Catharina van Paliacatta

F, #5248, b. circa 1631, d. circa March 1683
ChartsDescendants of Catharina van Palliacatta

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NGK (Cape Town) Baptisms 1665-1695NGK (Cape Town) Baptisms 1665-1695
NGK (Cape Town) Marriages1665-1695NGK (Cape Town) Marriages 1665-1695
Last Edited12/10/2019
BirthOrigin*Catharina was recorded most frequently as from Pulicat, Coromandel Coast, India, , and was perhaps born there circa 1631. Her age is estimated based on the period in which she bore children.1
BaptismShe was baptized as an adult, together with her friend Maaij Ansela, on 29 April 1668 Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, (Cape Town), de Caep de Goede Hoop.2,1 
Lovers*From 1655 to 1656 Catharina van Paliacatta and Claes van Malabar were lovers Batavia.3  
Lovers*In 1664 Catharina van Paliacatta and Pieter Everard were lovers de Caep de Goede Hoop.4  
Lovers*In 1667 Catharina van Paliacatta and Hans Christoffel Snijman were lovers de Caep de Goede Hoop.5  
Marriage*She married Anthonij Jansz van Bengale on 20 December 1671 Cape of Good Hope.6
 
Death*She died circa March 1683.7
 

Family 1
Children
  • Catharina Wagenmakers+ b. c 1658; DISPROVED: A direct descendant of Catharina Wagenmakers has tested positive for mtDNA haplogroup L0a2a2a1 which seems to be centered around south east Africa, including Zambia. Catharina's mother was most likely one of the slaves brought to the Cape on the Amersfoort in 1658. Those slaves had originally been captured in Angola, which country shares a modern border with Zambia. Catharina van Palliacatta is recorded several times as from Palliacatta (var.) - modern day Pulicat, and for this and other reasons cannot now be considered a possible mother for Catharina Wagenmakers. The mtDNA of Catharina Wagenmakers, her origin as well as her likely mother will be discussed in greater depth in due course.
  • Marritie Pieterz+ b. c 1660; putative relationship, offered with a view toward further discovery in the record1

Family 2

Nicolaes del Bort b. c 1640, d. b 11 Jul 1693
Child
  • Jannetje Bort van de Caep+ b. b 16 Sep 1663, d. b 23 May 1713; candidate relationship, offered with a view toward further discovery in the record

Family 3

Pieter Everard b. c 1631, d. 15 Mar 1664
Child

Family 4

Hans Christoffel Snijman b. c 1645
Child
Event-Misc* On 8 October 1656 Rijswijck Fortress, Batavia, Batavia, Groote Catrijn, furious at her lover, the slave Claes van Malabar, throws a cobble stone hitting him with great force in the area just above his genitals (the presumed target of the blow). His kidney burst and he died days later.1 
Event-Misc On 16 November 1656 she was convicted and sentenced to death. Two days later, on the 18th of November, the sentence was commuted to banishment for life as a convict at the Cape of Good Hope.1 
Event-Misc On 4 December 1656 she departed Batavia on board the Prins Willem.1 
(Convict) ShipVoyage On 4 December 1656 the Amersfoort, Wapen van Amsterdam, Dordrecht, Wapen van Holland, Westfriesland and Prins Willem, ships of the return fleet, left Batavia enroute to the Cape where they docked on 21 February 1657. The Prins Willem brought the recently convicted and banished slave Catharina van Paliacatta, while the Amersfoort brought the slaves Angela van Bengale, Elisabeth van Bengale, Jan van Bengale, Claes van Bengale and Anna van Bengalen.8 
Event-Misc On 21 February 1657 Groote Catrijn arrived on board the Prins Willem to begin her life as the first recorded female convict at the Cape.1 
(Beneficiary) Will On 15 March 1664 Pieter Everard left a will in which he left f 150 to Catharina van Bengale, that is Catharina van Paliacatta, for the care and maintenance of his unborn child, presumably, Petronella van Bengale.1,9,10
Manumitted*She was manumitted in December 1671 de Caep de Goede Hoop according to Mansell Upham. He writes that while no record has been found of the manumission, it was confirmed a month later, on 6 January 1672, in a report sent to the Heeren XVII, that she had been pardoned and freed. She was, at the same time, granted permission to marry the free black Anthonij Jansz van Bengale. With this, she became the first company owned slave to be manumitted at the Cape.11 
(Witness) BaptismCandidateShe witnessed the baptism of Elisabeth Marcusz on 7 April 1680 Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, (Cape Town), de Caep de Goede Hoop.12 
Names in the record, in publications, etc.3 June 1668, the name of Catharina was written in the record as Catrine NN.13
9 March 1669, the name of Catharina was written in the record as Groote Catrijn NN.14
7 April 1680, the name of Catharina was written in the record as Catharina Anthonii.12
Baptisms - WitnessCatharina van Paliacatta witnessed the baptism of Angela van Bengale on 29 April 1668 Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, (Cape Town), de Caep de Goede Hoop.15
She witnessed the baptism of Pieter NN on 3 June 1668 Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, (Cape Town), de Caep de Goede Hoop.13
She witnessed the baptism of Theuntje van de Caep on 24 June 1668 Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, (Cape Town), de Caep de Goede Hoop.16
She potentially witnessed the baptism of Maria van de Caep on 14 September 1670 Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, (Cape Town), de Caep de Goede Hoop, this witness has not been positively identified.17
NotesIn 1997 Catharina van Paliacatta featured in the attached article by Mansell Upham, published in Volumes 3/97 and 4/97 of Capensis, the journal of the Western Cape Branch, Genealogical Society of South Africa.18
Monsterrollen and Opgaafrollen (Muster and tax rolls)On 31 May 1657 Catharina van Paliacatta was enumerated in the muster roll, as a black among the convicts and men [sic] in chains, for the duration of her natural life.19
On 15 February 1658 Catharina van Paliacatta was enumerated in the muster roll, she was recorded among the 'convicts and men in irons' as 'Catarina, of Paliacatta, female black', for life.20
On 5 March 1659 Catharina van Paliacatta was enumerated in the muster roll, she was enumerated among the Convicts and chain gang, with Susanna 'Een Oor' van Bengale and Domingo van Bengale, all convicts for life sent from Batavia.21
Crime and relatedIn December 1671 de Caep de Goede Hoop Catharina van Paliacatta pardoned for the second time.11,22
Slave TransactionsOn 20 November 1676 Baddou van Bali was sold by Gouverneur Johan Bax to Isaac de l'Ostal de Saint-Martin, for Rds. 50 for the use of Anthonij Jansz van Bengale. This is a rare, perhaps unqiue, transaction. It could not be that the authorities were unwilling to allow a former slave to become a slave owner and that this was a device to place a slave in his service; Anthonij was already the owner of a slave purchased earlier in the same year. Did l'Ostal St. Martin know Anthonij previously and want to help him? This remains to be seen. What is true, however, is that Anthonij and his subsequent wife, Catharina van Paliacatta, evidently had significant connections to a group of powerful individuals in the VOC hierachy and that they benefited from these ties.23,24
Slaves owned by individualsCatharina van Paliacatta was a slave Batavia owned by Maria Magdalena NN circa 1654.1
Slaves Owned by the CompanyOn 6 September 1665 Catharina van Paliacatta was enslaved and owned by the VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) at the Cape.25
On 3 June 1668 Catharina van Paliacatta was enslaved and owned by the VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) at the Cape.13

Citations

  1. [S203] Mansell Upham 'Cape Mothers: Groote Catrijn van Paliacatta (c. 1631-1683), her slave Maria van Bengale & her daughter-in-law Marguerite-Thérèse de Savoye (1673-1742)', First Fifty Years, Uprooted Lives - Unfurling the Cape of Good Hope's Earliest Colonial Inhabitants (1652-1713), (http://e-family.co.za/ffy/ui66.htm), October 2014.
  2. [S397] NGK G1 1/1, Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, Kerken Boek (Bapt.), 1665-1695: den 29 April zijn gedoopt na gedaen belydenisse twee bejaerde personen, waer van de een genaemt wiert Angila de andere Catharien, transcribed by Richard Ball, Norfolk, England, (May 2006), Genealogical Society of South Africa, eGSSA Branch http://www.eggsa.org/. Hereinafter cited as Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, Kerken Boek (Bapt.).
  3. [S400] Mansell Upham, "In Hevigen Woede . . . Earliest recorded female bandiet at the Cape of Good Hope - A Study in Upward Mobility", Capensis (In Hevigen Woede) 3/97, 4/97, Western Cape Branch, Genealogical Society of South Africa, (1997): She and the late Claes van Mallebaerse (during his lifetime the slave of the Honourable Company’s stablemaster Sieur Hendrick Christoffel Loser) had already for one and a half years committed vleeschelijcke conversatie as husband and wife.. Hereinafter cited as "In Hevigen Woede . . ."
  4. [S400] Mansell Upham, "In Hevigen Woede . . .", We first learn of her child-bearing lot when a moribund, but well-connected, Pieter Everaerts from Cruijssaert made provision for the payment of ƒ150 to the unborn child of Catharina from Bengal - if born alive, otherwise the money was to go to his family in the Netherlands - in his will dated 13 March 1664.
  5. [S400] Mansell Upham, "In Hevigen Woede . . .", Regular nocturnal activity on the part of a distracted sentry inside the living quarters of the Fort’s washerwoman - the Company slave familiarly known to all as Groote Catrijn - resulted in the conviction on 30 July 1667 of Hans Chrisroffel Snijman.
  6. [S392] NGK G1 1/1, Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, Kerken Boek (Mar), 1665-1695: [Anno 1671] Den 20 xber [December] Anthonie de Later jonghm' van Bengalen met Catharina van Bengalen., transcribed by Richard Ball, Norfolk, England, (May 2006), Genealogical Society of South Africa, eGSSA Branch http://www.eggsa.org/. Hereinafter cited as Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, Kerken Boek (Mar).
  7. [S203] Mansell Upham 'UL14 Cape Mothers', Uprooted Lives - Unfurling the Cape of Good Hope's Earliest Colonial Inhabitants (1652-1713), "The sudden deaths of not only Groote Catrijn and her daughter Petronella senior sometime soon after (in January and February / March 1683 respectively) . . ."
  8. [S815] Mansell G. Upham 'Documented Slave Arrivals at the Cape of Good Hope (1652-1677)', First Fifty Years, Uprooted Lives - Unfurling the Cape of Good Hope's Earliest Colonial Inhabitants (1652-1713), (Unpublished), 16 November 2014. "21 February 1657:     Return Fleet ex Batavia arrives:
    Prins Willem brings exiled convict (Company slave)
    Catharina (Groote Catrijn) van Paliacatta [Pulicat]
    Amersfoort brings 5 private slaves
    Angela / Engela (Maaij Ansela / Moeder Jagt) van Bengale [sold to Jan van Riebeeck]
    Elisabeth (Lijsbeth) van Bengale [misrecorded as Domingo [sic] - sold to Jan van Riebeeck]
    Jan van Bengale [sold to Jan Vetteman]
    Claes van Bengale [sold to Jochum Cornelisz: Blancq (from Lübeck)]
    Anna van Bengale [sold to Jochum Cornelisz: Blancq (from Lübeck)].    "
  9. [S853] J.L. (Leon) Hattingh, "Kaapse noteriële stukke waarin slawe van vryburgers en amptenare vermeld word (1658 - 1730? 1670)", Kronos - Kaapse noteriële stukke waarin slawe van vryburgers en amptenare vermeld word (1658 - 1730? 1670) 15 (1988): 13.3.1664     CTD 2, p.120
    Die testament van Pieter Evrardt van Cruijsant, vaandrig in die fort. Hy bemaak aan Catharina van Bengale sy ‘te goet gebbende gagie te genieten’ die som van f 150 vir die onderhoud en opvoeding van die jong kind waaraan Catharina binnekort geboorte moet gee; maar ingeval die kind dood gebore ‘oft in het haeren quame te overlijden’, moet die bedrag na sy vriend Jan van Laer van Amsterdam, ‘n soldaat, gaan weens enige dienste aan hom bewys. [Afskrif. Die oorspronklike kladkopie is op p.132.]. Hereinafter cited as "Kaapse noteriële stukke waarin slawe van vryburgers en amptenare vermeld word (1658 - 1730? 1670)."
  10. [S418] Anna J. Böeseken, Slaves and Free Blacks at the Cape 1658-1700 (Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1977), p. 126. J 2.3.1664: Unborn child of Catharina from Bengal, to whom Pieter Evrardt left f150 in his will if born alive. Otherwise the money was to go to his family. [DR: Child was most likely Petronella, daughter of Groote Catrijn.]. Hereinafter cited as Slaves and Free Blacks at the Cape 1658-1700.
  11. [S203] Mansell Upham 'UL14 Cape Mothers', Uprooted Lives - Unfurling the Cape of Good Hope's Earliest Colonial Inhabitants (1652-1713), "Groote Catrijn's legal status was finally clarified ex post facto. In a letter dated 6 January 1672 and despatched to the Heeren XVII, we learn that she had been freely pardoned and released from slavery. At the same time permission had been given for her to marry a free-black, which marriage promptly took place."
  12. [S397] NGK G1 1/1, Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, Kerken Boek (Bapt.): ao 1680
    den 7 April Elisabet
    de moeder Mary een slave van Antonij van Bengale
    de peet dar van was Catharina Anthonii, 1665-1695, Genealogical Society of South Africa, eGSSA Branch http://www.eggsa.org/
  13. [S397] NGK G1 1/1, Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, Kerken Boek (Bapt.): Den 3 Junius een soontje van Angila wiert genaemt Pieter tot getuijge stond. Catrine comp: slavinne doch christen, 1665-1695, Genealogical Society of South Africa, eGSSA Branch http://www.eggsa.org/
  14. [S397] NGK G1 1/1, Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, Kerken Boek (Bapt.): [de]n [g.] Maert een soontje van Groote Catrijn wiert genaemt Christoffel tot getuyge stont Step Angila, 1665-1695, Genealogical Society of South Africa, eGSSA Branch http://www.eggsa.org/
  15. [S397] NGK G1 1/1, Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, Kerken Boek (Bapt.): an 1668
    den 29 April zijn gedoopt na gedaen belydenisse twee bejaerde personen, waer van de een genaemt wiert Angila de andere Catharien, 1665-1695, Genealogical Society of South Africa, eGSSA Branch http://www.eggsa.org/
  16. [S397] NGK G1 1/1, Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, Kerken Boek (Bapt.): an 1668
    Den 2[4/5/?] Juni een dochter van Anthoni Japan en Annecke syn huysvr' wiert genaemt Therintje [Teuntje] tot getuyge stont groote Catrina Comp: slaefinne doch christ., 1665-1695, Genealogical Society of South Africa, eGSSA Branch http://www.eggsa.org/
  17. [S397] NGK G1 1/1, Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, Kerken Boek (Bapt.): Anno 1670. Den 14 Sept. een dochterke van Elisabeth van Bangale, wiert genaamt Maria tot getuyge stonden, Anthoni en Catharyn, 1665-1695, Genealogical Society of South Africa, eGSSA Branch http://www.eggsa.org/
  18. [S400] Mansell Upham, "In Hevigen Woede . . ."
  19. [S647] Precis of the archives of the Cape of Good Hope, Letters Despatched 1652-1662 to which are added land grants, attestations, Journal of voyage to Tristan da Cunha, names of freemen, &c. Vol III, H.C.V. Leibrandt; (Cape Town, South Africa: W.A. Richards & Sons, Government Printers, 1900), p.290.. Hereinafter cited as Precis of the archives of the Cape of Good Hope.
  20. [S647] Precis of the archives of the Cape of Good Hope, p.293.
  21. [S647] Precis of the archives of the Cape of Good Hope, p.297.
  22. [S554] Note concerning Dirkje Everts, written by Mansell Upham, 10 Sept 2010 "unknown cd."
  23. [S607] J.L. (Leon) Hattingh, "Kaapse notariële stukke waarin slawe van vryburgers en amptenare vermeld word (II), Die tweede Dekade 1671-1680", Kronos (Die notariële stukke II) 15 (1999): 20.11.1676     [Verlore]
    Goewerneur Bax verkoop aan St Martin vir die gebruik van Anthoni van Bengale, ‘vrij ingesetene alhier,’ die slaaf Baddou van Bali vir 50 Rds.. Hereinafter cited as "Die notariële stukke II."
  24. [S418] Anna J. Böeseken, Slaves and Free Blacks at the Cape 1658-1700, p. 132: 20.11.1676: Baddou from Bali, sold by Governor Bax to St. Martin for the use of Anthoni from Bengal "vrij ingesetene alhier" for Rds. 50.
  25. [S397] NGK G1 1/1, Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, Kerken Boek (Bapt.): Noch van de Slavinnen kinderen der Ed. Oostjndesche
    Compangie,
    de Moeder Catharina, diens kind is genaamt Petronella
    de moeder Helena, diens kindt Joannes
    de moeder Lisabeth, diens kind Anthonij
    de moeder Catharina, diens kind Anthonij
    de moeder Francyn, diens kind Pietertje
    de moeder Ciciliaa, diens kind [Floor]ci [sic Flanci]
    de moeder [H]oddo [sic Koddo], diens kinderen Maria, Derkje
    een slavinne zoon van W.Mostaart diens naam Sabba, het kind Dirik, 1665-1695, Genealogical Society of South Africa, eGSSA Branch http://www.eggsa.org/
  26. [S400] Mansell Upham, "In Hevigen Woede . . .", We first learn of her child-bearing lot when a moribund, but well-connected, Pieter Everaerts from Cruijssaert made provision for the payment of ƒ150 to the unborn child of Catharina from Bengal - if born alive, otherwise the money was to go to his family in the Netherlands - in his will dated 13 March 1664. . . . We do know for certain, however, that Petronella was indeed Groote Catrijn's daughter. This is corroborated in later records.
  27. [S397] NGK G1 1/1, Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Kerk, Kerken Boek (Bapt.): [1669]; [de]n 9 Maert een soontje van Groote Catrijn wiert genaemt Christoffel tot getuyge stont Angila, 1665-1695, Genealogical Society of South Africa, eGSSA Branch http://www.eggsa.org/
 

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