Jewish Life Vol V

396 S outhern H ighveld CAROLINA Includes Badplaas and Chrissiesmeer (Lake Chrissie) C arolina, which is situated on the railway line from Machadodorp to Breyten, is the principal town of the magisterial district of Carolina. Prior to the establishment of the village in 1886, the area had, for several years, been a popular outspan and stopover camp for transport riders, especially after a rich gold reef was discovered in the Barberton district. According to the Transvaal Government Gazette the town was laid out on the farms Goede Hoop (‘Good Hope’) and Groenvlei (‘Green Marsh’). However, it has also been said that Cornelis Coetzee made available part of his farm Steynsdraai (‘Steyn’s Bend’) for the establishment of a village, provided that it was named after his wife, Carolina.The village was destroyed during the Anglo BoerWar but rebuilt afterwards. It was granted municipal status in 1951. The district is largely agricultural, producing mainly beef, dairy, wool and timber.There are also deposits of coal, asbestos, graphite, titanium, antimony and zirconium in the area surrounding Carolina. E arly S ettlers (1903 – 1913) Isaac and Paula Sandler were resident in Carolina in 1903.Their daughter Millie was born there in 1904. Morris (Isaac’s brother) and Frieda Sandler who came from Lithuania, arrived in Carolina in 1912 when they opened a general dealership. Captain Aron Friedmann fromTalsen, Latvia, had a long life at sea before coming to South Africa. He started off his career as a cabin boy on a windjammer. Promoted to the rank of first mate, he was compelled to serve for six months on a Russian battleship cruising the Baltic Sea. He later became a master mariner, taking command of several ships sailing to foreign ports.Aron eventually became master of his own ship, the three- mast iron barque, Elizabeth . On rounding the Cape for the first time he was so enchanted by Table Mountain that he decided to make a future in South Africa. He married FannyWeinberg in Cape Town in 1905 and after a period in Pretoria, settled in Carolina in 1913. He set up businesses in Carolina which included egg farming, a news agency and property B arlin B artkunsky B utow E liasov E lkonowitz F reedman F riedman / F riedmann G olach G oldstein G oodman G ordon G runebaum H eydenreich H odes J offe J oseph K atz K ramer L urie M arks / M arx M ulinsky R abie R ubin S amuel S andler S arkin S ilberman S uchowitsky S ulski T obias T ooch W eiss F amily S urnames Postcard from family in Riga, Latvia to Mrs Paula Sandler, 1915. (Courtesy Isme Bennie)