Hendrik Cloete, Groot Constantia en die/ and the VOC 1778-1799

Van Riebeeck Society, Second Series No 34.

Cape Town, 2003.

Hardcover with dustcover, 336 pages. Very good condition, tightly bound, neat and clean.

Hendrik Cloete was born in 1725 on the family farm, Nooitgedacht, near Stellenbosch. The farm belonged previously belonged to the family of Sibella Pasman, Cloetes mother, who brought the farm into the Cloete family. He was already a well-off farmer by the time he bought Groot Constantia in 1778. Constantia wines were already immensely popular In Europe at that time. This popularity is reflected by the exorbitant price Cloete paid for the farm: fl.90,000, which included the farm, the equipment, and the slaves. Cloete and his wife went to live on Groot Constantia while their eldest son took over Nooitgedacht. After the death of his wife in 1794, Cloete moved back to Nooitgedacht, where he died in 1799. His youngest son, also Hendrik, took over farming on Groot Constantia and became the new owner after the death of his father.