Hermanus Steyn (15 February 1743,

Swellendam Swellendam () is the third oldest town in South Africa (after Cape Town and Stellenbosch), a town with 17,537 inhabitants situated in the Western Cape province. The town has over 50 provincial heritage sites, most of them buildings of Cape D ...

– 1804,

) was a

Boer Boers ( ; ; ) are the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled the Dutch ...

political leader and the President of the short-lived

Republic of Swellendam The Republic of Swellendam was founded in 1795 when dissatisfaction towards the Dutch East India Company caused the burghers of Swellendam to revolt, and on 17 June 1795 they declared themselves a republic. Hermanus Steyn was appointed as Presid ...

. When the rule of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

fell in 1795 and the Swellendam citizens called their own

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

into existence, he was elected as president. A few months after the arrival of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

, an end was made to this Republic.

Biography

He was born and baptized in 1743 near Bruintjies River, which was then the border of the

Dutch Cape Colony The Cape of Good Hope () was a Dutch United East India Company (VOC) supplystation in Southern Africa, centered on the Cape of Good Hope, from where it derived its name. The original supply station and the successive states that the area was ...

. He married ''Anna Margaretha Van Staden'' in 1765. They had seven children together - three sons and four daughters. He farmed with his father, ''Hermanus Steyn d'Oude'' at Bruintjiesfontein near Swellendam until 1773, where he soon commanded respect from his neighbours. His father was elected as part of the home council of Swellendam various times. He was very interested in the Patriot movement at the Cape in the years 1770. In 1773 he moved to the tenant farm De Doornfontein "boven aan de Sondags Rivier onder de Camdeboo" on the then eastern border. In 1789 he returned to

and settled on the farm Jan Harmansgat. He lived there until he died in 1806. His son Marthinus farmed after him on Jan Harmansgat.

Simon Kick Simon Kick (1603, Delft – 1652, Amsterdam), was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Biography According to the RKD he was the son of the Delft varnish worker Willem Kick.Hendrik Potgieter Andries Hendrik Potgieter, known as Hendrik Potgieter (19 December 1792 – 16 December 1852) was a Voortrekker leader. He served as the first head of state of Potchefstroom from 1840 and 1845 and also as the first head of state of Zoutpansberg ...

, the Voortrekker, was his cousin's son, also on his mother's side and

Marthinus Prinsloo Marthinus Prinsloo (1838 - 1903) was an Orange Free State Boer farmer, politician and general in the Second Boer War (1899-1902). He was born of Nicolaas Frans Prinsloo (1813 - 1890) and Isabella Johanna Petronella Rautenbach (1819-around 1908) ...

, the President of the

Republic of Graaff-Reinet The Republic of Graaff-Reinet () was from 1795 to 1796 a self-proclaimed Boer republic that existed in and around the city of Graaff-Reinet in present-day South Africa. It was named after Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff and his wife, Cornelia Re ...

was his 2nd cousin, also on his mother's side.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steyn, Hermanus 1743 births 1804 deaths People from Swellendam