THE ORIGINS OF DOORNFONTEIN AND ITS ADJOINING FARMS BEING THE EARLIEST HISTORIES OF JOHANNESBURG, BEDFORDVIEW, EDENVALE, SANDTON, ALBERTON AND GERMISTON, 1841-1853

Abstract

Die ontstaan van Doornfontein en sy aangrensende plase wat die vroegste geskiedenis is van Johannesburg, Bedfordview, EdenvaIe, Sandton, Alberton en Germiston Die geskiedenis van die plase waarop Johannesburg en sy aangrensende dorpe uitgelê is, is reeds teruggevoer tot ongeveer 1853 - die datum waarop sommige van hierdie plase geïnspekteer is. Deur verwysing na plaasregistrasies en inspeksieregisters ondersoek hierdie artikel die gebeure vanaf die jaar 1839. Met die uitsondering van die plase Elandsfontein en Doornfontein, wat onderskeidelik in 1841 en 1846 geregistreer is, het nedersetting in dié gebied - tans bekend as die Sentrale Witwatersrand - eers vanaf 1849 begin posvat. Kort biografieë van diegene wat oorspronklik aansoek gedoen het om plase, of plase opgeëis het, is hoofsaaklik saamgestel uit notules van die Volksraad en uit boedellêers. Die meeste van die Kaapse emigrante na hierdie gebied het bekend gestaan as nagetrokkene (latere Voortrekkers) wat aanvanklik eers na Natal, die Transoranje en Ohrigstad getrek het voordat hulle hier gevestig geraak het. Die ontstaan van dorpe in hierdie gebied van die Witwatersrand, mag dus gekoppel word aan die datums waarop húlle plase vir die eerste keer geregistreer is, soos aangetoon in Tabel 1.

The history of the farms on which Johannesburg and its adjoining towns were laid out has already been traced back to around 1853 - the inspection date of some of these farms. This article traces events back to 1839 through reference to farm registration and inspection registers. Other than the farms Elandsfontein and Doornfontein, which were registered in 1841 and 1846 respectively, settlement in the region - latterly the Central Witwatersrand - only began to take place after 1849. Brief biographies of the original farm claimants and applicants have been compiled primarily from the Volksraad minutes and from estate files. Most of the Cape emigrants to this region were called nagetrokkene (later Voortrekkers), having trekked first to Natal, the Transorangia and Ohrigstad before settling here. The beginnings of the towns in this part of the Witwatersrand, then, may be regarded as the dates their farms were first registered, as shown in Table 1.