Vischat

· on record 1979 · show on the map

Farm number: No. 124/142
Portion: in Frans Kraal
Also recorded as: VischatFAMILY, the spelling this project carried from 2 Aug 2026VisgatSRC-436, the 2023 valuation roll
District: Prince Albert

This is the same ground as Visgat (Rondabel No. 124 Ptn 2), recorded here under an earlier name. It is not drawn separately on the map because there is only one piece of ground, and that page carries it.

Why this farm is here

Hendrik Lodewyk Malherbe Oosthuizen lived on this ground. Not yet placed on the map.

Hendrik Lodewyk Malherbe Oosthuizen is on record on this ground directly. No trace needed.

story A written history names this ground Vrolykheid No. 177: a farm history
story A written history names this ground Four grandparents, four countries
story A written history names this ground The Oosthuizens of the Koup
parcel Related to: Visgat (Rondabel No. 124 Ptn 2)

Stories

mentions this farm Vrolykheid No. 177: a farm history
The farm where the paper and the people disagree: Stretch's 1833 survey already carrying the names of portions not cut for another century, two titles granted on one day in 1841 - one to an Oosthuisen and one to an 'N. Hitge' whose deed four later portions cite instead - a Trieste immigrant who married a Hitge in 1844 and died holding the farm in 1890, and the death notice that finally put the Hitges on the ground.
mentions this farm Four grandparents, four countries
How four grandparents out of four lines met: three weddings in four years at Bellville and Williston, and a fourth marriage that tied two of them back together after both were widowed. Each line has its own page; this one is the join. Of the four countries the title promises, this record can point at one on a map.
mentions this farm The Oosthuizens of the Koup
Eight generations east, from a VOC soldier off the Land van Schouwen in 1685 to a farmer baptised at Prince Albert in 1909. An 1809 estate inventory shows a forge on the Olifants River and explains in one line why the family left: the farm was sold to the eldest son for 1 000 rixdollars, and the rest had to find ground elsewhere. After 1836 they stop moving, and title and a congregation arrive in the same two years.

What the record holds, in order

1979 lived here Hendrik Lodewyk Malherbe Oosthuizen (17 August 1909–27 June 1979)
farming · to 1979
undated boundary change same_as: becomes Visgat (Rondabel No. 124 Ptn 2)

Research notes

Grandfather Hendrik Lodewyk Malherbe OosthuizenH farmed here; Frans's father CJJ grew up on it. Later sold to Tokkie Marincowitz. [FAMILY] CORRECTION 29 Jul 2026: Marincowitz BOUGHT Vischat - it was NOT acquired out of Hendrik OosthuizenM's estate, as an earlier note said. [30 Jul 2026] NOT A REGISTERED FARM, and that is the explanation for the blanks here rather than a gap to be filled: NO farm name containing 'Vis'/'Fis' exists anywhere in the Prince Albert or Beaufort West cadastre pull. Vischat is a werf/place name, so it has no farm number, no surveyed extent and no cadastral polygon of its own, and it will never get a map pin in its own right - it can only be located via whatever parcel it sits on. THE farm_no CELL '124/142' IS NOT A FARM NUMBER: 124 and 142 are two separate registered farms in the Prince Albert RD - 124 = RONDABLE, 142 = FRANS KRAAL. Neither is Vrolykheid (177), which is the farm the 'portion: in Faans Kraal' cell points at via PAR-000034. CAUTION, TWO FRANS KRAALS (the 9 trap): the Frans/Faans Kraal of PAR-000034 is a 213.5677-morgen PORTION of Vrolykheid No.177 (SG Dgm 4933/1934), while cadastre FRANS KRAAL No.142 is a separate 1260.2 ha registered farm 83 km away at -33.0740,21.8044. Do not merge them. [TO VERIFY] the name: [FAMILY] Fisgat. Dutch visch = fish, gat = a pool - a 'visgat' is the pool in a Karoo river where fish hold out through the dry. 'Vischat' reads like VISCHGAT with the g lost in transcription. Recorded as a hypothesis; current_name is NOT changed and both spellings are kept. See LEAD-0018.

[13 Aug 2026, FAMILY] [FAMILY] Vischat is Visgat. This row and PAR-000116 are the same ground, and they are joined by a same_as link rather than merged, because ids are permanent and this row carries the vernacular record while PAR-000116 carries the cadastral one. The map draws the cadastral row only.

The research behind this page, kept separate from it: dated working notes, open questions, and what is not yet settled.

Open questions

141 people are on this site linked to nothing priority 1 · LEAD-0074
Which parcels and people exist on the site as dead ends - reachable by a list, but linked to no document, story, owner or neighbour?

What would settle it For the 106 tree-derived rows, a parentage pass merged from the family-tree on tree id - which 6 already names as the direction of travel and which would connect them wholesale rather than one at a time. For the three floating names, find the document each came from and link it.
Where exactly is Vischat / 'fisgat', and what is its real name? priority 2 · LEAD-0018
Vischat is where Frans's grandfather Hendrik Lodewyk Malherbe OosthuizenH farmed until 1979 and where his father CJJ grew up, yet the model has no ground for it: no extent, no geometry, no ownership row, no document. Which parcel does it actually sit on, and is the name Vischgat/Visgat?

What would settle it The purchase deed - it will name the parcel Vischat forms part of. Failing that, a topo sheet showing the werf, or CJJ simply saying which farm it was on.

What the record is missing

Nobody is on record as ever having held this third order · B8 never-held
Vischat is in the model, and carries no ownership record of any kind, not a grant, not a transfer, not an occupation.

What would settle it The Surveyor-General's diagram for the farm number names the grantee and the date; the deed reference on it opens the transfer chain.

Found by breaks.py reading the model against itself, not written by hand, each one is a shape of missing record, not a fault in the data. The whole set is on the questions page.