Commewijne · coffee, cotton, sugar, cacao
Johan en Margaretha: the plantation the church owned
Johan en Margaretha on the Commewijne River, called Kerkigron in Sranan, belonged from 1757 to 1779 to the Evangelical Lutheran congregation of Paramaribo, which bought the estate together with the people enslaved on it as a source of income. In 1863, 255 people were freed here.
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 1745 to Johan Friedrich Knöffel, the same Prussian who founded Frederiksdorp two years later. It became a coffee estate, with cotton added by 1793, covering 362.5 akkers in 1795. Note the name: this is Johan en Margaretha on the Commewijne, not the similarly named Johanna Margaretha on the Warappa creek, which has a different history.
In 1757 the Evangelical Lutheran congregation of Paramaribo bought the plantation, along with the people enslaved on it, as an investment to give the church an income. That is where the Sranan name comes from: Kerkigron, church ground. It ended badly for the church. By 1771 a debt of 74,745 guilders was outstanding to the Amsterdam mortgage holder M. Broen, and in 1779 he took possession.
The nineteenth century brought sugarcane, delivered to the factory on the neighbouring Buitenrust estate. In 1878 the sugar stopped and the land went over to cacao and provision grounds. A geographical dictionary of 1845 records 170 enslaved people on the plantation.
On 1 July 1863, 255 people were declared free here, under the ownership of the sisters Anna Magdalena and Cornelia Marie van Hangest, baronesses d’Yvoy of Nijkerk. The emancipation list for Johan en Margaretha runs to over eighty family names, among them Bathis, Batson, Bemmel and Bloemperk.
Today it is a village reachable only by boat, with a clinic and a school. Some forty to fifty fishing families live there, working the swamp behind for tilapia, krobia, walapa and tarpon. At the 2012 census the ressort counted 756 inhabitants, 51 per cent Javanese and 39 per cent Hindustani.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Johan en Margaretha called Kerkigron?
Because the Evangelical Lutheran congregation of Paramaribo bought the estate in 1757, including the people enslaved on it, to draw an income from it. The church lost the property in 1779 to the mortgage holder M. Broen after running up a debt of 74,745 guilders.
How many people were freed here in 1863?
Two hundred and fifty-five, under the ownership of the Van Hangest sisters, baronesses d’Yvoy. A dictionary of 1845 had recorded 170 enslaved people. The emancipation list runs to over eighty family names, among them Bathis, Batson, Bemmel and Bloemperk.
Can you visit Johan en Margaretha?
By boat only: the ressort of Margaretha has no road connection. Several Commewijne plantation tours stop there, usually for lunch with residents. At the 2012 census 756 people lived there, 51 per cent of Javanese descent.