Died in living memory
Louis Rudolph Schmidt died in 1963, and people who knew him are still alive. This page draws on one published history. It is open to correction by those who remember him, and the moderators will review it as responses come in.
Louis Rudolph Schmidt was a Moravian missionary who served at Genadendal for about forty years from 1901 [MS]. He had trained as a locksmith [MS]. In the valley he is remembered as its land surveyor, doctor, and dentist [MS]. His maps of the mission villages were used by state departments long after he made them [MS]. L.R. Schmidt Primary School is named after him [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, residents’ memories, and the histories written from them, above all Genadendal: A Long Walk by Isaac Balie, who knew him as a child.
- [TBV] To Be Verified. Seems likely, but nobody has confirmed it yet.
At a glance
| Born | 7 September 1872, at the Moravian mission of Elim [MS] |
| Died | 28 May 1963, at Greyton [MS] |
| Known for | Serving Genadendal as missionary, and as its unofficial surveyor, doctor, and dentist [MS] |
| Link to the valley | Missionary at Genadendal from 1901, and superintendent of the church; the primary school bears his name |
His life
Schmidt was born at Elim, where his parents were missionaries [MS]. At nine he was sent with other German missionaries’ children to school at Klein-Welka in Saxony [MS]. He trained as a locksmith and art metalworker at Niesky, and worked in Wiesbaden, Stuttgart, Zürich, and Bern [MS]. In 1895 he came back to South Africa and worked at the Phoenix Ironworks in Port Elizabeth [MS]. During a typhus epidemic in 1896 he fell critically ill, and on his sickbed committed his life to Christ and vowed to preach [MS]. He entered the mission’s service in 1901 and was sent to Genadendal [MS]. The church’s list of missionaries gives his years there as 1902 to 1942, and marks him as superintendent [MS].
On 13 October 1902 he married Anna Helena Schmitt, a music teacher from Germany who had taught at the girls’ school in Paarl [MS]. At Genadendal she taught music to the students of the training college and needlework to the girls [MS]. Their two children, Theodore and Margarethe, died young, and Anna died on 15 December 1947 [MS]. Schmidt retired to Greyton, where he died on 28 May 1963 [MS]. The Cape Times reported his death under the heading “Death of Schweitzer of South Africa” [MS].
Surveyor, doctor, and dentist
At the end of the 1800s residents of Genadendal had begun to claim rights to their land [MS]. With a compass and his own paces, Schmidt mapped Genadendal, Berea, Voorstekraal, and Boschmanskloof, with every house and garden plot [MS]. Balie’s history says his maps were so accurate that state departments were still using them in recent times [MS]. His compass is in the Genadendal Mission Museum [MS].
He had studied medicine on his own, and with no hospital or ambulance nearby, residents sent for him at any hour [MS]. He charged nothing, walked to his patients at night with a lantern, and in old age travelled by donkey cart [MS]. He treated inflammation and aching joints with compresses of white clay from Koringlandskloof, used an electromagnetic machine for rheumatism and nervous complaints, prescribed herbal and homeopathic remedies, and pulled teeth without anaesthetic [MS].
In November 1917 he was assaulted one night on his way back to his office, and the church council offered a reward for information [MS]. Residents also tell a story of a mountain fire that threatened the village, which ended in sudden rain while he prayed [MS].
Links to other figures
- Emil Weder, manager of the Mission Store, lived and worked at Genadendal in the same years [MS].
His legacy in the valley
- L.R. Schmidt Primary School is named after him [MS].
- His maps of the mission villages bear on the land questions still open today [MS]. See TRANCRAA and Farm 39.
What is still open
- Where his maps are kept, and whether they are among the records used in the TRANCRAA process.
- Who attacked him in 1917, and why.
- How residents who knew him remember him. The moderators would welcome their accounts.
Have your say
If you remember Mr Schmidt, or hold photographs, letters, or maps of his, contact the moderators via How to Submit.
Related
References
- Balie, I. (2023). Genadendal, The Valley of Grace: A Long Walk Through the History of the First Mission Station in South Africa. AuthorHouse. First published 2020. His life, marriage, maps, medical work, the assault of 1917, the story of the fire, and the Cape Times report of 31 May 1963. Page numbers are on Genadendal: A Long Walk.