Anna Groothenning van Bengale, SM/PROG - Parents?

Jan, hopefully this will help to get the other managers help you brainstorm.
Please upload the Sources that prove these are her parents first, though.

Jan Neelmeyer @Jan Neelmeyer | You need to provide references to records which are evidence of all the relationships of all these individuals you ascribe to Louisz Groothenning van Bengale and Lisjbeth Sanders.

I would particularly like to see the contemporaneous records which show Louisz van Bengale named in the record as Groothenning. I would also like to see contemporaneous records which show unequivocally that his daughters used the name Groothenning.

Also the toponym is the provenance of the individual and in its early form was written "geboortich van ..." in other words, born in/at.

Occasionally a child acquired the provenance/toponym of the father, but this was not common at all.

The record clearly shows that Anna van Bengale was an imported slave and first sold by the skipper Cornelis Keleman to Gerrit Meyer on 5 June 1698. This was 20 years after the birth of Lijsbeth Sanders children. She later came to be named as Anna Groothenning van Bengale.

Furthermore direct martilineal descendants of Lijsbeth Arabus, the mother of Lijsbeth Sanders have tested for mtDNA haplogroup L3b3, while several direct matrilineal descendants of Anna Groothenning have tested as M49c1. Lijsbeth Sanders can therefor not be the mother of Anna Groothenning.

Hello Delia, I have been a fan of yours and Mansell Upham since the beginning and really value the work that you have done in the '1st 50years' project. Thank you very much for your comments which I accept and shall make the necessary changes in Geni.
Best Wishes to you both and keep up the good work.
Jan Neelmeyer

Thank you Jan. I greatly appreciate your support.

I support Delia Robertson on this one. I am not sure where the problem arose Sharon. All of the personalities are well recorded in this lineage with a pretty sound broader narrative. Where on earth did someone dredge up a persona called Louiz Groothenning van Bengale Gam.

The term "Groothenning" from what I understand was not a surname but a nickname of German origin related to sexual prowess (similar to tigress in the bedroom). Anna's first job was in a Tavern frequented by German roughnecks, and she was also involved with German partners. The nickname passed to her daughter

The M49c1 mtdna associated with Anna van Bengale indicates a region around the epicenter of the Golden Triangle and environs (Myanmar, Laos, Siam, Western China) which has the highest readings for this dna.

There is also a rather unsupported rigidity that topnyms for the enslave mean that this denotes their origins. In some cases in terms of the VOC footprint it is likely to be correct origin, but not in the cases of the large well known slaver stations at Galle, Colombo, Bengale (West Bengal), Arakan (Myanmar) and Batavia (Jakarta). Those toponyms can with some certainty be said not to indicate origins. By studying the history of those places one sees that it is most unlikely that people of those towns were made slaves, but rather had been sold to ships there. Their real origins were from all over Southeast Asia and indications of their origin would be to look at wars in the region at the time of the date associated with their birth or famines and natural disasters. War captives and Refugees were enslaved as were those in Debt-Bondage as well as those kidnapped from remote places by Pirates. Few have interrogated how people became enslaved and these are four pointers among others as to how this happened. The term van Bengale denotes not just the modern day West Bengal nor Bangladesh but the whole Bay of Bengal, particularly the eastern section beyond coast of Coromandel. There were many principalities and ethnic wars in the region involving Myanmar, China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia/Singapore and any of these could be places of origin of slaves sold from the Dutch Factory bases in West Bengal, Myanmar (Arakan) and Ayuttaya Siam (Thailand). So the term van Bengale covers a large area. DNA Haplo Group identification helps to a certain degree but one also needs to be careful here because to refine down to more specific areas, many STR (short tandem repeats) need to be done in addition. Unfortunately some genealogists use haplo groups like what one scientist called genetic-astrology. In scientific language short tandem repeats (STRs), which are sometimes referred to as simple sequence repeats (SSRs), are accordion-like stretches of DNA containing core repeat units of between two and seven nucleotides in length that are tandemly repeated from approximately a half dozen to several dozen times. This digs down deeper (and is more expensive than genealogy genetics). But to really get a better picture of ones diversity of origins Autosomal DNA tests should be done alongside y-dna and mtdna tests. It gives one a better idea of the fact that there is NO PURITY of descent.

As I have become more familiar with Southeast Asia and its history and cultures, and cross referenced with the amazing work done by Delia Robertson and Mansell Upham I have come to a deep appreciation of the complexities in the heritage handed down by the enslaved. We tend to want to grab on to any narrow regional identity in which to box people into, but it really is a lot more nuanced than such. So far I have identified over 195 roots of origin of the enslaved and other migrants of colour within "Coloured" heritage and similarly for a fair percentage of white South Africans. For those labelled "Coloured" the reductionist approach of being a product of miscegenation simply between white and black or starting in 1652 has finally been shattered. The ethnic mix is much much more broader and this is to be celebrated. .... just like the amazingly broad ethnic mix that exists in the heritage of those classified as "Black" or "Bantu". Its also much more complex if we follow both the work of genetic science and of archaeology/paleontology. For years the distorted history alleging that "black" people only arrived after or at the same time as whites has been blown out of the water.

It is worrying that one still comes across people who try their utmost to distort the origins of many of the early migrants at the Cape. So my caution is always consult and the first port of call that I would make is to look at the FIRST FIFTY YEARS site... where they identify detail or where they say that its still a work in progress.... or where an assumption is tentatively made.

Sometimes the flowery name as in this case of Louiz Groothenning van Bengale Gam itself gives cause to question. People do the darnedest things. A fella has been going around CT calling himself King Cornelius 111 claiming half of SA as his Kingdom and has declared that his kingdom is succeeding from SA and ran a flag up the flagpole of parliament. When we looked at a website of the claimant he had a family tree to prove his claim. Effectively what had been done was to take two of Namibias most famous family lineages - the Witboois and the Afrikaners (Jonkers Orlam descendants) and grafted his 20th century family at the end and proclaimed himself as their king. These are two of Southern Africa's most well documented Khoe family trees.

But sorry, I am rambling. I was happy to see that Delia jumped in before me. I often get requests to incorrectly "correct" entries. We should watch out for that and go back and check the superb work done at FIRST FIFTY YEARS.

On another tongue in cheek note... my approach is also to look at the other first fifty years before JvR turned up at a Cape that had already seen around 10071 ships outward bound and around 800 ships homeward bound pass through Table Bay with stay overs of between 2 weeks and 9 months. ( in 1644 Mauritius Eylandt's 120 passengers and crew stayed for 4 months and in 1647 Captain Janszen's crew of 60 stayed for 9 months). Multi-racial crews of Dutch, Portuguese, Danish, English and French stopped over and engaged with local Khoe people for a half century. Two prominent cases but indications of more saw Khoe travel to Java and England and back. Comments of seafarers note the appearance of children of mixed ethnicity. Much more research needs to be done on the earlier 50 years.

Hi Patric, I have already owned up to the serious error I made for which I feel most embarrassed. I have been aware of the good work that you have done with the 'Camissa People' etc. for a long time and have wondered how far you have got tracing Anna's life prior to coming to Bengal? I find your comment on the meaning of 'Groothenning' most interesting as it may bring clarity to Anna's timeline after coming to the Cape. I am aware that you have had a special interest in where the slaves from Bengal originated from and would like to know more. The South African families being descendants of these slaves need to wake up and own their roots. My family does.

Some interesting research being shared here - thank you all.

Hello @Patric Tariq Mellet

Thanks for the support and shout-out. Truly appreciated.

The enigma of Anna.
I have been trying to find out who 'Anna' 'Groothenning' van Bengale, Bock, my wife's 7th great-grandmother really was, without much success. The information available is fragmented and does not paint a clear picture. These are the issues that I ask for help to clarify:-

According to DNA, 'Anna' was born in Myanmar (Burma). Fact?
'Anna' was born in 1676 (having arrived at the Cape Colony in 1698, age 22). Fact?
'Anna' was born to unknown parents. Fact?
'Anna' was given an unknown name by her unknown parents. Fact?
'Anna' was captured and brought to West Bengal and sold to Capt. Keeleman. Fact?
'Anna' was sold to Capt. Keeleman as 'Anna'. Fact?
Did Capt. Keelemann name her Anna van Bengale. ?
Was 'Anna' named Anna van Bengale by the administrators at the Cape. Fact?

I would really like to know which of the above statements can be taken as fact and if not, then why not?

No comment? Then let me try like this.

I, like many others before me and I am sure many to follow, use Anna's "Anna Groothenning van Bengale" as a starting point to try to find her ancestors. This leads us on a "wild goose chase" as there are no ancestors to this Anna. They do not exist.

In order to stop this waste of energy, I propose that we considerj changing her profile body to reflect who she really was, as follows.

Title: Blank
Name: Unknown
Middle name: Blank
Married? Name: Bock
Suffix: SM/Prog
Birth surname: Unknown
Display name: Anna Groothenning van Bengale, Bock
Also Known As: Leave as is

Jan, Let me try and respond to your questions above.

1. The mtDNA of her direct matrilineal descendants shows her to be a member of a haplogroup predominantly originating in the region now politically defined as Myanmar and Laos. This does not guarantee she herself was born there, but that her maternal ancestry originates in that region. She may well have been born somewhere there, because the VOC enslaved people from those locations.
2. It is a fact that she was recorded as 22-years-old when she was sold by Keleman in 1698, which implies a birth year of around 1676. But we do not know how her age was determined - did she know it, did Keleman guess it or know it? That is not recorded. So we can say she was born around 1676, but that is all.
3. It is a fact that nowhere in the record to which we have access at present are her parents identified. But she must have had parents. So yes it is a fact to at present say she was born to unknown parents - i.e. the parents are unknown to us.
4. Nowhere in the record or in any published material has it been stipulated that she was named Anna by her parents. In fact it is far more likely that, as was prevailing practice in the period, she was given a name by someone in the transactional history of her life. If she was born into slavery, her mother may have been able to name her but more likely her owner assigned the name to her. Or if she was enslaved sometime after her birth, the name would likely have been given as a means of identifying her by the person who first enslaved her or first sold her or the person who recorded those transactions.
5. We do not know where and how Keleman came to acquire her. He could have captured her, he could have bought her.
6. The toponym or provenance "Van Bengale" was used by the VOC to identify slaves whose origin was any one of the countries bordering the Bay of Bengal, not just those whose origins was the then region India known as Bengal(e). It is a vast area. The phrase was originally "gerboortich (var.) van ..." and therefor indicated a place of birth. But its use became much looser over time, and often simply indicated from whence the slave was previously. For example, you get some slaves with "van Batavia" - but that was a hub of commerce including slave commerce, and so slaves thusly identified could actually have come from elsewhere.

It may be possible to find records of Keleman's journey that brought him to the Cape with Anna that would perhaps provide more information about her. Ships logs or journals, correspondence between him and the authorities, slave transaction records from the East, etc. But that would be a very costly exercise that could yield little or nothing.

I hope this helps.

Hello Delia, I thank you very much for your comments on Anna Groothenning. I am indebted to you for the time you have put into these comments. It makes the origins of Anna much clearer to me, and many others I suspect. Much appreciated. Jan