Posted by:
Tabba Khady
(---.49.78.208.dyn-ip.domaccess.com)
You are right, the Van Romondts were THE family of St Maarten at that time and like you said owned pretty much everything on both side of the island including tintamarre (Flat Island).
The first to come to St.Martin was Diederik Johannes van Romondt (1781-1849) who arrived from Holland in 1801. He served as governor of Sint Maarten from 1820 to 1840. From that time for more than a century the van Romondts were the undisputed leaders and social arbiters. The last member having the van Romondt name was Diederik Christian (1871-1948) who died at the age of 76 at Mary's Fancy, his estate in Dutch Cul de Sac.
Because of a dispute over property taxes in 1902 Diederik Christian moved to the Isle of Tintamarre, which he also owned. (There is no reason to believe that Tintamarre is a Dutch island as it was not included in the original partition treaty of the main island of St. Martin 23 March, 1648). Then it began the most memorable period of Diederik Christian's life, and one of the most amazing chapters in the history of the island.
There, it was said about him, that he reigned unmolested in almost legal independence. In fact, a French journalist wrote in Journal de Paris, August 23rd, 1913 under the headlines of "Le Roi de Tintamarre" (The King of Tintamarre), so glowingly that "he received many letters from Paris, Italy, and Germany, and some from heiresses who solicited a lifelong partnership with Mr. van Romondt to become 'queen' of a romance as well as Tintamarre."
For the people working for him (most of them from Anguilla) he founded a shop on the island, and in 1913 he imported 30,000 Dutch cents, which were circulated among them as a currency of his own. Dutch cents were seldom used as a means of payment in the Windward islands; Mr. van Romondt attributed an exchange rate of value of half a penny to each cent. Those who left could exchange their saved cents for current coins on Sint Maarten (smart...).
He raised 60 to 70 head of cattle and about 540 sheep, grew fine sea island cotton, and made cheese and butter which were renowned throughout the West Indies. Then in 1931 he sold the island to Louis Constant Fleming (the Father of the actual President), wich was at that time a merchant and mayor of Marigot, and the following year Diederik Christian returned to Mary's Fancy where he died in 1948.
And if I am not mistaken, he was Dee's great uncle, no? Since Dee's ancestor was Lionel Van Romondt
Kind Regards,
Philippe
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