First Fifty Years - a project collating Cape of Good Hope records - Thomas van Bengale
Thomas van Bengale1
M, #15379, b. 1650/51
BirthOrigin* Thomas was from Bengal and may have been born there in 1650/51. He was 20 when sold as a slave in 1671. It should be born in mind that the toponym 'van Bengale' or from Bengal was a term loosely applied during the period of VOC dominance to enslaved or formerly enslaved people from any of the countries bordering the Bay of Bengal.1
Slave Transactions On 8 July 1670 Anthoniij van Angola and Thomas van Bengale were sold in a transaction numbered T85 by Jochem Marquart to Matthijs Coeijmans. Also sold was Marquaert's house and land located at Windberg (Duiwelspiek), measuring 27 morgen and 28 square roods; 2 horses with tack, 50 halfslagooie, 24 draught oxen, 2 ploughs, 2 harrows, 2 wagons and all other equipment, incluidng 30 muids of corn. In return (transaction T86) Coemans paid his own new house, gardens, and erf (measuring 296 square roods), along with 2,000 guilders. [Hattingh is at pains to emphasize there were no slaves mentioned in the second transaction, but a careful reading of his summary, suggests the slaves in question were those previously mentioned in the first set of transactions.]2,3
Jacob van Macassar and Thomas van Bengale were sold by Mathijs Coemans to Dirck Bosch on 2 March 1671, for f 450. The transaction included baking equipment.4,5
On 20 December 1672 Thomas van Bengale was sold by Dirck Bosch to Jan Pietersz Broertje, for Rds. 100.6,7
[S418] Anna J. Böeseken, Slaves and Free Blacks at the Cape 1658-1700 (Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1977), p.128. 2.3.1671, V, pp. 117-118: Thomas from Bengal (20) and Jan from Macassar (10), sold for 1450 by Matthijs Coemans to Dirck Bosch, together with utensils used by the baker.. Hereinafter cited as Slaves and Free Blacks at the Cape 1658-1700.
[S853] J.L. (Leon) Hattingh, "Kaapse noteriële stukke waarin slawe van vryburgers en amptenare vermeld word (1658 - 1730? 1670)", Kronos - Kaapse noteriële stukke waarin slawe van vryburgers en amptenare vermeld word (1658 - 1730? 1670) 15 (1988): 8.7.1670 T 85 T 100 CTD 4, p.120
Matthijs Coijmans [Cooeijmans] van Herentals, vryburger, verkoop aan Jochem Marquart, mede burger, sy nuut geboude huis, stalle en erf naby die fort tussen die wonings van Jan Verhagen en Gysbert Dircksen Verwey, groot 296 roede, soos dit teenswoordig besaaid, bevrug en omhein is. Aan die noordoostelike kant is Tafelbaai, suidoos Windberg en die tuin en woning van burger Gysbert Dircksen Verwey, suidwes Tafelberg en die erf van Frans van Hairbrugge en noordwes Leeuwenberg en die tuine van Jan Verhagen volgens die erfbriewe van 1 Maart 1660 en 15 Julie 1662, alles vir die woning, landerye en tuin van Marquart gelee agter die Windberg, die gesaaides daarop, twee slawe, 2 perde met toebehore, 50 ooie, 24 trekosse, 2 ploeë, 2 eê, 2 waens met [Iand-]bougereedskap benewens 30 mud koring. [Op dieselfde dag teken Cooijmans 'n skuldbriefvir die f 2000 en die plaas, slawe, ens. Die oorspronklike hiervan kom op p. 142 van CTO 4 voor en p.126 is ‘n afskrif. By laasgenoemde het die Aktekantoor verkeerdelik ‘n nota aangebring dat dit ‘n nuwe verkoopakte, T 87, is. Dit hoort eerder by p.129 te wees. In geen van hierdie dokumente word die name van die twee slawe vermeld nie.]. Hereinafter cited as "Kaapse noteriële stukke waarin slawe van vryburgers en amptenare vermeld word (1658 - 1730? 1670)."