Jacobus Groenendaal
| Jacobus Groenendaal | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Volksraad of the Orange Free State |
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In office 1853 – 23 February 1854 |
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In office 1858 – 27 November 1860 |
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| Government Secretary of the Orange Free State |
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In office 23 February 1854 – January 1856 |
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| Preceded by | New office |
| Succeeded by | J.W. Spruyt |
| Treasurer General of the Orange Free State |
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In office 23 February 1854 – August 1855 |
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| Preceded by | New office |
| Acting State President of the Orange Free State | |
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In office Early April – 18 April 1854 |
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| Preceded by | J.P. Hoffman |
| Succeeded by | J.P. Hoffman |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
1 November 1805 Heerewaarden, Netherlands |
| Died | 27 November 1860 (aged 55) Fauresmith, Orange Free State |
| Occupation | schoolteacher |
Jacobus Groenendaal (1 November 1805 – 27 November 1860) was a South African statesman of Dutch origin, member of the Volksraad of the Orange Free State and the republic's first Treasurer General and Government Secretary in office from 1854 to 1855 and 1856 respectively.
Groenendaal was born in Heerewaarden, Netherlands, and was one of the many Dutch immigrants who settled in South Africa around the middle of the nineteenth century. He was a schoolteacher by training, but quickly became an influential politician, first in the negotiations about the formation of the Orange Free State, and afterwards as a parliamentarian and office holder. His political career was hampered by bad health and differences of opinion with State President Boshoff, and eventually cut short by his early death.
Groenendaal left an important political legacy in the form of the Orange free State constitution, in the draft of which he played an important role.
Groenendaal was born in Heerewaarden, the Netherlands, son of a farmer in that village. He was trained as a schoolteacher, and worked in a primary school in the Dutch town of Amersfoort in the late 1840s. Several articles written in 1848 and 1849 by professor U.G. Lauts about Dutch relations with South Africa, and the need for Dutch assistance in the field of education and public administration, inspired Groenendaal to get in touch with Lauts. On his recommendation Groenendaal emigrated to South Africa in 1849, already forty-four years old, but still single. From Cape Town, where he arrived with several other Dutch migrants, Groenendaal travelled to the Orange River Sovereignty, where he established himself in February 1850 as government teacher in Rietrivier in Sannah's Poort (now Fauresmith).
In the years after, Groenendaal strongly propagated Dutch migration to South Africa, bringing migrants to the Orange River Sovereignty privately. In this enterprise he co-operated with Lauts, and they continued their 'business' after the independence of the Orange Free State. When circumstances for migration deteriorated, both Groenendaal and Lauts were criticised for their actions.
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