Colonial officials, as well as some Dutch
historians, have tried to interpret our history the way all colonial powers
want people of the colonized country to believe it took place.
In a speech given on July 30th 1934, Substitute Lt. Governor Xavier Krugers
attempted to show Sabans how well informed he was about their history. His
speech was on the occasion of the celebration of 300 years of colonial rule,
and we quote:
In the History of Nations we always have seen it
happen that on events of national significance, the population would meet
together to celebrate such events. On such occasions the population would
feel more than ever drawn to one another; feuds and quarrels would be
temporarily forgotten for that one feeling. After all we are from the same
'race' and we really feel ONE on this day. If there is one event of national
significance for our island, an event in which we feel more as one man in
our feeling of solidarity, then this is the day by excellence, the day on
which we commemorate 300 years of unity with the Mother Country Holland; the
day on which we commemorate how 300 years ago your ancestors established
themselves on Saba.
It is true that those years were not uninterrupted and that wars, small and
big, made our island pass for shorter or longer periods of time into the
hands of our then enemies, but it is also true that for those 300 years Saba
has always felt itself one hand united with the Mother Country, no matter in
whose hands it had temporarily fallen. This feeling was quite natural, true
as it is, that Saba's population was founded by the old Dutch stock.
This year then we commemorate the day that 300 years ago our Head Island
Curacao was taken from the Spaniards by Johannes van Walbeek and Pierre
Legrant, thus building the foundation stone of our colonial History in the
West Indies. It is not my intention to expatiate on historical particulars
in connection with that first occupation; authors of name have done that
better than I could do. I only wished to give you from this place a few
historical particulars concerning our island Saba. I must, however,
apologize for the small amount of items I was able to collect; Saba History
is not rich in written facts.
The actual colonization of Saba started off in 1640. In all probability Saba
was at that time uninhabited: the remains of a former population (which
would then be the Indians, the Caribs) are never spoken of in old documents.
That colonization was effected by St. Eustatius with Hollanders from the
Country of Zeeland, and not, as it was believed, by Scottish Presbyterian
refugees.
The names of some of those settlers will interest you: Zegers, Simmonsz,
Hassel, Leverock and others. With small alterations (making them sound more
English) those names are still frequently found on the island. Saba's first
vice commander was Jan Zegers. Among the list of vice commanders we find
names as: Engel van Beverhoudt (a name still found in St. Thomas, which
island was also colonized by the Hollanders Pieter and Charles Simmonsz),
Adriaan Runnels, Jacob Leverock. Thomas Dinzey, Jan Winfeld, and others, all
names still carried by families of this island. Saba and St. Martin were at
that time under the Commander of St. Eustatius, this being the principal
island in the whole West Indies.
At the Fort Bay a fort and a small town was built; both, however, were
destroyed by a landslide. In 1699 the population of Saba amounted to 453: 52
men, 53 women, 217 children and 131 slaves. In 1705 the amount of
inhabitants had grown to 577. We can take it for granted that the population
increased to reach its climax with 2000 about.
A few words about the language spoken here may follow. Till about the end of
the 18th century the Netherlands language was spoken. Owing to different
circumstances (not the least the situation between English colonies, and the
trade with the American ships) but also through neglect from the settlers
themselves, the mother tongue lost much of her influences, and was only kept
up by some of the better families, the officials, and of course in the
official correspondence.
And how stood matters with the spiritual care of the inhabitants in those
days? The State Church and original religion was Dutch Reformed, with her
Ministers sent from Holland. The Roman Catholic religion was regularly
established only in 1848. In 1775 we read about an English Presbyterian
Minister Hugh Knox who had a church and many followers. The first settlement
of the Anglican Church dates back from 1777.
I was unable to get more interesting facts from the family records on this
island. But after all it is not necessary to have a great history: the
principal thing being that we can feel happy and make our lives worthwhile
living it. Thankful we must be for that, thankful to our Mother Country and
its Government for all she has done and is still doing for us.
According to Dr. J. Hartog's theory in his more
recent and better informed History of Saba, in 1665 only fifty-four
Englishmen were left on Saba after the deportation of the Dutch and their
slaves to St. Maarten. In 1669 there were 322 persons of European descent on
Saba. The Rev. Father M. Dahlhaus (R.C. Priest) who came to Saba in 1907 and
who did much research on the origin of the white people on Saba, claims that
most of them arrived here between 1660 and 1685, and that they were Scottish
Presbyterians who were fleeing the rule of King Charles II, the Catholic
King of England. According to one story handed down by our forefathers, our
European ancestors came to Saba from St. Kitts. They were Presbyterians from
Northern Scotland and the Shetland Islands. They had fled to Zeeland in
Holland, and as part of a colonizing expedition had ended up in St. Kitts,
which was also shared by the French. When the British decided to fight the
French for control of the island, our ancestors refused to cooperate, and
fled in the night to Saba.
Presbyterians were reported on Saba as early as 1709. St. Kitts was settled
by the British in 1624. By 1640 the European population of St. Kitts and
Nevis had reached 20,000. Sugar cane was introduced in 1650, and large
plantations replaced small farms. It became necessary for many people to
emigrate from St. Kitts to other islands.
Saba also received colonists from Barbados. The exodus of white Barbadians
was not so much a continuous movement as a series of waves or cycles that
occurred from time to time within a definite period. this lasted for about
thirty years, from 1650 to 1680, and during that period some thirty thousand
whites left Barbados to seek their fortunes overseas.
The first large wave of emigration carried the Barbadians to the
neighbouring Dutch and French islands, to territories in the British
Caribbean and to the English colonies on the North American mainland. Not the least celebrated of the indentured servants who came to Barbados was
Henry Morgan, who was later knighted and appointed Lieutenant Governor of
Jamaica. After experiencing the asperities of the indentured system, Morgan
escaped from Barbados and began his career as a buccaneer. There is reason
to believe that a number of the Barbadians who emigrated from the island
joined Morgan at Port Royal and followed him in his bloodthirsty enterprises
in the Caribbean and on the Spanish Main.
In 1665 the adventurous buccaneer Captain Morgan, who had his 'base' in
Jamaica, captured Saba. The English, Scottish and Irish settlers he found
living here were those who had come over from St. Kitts. He deported the
Dutch settlers among them to St. Maarten, and they never returned. The
population list of 1669 also indicated that nearly all of the settlers on
Saba were originally from the British Isles.
The white population on Saba jumped from 54 in 1665 to 322 people in 1699.
Between 1672 and 1682 the English formally occupied Saba, and it is quite
possible that the increase in settlers was due to immigration of other
Scottish Presbyterians during that period.
Sabans do feel strongly about their historical relationship with Holland,
and would like to see this relationship continue. This does not necessarily
mean that those of European descent on Saba are originally from Holland. The
historian G.F.T. Raynal states that in 1784, of 635 white people on Saba
only 5 or 6 were of Dutch origin.
All Government records prove that people from the British Isles always
outnumbered other settlers. Among the old population records 99% of the
names suggest British origin, such as: Collins, Mitchell, MacMahon,
Windfield, Davis, Darcy, Beal, Kelly, Horton, Dinzey, Court, Crossley,
Dunlock, Gordon, Dowling, Miller, Lake, Beaks, Baker, Green, Simmons,
Johnson, Hassell, etc.
When Sir William Stapleton, Governor of the British Leeward Islands,
captured St. Eustatius in 1672, one of the men left behind as a councilor
was a certain John Hassell. On July 4th of the same year, Captain William
Burt captured Saba and stationed 40 men here. The occupation lasted ten
years, and the name Hassell appears since that period on Saba. We recently
met a Hassell who visited Saba October 28th, 1976. He was not connected to
the Hassells on Saba, and was only visiting the island because he had heard
there were so many people on Saba named Hassell. He stated that his mother
had done much research on the Hassell family name . His ancestors came over
to the United States in 1635 from the Isle of Jersey, where the name Hassell
was common at that time, and had embarked from England.
Most of what has been written about Saba and its history, Mr. Kruger's
speech included, seems to have been a deliberate attempt (or lack of
knowledge of the facts) on the part of romantically inclined Dutchmen to
distort our history to fit their own theories. Dutch names were not
Anglicized. It was rather the reverse.
The few Dutch Commanders in our early history were sent over from St.
Eustatius, and were certainly not college graduates. They spelled English
names the way they thought they should be spelled, and my theory on this is
just as valid as the opposite claimed by others.
Even as far back as 1659, Saba requested a clergyman who spoke English,
because hardly anyone on the island understood Dutch. We cannot be led to
believe that in the space of 19 years the Dutch settlers would have
forgotten their mother tongue, whereas, despite local schools conducting
lessons in Dutch since 1906, the English language still prevails.
Former dwellinghouse of Captain Thomas Charles Vanterpool, now the official
residence of Saba's Lt. Governor, is located in The Bottom.
That The Bottom, Saba's capital, originated from an old Dutch dialect 'botte'
meaning bowl-shaped, is another flight of fantasy of some Dutch journalists
and historians. In the old government records as late as the early
nineteenth century, the town known as The Bottom today was known to the
Dutch as 'De Valleri' meaning The Valley. The name The Bottom originated
from the mistaken belief of our forefathers that it was the bottom of an
existing volcano.
Our forefathers were no geologists, so the mistake is
easily understood.
We have always resented being patronized, especially to the point that our
surnames are translated to suit people's purposes, and the only reason we
have taken issue on this matter is to set the record straight from a Saban
point of view.
In a report sent to the Admiralty back in
England dated August 1665, the population left behind on Saba is listed as
follows:
Also 15 Dutch subjects (3 men, 2 women, and 10
children). Also 2 free Indians. These Dutch subjects had taken the oath of
allegiance to the British and were allowed to remain. The other 70 Dutch
subjects were deported to St. Maarten and 102 slaves taken to Jamaica. In
the account of the capture of Saba and St. Eustatius it was stated for St.
Eustatius that '61 Scots, English and Irish remained, besides women and
children'. Although it is not stated in the document about the women and
children on Saba we must assume that the headcount made was adult males
only.
Place names on Saba also similar to those in other British West Indian
Islands, such as on St. Kitts: Palmetto Point and Middle island. On Nevis:
Zion's Hill Village. On Montserrat: Hell's Gate. On Barbados: The Spout,
Ladder Bay, Long Pond and Palmetto Point. Place names sometimes have curious
origins. Various Dutch historians have attempted unsuccessfully to translate
'Tumble-Down-Dick' on St. Eustatius back to a Dutch origin.
Our theory is that some joker named that hill in honor of Oliver Cromwell's
son Richard (1629-1712) who only survived for a brief period in power before
being overthrown. In England he became known as 'Tumble-Down-Dick'.
According to Patrick Liegh Fermors' book A Journey through the Caribbean
Islands (Harper and Brothers published 1950) my theory is also assumed
to be true by his statement on page 228:
The shape of the island as we sailed to leeward
of it lengthened into a high saddle stretched between two dead cones.
Tumble-Down-Dick Bay, which is possibly the only existing memorial of Oliver
Cromwell's ineffective son, we turned westwards...
In the Fort Ghaut on the way to Fort Bay there
is a knoll on a hillside known as the 'Sugar Loaf'. It most probably got its
name from settlers who had worked the 'hogsheads' on the larger British
Islands. The 'hogsheads' were large wooden barrels in which the muscovado
sugar was packed. The funnels or moulds were made of clay. When the refined
sugar was taken out of these pointed clay moulds, it was called a 'sugar
loaf'. In some of the islands there are tall, steep mountains which have
been given the name 'Sugar Loaf' because they look like those early
plantation 'Sugar Loaves'.
