Hendrik Muller

1826 - 1907  (80 years)

• Name	Hendrik Muller
  Birth	7 Dec 1826	Swellendam, Cape Province, South Africa
  Gender	Male
  Death	1907
  Person ID	I3932	Main Tree
  Last Modified	12 Dec 2025

  
  

  Marriage	3 Mar 1816	Caledon, Cape, South Africa
  Family ID	F1257	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Hendrik, the youngest son of the marriage was born in Swellendam on 7th December 1826 where his father had been “practicing” most of his life. He was a short, thick-set and strong man with blue eyes that blazed when he succumbed to his frequent fits of temper. Early in his life he became apprenticed to a blacksmith. About ten years after the battle of Blood River he arrived in the then recently established town of Pietermaritzburg where he met his future bride Susannah Magretha Maritz, an offspring of two great Voortrekker families.(1) He was doing work for her father, Francois Ignatius Maritz, a prosperous wagonmaker. On the 21st June 1847 they were joined in matrimony by the honourable Döhne in the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk in Pietermaritzburg. The following is an extract from their marriage certificate: “Hendrik Muller, jongeman van 20 jaar wagenmaker van beroep” and “Susannah Magretha Maritz, ‘n jongedogter van 17 jaar” were married “na huwelyksgeboden met toestemming van der ouders”(2) The newlyweds made their home in Berg Street Pietermaritzburg(3) where ten of their thirteen children were born.(4) Hendrik continued with his work as blacksmith and wagonmaker and by the year 1866 had accumulated “considerable wealth.”(5) A year later he stood surety for a friend(6) who went bankrupt with the result that Hendrik lost all the savings he had so diligently accumulated. Shortly after this disastrous financial setback Hendrik moved his family to the farm “Uitzoek” in the district of Harrismith. Later he moved into the town of Harrismith where he toiled once more as a blacksmith.(7) until his death in 1907 (or thereabouts).(8) (1)She was the daughter of Dina Maria Uys (who was in turn the daughter of Jacobus Johannes Uys, the Voortekker leader) and Francois Ignatius Maritz (The son of Salamon Maritz, who was the brother of Gerrit Maritz, another great Voortrekker leader). The young Susannah Magretha was present at the battle of Blood River. (2)Archives, Pietermaritzburg. (3)See Corporation notice in the supplement to the Natal Witness and Agricultural and Commercial Advertiser dated 15th October 1858. (4)The last three children were born in Harrismith. (5)According to many of the compiler’s informants. (6)Some members of the family are of the opinion that he stood surety for one of his cousins. The compiler has not been able to elicit accurate information about what actually happened. (7)See “General Directory for South Africa” dated 1888 and 1890 under the heading “Farriers and Blacksmiths, Harrismith” (8)One of the most striking features to emerge from this genealogy is the tendency toward longevity as far as the menfolk of the Muller clan are concerned and the demise at an early age of the womenfolk