Ward 2 Development Forum

Christian Ludwig Rose

Properties3
descriptionMoravian missionary (1746 to 1805) who led the Cape mission from Baviaanskloof from 1800 to 1805. He laid out the mission cemetery on the pattern of Herrnhut's, settled boundary disputes with the farmers, and was the first missionary buried there.
tagstheme/heritage, lang/en
aliasesBrother Rose, C.L. Rose

4 min read

Christian Ludwig Rose was a Moravian missionary who came to Baviaanskloof in 1800 as superintendent of the church’s mission at the Cape [MS]. In his five years there he reorganised the mission’s finances and work, laid out its cemetery, and settled disputes over its boundaries with the farmers and the Cape authorities [MS]. He died in 1805, the first missionary buried in the cemetery he had laid out [MS].

What the letters in square brackets mean

Facts on this page are followed by a tag that shows where they come from.

  • [IC] Independently Corroborated. Confirmed by at least two sources that do not depend on each other, or by an official record.
  • [MS] Mission-Sourced. Comes from Moravian records, including the missionaries’ diaries and reports, and the histories written from them, above all Genadendal: A Long Walk by Isaac Balie.
  • [TBV] To Be Verified. Seems likely, but nobody has confirmed it yet.

At a glance

Born11 April 1746, at Grossen Erich in Thuringia [MS]
Died12 October 1805, at Baviaanskloof [MS]
Known forLeading the Cape mission from 1800 to 1805, and laying out the mission cemetery [MS]
Link to the valleySuperintendent at Baviaanskloof, and the first missionary buried in its cemetery

His life

Rose’s first calling as a missionary was to Labrador, where he spent eight years [MS]. He and his wife arrived at Baviaanskloof on 17 May 1800, and he was made superintendent of the mission at the Cape [MS].

Balie’s history says he reorganised the mission’s finances, set up a new work schedule, and brought in new industries such as growing and spinning flax [MS]. He laid out the cemetery in four equal quarters, on the pattern of the one at Herrnhut, with each grave marked by a numbered wooden cross [MS]. He settled disputes over the mission’s boundaries with the neighbouring farmers and the Cape authorities [MS]. Balie’s history calls his rule strict and patriarchal [MS].

The missionaries’ diaries show him at work in 1803 and 1804. In 1803 he began classes for people preparing for their first communion [MS]. In December 1803 he and Kühnel rode with some Khoekhoe residents to the edge of the mission’s land to welcome the Commissioner-General, De Mist [MS]. In February 1804 he signed the mission’s diary with Kohrhammer, Marsveld, Schwinn, and Kühnel [MS].

He was ill for a year before he died, on 12 October 1805 [MS]. The mission’s report says that after his death the congregation came in groups into the room and sang hymns around his body, and that he was buried on 16 October, after a funeral dinner, as the custom of the country required [MS]. Johann Adolf Küster came from Germany in 1807 to succeed him [MS].

His legacy in the valley

  • Visitors can still walk through the old mission cemetery he laid out [MS]. Its entrance bears the words Gezaaid in Zwakheid (Sown in weakness) [MS].
  • Men and women were buried in separate rows until 1923, as at Herrnhut [MS].

What is still open

  • His wife’s name, and what became of her after 1805.
  • What his settlement of the boundary disputes decided, and whether the records survive.
  • How the Khoekhoe residents saw his strict rule.

References

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