The tragic tale of Paulina's Dal/Rickety Bridge continued into 1867 when the then owner, Du Toit, lost the farm. In his insolvency papers he complained he had to pay interest on the whole of the purchase price annually as well as support a large family despite the value of his wine crops falling due to the disease in the vines. Du Toit owed £1125, the amount he had paid for the property fourteen years earlier but,which was now worth only £580.

He had two main debts, one for £700, the outstanding balance of the loan from Paulina's father, Paul, which he used to buy the farms. Had the loan still been in Paul's name, things might have been different, but,for some reason, the loan had been transferred to Paulina's grandson, who was probably in similar financial difficulties and dependent on the interest.

There may be more to it, of course. The second claim on poor du Toit was for the £425 outstanding on the bond he had given to Paulina's husband, Pepler, which had been transferred to an outsider.  As Pepler's will showed his estate consisted of  no more than ‘some furniture valued at £25’ and his death certificate noted that he had been ‘lately a shopkeeper’, it may be that Pepler's grandson felt du Toit's inability to pay his debts had forced grandfather Pepler into virtual poverty and was unsympathetic to du Toit's problems. I'm making this into a story and must stick to facts but the temptation to create motives and turn this into a family saga is great because ~~~ in 1868, Paulinas Dal was auctioned and bought by Willem Jacobus Dirkse van Schalkwyk, whose wife, Francina Hester de Villiers, was another descendent of the original de Villiers brothers, the great-grand-daughter of Paulina's uncle Jacob.

The image is of the tea garden at Franschhoek memorial.

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