Kamer IV · Die VoortrekkerRoom IV · The Voortrekker
Frans Johannes van Dyk
Gebore 1787, Tarka · Sterf 17.2.1838 by Bloukrans, NatalBorn 1787, Tarka · Died 17.2.1838 at Bloukrans, Natal
getroud 10.5.1807 in Graaff-Reinet met Anna Catharina de Lange
m. 10.5.1807 at Graaff-Reinet, Anna Catharina de Lange
Die derde kind van Joseph en Zacharia Kruger het, soos die gewoonte was, ’n naam van die kant van moeder Zacharia gekry: Frans Johannes. Oupa Sybrand het dik in die jong Frans se are geloop. Hy en van sy broers was betrokke by die Slagtersnek-opstand, maar omdat hulle nie wapens opgeneem het nie, was hulle slegs beboet en moes die teregstelling bywoon.
Frans en sy ouboet Sybrand was alreeds saam met dertig ander gesinne, meestal de Langes, langs die Witkeirivier, waar Louis Trichardt se trek hulle in 1834 gekry het. In 1836 trek die familiegroep verder noord, oor die Oranje, en sluit by Potgieter se trek aan. Met die meningsverskil tussen Potgieter en die trekke van Retief en Uys, trek Oupa Frans en sy broer Sybrand saam met Retief na Natal. Hier kies die de Langes, met die aangetroude Van Dyks, weer om saam met Gert Maritz die Drakensberg oor te steek. In afwagting vir Retief se terugkoms was hierdie trekkers voorwaar in "lui lekker land". Rustig in die groen-groen land van Natal, waar die beeste se wei baie wild was, het hulle net gekuier, geëet, gedrink en geslaap.
Die nag van 16 Februarie 1838 word alles wreed versteur toe tienduisende Zoeloe-krygers die verskillende laertjies aanval. Hoewel die Van Dyks die aanval oor die algemeen oorleef het, het Oupa Frans Johannes dié nag gesneuwel. Dit kan afgelei word dat sy vrou en kinders verder by die de Langes gebly het.
The third child of Joseph and Zacharia was, as the custom was, given a name from his mother Zacharia's side: Frans Johannes. Oupa Sybrand's blood ran strong in young Frans. He and some of his brothers were caught up in the Slagtersnek uprising — but because they had not taken up arms, they were only fined and made to witness the executions.
Frans and his elder brother Sybrand were already living with thirty other families, mostly de Langes, along the Witkei River when Louis Trichardt's trek found them there in 1834. In 1836 the family group trekked further north, over the Orange, and joined Potgieter's trek. When opinion split between Potgieter and the treks of Retief and Uys, Oupa Frans and his brother Sybrand went with Retief to Natal, while the de Langes and the Van Dyks who had married into them crossed the Drakensberg with Gert Maritz. Waiting for Retief's return, these trekkers were truly in a land of milk and honey — in the green-green land of Natal, where the grazing was wild and plentiful, they simply lingered, ate, drank and slept.
On the night of 16 February 1838 everything was cruelly shattered when thousands of Zulu warriors attacked the scattered encampments. Though the Van Dyks on the whole survived that night, Oupa Frans Johannes did not. From what can be gathered, his wife and children afterwards lived on with the de Langes.
In daardie tydIn that time
Dit was die Groot Trek — duisende gesinne wat tussen 1836 en 1838 die Kaapkolonie per ossewa verlaat het. Die aanvalle by Bloukrans en Weenen in Februarie 1838, ná die uitwissing van Retief se geselskap, het een van die bepalende tragedies van die trek geword.
This was the Great Trek — thousands of families leaving the Cape Colony by ox-wagon between 1836 and 1838. The Bloukrans and Weenen attacks of February 1838, after the killing of Retief's party, became one of the defining tragedies of the trek.