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- Dictionary of South African Biography:
Greeff, Hendrik Adriaan (Subscriber Content)(*Lichtenburg, Durbanville, CC, 29.1.1828 - †Sandspruit, Wakkerstroom dist., 3.4.1884), founder of Lichtenburg, commandant, farmer, businessman, and adventurer, was the son of Matthys Greeff and his wife, Rachel Jacoba de Villiers.At the age of eighteen G. left home and entered the service of Net de Vos, a waggon-builder at Worcester. About 1847 or 1848 he built a ferry over the Vaal River near Bloemhof and made a good living from the toll. Finding this life too restricted, however, he sold the ferry, bought a waggon and a team of oxen, purchased merchandise in the Cape Colony and undertook a hunting expedition to the Transvaal, but a hostile Black chief robbed him of all his possessions and he escaped with only his horse and gun.G. then left the Cape Colony (1856) and moved to the Transvaal, where he took part in various hunting expeditions, among others to what was to become Rhodesia, and Damaraland. His family, who accompanied him, often had to endure great hardships such as encounters with hostile Blacks, water shortage, rain, cold, and heat.In 1860 G. bought the farm Doornfontein and later also a part of the farm Elandsfontein and the present farm Manana. Since as a farm surveyor he was usually paid in land, he acquired a number of farms with which he speculated, and in 1865 he campaigned for the founding of a town to be called Lichtenburg on the farm Doornfontein. It was not until 25.7.1873 that Pres. T. F. Burgers approved this proposal, and included the farm Middelbosch. G. opened a shop in the town but remained living on Manana, farming mealies and selling his mealie harvest every year in Kimberley, where it fetched a good price.A church elder, field cornet, and later commandant, G. became a respected resident of the Western Transvaal. On the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War in December 1880 he was involved in the siege, laid by Gen. P. A. Cronjé, of the British garrison in Potchefstroom, and on 20.12.1880 he guarded an outpost alongside the Mooi River, but left shortly afterwards for Lichtenburg, which he reached on Christmas Day. He and Commandant J. W. Viljoen were responsible for the maintenance of peace among the Black tribes on the western frontier, and it was through G.'s intervention that Cronje acquired his only cannon, enabling him to return the British gunfire. G. was later replaced as commandant and in February 1881 returned to Potchefstroom where he remained for the duration of the war. Since news that peace had been declared had not reached Potchefstroom, G. was appointed (1.4.1881) to guard the town with thirty men, but the order was retracted when news was received that the war was over.In the same year G. was made commissioner for Native affairs to prevent Boer volunteers from becoming involved in the disputes of the Tswanas on the western frontier and at first he succeeded in doing so, but by the end of the year volunteers were crossing the frontier as they pleased. In 1883, when he was offered the post of Ianddros at Lichtenburg, he declined it on account of poor health. After various doctors had treated him without success, he left to have medical treatment at Wakkerstroom, but died at Sandspruit and was buried there. His remains were reinterred by the family on the farm Manana on 29.4.1944.On 16.7.1855 G. married Susanna Maria Redelinghuis in the Cape Colony, and had three sons and six daughters, the eldest of whom married Gen. J. H. de la Rey. A bust of G. was unveiled at the entrance to the Civic Centre in Lichtenburg on 29.1.1973.
The particular bonding that exists between Hendrik's descendants was triggered by the occasion when, near to the place where he later founded the town of Lichtenburg, his prayer for water was answered by the Lord. Hendrik returned to the place to give thanks on his 50th birthday.Many of his descendants have spontaneously followed suit, arranging family gatherings at the site and honouring the Lord in a special way on their 50th birthdays.The farm where he was born in Durbanville, Cape was named Lichtenburg, after the area in Germany from where his ancestor, Matthias Greeff came to South Africa in the 17th Century.The first four large concentration camps in Germany were already in existence in 1937, two years before the war. They were Dachau, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen and Lichtenburg! (Source: Page 61. Veranov, Michael (Ed). 1998.
The Third Reich at War. Siena Publishing.) [1]
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1828 - 1884 (56 jaar)
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