Titus (Titis), Jakob * 1823?, ? † 01.09.1888. Around 1870 Jakob Titus moved with his big Christian family from De Tuin, where he was baptized by missionary Sterrenberg, through Kuruman to Groot-Mier. He was able to read, but could not write. He build a small mud house and started to teach the people of Dirk Vilander who had settled in Groot-Mier in 1867. They came from Amandelboom and Warmbad. Tötemeyer explains the reason why Vilander requested RMS missionary Weber from Warmbad to send a missionary to Groot-Mier in 1873 to the activity of Jakob Titus. During long negotiations with Dirk Vilander by RMS missionary Pabst (Warmbad) in 1883, it was decided to start a mission station at Rietfontein, where Pabst and a small group of colourds of Grootfontein would also settle. On 30th June 1885 Pabst settled at Rietfontein in a mud house which was build by the congregation, who had collected him from Warmbad. Jakob Titus died in the same year, 1888 as the leader of the people of Rietfontein, Dirk Vilander.1 Altena calls him Titis. Titis (sic), Jakob, indigener Mitarbeiter, ehemals wohnhaft in Schietfontein/Carnavon (Kapland), nach seiner Taufe lebt er ab 1867 in Betschuanaland und widmet sich dort selbständig der Verkündigung des Evangeliums, dabei kommt Titis in Kontakt mit dem Basterchief Dirk Vilander und auf dessen Betreiben siedelt er nach Groot-Mier über, dort als Prediger sowie als "Kalahari-Schoolmester" tätig, 1883 erste Kontakte zur RMG über Missionar Meyer, seit 1885 arbeitet er offiziell als "Gehilfe" der RMG auf dem nunmehr zu Rietfontein (Missionar Pabst) gehörenden Filial Groot-Mier, dort tätig bis zu seinem Tod 1898. (This date contradicts with the date given by Tötemeyer)2 Altena must based his information on the lengthy account of Pabst in BRMG 1889:146-149 in which the details correspondent with that one of Altena. Pabst writes further that Jakob Titus, while staying in Kuruman in Betschuanaland, he met Dirk Vilander on one of his hunting tours into the Kalahari. In RMS literature he became known as the "Kalahari-Schoolmester". Jakob Titus was an example of the close connection between the function of a teacher and Evangelist during his time. He became famous among the history writers of the RMS not so much for his outstanding personality, but because of his humble and "stille Arbeit", through which he spread the Word of God.3 Extra Text Jakob Titus: In spite of the fragmentary information we have about Jakob Titus, it is still possible to sketch some of the constituents of the life of an early Evangelist in the eastern part of Namibia. An account has it, that Titus was baptized by RMS missionary Sterrenberg in De Tuin. It must have been here that he learned to read, a skill that he would later use as a source of income. Further information provides indications that Titus stayed in Schietfontein/Carnavon (which was established as a RMS mission station in the 1840's). It was from here, south of the Karee Mountains, on the earliest route for traders and explores from the Cape to Botswana, that Titus also found his way over the famous Kuruman to Botswana in 1867. It is documented that Titus activities included teaching and preaching Mier, near the Namibian boarder. Fenchel describes a situation which developed because of his presence in Has [Mier]. The old and well respected schoolteacher Jakob Titus reacted in a way that might describe many occasions in which established authority structures between a local co-worker and his congregation was disrupted because of the appearance of a missionary. ""Weil er sich aber, seit nun ein Missionar hierher gekommen ist, in den Schatten gestellt fühlte, so hatte er eine Reise nach Kafferland gemacht, um sich dort nach einem bessern Bestehen umzusehen, die Unruhe jenes Landes hatte ihn aber zurückgescheucht. Ich habe den alten Mann nun ermahnt, doch ruhig in seiner Arbeit auszuharren, wenigstens so lange, bis der Herr in anderer Weise für die Gemeinde gesorgt habe."4 1 Tötemeyer 1936:6ff. 2 Altena 2001:478. Quoting Heinrich Pabst "Der Kalahari-Schulmeister in: Neue Sammlungen von Lebensbildern aus der RMG." P. 15-20. 3 BRMG 1899:42. 4 BRMG 1884:77. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------