Tygerhoek No. 689

· on record 1782–1823 · show on the map

Farm number: No. 689
District: Calvinia (division)
Extent, as the diagram states it: 4446 morgen 399 sq roods
Modern surveyed area: 4033.2 ha

The historic extent and the modern surveyed area are two separate measurements and are not presented here as confirming each other. The first is what a surveyor wrote on a diagram, usually in morgen. The second is what the modern cadastre draws.

Why this farm is here

Wed. William Petrus Burger held it, and no kinship to the Oosthuizen, Marincowitz or Van der Merwe lines is recorded, this ground entered through the land, not the family. 339 km from Klaarstroom.

story A written history is set on this ground The van der Merwes of the Hantam
border Shares a boundary with Tyger Hoek Extension No. 688 Tyger Hoek Extension No. 688
document A document in the collection describes this ground DOC-0269

Stories

set here The van der Merwes of the Hantam
The maternal line, from Paarl in 1735 to Vredendal in about 1950, with every kinship spelled out. The crossing from the Piketberg district into the Hantam is dated to a fourteen-year window by two death notices; three farms were surveyed for the Commissie van Inspectie by one man in 1820 and 1823; a man called Kwaai Koos is named after his farm; and twice in three generations the family is standing on ground that came in through a woman.

What the record holds, in order

24 September 1782 estate estate inventory: Schalk Willem Burger, landbouwer, and his widow Hester Smith
MOOC8/49.25a · de Tijgerhoek, aan de Hantam (one of five opstallen)
15 May 1823 document SG diagram 128/1823
15 May 1823 ownership Wed. William Petrus Burger
erfpacht · survey · confidence high

Bordered by, as the diagram names them

N Hantamsberg
N Tygerhoeksberg
S Gouvernements grond voor Johs van Zyl Sr. in erfpacht
S Oorlogskloofs Rivier
E Gouvernements grond voor J.A. van Wyk Sr. in erfpacht
W Uitgestrektheid Gouvernements grond

Also bordered by, as the modern cadastre draws it

Ground that touches this farm on the Surveyor-General's current polygons and that none of the diagrams held here names. Derived from the geometry, not read off a document.

Documents

Scan of Surveyor-General diagram, 128/1823, 15 May 1823

Surveyor-General diagram, 128/1823, 15 May 1823
10018592 689 0.jpg

Research notes

[10 Aug 2026, SRC-359/DOC-0269] THE VAN DER MERWE GROUND, and the reason this project now has a second district. A LEENINGSPLAATS measured 15 May 1823 by J.M. Wentzel on the order of the Commissie van Inspectie: 2614 morgen 19 roods of its own ground plus 1832 morgen 380 roods of adjoining government land, 4446 morgen 399 roods in all, held in erfpacht by the widow of William Petrus Burger. Izaak Johannes van der MerweM (PER-001658) was born here about 1808 and Jacobus Adriaan (PER-001631) on 30 October 1813, so Carel Aaron van der MerweL's household was on this ground fifteen years before it was surveyed. Whether they held it, rented it or worked it is not established. [TO VERIFY] NO POLYGON: this project holds no cadastral geometry for the Calvinia division, so the farm has no map pin. That is a missing dataset and not a missing place.

[10 Aug 2026] PINNED. The Calvinia division is not in the Western Cape warehouse, so it was pulled from the NATIONAL Chief Surveyor-General portal instead - fetch_cadastre.py --csg=CALVINIA. The cadastre names it exactly as the diagram does, and the extents agree: Tyger Hoek Extension is 430.9 ha against the 1879 survey's 510 morgen 532 roods, which is 437.6 ha, a difference of 1.5%. Tygerhoek is 4,033.2 ha against the 1823 figure of 4,446 morgen 399 roods, 3,808.7 ha, a difference of 5.9% across two centuries and a resurvey. The identification does not rest on the name.

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

Open questions

Who were the Tygerhoek van der Merwes, and how do Francois Johannes and the widow Burger connect to the line? priority 1 · LEAD-0149
Carel Aaron van der MerweL's household was on Tygerhoek by 1808. The 1823 survey names the holder as the widow of William Petrus Burger, and the 1885 quitrent for the adjoining Tyger Hoek Extension goes to Francois Johannes van der MerweM. How do those two connect to the direct line?

What would settle it A marriage or baptism linking the widow Burger to the van der Merwes, and a parentage for Francois Johannes.
The Hantam ground has no basemap under it priority 3 · LEAD-0167
The Calvinia farms are on the map as polygons but sit over blank canvas, and the four Northern Cape cemeteries have no pins at all. What is missing, and is it worth fetching?

What would settle it A re-cut basemap covering the Hantam, and a sourced coordinate for each town cemetery.

What the record is missing

“Gouvernements grond voor J.A. van Wyk Sr. in erfpacht” held ground next door and we have no tenure for them first order · B4 unheld-owner
A boundary description for Tygerhoek No. 689 names Gouvernements grond voor J.A. van Wyk Sr. in erfpacht, a surveyor stating on the record that this person held the adjoining ground. No one of that surname holds a single ownership span anywhere in this model.

What would settle it The diagram's own date fixes the window. The quitrent or erfpacht register for that year names the holder of the adjoining place, and an estate inventory will name the farm outright.
The record stops in 1823 and never resumes second order · B2 trail-ends
Tygerhoek No. 689 was worked as far as 1823-05-15, with Wed. William Petrus BurgerH the last owner on record. 203 years follow with nothing. Who held it after that, and is it still one farm?

What would settle it The current title deed traced backwards, each transfer names the one before it, or the Surveyor-General's subdivision diagrams, which are what usually explain a farm going quiet.

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.