Published: 8 January 2025

Article written by Gina Shepherd for genesis, journal of eGGSA, the online branch of the Genealogical Society of South Africa. This article appeared in issue 84 in 2024. Copyright vests with the author.

Cornelis Johannes van Rooyen and the Rhodesian Ridgeback

My particular area of research for the last two decades has been the van Rooyen family descended from the first van Rooyen progenitor, Cornelis, from Gorinchem. This piece is about one of his descendants.

Important note: This article is not about hunting per se, nor is it about dog breeding in general, but both are integral to the relaying of the information. The article does not discuss the merits of hunting, nor the opinions against. It is also not a discussion about breeding dogs today, which is a problematic subject. Please read this with the understanding that the people discussed were a product of their time, and it does not serve any practical purpose to judge them through the lens of today’s beliefs and standards.

Introduction

Cornelis Johannes van Rooyen was the first man who bred the formidable Rhodesian Ridgeback, a tough and versatile hunting dog that was indispensable to the big game hunter. They were also expected to be good guard dogs and loyal to their owners.

Initially, these dogs were known as ‘Van Rooyen’s lion dogs’. They were bred for their courage and superior hunting ability over the course of the 35 years that Van Rooyen intensively bred them. Cornelis Johannes van Rooyen was known as ‘Nellis’.

Background

An accomplished hunter by the tender age of 19, van Rooyen’s stomping ground spanned a large area from Pretoria, past Victoria Falls and up to Umtali in what was then Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe). CJ van Rooyen settled in an area known as Mangwe, roughly halfway between Bulawayo and Francistown in Botswana. His farm was known as ‘van Rooyen’s Rest’.

When it came to the hunting fraternity, he was known to be a good friend of Frederick Selous, the famous Rhodesian big game hunter. Although not a political animal himself, van Rooyen was said to have kept company with well-known people, such as Lobengula (King of the Matabele), Leander Starr Jameson (of Jameson Raid notoriety), Cecil John Rhodes, Paul Kruger and Randolph Churchill. It has been very specifically noted that van Rooyen was not involved in the deception of Lobengula in terms of the Rudd Concession (granting exclusive mining rights in Matabeleland), which ultimately led to the downfall of the Matabele Kingdom.

How the Rhodesian Ridgeback was bred

While the involvement of the Reverend Charles Daniel Helm was important to the development of the Rhodesian Ridgeback breed, he was not directly involved. In 1879 when Reverend Helm made the arduous journey from Swellendam with his family, he brought two bitches with him to the mission station of Hope Fountain near Bulawayo. They were named Lorna and Powder. These two dogs are said to have had a distinctive ridge down their backs which was common amongst Khoi dogs, from whom they were descended. It is not known whether the ridge was important to van Rooyen in terms of what he wanted to achieve with the breed, but it is likely that it was incidental, as he was very much focused on speed, agility and courage. He needed a hunting dog in possession of far superior abilities to others, and brave enough to bay a lion. I can’t imagine that a visual feature such as a ridge on the back would be important, but it certainly has become a unique identifier of the Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Research note: I must say that I have read sources that say the ridge only came about after van Rooyen began breeding the dogs, but it cannot be verified.

The mission station was a regular stop-off point in that area where travellers, hunters, and others were able to rest and refresh themselves before continuing on their way. It is here that van Rooyen met Mr Helm and they became friends.

Soon van Rooyen bred Lorna and Powder with dogs from his own pack, incorporating the pups into his pack. Lorna and Powder were considerably bigger than van Rooyen’s early Ridgebacks. While the progeny did possess the necessary courage, they lacked the speed and scenting capabilities, preferring to hunt by sight. This would not be suitable for Van Rooyen’s hunting purposes. He persisted, breeding in Pointers to improve speed and the ability to hunt by scent. The dogs still did not achieve his aims, so he bred in Fox Terriers. As an owner of two Fox Terriers (and others in the past) I can certainly attest to their larger-than-life characters. They are known for their tenacity, courage and hunting ability, despite their small size. I would venture that their courage is inversely proportional to their smallness. The next breed to be mixed in were Collies. It is at this point that van Rooyen began to achieve his aims. These dogs were extremely courageous, very fast, had superior ability to hunt by scent, were cunning and instinctively hated lions, while retaining a healthy respect for the dangerous big cats. What was extraordinary about these animals is that like the Khoi dogs they hunted in a silent pack, not a common trait with many hunting dogs.

Frederick Selous writes specifically about van Rooyen’s dogs, likening them to deerhounds. Some of the other breeds that went into the Ridgeback were Airedale, Irish Terriers, different Collies, various other terriers, Great Danes and Bulldog breeds. While there is no absolute certainty about the dogs used by van Rooyen, with DNA tests now being available for dogs too, it would be interesting to untangle the genetic history of the Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Breed Criteria

What is known is that the dog’s physical appearance was not a consideration for Van Rooyen, or at least it was far down on the list of traits needed in the dogs he was breeding. Appearance was only important in as far as it affected the physical performance of the dogs. Ability was key, as was personality. From Van Rooyen’s own mouth: ‘A good dog was one which survived – a bad one was one which did not.’

Breed Standard and registration

In an article in “Farmer’s Weekly” in 1923, a friend of van Rooyen, English veterinarian Charles Robert Edmonds, wrote about the dogs that were the result of van Rooyen’s breeding project, and recognisable as today’s Rhodesian Ridgeback. He was the first to propose a standard for the breed, but it was Francis Richard Barnes who would set the breed standard and registered the Rhodesian Ridgeback as a breed in its own right. As an influential member of the Bulawayo Kennel Club, he was experienced at judging dogs.

Barnes obtained his first Rhodesian Ridgeback, Escdale Dingo, in 1915 (the year of CJ van Rooyen’s death). The dogs were used on his farm to protect the beef herds. By 1922 Barnes was working at laying down the breed standard and having it accepted by the South African Kennel Union. He was helped in this endeavour by BW Durham, a lover of show dogs. Between them, the breed was standardised and registered.

According to the criteria used to judge the breed, written by Patrice Johansen, the Ridgeback is described as follows:

“The Rhodesian Ridgeback should represent a well-balanced, strong, muscular, agile and active dog, symmetrical in outline and capable of great endurance with a fair amount of speed. The emphasis is on agility, elegance and soundness with no tendency towards massiveness. The peculiarity of the breed is the ridge on the back, which is formed by the hair growing in the opposite direction to the rest of the coat.

The ridge is the escutcheon of the breed. The ridge must be clearly defined, symmetrical and tapering towards the haunch. It must start immediately behind the shoulders and continue to the hip (haunches) bones. The ridge must contain only two crowns, identical and opposite each other. The lower edges of the crowns must not extend further down the ridge than one-third of its length. A good average width of the ridge is 5 cm (2ins).

Temperament: Dignified, intelligent, aloof with strangers, but showing no aggression or shyness.”

What was Cornelis van Rooyen like?

For a person with a spirit for adventure, as CJ van Rooyen had, he lived at a time where the expansion into Rhodesia offered ample opportunity for hunting big game. It would have been a wild frontier, and van Rooyen was said to be multi-skilled and able to perform the work of various specialised tradesmen, a necessary skill for survival where skilled assistance was unavailable. This was a time when livestock and domestic animals would need to be nursed through awful diseases, such as anthrax, sleeping sickness and rinderpest. It would not only have been an exciting period, but also very challenging.

He was well liked and despite his almost superhuman level of skill, was a modest man. Besides farming, he was a big game hunter of great repute for 41 years, until he succumbed to malaria, pneumonia and heart failure in 1915.

Genealogy

Cornelis Johannes van Rooyen was born in the Uitenhage area on 5 November 1859, and baptised in the Alexandria Dutch Reformed Church on 11 January 1860. He was the son of Gerrit (or Gert, sometimes Gerhardus) van Rooyen and Cornelia Jacoba Crous. He was third of their four known children. He died at van Rooyen’s Rest on 20 January 1915.

CJ van Rooyen married Maria Margaretha Vermaak in Rhodesia, but the exact information is not known to the author. She was the daughter of Salomo Vermaak and Maria Margaretha Riekert. Maria was born on 13 April 1867 and baptised in the NHK Potchefstroom on 21 July 1867. She died in Bulawayo on 15 September 1916.

a1 Cornelis VAN ROOIJEN *Gorcum (Gorinchem), South Holland 1690 ≈ Hervormde Kerk (Reformed Church), Gorinchem 15.04.1695 x Drakenstein 27.10.1720 Jacomijntje Gerritsz VAN DEVENTER ≈Stel- lenbosch 09.03.1692 †ca 1737 d.o. Gerrit Janz VAN DEVENTER and Ariaantjie JACOBS xx Drakenstein 13.04.1738 Cornelia Botha ≈06.01.1697 †ca1753 d.o. Jan CORNELIUS and Maria KICKERS xxx Barbara MYBURGH †18.06.1766 d.o. Lambert MYBURGH Cornelis was the son of Reijnier VAN ROOIJEN and Fijke VERMEULEN

b8 Gerrit VAN ROOYEN ≈Paarl 04.02.1732 x Paarl 30.10.1756 Martha Jacoba FERREIRA ≈Paarl 22.02.1738

c1 Cornelis Johannes VAN ROOYEN ≈26.03.1758 x Stellenbosch 05.04.1778 Johanna Catharina VAN VUUREN ≈25.12.1760

d11 Cornelis Johannes VAN ROOYEN *’Zwartkopsrivier’, Wagensdrift, dist. Uitenhage 31.03.1801 ≈Cape Town 18.04.1802 †Grahamstown 03.07.1833 x Uitenhage 10.05.1823 Hester Susanna OOSTHUIZEN *12.06.1807 ≈Swellendam 18.07.1808

e5 Gerrit VAN ROOYEN *24.04.1833 ≈Uitenhage 04.06.1833 x Uitenhage 18.10.1855 Cornelia Jacoba CROUS *24.11.1838 ≈Uitenhage 06.01.1839 d.o. Gerhardus Ignatius CROUS and Jacomina Cornelia Jacoba VOGEL

f1 Jacomina Cornelia Jacoba VAN ROOYEN *21.10.1856 ≈Alexandria 13.01.1857

f2 Hester Susanna VAN ROOYEN *02.04.1858 ≈Alexandria 13.07.1858

f3 Cornelis Johannes VAN ROOYEN *05.11.1859 ≈Alexandria 11.01.1860 †’Van Rooyens Rest’, dist. Builibina Magqwe, Rhodesia 20.01.1915 x Maria Margaretha VERMAAK *13.04.1867 ≈Potchefstroom 21.07.1867. †Bulawayo, Rhodesia 15.09.1916 d.o. Salomo VERMAAK and Maria Margaretha RIEKERT

f4 Gerhardus Ignatius VAN ROOYEN *24.09.1861 ≈Albany 14.01.1862

Sources

1. Website, History of the Rhodesian Ridgeback https://www.yeke-yeke.hr/?page_id=12 [accessed 18 January 2024].
2. Website, Cornelius van Rooyen via Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_van_Rooyen [accessed 18 January 2024].
3. Website, The men who created the Rhodesian Ridgeback dog we know today, via Rhodesian Association of Western Australia http://rhodesianassociation.com/the-men-who-created-the-rhodesian-ridgeback-dog- we-know-today%E2%80%8F-continued-from-decjan-bundu-times/ [accessed 18 January 2024].
4. ‘Judging the Rhodesian Ridgeback’, a presentation by Patrice Johansen, 2016.
5. South African Genealogies, volume 10 (Van Rooyen) (GISA)
6. Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk baptism registers Cape Town, Cornelis Johannes van Rooyen 18 April 1802, Page 124 via FamilySearch link https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DRH9-BBZ?view=in- dex&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AVFTS-F6Y&action=view [accessed 22 January 2024].
7. Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk baptism registers Swellendam, Hester Susanna Oosthuizen 18 July 1808, Page 59 via FamilySearch link https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSK6-CS1V-S?i=434&- cat=959223 [accessed 22 January 2024].
8. Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk marriage registers Uitenhage, Cornelis Johannes van Rooyen and Hester Susanna Oosthuizen, 10 May 1823, Page 74 via FamilySearch link https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/6190 3/3:1:3Q9M-CSV8-XJ94?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A6JXW-GMRR&action=view [accessed 22 January 2024].
9. Cape probate file KAAB 2799/1833 Cornelis Johannes van Rooyen 13 July 1833 via FamilySearch link: https:// www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSQX-MBSX?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F6190 3%2F1%3A1%3AQLXC-5M42&action=view [accessed 22 January 2024].
10. Cape probate file KAAB 2799/1833 Cornelis Johannes van Rooyen 13 July 1833 via FamilySearch link: https:// www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSQX-MBSX?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F6190 3%2F1%3A1%3AQLXC-5M42&action=view [accessed 22 January 2024].
11. Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk baptism registers Uitenhage, Gerrit van Rooyen 4 June 1833, Page 411 via FamilySearch link https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSV8-7SGY-S?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A6XSN-GH6G&action=view [accessed 18 January 2024].
12. Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk marriage registers Uitenhage, Gerrit van Rooyen and Cornelia Jacoba Crous 18 October 1855, Entry 840/1855 Folio 34971 via FamilySearch link https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKD-C3XC-G?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AZ-4NG-JYT2&action=view [accessed 18 January 2024].
13. Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk baptism registers Uitenhage, Cornelia Jacoba Crous 6 January 1839, Page 65 via FamilySearch link https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSV8-7SPS-Y?view=index&per- sonArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A661N-XS9B&action=view [accessed 18 January 2024].
14. Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk baptism registers Alexandria, Cornelis Johannes van Rooyen 11 November 1860, Entry 325/1860, page 657 via FamilySearch link https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9 M-CSV8-D94G-Y?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A6ZJB-Y11C&action=view [viewed 18 January 2024].
15. Civil death registration Rhodesia, Cornelius Johannes van Rooyen, 20 January 1915, entry Entry 15/1915 Bulawayo, Rhodesia via FamilySearch link https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939N-ZSXK-J?vie w=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQVBQ-ZH93&action=view [accessed 18 January 2024].
16. Nederduits Hervormde Kerk baptism register Potchefstroom, Maria Margaretha Vermaak 21 July 1867, page 136 via FamilySearch link https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89Z5-RSX3?view=in- dex&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A7BQS-7M3Z&action=view [accessed 18 January 2024].
17. Civil death registration Rhodesia, Margaret van Rooyen, 15 September 1916, entry Entry 106/1916 Bulawayo, Rhodesia via FamilySearch link https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939N-ZSVG-K? view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQVBQ-ZHRS&action=view [accessed 18 January 2024].

Images

1. Figure 1, image of Rhodesian Ridgeback, Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index. php?search=Rhodesian+ridgeback&title=Special:MediaSearch&go=Go&type=image [accessed 18 January 2024].
2. Figure 2: Map showing the position of Mangwe in relation to Bulawayo and Francistown: www.maps.google. com [accessed 18 January 2024].
3. Figure 3: A Rhodesian Ridgeback on show, Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/ index.php?search=Rhodesian+ridgeback&title=Special:MediaSearch&go=Go&type=image [accessed 18 Janaury 2024].
4. Figure 4: Cornelis Johannes van Rooyen with one of his early dogs after a lion hunt: Judging the Rhodesian  Ridgeback by Patrice Johansen, 2016.
5. Figure 5: CJ van Rooyen baptism NGK Alexandria 1860, via FamilySearch link https:// www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSV8-D94G-Y?view=index&personArk=%- 2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A6ZJB-Y11C&action=view [accessed 18 January 2024].
6. Figure 6: Cornelis Johannes van Rooyen on horseback, via FamilySearch link https://www.familysearch.org/ photos/artifacts/176287549 [accessed 18 January 2024].