Johann Gie

Johann Gie
Grand Master of Lodge de Goede Hoop (South African Freemasons)
In office
1776–1776
Preceded by Chiron, A.
Succeeded by Chiron, A.
Personal details
Born Johann Coenraad Gie
(1727-03-22)March 22, 1727
Zurich, Switzerland
Died July 1, 1797(1797-07-01) (aged 70)
Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa
Nationality South African
Spouse(s) Engela Johanna Leij
Children 6
Known for Freemasonry, Community leader, businessman

Johann Coenraad Gie was a South African businessman, community leader and at his time one of the Grand Master's of the Freemasons in South Africa.

Personal Life and arrival in South Africa

Johann Coenraad Gie was born in Zurich, Switzerland on 22 Mar 1727. He was one of the children of Andreas Caspar Gie and Anne Marie Liguren. He died 1 July 1797 in Cape Town.[1]

He arrived on 23 January 1751 on the ship called “Rosenburg” , from Texel, the Netherlands as young guy working in the military.[2] He got married on 18 Dec 1757 to Engela Johanna Leij. They had six children.

His working life started in the military. In 1761 he became a general merchant and later supplier of goods . He supplied ships with goods, as they appended supplies at the refreshment station in Cape Town harbour on their way to India or Europe. He had a special licence for that.[1]

While busy with his merchant supply activities he became the Orphan-Master of the Cape Colony in 1768.[3] The function of the Orphan-Chamber was to look after the interest of orphans.[4] Later in the same year he was appointed as Civil Commissioner in Matrimonial Affairs at the Matrimonial Court. The function of the Court was to establish if couples who want to get married were eligible. The Court consisted out of a president and 6 members. This court was abolished by Sir David Baird in 1806(Long after Gie’s death).

In 1779 he added the task of Commissioner of Fleet affairs. These fleet affairs dealt with the management of the fleet of ships, regarding logistics and docking. The Dutch East India Company had a political council that governed the Cape Colony. This political council supervised the regulations of the Lords Seventeen. In Dutch the Lords Seventeen is called Heren XVII. The Political Council appointed 3 citizens to attend meeting where normal citizens were involved. Those three people were called the Citizen Council. In 1784 Gie was appointed on the Council. In 1786 his requests that the number of the Citizen Council be expand to six, which was granted. [5] He was appointed to the rank Captain in the civil society. [6] [7] In 1793 The Cape Colony was divided into wards. Gie became Ward Master of one of the wards. [8]

Freemason

He together with Chiron, A.(first Grand Master), le Febre, J.A., Soermans, P., Brand, C., van Schoor, J. A., de Wet, O. G., and de Witt, P.J. started the first Freemason Lodge in South Africa. It was called Lodge de Goede Hoop. In 1776 he was appointed Grand Master but, due to his inability to speak English he had to step down. Being Swiss, he was however fluent in German and French [9][10] [11]

References

  1. 1 2 "The first Settler at the Cape Hans Conrad Guy (JC Gie)" (PDF). Gie.co.za. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  2. ↑ "The Swiss in Southern Africa 1652-1970. Part 1 Arrivals at the Cape 1652-1819 in Chronological sequence" (PDF). Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  3. ↑ Theal, G.M. (2010). "Book -History and Ethnography of Africa South of the Zambesi, from the Settlement of the Portuguese at Sofala in September 1505 to the Conquest of the Cape Colony by the British in September 1795". Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108023344.
  4. ↑ "History of the Orphan Chamber". Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  5. ↑ "Council Precis of the archives of the Cape of Good Hope(121)". Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  6. ↑ "Precis of the archives of the Cape of Good Hope 1715-1806". Retrieved 21 September 2018.
  7. ↑ "Briefwisseling oor Kaapse sake 1778-1792". 8 January 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  8. ↑ "Colony" (PDF). Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  9. ↑ Cooper, A.A. (1980). "The origins and growth of Freemasonry in South Africa 1772-1876" (PDF). University of Cape Town. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  10. ↑ Linder, A. (1997). "Book:The Swiss at the Cape of Good Hope, 1652-1971". Basler Afrika Bibliographien. ISBN 9783905141665.
  11. ↑ "Prominent persons in history who were Freemasons". Retrieved 1 October 2018.
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