Tiboth, Thomas Isaak * 31.05.1901, Berseba, † 25.12.1988, Berseba. VEM VIII 9 06/1353 Vollmer Baptized: 22.03.1902. Confirmed: 05.09.1920. Mother language: Nama. Other languages: Afrikaans. Worked as a teacher in Ganigobis before joining the Church. Completed teachers course. Evangelist course: 1951-52. Pastor course: 1959. "Sakramentsbediening toegelaat." Ordained on the 03.02.1960 in Berseba. Retired on the 01.01.1968.1 His father was Christian (Christoph) Tiboth. Attended the so called "second course" for teachers and Evangelists of Vedder at the Augustineum from 16.07.1926 (its actual commencing date) till the end of the teachers course on the 21.06.1929 and was send as a teacher to Berseba.2 Attended the second third-year course at Augustineum in Okahandja from 1926 to 1929. He came form Berseba before the course and was send to Berseba after the course. He was married when he attended the course in Okahandja. According to Vedder's report he only spoke Nama at that stage. RMG 2.648 p. 28-30. On the 13.08.1947 the following co-workers were part of the congregation KEETMANSHOOP, BERSEBA, WARMBAD, AROAB. Name "Stamm" Rang Alter Born Dienstalter Started Platz Georg Cam B E (mit zeitlicher Sakramentsverwaltung) 66 1881 "unbekannt" Aroab, Coes, Distrikt Keetmanshoop Daniel Goliath N HE 61 1886 20 J Lehrer, 11 Jahre 1926 Berseba Salomon David Goliath N E (mit zeitlicher Sakramentsverwaltung) 62 1887 2 J Lehrer, 11 1945 Berseba - Schneefontein Thomas Tiboth N E 39 1908 10 J Lehrer, 6 1941 Berseba - Ganigobis Ernst Jager N E (mit zeitlicher Sakramentsverwaltung) 38 1907 12 1935 Karrasburg Ernst Kaffer N E 59 1888 2 1945 Warmbad Quelle: AELCRN I 3.5 Evangelisten konferenzen Listen von Evangelisten 1947-68 1.EC 1948 RMG 2.642p.69, Mentioned as "Nama" "Paulinum" ECOkahandja1951RMG2.642p.48 , Thomas Tiboth, Berseba/"/Ganigobis" (sic!), "Nama", attended the course for chief evangelists (so called "Förderungskurs") at Paulinum which started in August 1951. Completed the course with an examination end of October 1952. Because he was amongst the group of 7 in the course who had a "satisfying" to "good" examination result, he qualified for a promotion to become a chief evangelist with the right to administer the sacraments in the district of his congregation. Was send to Rehoboth. RMG 2.651a p. 80. RMG 2.640b p. 003, According to Pönnighaus Thomas Tiboth received more private letters then he. So many that his studies were neglected. AELCRNVIII2.719501954KorrespondenzPaulinum p. 41, Co-workers conference 1955 RMG 2.642 p. 027, Der Jahrsbericht 1958 des Evangelisten Thomas Tiboth aus Rehoboth enthält die Information, dass er in dem Jahr zwei Mal jeweils 49 Farmen besucht hat. Dazu brauchte er neun Monate. Tötemeyer schreibt: "Een baas vra hom na sy geldversameling. Hy gee antwoord. Die Baas ondersoek sy boeke en gee dit weer aan hom terug. Toe het hy die saak an Eerw. Vollmer gemeld."3 Mitarbeiter der Südsynode im August 1957 Nachname Name Gemeinde Funktion Anzahl Kinder (<21J) /Goagoseb Hendrik Rehoboth Pastor 3 /Ui +Nuseb Frederik Mariental E 3 Adam David K'hoop HE 3 Alcock Gustav Rehoboth E 7 Awoseb Andreas K'hoop Diakon 6 Beukes Johannes Rehoboth Pastor 5 Boois Salomon Aranos HE 4 Boois Petrus Bethany E 1 Dausab Traugott Itsawisis HE 7 De Klerk Johannes Aroab HiE 5 Frederik Johannes Hammrevier E 0 Frederik Isaak Bethany E 6 Gariseb Franz Gochas E 2 Goliath Daniel Berseba Pastor 0 Goliath Samuel David Schneefontein E 1 Hanse Josef Stampriet Pastor 4 Isaak Cornelius K'hoop Pastor 6 Isaak Samuel H. Maltahöhe E 12 Isaak Salomon David Berseba E Unmarried Isaak Eduard Berseba HE - Ja Johannes Moses Maltahöhe E - Jager Ernst Karasburg HE 0 Jakob Isaak Mariental E 2 Kaffer Ernst Warmbad HE 0 Kahuika Jeremias Hoachanas E 4 Mungunda Willem Mariental HE 7 Nikodemus Abel K'hoop E 0 Petrus Adam Rehoboth E 7 Pieter Paul Gibeon HE 6 Snewe Lukas Lüderitz HE 8 Swartbooi Isaak K'hoop E 4 Tiboth Thomas Rehoboth HE 6 Quelle: Tötemeyer an Bitzer, 13.08.1957. AELCRN I 3.14 Korrespondensie Suidsinode. 1956-19642:123. "The applicant completed Std. 6 at school and worked for 17 years as Evangelist afterwards. He then received a training of one year as a pastor. Further on he is a zealous proclaimer of the gospel and I do not reckon that he needs the protection of the pass laws.[...] He was ordained on the 3.1.1961 in Berseba reserve." His application was supported by the chief and council of Berseba.4 Was issued with a certification of exemption from pass law in the rank as a pastor of the Rhenish Mission from the headquarter Keetmanshoop in March 1961.5 Was issued with a certification of exemption from pass law in the rank as an Evangelist of the Rhenish Mission. His place of residence is Otjiwarongo in January 1965. "This certificate is only valied, as long as the holder is employed in the mentioned employment or covers the mentioned function."6 Siehe den großen Konflikt zwischen Pastor Thomas Tiboth und dem Berseba Hoofman Isaak und den Berseba Isaaks, der von einer Gemeindeversammlung in Berseba, am 08.06.1964 unter dem Vorsitz von Tötemeyer dokumentiert ist.7 Interview of Simon Petrus Tiboth (Dean), on 15.07.2012 at the Church Office in Keetmanshoop. Grandson of Thomas Isak Tiboth. The mother was Anna Maria born 03.04.1938 (1933), his father James Hansen. The couple was not married. "During the time that he was working as an Evangelist in Rehoboth, he stayed at Bahnhof Rehoboth. When I grew up, I saw the house in which he was staying. He worked in the vicinity of Rehoboth. I was born on the 24.12.1958 in Rehoboth Bahnhof. As she was not married, his mother stayed in the house of her parents. When I grew up ["toe ek verstand gekry het"] I considered my grandparents to be my father and mother. I called them "father" and "mother". I had no name for my biological mother, as I did not know that she was my mother. Only when I grew older, did I recognise that Anna Maria was my biological mother." Dean Tiboth mentions two more children of Thomas Isaak and Anna (Stefanus and Johannes Elias) together with the dates of birth. "All of them live up till today. Stefanus Tiboth became a pastor ("leeraar"). He retired on the 31.06.2011. He had his School Training at Martin Luther High School, in Karibib. After that he went to Paulinum in Otjimbingwe. He did his ("vikariaat") in Lüderitz. He was ordained in Berseba. His father was still alive at that time. His first congregation was the Immanuel-congregation in Keetmanshoop. After this he started to work in 1978 in the congregation in Rehoboth. This was the time when Pastor Jacobus Beukes was pastor in the congregation. This was the time of Apartheid, when the Blacks of the congregation could only start with their church service after the service of the "Basters". This turned out to be a serious problem for the Black congregation, specially on 31.12., when the closing service of the year was held and the Blacks had to wait until the "Basters" were finished with their service. And the relationship was a kind of slavery. Stefanus Tiboth started to fight against this situation when he was placed at Rehoboth. It reached the point that the Nama(?? Not said in the interview) did not want to serve the Lord under this conditions. They stepped out of the Paulus Church in Rehoboth and they hold church service under a tree at the spot where you will find a very big location these days. Pastor Stefanus Tiboth later build a church for the congregation with the help of financial support from over-sea. He also build a pastors house, this was in Block E or D, I am not sure what they call it. This is how this congregation became an independent congregation which split from the Paulus congregation. Paulus congregation became a pure "Basters"-congregation. They still belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran Church, not "Rynse Kerk" as others in Rehoboth. It was also so that a conflict popped up between the Church and the "Baster"-congregation, because they felt the church building should belong to the "Rheinse Kerk". This led to court cases, which the ELK won and which made it clear that the church building and all property belonged to the ELK. And now they have a ELCRN pastor in that congregation, Pastor Tin (??) du Toit. After the ELCRN won the case, it was the time that Stefanus Tiboth fought the case and Pastor de Klerk became ELCRN pastor. After this Stefanus Tiboth was placed to Karasburg, I can't remember the year exactly, but it must have been in the 1980'tees that he went to Karasburg. He worked there for (his) five years [probably this was the allotted time that a pastor had to stay in one congregation]. After that time he was transferred to Bethany and while he was working there, he was elected as a Dean for the two circuits Keetmanshoop and Mariental. From there he moved to Mariental and worked there as the Dean. When another pastor was elected as Dean, Stefan Tiboth was send back to Rehoboth, where he stayed until his retirement. Accept of Stefan Tiboth it was myself, as the grandson of Thomas Isaak Tiboth, who also joined the service of the church. My grandfather was working for the Church and this was the reason why I also wanted to follow his foot spoor and join the service of the Church. I grew up with the real children of Thomas Isaak Tiboth and always considered them as my brothers and sisters. My mother Anna and her sister Katrina were old by that time, and Katrina went to the Bible School in Otjimbingwe. [After completing the course] she worked in Kindergartens and Hostels. When she married, she left the service, but she started to work again for the Church. Now she retired, her last post was in Berseba as Hostel Mother. Her husband and the husband of Mathilde died. My mother was never married. She had two more children, a boy and a girl, which were born after me. My mother was born in 1933, the birth year of 1938 must be wrong. In my stupidest as a child, I believed that pastors don't die. As I never heard about a pastor who died and only saw my Grandfather doing funerals, I was sure that a pastor would never die. And since I did not wish to die, I also decided to become a pastor. But before training as a pastor, I did a lot of other works. I first worked for the South African Railways (SAR). I joined them while we as a family were staying in Berseba. I was trained as a Station Commander by the SAR in Windhoek. I worked as a Station Commander from 1978 up to 1984. When I left the SAR, I joined Education. While I was staying at home, they came to ask me, if I could not help them out as a Help-Teacher in Berseba, which I did. After this I went to Groot Aub to as a Help-Teacher. It is between Windhoek and Rehoboth. While I was teaching there, I applied at Paulinum. I started my training as a student of Paulinum in 1986. I completed my studies in 1989. I did my vicariat in Otjiwarongo in 1990 under Pastor Bartholomeus Geingob. On the second of December that year, I was ordained in Berseba. In Groot Aub (the Bastard congregation) was my first congregation. After working there for four years, I was place to Karasburg [in 1994]. I started in this congregation [Immanuel congregation Rehoboth] in 1999. We never realised that my Grandfather received a very small salary. We never found out that they had a hard time ["dat hulle swaar kry"]. Whenever I asked something from him, he would give it to me. As my mother was not working at that time, it was my Grandfather who send me, with his very small salary which he had, to High School. I always received everything from him. I never realized [how poor he was]. Only when I grew up, I realised for what a meagre income he was working. That time I was the only small child at home, since the daughters were grown up, Stefanus and Johannes Elias went to School. Since I was small, I received a lot of attention of the Grandparents. We grew up with love from the Evangelist/Pastor and his wife. Even up to now the relationship between us all is very strong. We noticed that the Evangelist were very strict in their families. The community showed respect towards their leaders during that time, which is no longer the same today. During that time you would never see that a child drinks alcohol and moves around on the streets under the influence of alcohol. You never saw that children were standing on the street and flirting around. These things never existed, and while it was nevertheless practised, it was not seen. And in the old days the children would show respect in front of their leaders. The leaders were strict and people accepted it like that. What I also experience during that time in Berseba was, that the grown up people were handling the order (??). When there was a drunk adult, he would be beaten up by the members of the council or by the headman, or even by the Evangelist or the Pastor. Which means there was order. Nowadays, when you go there, you will see small children who are drunk, things are done which we never heard of or thought of. All the ugly things are done. I don't know where the mistake started. One of the reasons might be that the strictness of our Grandparents is no longer present. Is it too liberal today, or? I don't know. Nowadays children live together with their girlfriends in the house of their parents, things which were completely unknown in the former days. I don't know where we slipped. One of the Pastors, which was called the "First Non-White Pastor", he was also an Evangelist before, was Daniel Goliath from Berseba. I also knew him. When I was grown up, Daniel Goliath had already retired. While Thomas Isaak Tiboth was pastor of the congregation, Daniel Goliath was living in the congregation and was asked frequently to hold services and he was doing the Catechism Classes. The only thing I heard about Christoph Tiboth, was that he was also an Elder. My Grandfather was still talking about him. The dogs of Christoph Tiboth found the spring of Berseba, where the Krönlein Centre is standing today. As far as I can remember, they stayed at Guldbrandsdaalen, the place that they call Snyfontein nowadays. While they lived at Guldbrandsdaalen they were hunting with their dogs and his dogs found the fountains of Berseba. And after finding the fountains, they moved over to Berseba. Snyfontein is a branch congregation of Berseba today. Before I went to Paulinum for my studies, there were still Evangelist. One of them was Eduard Kisting,(later as Pastor in Dordabis) he is now in Gibeon and retired in 2010 in Gibeon. I also knew of Lourens Boois, (later a Pastor in Windhoek, he died as a Pastor) who was in Windhoek. Adam Isaak (later Pastor in Kalkrand, he died as a Pastor) was another one of the Evangelists, who was also originally from Berseba and he worked in Kalkrand as an Evangelist. These are Evangelist which I knew personally. When I started my vicariate, there was no more Evangelist in the congregations. While I was attending my course at the Paulinum, all the Evangelist were called to the Paulinum, received a training course of one year and were all ordained together in Gibeon. Also Salomon Kaffer (later a Pastor in Gochas, Okombahe, Bethanie) was amongst them. I am advising you to go to the museum of the Municipality. In front of the Church there is a cross for Abraham Thomas. His son is Zachäus Thomas. We still have congregation members with the name of Thomas. Many of the ELK Pastors had the mentality of the RMS missionaries. The missionaries were convinced that Evangelist should not be entitled to handle the sacraments, don't use the pulpit ect. Many of ELK Pastors later forced this practice onto the Evangelist themselves. There were, however exceptions, for example the co-operation between Pastor Anderson and Evangelist Louw. They always worked very coordinal and close together. This must have been the reason why Pastor Anderson allowed Evangelist Louw to baptize my oldest son in Bethany in 1984. It was a Saturday-Evening service, a special service during which the baptism was done. But we heard of cases that black Pastors did not allow their Evangelist to even use the pulpit. [End of the interview] Married: Married Anna Goliath on the 18.02.1926, she was born on the 26.09.1906 in Berseba.8 Children: Anna 03.04.1933 Mathilde 04.04.1935 Lazarus 22.06.1937 Kathrina 16.09.1942 Stefanus 14.12.1944 Johannes Elias 14.09.19489 Education: Other family members connected to RMS: Mission Stations: Congregations: Ganigobis Rehoboth 1953-1958 Berseba 1960-01.01.1968 History with the RMS: 1 AELCRN Cardsystem of the co-workers, n.N. 2 AELCRN V 6.1:18. 3 AELCRN I 3.14 Korrespondensie Suidsinode. 1956-19642:27. 4 NAN BAC 23. 5 NAN BAC 23 6 NAN BAC 30. 7 AELCRN I 3.16 The Southern Synod Correspondence. 1961-1964:101ff. 8 AELCRN Cardsystem of the co-workers, n.N. 9 AELCRN Cardsystem of the co-workers, n.N. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------