The flat roofed section to the right was added on as a guest bedroom some time after the original farmhouse was builtFollowing on from my post yesterday about the history of our farm (which you can read here), I wanted to share with you what I discovered upon reading the Title Deeds -:
The first title deed is dated 26/11/1938. In 1961 (Tanzania’s year of independence) one of the first of several mortgages of 30 000/= (around U$24 today) was taken out on the farm with “The Land Bank of Tanzania”.
In 1958 a “Certificate of Occupancy” was issued to a “Gustaf Fredric Victor Kleen” (I cannot make the surname out as the document is old and faded … it looks like “Kleen” but I cannot be certain). This certificate was issued for 99 years, backdated to 1948.
There was a change of ownership in 1967 to a Leslie Anthony Steere who was listed as the “legal personal representative” of Major Hakon Giste, deceased.
In 1968 the farm was transferred to the current owners, a Dutch family who live in Holland and who also own the seed company which my husband works for.
(I mention all these names and dates in the hope that sometime, somewhere, someone who is related to any one of these people or who has more information about that period which they would like to share, may pick them up on a Google search or similar and get in touch with me ?)
Anyway, back to my “investigations” -:
I spoke to someone who had stayed on this farm in the 1960’s for a weekend. He said that at that stage there was either a Norwegian or Scandinavian family living here. I find that interesting because I have often wondered WHY this farm was one of the very few that the owners were not forced to abandon once colonial rule here came to an end. Perhaps because the owners were not British, or German ? Perhaps because they were supporting and helping the ‘powers that be’ in some way ? I guess we’ll never really know ….
The one thing I have been able to confirm, is the fact that since 1938 up until the present day, this farm has only ever had 3 owners. I do not know what people lived here prior to 1938 when I imagine it was not yet a private farm ?
Now, back to the surname “Hakon” (Major Hakon Giste). I think from what I have discovered, that the surname “Hakon” originates from Scandinavia. (Which would tie in with the Scandinavian link.) According to my source, many well-respected members of the army were given land (i.e. these farms) after the war as a thank you for their service. (I wonder if Major Hakon Giste was one of these ?).
I also heard a story that a farm near us (and well known to us) was given to a well respected RAF pilot who later, when he was forced to leave at the end of colonial rule, allegedly ended up ‘bumming’ it in the streets of a nearby town, and died of malnutrition several years later because he had no money to get back home again. (Or possibly, he had just fallen hopelessly in love with Africa, and couldn’t bear to leave it, as so many people do ?)
I wonder what life was like on these farms all those years ago. I wonder who lived here, what hardships they suffered. I wonder what wildlife roamed …. leopards coming down from the mountain, I have heard …. wild cats breeding with domestic cats to create the mixed breed we have here today …. hunters …. I wonder which tribes roamed this land and claimed it as their own prior to 1938 …. I look up each day at Mt. Kilimanjaro, who in 1889 was climbed, and summited, by the first known person … what did he see, when he looked down on this land from atop her snowy summit over 100 years ago, I wonder ?
I wonder ……… what secrets Kilimanjaro could tell me about this farm - if only she could speak ?
The first title deed is dated 26/11/1938. In 1961 (Tanzania’s year of independence) one of the first of several mortgages of 30 000/= (around U$24 today) was taken out on the farm with “The Land Bank of Tanzania”.
In 1958 a “Certificate of Occupancy” was issued to a “Gustaf Fredric Victor Kleen” (I cannot make the surname out as the document is old and faded … it looks like “Kleen” but I cannot be certain). This certificate was issued for 99 years, backdated to 1948.
There was a change of ownership in 1967 to a Leslie Anthony Steere who was listed as the “legal personal representative” of Major Hakon Giste, deceased.
In 1968 the farm was transferred to the current owners, a Dutch family who live in Holland and who also own the seed company which my husband works for.
(I mention all these names and dates in the hope that sometime, somewhere, someone who is related to any one of these people or who has more information about that period which they would like to share, may pick them up on a Google search or similar and get in touch with me ?)
Anyway, back to my “investigations” -:
I spoke to someone who had stayed on this farm in the 1960’s for a weekend. He said that at that stage there was either a Norwegian or Scandinavian family living here. I find that interesting because I have often wondered WHY this farm was one of the very few that the owners were not forced to abandon once colonial rule here came to an end. Perhaps because the owners were not British, or German ? Perhaps because they were supporting and helping the ‘powers that be’ in some way ? I guess we’ll never really know ….
The one thing I have been able to confirm, is the fact that since 1938 up until the present day, this farm has only ever had 3 owners. I do not know what people lived here prior to 1938 when I imagine it was not yet a private farm ?
Now, back to the surname “Hakon” (Major Hakon Giste). I think from what I have discovered, that the surname “Hakon” originates from Scandinavia. (Which would tie in with the Scandinavian link.) According to my source, many well-respected members of the army were given land (i.e. these farms) after the war as a thank you for their service. (I wonder if Major Hakon Giste was one of these ?).
I also heard a story that a farm near us (and well known to us) was given to a well respected RAF pilot who later, when he was forced to leave at the end of colonial rule, allegedly ended up ‘bumming’ it in the streets of a nearby town, and died of malnutrition several years later because he had no money to get back home again. (Or possibly, he had just fallen hopelessly in love with Africa, and couldn’t bear to leave it, as so many people do ?)
I wonder what life was like on these farms all those years ago. I wonder who lived here, what hardships they suffered. I wonder what wildlife roamed …. leopards coming down from the mountain, I have heard …. wild cats breeding with domestic cats to create the mixed breed we have here today …. hunters …. I wonder which tribes roamed this land and claimed it as their own prior to 1938 …. I look up each day at Mt. Kilimanjaro, who in 1889 was climbed, and summited, by the first known person … what did he see, when he looked down on this land from atop her snowy summit over 100 years ago, I wonder ?
I wonder ……… what secrets Kilimanjaro could tell me about this farm - if only she could speak ?
