Following is an extract of a description of Joseph Ferdinand de Raedt and his family in Gallery van Reenmakers by Dot Serfontein, Human & Rousseau, 1986:
VIERFONTEIN in Galery van Reenmakers, by Dot Serfontein
Chapter 2, Page 25
Ongeveer in 1880 kom daar nas hierdie wereld n indrukwekkende man: Joseph Frans de Raedt. Hy is n Franssprekkende Belg met n ongelooflike mooi blonde vrou, Susannah (Hogan). Hy vestig hom aanvanklik op Potchefstroom as Prof. J.F. de Raedt, sy vak synde “mining engineering”.
Presies waar hy vandaan kom, weet sy afstammelinge nie. Hulle vermoed dat sy ouers saam met die Britse setlaars die land ingekom het. Ander meen dat hy nie in Suid Afrika gebore is nie, maar wel in Belgie en dat hy in sy jong dae in die steenkoolmyne by Lyons gewerk het en by die eerste gerugte van diamamnte en goud die land in gekom het, en dat sy title maar “by wyse van spreke” was. Aan sy geologiese kennis hoef niemand egter te twyfel nie, want hy wy sy aandag aan die landstreek oorkant die Vaalrivier. Op n dag kom hy daar op die plaas Groenfontein, op n man af wat besig is om n put te grawe. Hy vra hom een van die klippe en die man sou blykbaar gese het: “Ek hoor hulle se vir jou Fransman de Raedt. Maar as jy nou met klippe wil begin boer, moet hulle vir jou se mal Fraansman de Raedt.”
De Raedt het die klip as steenkool herken en vlak by die put begin myn. Hy het die kole in sakkies gelaai en met n ossewa na Kimberly laat aanry. As die water in die Vaalrivier lag genoeg loop, gaan dit deur die drif wat gou die naam Koolmyndrif kry; so nie word sakkie vir sakkie oor die Whitfieldpont gekarwei.
Binne n paar jaar was sy onderneming so betalend dat dese en gene daar kom myn sink het. Hulle kon, want dit was staatsgrond. Dit was dus belangrik om die grond in besit te kry. Hy wend hom toe tot Thomas Leask en die koop Groenfontein in 1884 en hulle vorm hulle eie sindikaat…….
Leask en de Raedt verkoop in 1888 hulle aandeel in groenfontein en koop in die naam van Kroonstad Coal Estate Company ene mnr. George Page se plaas Vierfontein, suidwes van die latere dorp Viljoenskroon. Dit was n baie ryker fonds as Groenfontein. En in n paar jaar daarna bou Frans de Raedt n fortuin met steenkool op terwyl daar rondom hom net goud gepraat en gedink work. Hy koop verder plase op om op te boer, hy gaan as vriend om met die belangrikes in die goudhandel, maar is ewe tuis in die delwershotelle op Klerksdorp. Sy tien pragtige kinders, meeste net so blond soos sy vrou, het soos die jare verbygaan die vermaaklilkheidsgeleenthede van die jong gemeenskap versier. Meeste het heeltemaal verafrikaans. Daar was drie seuns, Eddie, Jack en Tommy, en sewe dogters: Kate, getroud met Manie van Lelieveldt; Juliette, met Cawood getroud; Theresa met Miller; Muriel met Grobler; Josephine met Willie van Lelieveldt; Win met De Boer; Florence ongetroud. Ouma Susanna het mettertyd die mag agter die de Raedt-troon geword. Fransman, soos hy bekend was, het in later jare dikwels oorsee rondgeswerwe. Waarom en waarheen weet sy nageslag nie. Dit was sy vrou wat die plase bestuur en besigheid laat vlot het.
Later het dinge verkeerd geloop. De Raedt verloor meeste van sy besittings reeds voor die Anglo- Boereoorlog. Daar word beweer dat hy derduisende rande bestee het aan die invoer van n groot beeskudde waarmee hy wou boer. Die renderpes (1896) het gekom, almal moes doodgeskiet word. Daarna het die oorlog gekom. Hy het as n arme man na die oorlog vergeefs op onsekure transaksies sy verlore rykdom probeer verhaal.
In 1913 verskyn n beriggie in n Klerkdorpse koerant: “Mr. J. F. de Raedt, a very old inhabitant of this part of South Africa and a well known figure in Klerksdorp, was drowned in the Vaal River on Saturday last at about 10p.m. at or near the farm Wolfhuis while crossing over to the Free State where he resided. He was seen by some people before he made the attempt and they endeavoured to dissuade him from it as the river was rather high; but he persisted in crossing and when some distance in the stream, he disappeared and was not seen alive. The night was not dark, the moon shining brightly. His body was found on Monday later down. The deceased was a Belgian by birth, and resided in the Free State near Witkop Drift in the early eighties. In about 1885 or 1886 his attention was directed to signs of coal on the farm Groenfontein, and prospecting revealed a seam of coal. He conferred with the late Mr. Thomas Leask who secured an interest in it and started to work sending the coal down to Kimberly at an expense at times of 5 s per bag for transport, his object being to foster a coal mining industry. Later he discovered coal on Vierfontein which resulted in the flotation of the Kroonstad Coal Estates.”
En aan die einde: “Of late years things had not prospered with him and for two months he had been engaged in digging at Eastleigh.” Wat nou van hierdie dood, vra ek vir oom Willem Joubert. Frans de Raedt sou die drif by Wolfhuis soos die palm van sy hand geken het. Drank? “Nee,’, se hy beslis en dan aarselend: “Ek was klein toe dit gebeur het. Ek hoor die grootmense se Frans het nie geweet wat hy doen nie, want sy kop was op n tol gesit oor sy mooi dogter Therese met wie dit sleg gegaan het. Die wereld het te veel vir hom geword.”
Iewers langs die Vaalrivier, niemand weet presies waar nie, sonder grafsteen, le die graf van Joseph Frans de Raedt, die eerste man wat steenkool in die Vrystaat ontdek het. Sy afstammelinge het sy grafskrif bewaar. Hy is oorlede op 22.3. 1913 op die ouderdom van 65 jaar 11 maande en 7 dae.
Notes: this extract has been transcribed by Deon. There are some inaccuracies in the original text – so far the names of the children have been amended (see home page).
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The following translation of Dot Serfontein’s description is kindly provided by Kevin:
Gallery of Rainmakers, Chapter 2.
Page 25:
Vierfontein 1
In approximately 1880 an impressive man arrived in this world: Joseph Frans de Raedt. He is a French speaking Belgian with an amazingly attractive blonde wife, Susannah (Hogan).
He initially bases himself in Potchefstroom as Professor J.F. de Raedt, his subject being “mining engineering.”
Exactly where he originated from was unknown to his descendants. They suspect that his parents arrived in the country with the British settlers. Others believe that he was not born in south Africa, but in Belgium and that he spent his younger days working in the coal mines near Lyons and came to South Africa when the first rumors of diamonds and gold surfaced and that his title was obtained “by way of speech.”
No one needed to doubt his geological knowledge, as he focused his attention on the land on the other side of the Vaal River.
One day he came across a man on the farm Groenfontein 2 who was busy digging a hole/pit in the ground. He apparently asked for one of the stones/rocks and the man apparently said: “I hear they call you Frenchman3 de Raedt, but if you want to start farming with stones/rocks they will have to call you mad Frenchman de Raedt.”
De Raedt identified the stone as coal and began to mine level with the hole/pit. He loaded the coal into bags and it was transported by ox wagon to Kimberley, when the water level in the Vaal River was low enough it went through a ford which became know as Coal mine ford4, alternatively it was transported bag by bag over the Whitfield5 Pont.
Within a couple of years his undertaking had become so profitable that all and sundry arrived and started mining. They were able to do this as it was State ground. It was important to obtain ownership of the land, so he approached Thomas Leask and they formed a syndicate and purchased Groenfontein in 1884.
In 1888, Leask & de Raedt sold their share in Groenfontein and purchased under the name of Kroonstad Coal Estate, Mr. George Page’s farm Vierfontein just south west of the town Viljoenskroon.
It was a much richer find than Groenfontein and in a few years Frans de Raedt built a fortune with coal, while everyone around him were only thinking and talking gold. He purchased further farms to work.
Although he mixed freely as a friend and amongst the important people in the gold circles, he was equally at home in the prospector’s hotels in Klerksdorp.
As the years went by his ten attractive children, mostly with the same blond hair as his wife, took the opportunity to enjoy the entertainment opportunities available to the youth community. Most of them had become completely Afrikaans. There were three sons, Eddie, Jack, Tommy and seven daughters; Kate married to Manie van Lelieveldt, Juliet married to Cawood, Theresa to Miller, Muriel to Grobler, Josephine to Willie van Lelieveldt, Win to De Boer, Florence unmarried. Overtime granny Susanna became the force behind the de Raedt throne. In the later years, Frenchman as he was known frequently roamed overseas, where and why she had no idea. It was his wife who ran the farms and kept the business afloat.
Later things went wrong, de Raedt had already lost most of his assets before the Anglo-Boer war began. It was rumoured that he spent thousands of rand’s on importing a huge beef herd that he planned to farm with, the Rinderpest came in 1896 and they all had to be shot. Shortly thereafter the war began, after the war as a poor man, he tried in vain to recover his lost fortune using dubious transactions.
In 1913 the following notice appeared in a Klerksdorp newspaper:
“Mr. J. F. de Raedt, a very old inhabitant of this part of South Africa and a well-known figure in Klerksdorp, was drowned in the Vaal River on Saturday last at about 10p.m. near the farm Wolfhuis6, while crossing over to the Free State where he resided. He was seen by some people before he made the attempt and they endeavoured to dissuade from it, as the river was rather high; but he persisted in crossing and when some distance in the stream, he disappeared and was not seen alive again. The night was not dark, the moon shinning brightly. His body was found on Monday lower down. The deceased was a Belgian by birth and resided in the Free State near Witkop7 Drift in the early eighties. In about 1885 or 1886 his attention was directed to signs of coal on the farm Groenfontein and prospecting revealed a seam of coal. He conferred with the late Mr. Thomas Leask who secured an interest in it and started to work, sending the coal down to Kimberly at an expense at times of 5 shillings per bag for transport, his object being to foster a coal mining industry. Later he discovered coal on Vierfontein which resulted in the floatation of the Kroonstad Coal Estates.”
And in the end: “Of late years things had not prospered with him and for two months he had been engaged in digging at Eastleigh”. What about this death, I asked uncle Willem Joubert. Frans de Raedt would have known the drift at Wolfhuis like the back of his hand, Drink? “No” he said adamantly, then pausing said; “I was small when it happened. I heard the adults say that Frans did not know what he was doing, as his head was in a spin about his pretty daughter Theresa, with whom things were going badly. The world became too much for him.”
Direct translations of Afrikaans names:
1 Vierfontein Four fountains or springs
2 Groenfontein Green fountains or springs
3 Fransman Frenchman
4 Koolmyndrif Coal mine drift
5 Whitfield White field
6 Wolfhuis Wolf house
7 Witkop White head
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The following extract comes from A.W.G. Raath, G.N. van den Bergh & H.G. Hayes, ‘Die geskiedeniss van Viljoenskroon 1921-2001’, published by the Rapportryerskorps Viljoenskroon 2002 :
Note that the date 1873 appears to be an error – Joseph Ferdinand de Raedt came to South Africa from Belgium in 1874 according to his Claim for War Losses.
Page image kindly provided by Horst Müller https://ruralexploration.co.za
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In his interesting website, Horst Müller’s page about Klerksdorp includes a photograph of six men, one of whom is identified as Leask, his partner in Kroonstad Coal Estates. The man on the left of the back row appears to be JF de Raedt.