| Notes |
- Magdalena J.(known as Lenie) is one of the Voortrekker women of whom not much is mentioned in the history of the Trek. She was, however, one of the martyrs of the time as will become clear from the following.
Her first marriage was with Veldkornet Jan Christoffel (Carel) Greyling. Not much is known about this marriage except that Lenie had six children with him, and they lived on the farm Swagershoek in the Graaff-Reinet district. Her husband accompanied Landdros Stockenström during his negotiations with the Xhosas and was murdered with him on the 31st December, 1811.
Their last child, Barend Christiaan, born on 8.3.1812, was Christened at Graaff-Reinet on 8.7.1812. His mother was alone in front of the font as the babtismal register just gives her name and mentions that the father was deceased.
Their second oldest son, Petrus Jacobus, was blind as can be seen from their joint will in which a slave "Present" was bequeathed to him to assist the son. The estate was large and contained, amongst others, 1680 sheep, 531 goats, 129 heads of cattle, 22 horses and 4 slaves - a total value of 8665 riksdaalers. The children's share in the estate was held in trust for them.
Pieter Retief appears from 1807 in the "opgaafrolle" (returns) of Stellenbosch, living at Kromme Rhee. It appears that he was of a restless nature and was involved in various speculations with land. After the 4th border war in 1812, he went with a commando to the border for patrol service. In December of that year, the Kommando returned to Stellenbosch and Retief decided to move to the eastern border area. One of the reasons may have been the widow Magdalena Greyling whom he possibly met on the journey.
Retief and Magdalena J.'s banns were declared read on the 3rd June and the marriage took place on the 4th July, 1814 after they appeared before the Landdros and Commissioners of Marital Affairs at Graaff-Reinet on the 2nd July. After the marriage, his restlessness came to the fore - he took part in no less that 65 land transactions and they moved residence a few times and also he changed his occupation a few times.
At Uitenhage he was a provisioning agent for the army, which included the purchasing and delivery of rations. Then he bacame a miller, a merchant in grain and started a bakery and a butchery. Meanwhile he also acted as building contractor.
In August 1822, Lord Charles Somerset appointed him as "veldkommandant" (Kommandant in the field) for the Albany district which greatly expanded his duties and responsibilities. He obtained many farms and was mainly a stock farmer but on Mooimeisiesfontein he had 6000 vines.
Retief became wood merchant and supplied bark from trees to a tannery. He was also forrester near Bedford. In the latter position he controlled the granting of licences to fell trees. In his absense Magdalena J. assisted him. In all the above positions apart from that of Veldkommandant, he was not particularly successful. As provisioning agent he could not obtain the necessary stores to complete the contracts.
His building projects could not be completed successfully as a result of many factors amongst others catastropies in nature, unforseen expenses, tendering too low, etc. His land transactions brought court cases which ruined him financially (plots were measured out and sold without title deeds, etc.). With the border wars, he lost many cattle, on one occasion 400.
He was sacked as forrester in 1834 and went into liquidation in the same year. In January 1834 an inventory was taken of Retief's possessions on his farm Winterberg and auctioned. Mooimeisiesfontein then came under the hammer. After all his debts were paid he had £43 10s left. He did, however, have some other assets. All these disasters and adversity must have been distressing for Magdalena J. She and Retief meanwhile raised 4 children (some died young).
Magdalena Johanna "Lenie" De Wet was born in 1782 at Zwartberg in the Swellendam district as the fifth of six children. She first married Field-Cornet Jan Christoffel Greijling with whom she had 9 children. After his death in 1811, she married again in 1814 to Piet Retief. Besides taking responsibility for a huge step-family, Retief had a further 6 children with his wife Lenie. Her new life was not an easy one, for Retief was a restless person who was making a living as general dealer, baker, miller, butcher,
liquor trader, auctioneer, timber merchant and building contractor on the eastern frontier towns of Uitenhage and Grahamstown. By 1834, he was forced to surrender his estate. During this time they also farmed on "Mooimeisiesfontein", named after Lenie, who by all accounts was a good-looking woman and referred to by Retief as his "mooi meisie". They hereafter moved high up in the Winterberg where Retief became involved in
the struggle of the border farmers. After the publication of his Manifesto in 1837, which broadly stated the reasons for the Great Trek, Retief and his family departed for Natal. Retief was elected
Governor of the united trek parties and took it upon himself to negotiate with Dingane, the Zulu king, for land in Natal on which the Trekkers could
settle. From the private letters of Piet to Lenie, it is evident that he shared his most inner feelings and fears with her. They must have been trusted partners and one can only speculate on the degree of influence she had on him.
One of her most trying experiences must have been when she received the news of the death of her husband who was killed on January 6, 1838 at the
hands of the Zulu. News of the events only came two weeks later. Not only was her husband killed but also two of her sons and a son-in-law, three days
before the laagers along the Bushmen's River were attacked by the Zulu.
Miraculously, Lenie's lager was not amongst them. Hereafter, the reverend Erasmus Smit and his wife took pity on the widow Retief. Smit "spoke and
comforted her in her misfortune according to the word of God." The previous year, Lenie showed empathy with the Smits following the death of their son Salomon by making a burial shroud, a pleated collar, a cap and a covering for the face and head. Lenie was amongst the first mourners to comfort the
family.
The widow Retief was not immune to the daily trials of the trek and at one point Erasmus Smit recorded in his dairy that "we received the news that the
wagon of Mrs Retief, while travelling through the river to the other side, capsized, but God be thanked, she has not been hurt." After the Battle of Blood River in December 1838, the Voortrekkers were, in early 1839, free to settle in their new capital of Pietermaritzburg, partly named after her husband. Her son from her first marriage, Pieter Greijling, laid out the town, and one of the streets is still named after him. The widow Retief was granted Erf 22 Church Street. She must have immediately erected a
substantial dwelling for, before the building of the first reed church or the completion of the Church of the Vow by 15 March 1840, the first church services, baptisms and even weddings took place in her house.
Because the Reverend Smit was already old and weakened, the widow Retief, her three daughters and other persons decided to make contributions towards the building of a pulpit. The core of this pulpit is still to be seen in the Church of the Vow. The widow Retief was an ardent supporter of Smit and with the virtual excommunication of him by the official church authorities and replacement by the American missionary Daniel Lindley, the fortunes of the widow Retief also changed. When in 1840 the widow Retief requested a pension, it was decided to grant her the erf in Church Street as a present.
To survive, she now had to earn her living with her hands by baking bread and biscuits. She also planted mealies and pumpkins and had some head of cattle. By now, only five of her 15 children were still alive. In 1843 she rendered an account to the Volksraad for delivering bread and biscuit to the
burghers for consumption the previous year during the skirmish at Congella near Port Natal. A total of 94 Riksdaalders were paid out. By the middle of
1844, she got the help of the prolific Charles ?tienne Boniface to present to the Volksraad two petitions on her behalf, in which she requested a pension. He pleaded her sad and sorrowful state and concluded that it would be unforgiving of the Volksraad to deny her as the widow of the immortal Piet Retief. Upon investigation, it was determined that the erf in Church Street was given to her as a form of pension and that the treasury could not afford another form of compensation.
After the British annexation of Natal, many Trekkers left their lost Republic of Natalia to settle in the areas to the north of the Orange and Vaal Rivers. Retief probably left Pietermaritzburg in 1848 with her daughter Deborah and her husband to settle in the town of Potchefstroom, leaving behind her dearest friends the Reverend Erasmus Smit and his wife Susanna.
There the Dutchman Jacobus Stuart (grandfather of James Stuart of the analogous archives) found her in the early fifties, still living in poverty.
By now, at least, the Transvaal government had granted her a pension of 15 shillings a month. Today, it is still not known when she died or where she is buried. She was remembered, however, in 1938, when the well-known poet and author Uys Krige wrote an epic drama for the centenary of the Great Trek and named it "Magalena Retief".
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