men and that was Kimberley. They
soon landed in Kimberley and did
not remain in the peddling business
for very long. They went into speculating with diamond claims and
eventually into diamond mining. To
make a long story short they took
the obvious choice to go in diamond business and were soon millionaires.
Diamonds are essentially an international commodity and Isaac Lewis
settled permanently in England to
look after their international interests. Sammy remained in Kimberley
until a fuel shortage threatened the
mining industry in Kimberley.
Lack of fuel eventually brought
Sammy to the north were he obtained a concession to start mining
on a coal seam near the Vaal River.
Sammy found the environs of Pretoria extremely pleasant, and
bought his beloved farm Zwartkoppies were he lovingly proceeded to
create a model farm. Near the coal
mine he also commenced farming
on large scale maize as well as cattle and sheep. The company float-
ed for this purpose had politically
correct name ending with the word
Vereeniging. Very soon Vereeniging became a well-known place (it
was there where the peace discussions after the South African war
took place). Something that must
be kept in mind is that when Sammy arrived in Pretoria he was worth
quite a few million, but he was still
single. There were no suitable Jewish ladies in Pretoria at that stage
and Sammy decided to get advice
from his old friend and mentor,
Tobias Guttmann. And lo and behold! Old Tobias had a wife in
stock for him – his daughter Bertha
Guttmann, 18 years Sammy’s junior. Sammy did not waste time. He
went to England, married Bertha
and settled at Zwartkoppies moving
into a shabby old house. They had 6
children. Sammy rectified it soon by
building a fascinating Victorian
Country house with beautiful gardens, a lake and various other
sporting facilities. Bertha developed
into an enthusiastic chicken farmer
and won many prizes on the Rand
Easter Show.
Although Sammy established inter
alia Union Steel, Victoria Falls Electricity Co, Vereeniging Milling, Vereeniging Brick and Tile, Hatherly
Distillery and played an important
role in establishing the South African Breweries in 1895, he is therefore better known as an industrialist, but he described himself as a
farmer and a miner.
It is interesting to note the element
of compensation for a very disadvantaged livelihood back in Lithuania. An abundance of food was always available at Zwartkoppies.
Another kind of compensation was
his virtually compulsive buying of
land without restrictions.
Sammy reached the pinnacle of his
career when he was appointed as
senator dealing with agricultural
matters in the first government of
the Union of South Africa.
Acknowledgement: Richard Mendelsohn, 1991: Sammy Marks, The
Uncrowned King of the Transvaal.
The Victorian Country house Sammy built at Zwartkoppies to accommodate a large family
Photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:South_Africa_-_Gauteng_-_Sammy_Marks_Museum.JPG