SCHONKEN, Johanna Maria ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8}

  General Notes:

"Free Black" progenitors of Johanna Maria Schonken (1777-1848) in the Dutch-governed Cape of Good Hope. By Allan H. Anderson - her great-great-great grandson

Introduction

Johanna Schonken, my generation's great-great-great grandmother, was born in Stellenbosch in the Cape of Good Hope in the southern tip of Africa, and baptised on 27 July 1777.2 Her parents were Bartholomeus Schonken (sometimes spelled "Schonke") (1739-1806) and Elisabeth Maria van Ellewe (1750-1845), who were married in 1765.3 We do not know anything about her early life, but on 17 August 1806 she married the London-born missionary William Anderson (1769-1852) in the Dutch Reformed Church in Cape Town.4 Afterwards she travelled with her husband, at first to work amongst the Griquas in Klaarwater, now Griquastad, north of the Orange River. The Griquas were a mixed race of people speaking Afrikaans and descended from imported slaves, the indigenous Khoikhoi and European settlers.
https://www.griquatownandersons.com/slave-heritage.shtml

  Events

• Cemetery, Jun 22, 1848, Pacaltsdorp South Africa. ^{9 10} Though of Dutch and Huguenot descent, her tombstone is inscribed in English. But her husband William's who was buried next to her, was at his request inscribed in Dutch.

• Death, 1848, Pacaltsdorp South Africa. ¹¹ The Source contains a photo of Johanna's Headstone that has an inscription that reads " To the memory of Johanna Maria, wife of William Anderson. She was born on July 22nd 1777. Shining in all the graces of a Christian, She discharged with fidelity every duty and prayerfully sought to improve every opportunity of usefulness among her fellow creatures till she fell asleep in Jesus on the 22nd of June 1848." A quotation from Rev 14 vs 13 followed Later I.F.Du Preez writes that it was her husband William who wrote the beautiful tribute inscribed on her headstone.

Johanna married Rev. William ANDERSON of Griquatown, son of William ANDERSON and Catherine TURNER, on Aug 17, 1806 in Dutch Reformed Church, Cape Town, South Africa. (Rev. William ANDERSON of Griquatown was born on Dec 1, 1769 in London, England, United Kingdom ^{1 3 4 7}, christened on Jan 5, 1770,¹² died on Sep 24, 1852 in Pacaltsdorp, George District, South Africa ^{1 4 7} and was buried in Pacaltsdorp, George District, South Africa ⁴.)

• Marriage: William Anderson and Maria Skonken, Aug 17, 1806, Cape Town.

• Alt Marriage. ¹³ Marriage in the Dutch Reformed Church is confirmed in Archives and Records of the Cape by Graham Botha.

• Alt Marriage, Aug 17, 1806, Cape Town South Africa. ¹³ Biographies DSAB and SESA says marriage was in the DRC (Dutch Reformed Church)

  Marriage Notes:

Anderson, William, of London, Missionary; Johanna Maria Schonken, of the Cape. (a), 17-8-1806." [(a) refers to the Dutch Reformed Church in these extracts.]

"William and Johanna Anderson. I found an extract from the Dutch Reformed Church archive that they were married there on 17 August 1806. Peter was right about this in his book (p.81). As the Schonkens were baptised and married in this church it is not surprising. That they were a "mixed race" family is now incontrovertible. There was no Anglican Church in Cape Town in 1806, and St George's Cathedral was built at the beginning of the 20th Century. The only other church building in the Cape at that time was a Lutheran one. Ed, maybe you can start by clarifying this in your dad's records, which I checked. The confirming reference is found in G.C. Botha, "Extracts…" published in 1913-16: https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/260194/?offset=0#page=7&viewer=picture&o=&n=0&q="

C.G. Botha, "Extracts of Marriages at the Cape of Good Hope, 1806-1821", extracted from The Genealogist 30, Supplement 11, 1913-16, p.2
https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/260194-redirection

Research by AAllan Heaton Anderson ⁷