At the corner of Long Street and Church Street once stood the home of Mary Jacobs and Abraham the Five. Maria was born in Batavia in 1660 and Abraham in China around 1668, probably under the name Lim Inko. Both were former enslaved people. Abraham was baptized in the Cape in 1702 and they married later that same year. They would have four children together, Leonora (Abraham’s stepdaughter), Beatrix, Christina, and Daniel. Abraham was probably a (political) prisoner from Batavia. He was eventually pardoned and, after serving his sentence, most likely ransomed Maria. They lived in this house with their children. This piece of land was granted to them by Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel. Abraham was allowed to return to Batavia in 1710 but died a few years later in Cape Town. His daughter Leonora would live to be 92 years old.

Sources

• Malan, Antonia. (1998/9). Chattels or Colonists? ‘Freeblack’ Women and Their Households. Kronos 25. 50-71.
• WikiTree. (N.d.). Maria Jacobs (van Batavia) de Vyff (1660). [online] https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Batavia-3.