"His greasy frock coat and antiquated tall hat have been portrayed times without number ... and I think his character is clearly to be read in his face—strength of character and cunning. Some of them went on to become key figures from all spectrums – including white premiers Paul Kruger, Jan Smuts and FW de Klerk. The Transvaal region was inhabited by the earliest ancestors of modern South Africans, the Khoisan, for thousands of years, and by iron-age ancestors of modern Bantu-language speaking South Africans, such as the Sotho, Swati, Tswana, Pedi, Venda and Transvaal-Ndebele peoples since the mid fourth century AD. In December 1856, the Transvaal assembly met at Potchefstroom, and for three weeks was engaged in modelling the constitution 1856 of the country. Paul Kruger, who lived near Rustenburg, became a strong adherent of the new church. Born near the eastern edge of the Cape Colony, Kruger took part in the Great Trek as a child during the late 1830s. [19] The same year Kruger was elected a deputy field cornet—"a singular honour at seventeen", Meintjes comments. Kruger offered naturalisation after two years' residence and full franchise after five more (seven years, effectively) along with increased representation and a new oath similar to that of the Free State. Pretorius briefly led Boer resistance to this, but before long most of the Boers in Natal had trekked back north-west to the area around the Orange and Vaal rivers. [7], In 1835 Casper Kruger, his father, and his brothers Gert and Theuns moved their families east and set up farms near the Caledon River, on the Cape Colony's far north-eastern frontier. [234] Botha, De Wet and De la Rey visited Oranjelust in August 1902 and, according to hearsay, were berated by Kruger for "signing away independence"—rumours of such a scene were widespread enough that the generals issued a statement denying them. At the age of ten Paul Kruger -- as he afterward came to be known -- accompanied his parents in the migration, known as the Great Trek, from the Cape Colony to the territories north of the Orange in the years 1835 … Paul KRUGER : Family Tree - Geneastar [111] The first major clash, a successful Boer ambush, took place on 20 December 1880 at Bronkhorstspruit. Paul Krüger was elected President of the Transvaal on December 30, 1880. [153], Rhodes became prime minister of the Cape Colony in July 1890. [136], In July 1886 an Australian prospector reported to the Transvaal government his discovery of an unprecedented gold reef between Pretoria and Heidelberg. Kruger and Cronjé knew each other; the writer Johan Frederik van Oordt, who was acquainted with them both, suggested that Kruger may have had a hand in this and what followed. The first permanent European settlement north of the Vaal was made by a party under Potgieter's leadership. Image right: Oom Paul Kruger and his wife Gezina - this original family photo in the Balson Holdings Family Trust has been stored to ensure that the fingerprints on it, believed to be those of Paul Kruger, have not been damaged - click photo to see the fingerprints. [100] Pretorius and Bok were imprisoned on charges of high treason when they took this news to Wolseley and Sir Owen Lanyon (who had replaced Shepstone),[100] prompting many burghers to consider rising up there and then—Kruger persuaded them not to, saying this was premature. he posited. [213], With the major towns and the railways under British control, the conventional phase of the war ended; Kruger wired Steyn pondering surrender, but the Free State President insisted they fight "to the bitter end". Hy was reeds 'n erkende leier van sy volk toe Shepstone op 12 April 1877 die Transvaal annekseer en is hy tweemaal deur die burgers na Brittanje gestuur om teen die anneksasie te protesteer. [n 25] The removal of Leyds to Europe marked the end of Kruger's longstanding policy of giving important government posts to Dutchmen; convinced of Cape Afrikaners' sympathy following the Jameson Raid, he preferred them from this point on. Mzilikazi's invasion of the Transvaal was one part of a vast series of inter-related wars, forced migrations and famines that indigenous people and later historians came to call the Difaqane or mfecane. Nicknamed Oom Paul ("Uncle Paul"), he came to international prominence as the face of the Boer cause—that of the Transvaal and its neighbour the Orange Free State—against Britain during the Second Boer War of 1899–1902. [130] He defeated Joubert by 3,431 votes to 1,171,[130] and was inaugurated as president on 9 May 1883. [141] Failing to make headway in talks with the Portuguese, Kruger switched his attention to Kosi Bay, next to Swaziland, in late 1888. [58], In late 1859 Pretorius was invited to stand for president in the Orange Free State, where many burghers now favoured union, partly as a means to overcome the Basotho. [62] After Schoeman unsuccessfully attempted to forcibly supplant Grobler as Acting President, Kruger persuaded him to submit to a volksraad hearing, where Schoeman was censured and relieved of his post. [157] "This railway changed the whole internal situation in the Transvaal", Kruger wrote in his autobiography. In the following year a general church assembly endeavoured to unite all the congregations in a common government, but Postma's consistory rejected these overtures, and from that date the Separatist (or Dopper) Church has had an independent existence. Here the public greeted him with similar excitement, but Kaiser Wilhelm II refused to receive him in Berlin. Joubert's supporters alleged procedural irregularities and demanded a recount; the ballots were counted twice more and although the results varied slightly each time, every count gave Kruger a majority. [132] A convoluted situation developed on the Transvaal's western frontier, where burghers had crossed the border defined in the Pretoria Convention and formed two new Boer republics, Stellaland and Goshen, on former Tswana territory in 1882. [1][2] His paternal ancestors had been in South Africa since 1713, when Jacob Krüger, from Berlin, arrived in Cape Town as a 17-year-old soldier in the Dutch East India Company's service. In 1817, the region was invaded by Mzilikazi, originally a lieutenant of Zulu King Shaka who was pushed from his own territories to the west by the Zulu armies. [122] Brand arrived to mediate on 20 March and the following day agreement was reached; the British committed to formally restore the republic within six months. In 1863 he was elected Commandant-General, a post he held for a decade before he resigned soon after the election of President Thomas François Burgers. The President always denied such claims, but Meintjes suggests he "must have known", citing the two prior warnings Joubert received. [n 10] Chelmsford thought the campaign would be a "promenade" and did not take Kruger's advice. [60] When the 1859 synod of the Nederduits Hervormde Kerk van Afrika (NHK), the main church in the Transvaal, decided to enforce the singing of modern hymns, Kruger led a group of Doppers that denounced the NHK as "deluded" and "false" and left its Rustenburg congregation. Pretoria, newly founded, and named in honour of the elder Pretorius, was made the seat of government and capital of the country. In early 1904 he moved to Clarens, a small village in the canton of Vaud in western Switzerland where he spent the rest of his days looking over Lake Geneva and the Alps from his balcony. Kruger received this letter on 28 February and readily accepted, but by now it was too late. Né dans l'Est de la colonie du Cap, Kruger participa durant son enfance au Grand Trek à la fin des années 1830. Kruger moved his main residence to Boekenhoutfontein, near Rustenburg, and for a time absented himself from public affairs. Colley liaised by telegraph with Gladstone's Colonial Secretary Lord Kimberley, then wrote to Kruger on 21 February that if the Boers stopped fighting he would cease hostilities and send commissioners for talks. Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904), better known as Paul Kruger and affectionately known as Oom Paul (Afrikaans: "Uncle Paul") was State President of the South African Republic (Transvaal). This became the Dorsland Trek of 1874. [86] He found a national awakening occurring. Die familie Kruger het hulle in die distrik Rustenburg gevestig. Unless the annexation were revoked, the letter stated, the Transvaal Boers would not co-operate regarding federation. PAUL KRUGER - people search, genealogy, find deceased relatives and locate ancestors: Name SSN Date of birth Date of death Lived State Zip Code (Last Residence) Zip Code (Lump Tax payment) PAUL KRUGER: 215-09-0635: January 22, 1912: July 1, 1959: [70] He particularly disliked Burgers's new education law, which restricted children's religious instruction to outside school hours—in Kruger's view an affront to God. With their military technology, they overcame the local forces with relative ease, and formed several small Boer republics in areas beyond British control, without a central government. According to legend, he was named Mamelodi'a Tshwane (Tswana: "whistler of the Apies River") by the inhabitants of the surrounding area for his ability to whistle and imitate bird calls. [181] The President granted personal audiences to travellers and writers such as Olive Schreiner and Frank Harris,[181] and wore the knightly orders of the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium and France on his sash of state. [1] His first two names, Stephanus Johannes, were chosen after his paternal grandfather, but rarely used. [211] When British troops entered Bloemfontein on 13 March 1900 Reitz and others urged Kruger to destroy the gold mines, but he refused on the grounds that this would obstruct rehabilitation after the war. Peaceful overtures having failed, Pretorius and Paul Kruger placed themselves at the head of a commando which crossed the Vaal with the object of enforcing union, but the Free State compelled their withdrawal. The past met the present on Monday when the great-grandson of Paul Kruger visited Freedom Park and had an in-depth discussions with its CEO, Dr Mongane Serote, about times gone by and current affairs. [59] This act also had secular ramifications as according to the 1858 constitution only NHK members could take part in public affairs. His paternal ancestors had been in South Africa since 1713, when Jacob Krüger, from Berlin, arrived in Cape T… Potgieter envisioned a Boer republic with himself in a prominent role; he sufficiently impressed the Krugers that they joined his party of Voortrekkers. State President Paul Kruger at his fourth inauguration, Pretoria, 1898In 1877, before the 1886 Witwatersrand Gold Rush, Britain annexed the Transvaal. He again left for Britain in 1883, empowered to negotiate with Lord Derby. In 1878, he formed part of a second deputation. Steyn is described in Kruger's autobiography as "one of the greatest and noblest men that have seen the light of South Africa". Also around this time he shaved off his moustache and most of his facial hair, leaving the chinstrap beard he kept thereafter. Jealous, however, of the preference shown by the Dutch farmers in Natal to another commandant, Gert Maritz, Potgieter speedily recrossed the Drakensberg, and in November 1838 he and his followers settled by the banks of the Mooi river, founding a town named Potchefstroom in honour of Potgieter. Father of NN Kruger, b7c2d4e3f3g1; Maria Kruger; Casper Jan Hendrik Kruger, b7c2d4e3f3g2; Catharina Helena Fourie, b7c2d4e3f3g3; Jan Adriaan Kruger, b7c2d4e3f3g4 and 14 others; Elsje Francina Kruger b7c2d4e3f3g5; Gezina Susanna Frederika Wilhelmina Kruger b7c2d4e3f3g6; Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, b7c2d4e3f3g7; Anna Johanna Maria Aletta Kruger b7c2d4e3f3g8; Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, e3f3g9; Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, e3f3g10; Douw Gerbrand (Twin) Kruger; Nicolaas Jacobus (Twin) Kruger; Pieter Kruger, b7c2d4e3f3g13; Tareza Magrieta Kruger, b7c2d4e3f3g14; Sophia Margaretha Smit; Alida Barendina (Tant Alie) Malan, b7c2d4e3f3g15; Tjaard Andries Petrus Kruger, b7c2d4e3f3g16 and Unknown Kruger « less On his return Burgers resolved to send a commando against Sekhukhune; he called on Kruger to lead the column, but much to his surprise the erstwhile commandant-general refused. Kruger was absent due to his illness, but he did attend the official retrocession five days later in Church Square. The British government considered the conditions impossible and informed Kruger of this on 11 October 1899. Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger was born on 10 October 1825 at Bulhoek, Cape Colony, the third child and second son of Casper Jan Hendrik Kruger, a farmer, and his wife Elsie (Elisa; née Steyn). This has, on occasion, led to controversy; in 2009 local authorities in St Gallen, Switzerland renamed Krügerstrasse "because of racist associations". Many of Kruger's children died in infancy. [141], Much of Kruger's efforts over the next year were dedicated to attempts to acquire a sea outlet for the South African Republic. After the Ndebele and Sotho-Tswana claims to the territory had been suppressed by the Boer political leadership, many Boer farmers trekked across the Vaal and occupied parts of the Transvaal, often near Sotho-Tswana villages, dividing the population up as forced laborers. Nicolaas Smit was elected vice-president, and Leyds was promoted to state secretary. "[200] Kruger answered that he had already indicated his willingness to lower the franchise and was "prepared to do anything"—"but they must not touch my independence", he said. In 1910 the Transvaal became a province of the newly created Union of South Africa, a British Dominion. Though the English language was dominant in the mining areas, only Dutch remained official. [104] Wolseley was replaced as governor and high commissioner by Sir George Pomeroy Colley. 26 IN ADVANCE) PRIDAY, JULY IG, IDOT. Protégé du chef voortrekker Andries Pretorius, il assista à la signature du traité de Sand River avec le Royaume-Uni en 1852 et dans les années qui suivirent, il joua un rôle déterminant dans les politiques de la jeune République sud-africaine du Transvaal en servant de médiateur lors des fréquentes luttes de pouvoir. [49], Marthinus Pretorius hoped to achieve either federation or amalgamation with the Orange Free State, but before he could contemplate this he would have to unite the Transvaal. The Transvaal volksraad attempted to side-step the constitutional problems surrounding this by granting Pretorius half a year's leave, hoping a solution might come about during this time, and the President duly left for Bloemfontein, appointing Johannes Hermanus Grobler to be acting president in his absence. [249] Clarens, Free State is named after Kruger's last home in Switzerland. Quotes []. "[107], Starting on 8 December 1880 at Paardekraal, a farm to the south-west of Pretoria, 10,000 Boers congregated—the largest recorded meeting of white people in South Africa up to that time. As reported in: They Made this Land (Donker, … In 1865 an empty exchequer called for drastic measures, and the volksraad determined to endeavour to meet their liabilities and provide for further contingencies by the issue of notes. [120] Negotiations began on 16 March. In 16 December 1880 the independence of the republic was proclaimed again, leading to the First Boer War. [147] Agonising over how he "could meet the wishes of the new population for representation, without injuring the republic or prejudicing the interests of the older burghers",[143] he thought he had solved the problem in 1889 when he tabled a "second volksraad" in which the uitlanders would have certain matters devolved to them. On 17 January 1852, the United Kingdom signed the Sand River Convention treaty with 5,000 or so of the Boer families (about 40,000 white people), recognizing their independence in the region to the north of the Vaal River, or the Transvaal. Gelderland departed on 20 October 1900. [239], Kruger's body was initially buried in The Hague, but was soon repatriated with British permission. In 1883 is hy vir die eerste keer tot president gekies en in op 27 Februarie 1884 London toe om die gewysigde Konvensie van London af te sluit. There are 5000 profiles for the Kruger family on Geni.com. Paul Kruger accomplished it all as a player in the National Football League. [221][n 28], Kruger left the Transvaal by rail on 11 September 1900—he wept as the train crossed into Mozambique. Embarrassed, Loch complied with Kruger's request that he should not go on to Johannesburg. "They must be reasonable in their demands. [148] Kruger's administration recorded twice as many Transvaalers as uitlanders, but acknowledged that there were more uitlanders than enfranchised burghers. [159][n 17], Kruger's second volksraad sat for the first time in 1891. [38] Modern scholarship widely dismisses this as a technical ruse by the Boers to enforce a means of inexpensive labour for them while avoiding overt slavery. The provenance of the third given name, Paulus, "was to remain rather a mystery", Johannes Meintjes wrote in his 1974 biography of Kruger, "and yet the boy was always called Paul. ... Transvaal. Martin Meredith cited W. Morcom's statement that had very oily hair and sunken eyes. [199] Attempting to address the main point of contention raised by Milner and Chamberlain, Kruger spoke of reducing the residency qualification for foreigners to nine years or perhaps less. Kruger's father, Casper Kruger, joined the trek party of Hendrik Potgieter when the Great Trek started in 1836. Their first child, Casper Jan Hendrik, was born on 22 December that year. [226][n 30] Meintjes writes that a "strange silence" enveloped Kruger thereafter. [131], Kruger became president soon after the discovery of gold near what was to become Barberton, which prompted a fresh influx of uitlander diggers. Kruger was convinced that God would cause any military expedition organised by Burgers to fail—particularly if the President rode with the commando, which he was determined to do. The post of State Attorney was given to a young lawyer from the Cape called Jan Smuts,[194] for whom Kruger presaged great things. "It is sometimes said that he was illiterate. [148] On 29 December 1895, ostensibly following an urgent plea from the Johannesburg Reform Committee (as the National Union now called itself), these troops crossed the border and rode for the Witwatersrand—the Jameson Raid had begun. [15], "Paul Kruger's name and fame he made himself", Leyds said. [248], Kruger gives his name to the town of Krugersdorp,[164] and to many streets and squares in South Africa and other countries, especially the Netherlands and Belgium. Willem Cornelis Janse van Rensburg was appointed Acting President while a new election was organised for October 1862. [154] He and Loch offered to support Kruger in his plan to acquire a port at Kosi Bay and link it to the Transvaal through Swaziland if in return the Transvaal would enter a South African customs union and pledge not to expand northwards. After being routed by Sekhukhune, he hired a group of "volunteers" under the German Conrad von Schlickmann to defend the country, paying for this by levying a special tax. Research Kruger in the Surnames forums on Genealogy.com, ... Home > Forum > Surnames > Kruger. [48] Kruger's first campaign as a commandant was in the latter part of 1854, against the chiefs Mapela and Makapan near the Waterberg. The British offered amnesty for the Boer leaders, retrocession of the Transvaal under British suzerainty, a British resident in Pretoria and British control over foreign affairs. "[252] Soon after Kruger's death, Smuts told the British humanitarian campaigner Emily Hobhouse: "He typified the Boer character both in its brighter and darker aspects, and was no doubt the greatest man—both morally and intellectually—whom the Boer race has so far produced. Kruger quipped to Bredell: "Perhaps I'll be the first. [62], Kruger and others in the Transvaal government disliked Pretorius's unconstitutional dual presidency, and worried that Britain might declare the Sand River and Orange River Conventions void if the republics joined. At the end of the six months Pretorius, after a stormy meeting of the volksraad, apparently in disgust at the whole situation, resigned the presidency of the Transvaal. [118] This progressive humiliation of the Imperial forces in South Africa by a ragtag collection of farmers, to paraphrase Meintjes and the historian Ian Castle, stunned the Western world. [24] Kruger wrapped the wound in a handkerchief and retreated to camp, where he treated it with turpentine. [95] Meeting Sir Bartle Frere and Lord Chelmsford at Pietermaritzburg on 28 November 1878, Kruger happily gave tactical guidance for the British campaign—he advised the use of Boer tactics, making laagers at every stop and constantly scouting ahead—but refused Frere's request that he accompany one of the British columns, saying he would only help if assurances were made regarding the Transvaal. He refused calls to have the hand amputated by a doctor, and instead cut off the remains of the injured thumb himself with a pocketknife. "...of the difficulties by arbitration. The Second Boer War was a watershed for the British Army in particular and for the British Empire as a whole. [190][n 23], Kruger was never more popular domestically than during the 1897–98 election campaign, and indeed was widely perceived to be jollier than he had been in years. Outnumbered about twenty-to-one, Pretorius won at Blood River without losing a single man—he suffered only three lightly wounded—while the Zulus sustained around 3,000 fatalities. [207] Kruger took no part in the fighting, partly because of his age and poor health—he turned 74 the week war broke out—but perhaps primarily to prevent his being killed or captured. The war ended, but Burgers became extremely unpopular among his electorate. "[238] After contracting pneumonia, Paul Kruger died in Clarens on 14 July 1904 at the age of 78. PAUL KRUGER. ), farmer, soldier, and statesman, noted in South African history as the builder of the Afrikaner nation.He was president of the Transvaal, or South African Republic, from 1883 until his flight to Europe in … Husband of Anna Maria Etresia du Plessis d4e8f1 and Gezina Susanna Frederika Wilhelmina Kruger, b6c1d1e11f3 He wore a beard, but never a mustache. [99], At Wonderfontein on 15 December 1879, 6,000 burghers, many of them bearing the republic's vierkleur ("four-colour") flag, voted to pursue a restored, independent republic. The republic made armament one of its main priorities, ordering huge quantities of rifles, munitions, field guns and howitzers, primarily from Germany and France.