Commewijne · coffee, sugar, cacao, citrus
Dordrecht: 152 people freed, surnames in B, E and S
At the Dordrecht estate on the Suriname River, 152 people were declared free on 1 July 1863, and their new surnames almost all begin with a B, an E or an S: the initials of the three owners Brakke, Evertsz and Van Sypesteyn.
Check this This page is compiled from published sources and has not yet been verified on the ground. If you know a name, a date or an ownership detail better than we do, tell us and we will correct it with the source named.
The land was granted in 1735 to Willem Gerard van Meel; around 1745 part of it passed to Pieter van der Werff of Dordrecht, which is where the name comes from. Coffee was grown until 1828. When the soil gave out for it, a canal was dug and a sugar factory built, and Dordrecht ran on sugar from 1828 to 1889. Cacao and bananas followed, and after plant disease struck, coffee and oranges again.
On 1 July 1863, 152 people were declared free here. Anyone reading that list notices something at once: the new surnames almost all begin with a B, an E or an S, after the owners Brakke, Evertsz and Van Sypesteyn. That is how naming worked on many estates in 1863: people were assigned a name that kept the owner legible. The rule is not absolute, names such as Zelvel appear on the list too.
One file that can be pulled from the emancipation papers is that of Lena Marianna Bradlof, slave name Lena, aged 56, hospital cook, living at Dordrecht in the Beneden Suriname district, under borderel PL055, with the owners Carel Daniel Brakke, Johanna Catharina Roijer and Cornelis Ascanius van Sijpesteijn. That is how concrete these registers get.
After emancipation the estate employed 614 Hindustani and 1,083 Javanese indentured labourers. The plantation house was taken down after 1863, floated across the Suriname River and rebuilt in Paramaribo as a society clubhouse on what is now Independence Square.
Far less colonial fabric survives at Dordrecht than at Frederiksdorp or Peperpot. The site is now being built over: Baitali Group and FIRM Engineering are laying out the Dordt Marine Support Base there for the offshore oil and gas industry, with a 550 metre quay and a 240 hectare yard, operating from the third quarter of 2026. Anyone hoping to see the plantation here has left it late.
Frequently asked questions
Why do Dordrecht surnames begin with B, E or S?
Because the estate had three owners in 1863: Brakke, Evertsz and Van Sypesteyn. The 152 people declared free on 1 July 1863 were given surnames starting with those initials. The rule is not watertight, names such as Zelvel also appear on the emancipation list.
How many indentured labourers worked at Dordrecht?
Six hundred and fourteen Hindustani and 1,083 Javanese indentured labourers. Sources give no period for those totals, so read them as cumulative. Both groups can be searched in the immigration registers at the Nationaal Archief, which name the plantation for each person.
Is there anything left to see at Dordrecht?
Little. Considerably less colonial fabric survives than at Frederiksdorp or Peperpot, and the plantation house was dismantled after 1863 and rebuilt in Paramaribo. Since 2025 the site has been developed into the Dordt Marine Support Base, with a 550 metre quay, operating from the third quarter of 2026.