| Notes |
- «i»den 6 september Barent
Albert Barints en Margaretia Hoefnagel
Maria Hendricks
«/i»After the recall of Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel, his estate "«i»Vergelegen«/i»" in Hottentots Holland was split into four parts and sold. Barend Gildenhuys became the owner of one portion.
In "The Story of Hottentots Holland" Barend Gildenhuys and his association with «i»Vergelegen«/i» is mentioned, together with an account of a visit to the farm:
In 1710 Commissary Cnoll arrived in Table Bay from Java. He suffered from asthma and, having heard of the healing powers of the hot springs over the mountains, he lost no time in going there. On his return to de Kaap - in better health - he visited «i»Vergelegen«/i», arriving there at midday. He described his visit in his journal. "We…were most hospitably invited by the present possessor, the burgher Gildenhuijs, to partake of a meal with him. It consisted of boiled and fried haarder, which we consumed with hearty enjoyment. This estate which was lately sold in lots, seemed to us a delightful place, The houses and a section of the garden were enclosed in a stout octagonal wall. On the outside of the wall were other houses of good size; it took us about three hours to inspect this gigantic piece of work which no doubt consumed much time, labour and money to complete…"
It is recorded that Barend Gildenhausen, the first purchaser of the homestead allotment, died within a few years of the sale and that his widow married Michiel Otto, a German from Stettin. Otto was a sailor, having arrived in the country in 1714. He became a 'superintendent of the wood cutters behind the Steenbergen'; later he acquired burgher papers and on his marriage in 1722 to the widow Gildenhausen, the farm «i»Vergelegen«/i». He was commonly known as 'Baas Otto' or 'Michiel Os' (ox) and O.F. Mentzel in his 'Description of the Cape' gives some details of his 'inhuman conduct'. 'Flogging', says Mentzel, 'seemed to him far too mild a punishment for the smallest offence. Generally in summer he used to bind slaves who had committed some offence naked to a tree of pole in the sun, had their entire bodies smeared with honey and thus were tortured unbearably for hours by flies, wasps, bumble-bees and other pests, especially by the African blind flies'. For this behaviour he was 'severely puni
In 1751 «i»Vergelegen«/i» was acquired by Jurgen Radyn, eldest son of the Jurgen Radyn who, in 1723, had been loaned «i»Gustrouw«/i», near the present Gordon's Bay. Jurgen Radyan, Jun, had married Anna Dorothea Otto, a daughter of Michiel Otto and the widow Gildenhausen.
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1682 - Bef 1721 (~ 38 years)
d. 1712 (Age 72 years)