Pearston

Name

Pearston is named after the Reverend John Pears

Attractions

Also see the neighbouring towns

Pearston is a small Karoo village on the R63 between Somerset East and the R75 near Graaff-Reinet, and on the R337 between Jansenville and Cradock.

The village lies at the foot of the Coetzee Mountains. There are game farms and hunting farms in the area.

Architecture

There are several houses dating from the time of the English Settlers of the 1820s.

History

Pearston was founded on 21 of September 1859 on the farm Rustenburg, owned by Casper Lötter. Prior to that date church members met on the farm with ministers visiting from Somerset East. The church managed the village until 1861 when the town management board took over the town, buying it from the church for £1,000.

Pearston became a municipality on the of April 1894, and a district in 1911.

John Pears

John Pears (1790-1866) was a Scottish minister who joined the Dutch Reformed Church in the Cape Colony. He was born in 1790, in Dunns (Scotland). He was minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in Somerset East, where he was buried when he died 18 June 1866.

John Pears married Louisa Ann Ashcraft on 2 Jun 1830 in The Scottish Church, Cape Town. She was born in England around 1799, and died in Frankfort (Cape Colony) on 18 June 1866.

Louisa Ann Ashcraft

Photo courtesy of http://www.geocities.com/thurtellfamily

Herbert Hayton Castens

Herbert Hayton (H.H.) Castens (1864-1929) was born in Pearston on 23 November 1864. After studying law in England, he practiced in Cape Town, and was the first captain of the national rugby and cricket teams, that is of the Cape Colony teams, as the Union or Republic of South Africa was still in the future.

He captained the Springboks playing the touring British Lions on 30 July 1891, which the Lions won 4-0 (i.e. 2 converted "tries", when a "try" was worth only 1 point, after soccer). The Lions won the series 4-0, 3-0 and 4-0. The Lions awarded a silver cup to the team who played best against them: Griqualand West. This cup was the Currie Cup and became the most sought after cup among provincial rival rugby teams until today.

Hayton also refereed the first match of the Lions tour, when they played a combined Cape Town rugby team. He is most likely the only person to have both refereed an international rugby match and played against an international team in the same season. In 1891 he was appointed manager of Western Province Rugby.

In 1894 H.H. became the first national cricket captain when the cricket team toured the British Isles to play countries - no tests were played. H.H. played wicketkeeper.

Economy

Farming: Fruit, vegetables.

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