John Daniel Kestell (15 February 1854 – 9 February 1941) was a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church, Bible translator, writer and cultural leader. As a writer, he sometimes used the pseudonyms Afrikanus Jr. and Leinad. The latter was his middle name spelled backwards.
Early life and origins John Daniel Kestell was the fifth of six children. His parents were the Englishman Charles Kestell (born 9 August 1818 in Wales) and the Afrikaner Dorothea Louisa Weyer (26 March 1820 – 2 September 1858), who were married on 31 October 1845 by Daniel Lindley at Pietermaritzburg.On his father's side, he was a direct descendant of a British Settler family who had initially settled in the Albany district and later moved to Grahamstown.
In 1845, John's father came to Natal on the ship Rosebud and settled in Pietermaritzburg, where he joined the Dutch Reformed Church as a strong believer and served as a deacon and elder. His mother died in 1858 when John was four years old. His father's second marriage was on 24 August 1859 to Johanna Susanne van den Berg. John began school with Miss Osborne of St. Andrew's Church and later at the government school in the Voortrekkerkerkie, where W. Nisbett was headmaster. As a child he met many Voortrekkers, including Sarel Cilliers, J.N. Boshoff, Erasmus Smit, Daniel Bezuidenhout and Marthinus Oosthuijse. On 31 March 1869, his father removed him from the government school and placed him in the school of Mr. Muirhead where he received his first lessons in Greek.
He left school in 1870 and began working for P. Maré on 6 October 1870. At this time diamonds were discovered in Griqualand West and on 17 May 1871 he and his father set out for the diamond claims at New Rush, where they earned enough to live on and save a little. They sold the claim a year and a half later and returned to Pietermaritzburg in January 1873.
Kestell continued his studies at the Stellenbosch Gymnasium from March 1873 and boarded in the town with a certain Miss Faure. He completed his matriculation in 1875. During this time, H.F. Schoon and Abraham Kriel were among his fellow students.
Training and study Early in 1874 he was converted and on 6 February 1874 he recorded in his diary that he had decided to become a minister. After school he enrolled at the Theological Seminary in Stellenbosch where Prof. N.J. Hofmeyr and John Murray were professors. In the meantime his father suffered great financial setbacks with transport to places such as Durban, Pretoria, Middelburg, Tvl., and Bloemfontein. In 1876 he bought oxen on credit to transport a load to Middelburg, but on the way lightning killed most of the oxen. After this he was obliged to let John know that he could no longer help him financially. Abraham van Velden (pastor of Pietermaritzburg from 1868 to 1879 when he had to resign from the ministry due to a "weakness" that became his master) collected £40 from his members to help Kestell, help him take out a loan for further expenses and also to insure his life so that he could continue his studies. During his studies at Stellenbosch, John could not afford to go home and therefore spent holidays with friends. It was not until September 1878 that he was able to go home for the first time in more than five years, after his father had saved enough money to make it happen. He was able to stay there for a month before returning to Stellenbosch.
On 15 December 1877 he became engaged to Geertruida Anna (Truida) Hofmeyr, daughter of Prof. N.J. Hofmeyr. Through his marriage to Truida Hofmeyr, he became the brother-in-law of three NG ministers, the first two of whom were suspended from office, but reinstated decades later: Adriaan Hofmeyr (1854–1934), Jan Hofmeyr (1856–1924), Nicolaas Hofmeyr (1860–1932).
Kestell went overseas to Utrecht in the Netherlands in September 1880 to continue his theological studies and studied there under Prof. Nicolaas Beets. He also took private lessons in French and progressed so well that he could speak the language fluently, which together with a thorough knowledge of Greek and Hebrew made him fluent in five languages. In December 1880 he visited England to find a publisher for his drama The struggle for freedom and from London he also visited Paris. In January 1881 he was back in Utrecht to continue his studies, but from the end of March 1881 he undertook an extensive trip through Europe and visited Belgium, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, among others. On 21 March 1881 he was back in Utrecht.
He completed his studies and left for England on 29 May 1881, where he stayed for almost a month before embarking on the return journey to South Africa. In August 1881 he was back in South Africa and completed his studies at the Seminary. He was ordained as a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church in October 1881.
Entry into the ministry Immediately after his ordination he received a call to the Dutch Reformed congregation of Lindley in the Free State, which he resigned. In 1881 he was confirmed as assistant preacher in the Dutch Reformed congregation of Dutoitspan on the Kimberley diamond fields.
On 28 February 1882, he married Truida Hofmeyr (1858–1946), the second youngest child and only daughter of Prof. Nicolaas Hofmeyr, whose biography was later written by Kestell, in Stellenbosch. He thus had three ministers as brothers-in-law, of whom the two eldest were suspended, but the eldest was reinstated decades later: Adriaan Jacobs Louw Hofmeyr (1854–1934), Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (1856–1924, also first editor of the Dutch newspaper Ons Land) and Nicolaas Hofmeyr (1860–1932). His fourth brother-in-law was Charles Louis Hofmeyr (1865–1939), lawyer and school inspector in the Cape. Five children were born from their marriage, two sons (Charles and Nicolaas Hofmeyr) and three daughters (Gertruida Anna, Maria Magdalena and Louise Johanna).
He was confirmed as pastor of the nearby NG congregation of Kimberley on 25 March 1882. The plight of the children and women on the excavations so affected him and his wife that they founded the Newton Home to provide assistance. After this, he was called to the NG congregation of Harrismith in 1893 and confirmed there on 12 January 1894. During this time he made regular contributions, including short stories, to the Gereformeerd Maandblad and Ons Tijdschrift.
During the Second War of Independence, Kestell served as chaplain and field preacher of the Harrismith Commando from October 1899 and wrote Met de Boeren commando’s (translated by F.W. Reitz as Through shot and flame), which depicts Reitz’s experiences in the war. His wife and children spent the war with her family in Pietermaritzburg, because the English had forbidden them the parsonage at Harrismith. His fifteen-year-old son, Charles, accompanied his father to the battlefields.
At the Battle of Platrand near Ladysmith on 6 January 1900, Kestell risked his own life by dressing the wounds of wounded men on both sides and quenching their thirst. At the request of the British, a memorial stone was later erected to him at this hill. He became a friend and advisor to Pres. M.T. Steyn and Gen. Christiaan de Wet and these three soon became known as the Driemanskap of the Free State (the statesman, the soldier and the spiritual leader). With his commando, Kestell set out for Nauwpoort and along the Klein Caledon River up and then crisscrossing the Free State plains as they advanced ahead of the English. They met Steyn and De Wet at Korannaberg on 14 November 1900.
On 6 June 1901, the English captured him at Graspan near Reitz and held him in a kraal on the farm with other Boers. However, that same afternoon, they were freed by a number of Boers after a fierce battle. His son Charles was captured in October 1901 and died as a prisoner of war at Ladysmith. On 23 February 1902, the Boer forces were trapped by the English at Kalkkrans near Harrismith, but De Wet's military prowess ensured that Kestell and Steyn and the other Boers achieved a breakthrough. As secretary of the Boer forces, Kestell subsequently played an important role during the peace negotiations and also wrote the official minutes of the negotiations that resulted in the conclusion of peace at Vereeniging.
Visit to Europe In August 1902, Kestell, along with Gens. De Wet, Koos de la Rey and Louis Botha, left for Europe to raise money for the stricken Boers. On this trip he was De Wet's secretary and he also helped the general with the proofreading and editing of his book of war memories, De Strijd Tusschen Boer en Brit. He accomplished this within three months, while he himself was busy compiling his own war memories and preparing Nico Hofmeyr's (his brother-in-law) manuscript, Zes maanden bij de Commando's, for printing.
Church service in Ficksburg In February 1903, Kestell was called to the Dutch Reformed congregation of Ficksburg. His confirmation was scheduled for March 7, 1903, and his first meeting was held on March 9 of that year. Already a few months after his confirmation, Kestell was campaigning for the building of a new church in Ficksburg. At the congregation meeting of July 25, 1903, it was decided that a monument in memory of the congregation's fallen would be the form of a new church. This elegant house of worship, of which Kestell was co-architect, was consecrated on April 12, 1907. The decision to build a church was ratified by a congregation meeting and a building committee was elected.
On 23 October 1903 the chairman received a gift to the congregation from Mr and Mrs. J.G. Keyter consisting of a Bible, a Psalm and Hymn Book and a Formulary Book. Keyter was for many years a member of the Volksraad and later a member of the Union Parliament. He was a lawyer and left a sum of £300 000 to the Cape Church Mission. At the meeting of 4 March 1905 mention was made of the establishment of the Dutch Reformed congregation Marquard.
At the meeting of 8 November 1906, a petition was submitted by 97 members of the NG congregation of Ficksburg in which they asked permission to secede from the congregation of Clocolan. On 2 February 1907, the following decision was made: "Since a large organ will be placed in the new church, and a competent organist is needed, the meeting decided to increase the salary to £48 per year." A month later, on 2 March 1907, Mr. G.W. van der Vyver was appointed organist and L.R. Prinsloo was appointed sacristan.
Church in Ficksburg The new church of Ficksburg was dedicated on 12 April 1907. An extensive program was performed on the occasion. The proceedings lasted from half past seven on Friday morning until late on Sunday evening. The dedication service was conducted by the 80-year-old Prof. N.J. Hofmeyr, father-in-law of the pastor, and the organ was played by Prof. P.K. le Roux. The children's service was led by Herman van Broekhuizen, son of the congregation's second pastor.
The construction took two years and five months. To get the solid rock for the tower, 13 feet (over 4 m) were sunk below the surface. The cornerstone was laid on May 27, 1905. The wording of a document placed under the stone reads as follows: "To the glory of God, this corner stone of the Dutch Reformed Church in Ficksburg was laid on the twenty-seventh day of May in the year of our Lord, one thousand, nine hundred, five by the local teacher Rev. J.D. Kestell. The Architect of the building to be erected is Mr. Walter Donaldson ... On the 4th of June In 1904, the congregation decided to build a new church, and on November 16, 1904, they began to dig the trenches for the foundations."