 6 Nov. 1716 to Hans Hendrik (Heinrich) Hattingh. Hans' first marriage 19 Jan. 1698 was to Marie de Lanoy of France, widow of Ary Lecrevain. Hans was a burger & farmer, owned 'Speyer' by Stellenbosch & 'La Motte' in Franschhoek, and died ca April 29, 1729. Susanna Visser's second marriage 20 Feb. 1732 to Wilhelm Rubeik (Rube) of Wezel. SA Genealogies, Vol 3, Also has the following farm for Hattingh - Hadersleben
  
  In 1662 his wife Margaretha Gerrits and five children joined him in the Cape. After the death of his wife, Margaretha in 1692, the slave Maria van de Kust Coromandel went to call Jan Coenraad Visser. It should be remembered that Negapatnam was a town on the coast of Coromandel.
  
  In March 1696 he promised to set free the slave Maria van Bengale with three of her children, which included the 3 year old Susanna, once he (Visser senior) died. This took place c November 1710. At this time Susanna daughter of Coenraad Visser (junior) was a young woman, and she apparently was already working or living as a slave at Hans Heinrich (Hendrik) Hattingh. From 1709 they started to baptise a number of Hattingh children prior to them getting married at Stellenbosch church 16 Nov 1716.
  
  In 1722 Susanna's elderly mother, Maria van Negapatnam, 53 years old, was baptised at Stellenbosch. Prof Leon Hattingh states that this was the first Black adult baptism that he has found in the Stellenbosch church register. Hans Hattingh and Susanna were the witnesses. Prof Leon Hattingh concludes, thus Maria van Negapatnam is the stammoeder of the Hattingh's in South Africa. It should be remembered that Hans Hattingh was married 19 Jan 1698 previously to Marie de Lanoy (the wid. of Ary Lecrevent). Some books make mention that the wife was from Bengale others from Negapatnam, I must admit that Bengal and Negapatnam on the Coast of Coromandel is not the same location. Now we need to ask ourselves how come this variation in what is given as place of origin, in fact these mistakes were not uncommon, refer to JL Hattingh "Naamgewing van Slawe, Vryswartes en ander Gekleurdes" Kronos 1983, Vol VI, p 9. In this article he gives a number of examples. Hattingh makes specific mention of Jan Coenraad Visser who granted freedom to Maria van Bengale and her daughter Susanna in 1696. Then he states that Susanna Visser in 1721 had her elderly mother Maria van Negapatnam baptised, quoting from his book Die Eerste Vryswartes van Stellenbosch 1679 - 1720, p 65. He concludes that this is the one and same person.
  
  Regarding Margaretha Gerrits murder. {The court case reference is: AR VOC 4030 (14 Mar 1692) fol 328.} Maria/Marie van Negapatnam was the slave girl of Margaretha Gerrits and Jan Coenraad Visser. On a Friday evening in March 1692, the slave girl Maria and her mistress Margaretha was working in the kitchen, when a household slave Claas van Mallebar, passed through the kitchen on the way to chop wood in the yard. Margaretha scolded at Claas for not getting the wood in time for her baking, and she refused to believe his excuse that he was on the mountain looking for the cow. Claas then said: "Jou oud hond, Jij moogste den selvs gaan haalen" - You old dog, go and fetch it yourself! Margaretha then attempted to strike Claas, but he lifted his axe and buried the axe in her neck. It was fatal and her her head was almost decapitated. This occurred in front of Maria, Robert Shell, p 219 states that after this murder, Maria van Negapatnam ran to Visser (senior) and cried: "Baas, Baas! Moeder is dood! Moeder is dood!". Shell explains that at the Cape, slaves considered the mistress as both mistress and mother, and the masters as fathers. But in this case, depending on when Maria had children of Coenraad Visser (junior), ironically she may have been her de facto mother-in-law.
  
  If Coenraad Visser (junior) was married 5 Aug. 1685 to Catherina Everts van der Zee, Maria van Negapatnam would have then been 16 years. When did Coenraad Visser start to have an intimate relation with Maria? I do not know. But one can only imagine the interactions that must have taken place between all these individuals. Catherina Everts van der Zee would have been two years younger than Maria van Negapatnam, with whom Coenraad was having a sexual affair.
  
  Maria in March 1696 had three children, including the three year old Susanna. It would be interesting to know more about the other children, how old were they? Were all three children Coenraad Visser's (junior) children? Obviously Coenraad Visser (Junior) would have gotten to know the slave Maria in his parents home, he was nine years older than Maria. Maria was born c 1669 taken from her age given at adult baptism, thus she would have been 23 when Margaretha was murdered.
  
  2. Susanna Visser was 16 years old in 1709 and Hans Hattingh would have been 47 years old when there was a baptism entry 27 Oct 1709 for b4 Marij. Most likely named after Susanna's mother=> Maria van Negapatnam. Maria would have received her name most likely due to the Portuguese influence in Negapatnam, the Dutch defeated the Portuguese in 1659/1660 here.
  
  If Maria was born in 1669 this was soon after the big drought that Badaeus describes which affected Negapatnam, and we can presume that it was during this drought that she was sold into slavery.
  
  The tabloid's of Murdoch and the TV soapies, have to compete hard with the early Cape. On the other hand a rather a grim picture of exploitation? rape? or was it love? many secrets remain hidden.
  
  J.G.Taylor in The Social World of Batavia p 228, gives a Malay glossary, one word caught my attention, and its use: "nyai" - term used by the Dutch to denote a concubine/housekeeper to a European. The Afrikaans word for sex is "naai". Did this word come from the Malay which referred to a concubine to a European? Was this practice so common that eventually the word took on new meaning? or was this a common word that slipped in since they would not have spoken publicly about sex in Dutch.
  

Details of Maria (van Negapatnam)'s family with Coenraad Visser