Wagemakersvallij

On a Tuesday 8 October 1800 Aart and James Read set out for Wagemakersvallij (Wagon Makers Valley) by horse wagon now called Wellington by wagon. It was a rainy day that reminded Aart of Rotterdam. They arrived at dusk and stayed overnight at the home of a Mr. Kreinauw.

Aart van der Lingen and Agatha Catharina van der Schyff

Aart met his wife Agatha Catharina van der Schyff very shortly after arriving at the cape. Her parents were poor and she grew up as the foster child of Gottlieb Wilhelm Bruckner and his wife. At the time Bruckner was the surgeon general at the Cape Town Castle. Bruckner was a member of the ZAG Zuid-Africaans Genoodschap the organisation that was in charge of the missionary group Aart belonged to.

Aart Anthonie van der Lingen arrival at the Cape 1800

Aart Anthonie arrives in the cape by ship in September of the year 1800 with three other missionaries James Anderson (English) who would go on to establish a mission in  at Klaarwater (Griquatown), James Read (English) and Bastian Tromp (Dutch).

James Anderson sailed for South Africa in May 1800 arriving in Cape Town in September as part of the second party of LMS Missionaries including Rev.James Read, and 2 Dutch missionaries, Bastian Tromp & A.A. Van der Lingen.

READ, James (1777-1852)
Prominent member of LMS, worked among Khoikhoi At the time his allegations of ill-treatment of the Khoi and oppression by whites were considered exaggerated. He and his son were alleged to have instigated the Khoi revolt during the 8th Frontier War 1850-1853.

Aart Anthonie van der Lingen's Calling

Fate would seem to have made up its mind that the van der Lingen's would form part of the South African cultural and historical tapestry. Fate steps in is when Aart through his religious passion meets a Dutch missionary named Johannes J. Kicherer at a "Gebedsgroepoefening" prayer group meeting at the house of a "koopman" named Gysbrecht. After this encounter he joins the "Zendinggenootschap" and a few months later he is on his way to the Cape.

J J Kicherer

The First South African van der Lingen

Without doubt the van der Lingen's were one of the most fascinating ancestral families from the 1800's, this page will focus on the South African patriarch Aart Anthonie (4th Great Grandfather of my wife) and his only child Gottlieb Wilhelm Antonie (3th Great Grandfather of my wife).