• General Notes

  Lived in Te Water House it was built by Dr Krebbs an emigrant from Germany and when he died Mr. F.K. Te Water married the wealthy widow Krebbs.
  
  Frans Karl Te Water was born in Brussels. For health reasons he sailed for the Cape of Good Hope at the age of 18 to become a private tutor for a family in the Bedford district. Not happy there he was returning home via Graaff Reinet when he noticed an advertisement for the post of Town Clerk an was duly appointed. He subsequently became well set up as an auctioneer and general agent: In the 1860’s the town suffered a severe depression. F.k.Te Water was Chairman of the Municipal Board in 1865. His uncompromising and resolute decisions did much for the survival of the town. Later he represented Graaff Reinet on the Cape Legislative Council in 1869.  The Te Water family occupied this house for almost a hundred years and two of his daughters Mrs Keegan and Mrs Goldman fondly known as “Aunt J” and “Aunt T” are remembered to this day. On one occasion “Aunt J” showed her disapproval of a municipal decision to chop down an oak tree alongside her house. On the appointed morning she took a chair and sat in front of the tree and nothing or nobody could budge her. The tree was not chopped down.

Details of Johan's family with Jacomina Jacoba Janse van Rensburg