Johannes Petrus Meyer (nickname Jan; 26 June 1842, in Prince Albert, Cape Colony – 2 December 1919, in Johannesburg) was a politician, member of the Volksraad of the South African Republic, mining entrepreneur, and farmer; he is the man for whom Meyerton and Meyersdal (a neighborhood of Alberton) are named.
As a field cornet, he inspected and surveyed land, giving him the opportunity to study the geological structure of the area and to search for subcrops.
Second, he championed the building of the Delagoa Bay-Pretoria railway to supply the Rand's markets for local and imported agricultural and industrial products.
He realized that Delagoa Bay, closer than Durban or Cape Town, would be a better trade destination for miners, merchants, industrialists, and farmers around Johannesburg.
Johan Meyer made the Great Trek as a young bachelor, originally a member of Hendrik Potgieter’s party, and went with them to Ohrigstad.
Members of this group are held by tradition to have traveled to the site of the present Alberton South Reformed Church and buried a Voortrekker woman and child who died there where the parsonage is now.
In 1844, two-year-old Jan moved with his parents to Transvaal, where his father had purchased three farms: Elandsfontein (where they lived), Klipriviersberg, and Alwynspoort.
The family traveled to the Karoo, and upon their return, Org built a house for a Smit who had settled in Klipriviersberg, pleased to have a neighbor in the sparsely populated area.
The young man won with a bid of £500, contributing £200 of his own money but borrowing the rest from an Erasmus who went on to farm in Irene.
The 13-year-old Jan therefore became the family breadwinner, helping them cross rivers and protecting the cattle from wild animals at night, while heavy rains robbed them of firewood.
The main civil servant on the scene was Field Cornet Meyer, tasked with settling and granting mining claims, keeping the peace between owners and diggers, and generally enforcing the ZAR Constitution.
On 5 July 1885 (according to some sources but more likely in 1886), he borrowed a prospector's license and staked a claim of his own in Doornfontein as a friend of Bezuidenhout, thus co-founding the successful Meyer & Charlton Mine.
Those who had bought one piece of land often opened other claims to ensure they still turned a profit amid the high demand, and fraud was common.
Afterwards, he sold it all and left the mining business a millionaire, using the proceeds to buy land between Hammanskraal, Warmbaths, Standerton, and the confluence of the Klip and Vaal Rivers.
During the war, a series of blockhouses, visible today along that same highway, were built around Johannesburg to protect the local gold mines, among other things.
Part of the reason for this was the British military government's sympathies for Meyer as a city-founding mining magnate who represented Uitlander interests in Johannesburg and the Transvaal Volksraad alike.
On 23 November 1887, the Executive Council declared the mining areas of Barberton, Komatipoort, and Steynsdorp as one district representing the Rand.
He advocated primarily for granting Johannesburg municipality status, building a railway from Delagoa Bay to Pretoria, and establishing the Second Volksraad.
His affinity for Uitlander aspirations came in part from working with so many of them, English-speaking and otherwise, and he would go on to be a founding member in 1894 of the Witwatersrand Agricultural Society (later the hosts of the annual Rand Show), where he served until his death as esteemed Deputy President.
Morkel, the first candidate in the field, was a fluently bilingual veteran of six years in the Kroonstad in the Orange Free State Volksraad, but had to withdraw as a non-citizen of the ZAR.
The inquiry committee, including special magistrate Carl von Brandis and mining commissioner Jan Eloff, found that the vote-counters were not sworn in properly and that Jeppe had supplied voters with liquor, leading the Government to annul the results of the election.
C. L. Neethling had represented Heidelberg in 1881 in the Volksraad, but could not obtain the necessary signatures to get his name on the ballot and therefore withdrew, in part due to bad blood between him and Meyer.
The Star wrote that "Oom Jan deserves so well of this community, he has done such yeoman's service in our cause", going on to recommend rejecting Neethling in the name of supporting Johannesburg and not opposing Meyer.
In August 1892, he suffered another setback when he confused two Volksraad petitions, one from the Health Committee and one from the inhabitants of Doornfontein, causing the former to be rejected.
This was seen as a betrayal, "and it is Jan Meyer who is the turncoat, who goes back on his promises, snubs the Board and Johannesburg generally, and stands in the way of its progress and prosperity".
Meyer earned plaudits for the Delagoa Bay Railway, his efforts to best implement the Gold Law, and his fiery opposition to the concession system in foreign affairs.
When he attracted only five to an 24 October 1892, campaign stop, he saw the writing on the wall and stood down for the January 1893 election, ending his career in the Volksraad.
The discovery of diamonds in Kimberley and gold in Johannesburg created a great demand for food and thus a major opportunity for farmers.
Each farm kept a pair of horses for transport, a few teams of oxen to pull wagons for hunting, attending communion, and trips to town to buy supplies.
As a Volksraad member for Johannesburg and later Heidelberg, his support was crucial to obtain seed money and fair grounds for the first Rand Show, which was opened with pomp and circumstance by State President of the South African Republic Paul Kruger and a guard of honor including 50 armed citizens including Field Cornet Meyer.