Voortrekker History: The du Toit and Liebenberg Families

Family stories sometimes distort pieces of information over time. This story is one such example. Elizabeth Johanna DU TOIT was born on 30 January 1833 in Colesberg, the daughter of Johannes (Jan) Hermanus DU TOIT (1807-1836) and Anna Maria LIEBENBERG (1807-1836). She was known as Bettie. She died on 18 December 1925 in Edenburg, Orange Free State.

Johannes was born on 08 January 1807 and baptised on 27 September 1807 in Graaff-Reinet. He was the son of Francois Jacobus DU TOIT and Elsje Susanna GROBBELAAR. He married Anna Maria on 05 March 1826 in Graaff-Reinet. She was born on 07 November 1807 and baptised on 27 December 1807 in Graaff-Reinet. Her parents were Barend Godlieb LIEBENBERG (1766-1836) and Maria Petronella VAN JAARSVELD.

Elizabeth’s parents did not die at Bloukrans in 1838, as the attached magazine article claimed. The author was Elizabeth’s son, and the article was published in Die Ruiter magazine in 1948.

Johannes and Anna Maria joined the Great Trek in 1836 with the Sarel CELLIERS group. They had two wagons and were accompanied by their four daughters, one son, a grandmother, and a female servant.

Leaving the Cape

Towards the end of 1835, two small trek groups, led by Lang Hans VAN RENSBURG and Louis TRICHARDT, left the Cape Colony and trekked north up to the Soutpansberg region. The van Rensburg trek was massacred by Soshangane, while the Tregardt trek, decimated by malaria, eventually reached Delagoa Bay.

Andries Hendrik POTGIETER left the Cradock district at the end of 1835 with a group of extended family and friends. The Voortrekkers passed the Griquas at Philippolis. They reached Blesberg (Thaba Nchu), where they stayed for a few months. At Blesberg, Potgieter made contact with Moroka II, chief of the Barolong. He also made contact with other tribal chiefs, such as Sekonyela and Makwana. They had all been victims of attacks by Mzilikaze.

Temporary camp

Potgieter’s group grew along the way, and in the vicinity of the present-day Smithfield, he was joined by Sarel CELLIERS’ trek group. Potgieter was elected leader of the combined group. By mid-1836, the Potgieter trek had reached the Vetrivier in the Theunissen district. In late May 1836, Potgieter and a few men left the group to explore the land north of the Vaal River and to make contact with Louis TRICHARDT.

Before leaving, Potgieter instructed the group that remained behind to stay together in a laager for safety. He appointed Johannes Lodewikus Petrus BOTHA to act during his absence. Ox-wagons were formed into a circle, and the openings were closed up with the branches of thorn trees when available. During attacks, women and children loaded one gun while the other gun was being fired. The men in the Cape Colony had participated in the commando system since the early 1700s. Males were conscripted for service by both the VOC and the British. They served under their elected veldkornets (for wards) and commandants (for districts). Every man had to supply his own horse and gun, while the government provided flint stones, lead metal and gunpowder.

Not long after Potgieter left, some of the trekkers moved away from the laager to find better grazing for their cattle. They trekked northwards, and by August 1836, two groups of 40 wagons had crossed the Vaal River near the present-day Parys.

Erasmus camp attacked

Stephanus Petrus ERASMUS left the Cape Colony on a hunting expedition in June 1836, leading a group of eight trekkers, including several servants, five wagons, 50 horses and 80 oxen. On 21 August 1836, Erasmus and his son Pieter left their camp at Coquis Drift (Scandinavia Drift) on the northern side of the Vaal River and went hunting. His other two sons, Stephanus and Daniel, and Johannes CLAASSEN went to collect antelope that had been killed the previous day. Carel KRUGER remained in the camp, while the whereabouts of Pieter BEKKER and his son are unknown.

While Erasmus and his son were hunting, about 500 Ndebele under Khaliphi, Mzilikazi’s commander, attacked the camp. When the hunters returned, they found their camp destroyed. Five of the servants had been murdered. His wagons and livestock were gone. American missionaries later spotted his wagons at Mosega. Reverend VENABLE interviewed three coloured servants who were taken captive. They claimed that Erasmus’ sons, Stephanus and Daniel, as well as Carel KRUGER, were initially kept alive by the Ndebele so that they could demonstrate how to inspan the oxen. They were executed on orders of Zetini, the second-in-command of Khaliphi, when they tried to escape along the way. Erasmus never saw his two sons or Kruger again. Johannes CLAASSEN was also presumed dead, as nothing was ever heard from him. Pieter BEKKER and his son had managed to escape. The Ndebele tried to ambush Erasmus and his son, but they managed to escape, riding to the Potgieter group. The Ndebele pursued them and at some point, the impi split, with the main group heading to the Potgieter laager and a smaller group to the Liebenberg camp.

Potgieter laager attacked

On 22 August 1836, Erasmus and his son Pieter reached the Potgieter laager. Kruger, Steyn, Bronkhorst and other families were nearby. After hearing Erasmus’ news, they formed a laager with their wagons. The Liebenbergs were also warned.

Erasmus asked for help to search for his missing sons and to retrieve his wagons. Early the next morning on 23 August, he set out with 11 men. After approximately an hour, they came across around 500 Ndebele, who launched an attack. The Voortrekkers retreated to the laager, and a battle took place from mid-morning to late afternoon. The Ndebele were not familiar with the laager as a defensive tactic. They attacked repeatedly, but the laager, combined with firepower, held out against them.

Christiaan HARMSE’s son, Christiaan, who had been tending livestock in the veld, was killed, as were some coloured shepherds and servants. Adolf BRONKHORST was killed during the battle. The missionaries at Mosega estimated that about 50 Ndebele died in the battle.

Liebenberg camp attacked

Barend Gotlieb LIEBENBERG senior and his extended family were outspanned at the foot of a hill, alongside the Vaal River – across from present-day Parys – with nine wagons. He came from the Graaff-Reinet district. His group consisted of his wife, four sons, and a daughter, all of whom were married and had children. Christiaan LIEBENBERG was away with Potgieter. A schoolmaster, MacDONALD, was also in this camp. The hill was later named Liebenbergkoppie or Moordkoppie (present-day Rietpoort No. 66, Parys). The group consisted of six men, five women, 22 children, and several servants. The group included members of the Liebenberg, Botha, Steyn, Fourie, and Kruger families.

The camp was attacked on 23 August while they were inspanning their wagons to move to the Potgieter laager. Some of the Liebenberg men saw the advancing Ndebele and set off on horseback, dismounted, and began firing. The horses became frightened by the noise, broke loose and returned to the camp. The men were killed, and the Ndebele ransacked the camp. The Liebenbergs – Barend senior; his sons Hendrik, Stephanus and Barend junior; and Johannes DU TOIT, as well as the schoolmaster MacDONALD, were all killed. The wives of Hendrik LIEBENBERG and Johannes DU TOIT were also killed, the latter dying of wounds the next day. Six children and 12 coloured servants were murdered, bringing the total death count to 26.

Some of the women and children escaped. The wife of Stephanus LIEBENBERG, Hester PIENAAR, and her four children were on their in-spanned wagon, ready to go, when the attack began. Her eldest son, Barend Johannes, was tending sheep. Startled by the noise, the oxen ran off but were intercepted by the Ndebele. At that moment Hermanus Jacobus POTGIETER and five men, who had returned early from the Potgieter trip, charged the Ndebele. Hester and her younger children escaped, but the young Barend LIEBENBERG was never seen again.

The eldest daughter of Christiaan LIEBENBERG survived and recovered from 21 stab wounds. The wives of Barend LIEBENBERG senior and Christiaan LIEBENBERG were severely wounded, but they both survived. Three children of Christiaan LIEBENBERG and all four of Hendrik LIEBENBERG escaped. A rescue party later found four children of Johannes DU TOIT unharmed; they had hidden themselves in a wagon.

On the same day, 23 August, some horses, as well as an in-spanned team of oxen, dragging a wagon-shaft between them, arrived from the direction of the Liebenberg camp. Rudolph BRONKHORST had been dispatched earlier by his mother to warn them against a possible attack. He was never seen again, but his horse returned later, riderless and with an assegai wound in its hindquarters.

The Voortrekkers had lost most of their livestock, which was taken to Mosega. They stayed in the laager at Kopjeskraal for about a week, burying their dead. They crossed the Vaal River around 31 August and trekked further south to join other Voortrekkers at the Rhenoster River. After Potgieter’s return on 02 September, his group split in two, one section going south to the Vals River and from there to Blesberg and the other east along the Rhenoster River towards a hill later known as Vegkop.

Elizabeth Johanna DU TOIT (1833-1925)

During the attack, Elizabeth and her mother were stabbed and left pinned to the ground with an assegai. They were both later found alive. Elizabeth was stabbed in the left breast and through the shoulder blade. She recovered, but her mother died two days later from her wounds. Her grandmother had multiple cuts to her arms and was left disabled. The Liebenberg children went to live with an uncle in Colesberg.
Elizabeth married a widower, Frederik Johannes POTGIETER (1815-1879), on 28 February 1853 in Colesberg. They had 14 children. In 1948, there were two sons and a daughter alive. Elizabeth never got married again after Frederik passed away. Since the Anglo-Boer War, she had lived with her widowed daughter Anna VAN VREDEN at Edenburg. A Dutch reading book, used in some schools in Bloemfontein, included a brief biography of her life. Schoolchildren visited her in Edenburg to hear her story.
Frederik and Elisabeth’s children:

1. Francois Johannes 1853-1937
2. Philippus Christoffel 1856-1939
3. Johannes Hermanus Jacobus 1857-1930
4. Jacobus Johannes 1858-?
5. Christiaan Wilhelmus 1859-1922
6. Christina
7. Adriaan Jacobus 1861-?
8. Petrus (Piet) Dirk 1863-?
9. Nicolaas Johannes 1865-1962
10. Anna 1865-? She married Andreas Bartholomeus VAN VREDEN.
11. Hester
12. Elizabeth 1870-?
13. Samuel Jacobus 1872-?
14. Petronella 1874-?

DU TOIT FAMILY

Johannes Hermanus DU TOIT (1807-1836 Liebenbergkoppie) and his wife Anna Maria LIEBENBERG (1807-1836 Liebenbergkoppie). Their joint death notice was only filed in 1841 in Colesberg.
Their children:

1. Maria Petronella Sophia born 15 Dec 1826, baptised 14 Jan 1827 in Colesberg. She died 04 Dec 1884 at Koppies Kraal. She married Samuel Jacobus MARAIS in 1843 in Colesberg.
2. Elsje Susanna (Sanna) born 10 Jul 1828, baptised 12 Feb 1829 in Colesbeg. Her first marriage was to Stephanus Gideon Jacobus GROVE (1819-1870) in 1846 in Graaff-Reinet. Her second marriage was to Izak Johannes VAN ASWEGAN (1828-1905) in 1873 in Bloemfontein.
3. Anna Maria (Antje) born 28 Sep 1830, baptised 15 May 1831 in Colesberg. She died 17 Apr 1871. Her first marriage was to Jacobus Johannes ODENDAAL (1830-1891) in 1848 in Coleberg. Her second marriage was to Adriaan BADENHORST.
4. Elizabeth Johanna born 30 Jan 1833, baptised 28 Apr 1833 in Colesberg.
5. Francois Jacobus born 08 Aug 1834, baptised 07 Dec 1834 in Colesberg. During the attack, the female servant managed to take him and hid in the reeds of the river bank. They both survived, and the servant was still alive in 1938 and living in Bloemfontein.

LIEBENBERG FAMILY

Barend Godlieb LIEBENBERG senior was baptised on 07 Dec 1766 in Tulbagh. He farmed in the Graaff-Reinet district before joing the Great Trek. He was killed at Liebenbergkoppie on 23 August 1836.
He married Maria Petronella VAN JAARSVELD on 28 October 1787 in Graaff-Reinet. She was baptised on 30 March 1771. She was wounded but survived the attack at Lienbergkoppie.
Their children:

1. Stephanus Rudolph baptised (30 Sep 1803 – 23 Aug 1836). He was married to Hester Sophia PIENAAR in 1836 in Graaff-Reinet. She was born on 04 Dec 1806, baptised on 26 Dec 1806 in Graaff-Reinet.
   Stephanus and Hester’s children:
   a. Elizabeth Johanna (baptised 1789), married Schalk Willem BURGER in 1806.
   b. Barend Godlieb (born 179), died 1869, married three times: 1814 to COETZEE, 1818 to PIENAAR, 1851 to HAVENGA.
   c. Albertus johannes (baptised 1793), died 1860, married twice: 1814 to VILJOEN, 1839 to COETZEE.
   d. Christiaan Jacobus (baptised 1796), married three times: 1817 to KOTZE, 1821 to LIEBENBERG, 1825 to CILLIERS.
   e. Maria Petronella born 1796, died before Oct 1816.
   f. Susanna Jacomina born 1801.
   g. Stephanus Rudolph (baptised 1803), killed at Liebenbergkoppie. He was married to Hester Sophia PIENAAR in 1826 in Graaff-Reinet.
   h. Rachel Jacoba born 1805.
   i. Anna Maria (1807-1836). She married Johannes (Jan) Hermanus DU TOIT (1807-1836).
   j. Hendrik Frederik born 1809, killed at Liebenbergkoppie. He was married to Martha Johanna Elizabeth STRAUSS in 1829 in Graaff-Reinet. Martha was also killed at Liebenbergkoppie. Their four children survived the attack (Elizabeth Louisa born 1830; Maria Petronella born 1831; Barend Godlieb born 1833; and Martha Elizabeth Johanna born 1835).

Christiaan Jacobus LIEBENBERG (baptised 1796) and his first wife Francina Maria Johanna KOTZE’s son, Barend Godlieb (born 1818) disappeared after the Liebenberg attack and believed to have been killed by Mzilikazi.
His third wife, Anna Petronella CILLIERS, was wounded in the attack but survived. Christiaan was away with Potgieter. Christiaan died in 1844, Anna died in 1881.

Stephanus Rudolph LIEBENBERG (baptised 1803) and his wife Hester Sophia PIENAAR’s son, Barend Johannes (born 1827) was taken during the attack but rescued by Jacobus HAMMAN. He died on St Helena Island, where he was an Anglo-Boer War prisoner-of-war. He was married to Anna Elizabeth LOMBARD in 1850 in Potchefstroom.

Sources:
Die Noordwaartse Beweging van die Boere voor die Groot Trek, 1770 – 1842, by P.J. van der Merwe (Die Burger Boekhandel, Cape Town, 1937).
Die Matabeles en die Voortrekkers, by P.J. van der Merwe in Argiefjaarboek vir Suid-Afrikaanse Geskiedenis, 49th Volume Part II (Government Printer, Pretoria 1986).
Own collection of notes.