last pastors to earn a government salary. In 1907, with his name second on the list of attending pastors (his nephew, Prof. Nicolaas Hofmeyr was first), his congregation celebrated their memories of him in a 40th anniversary service, which he participated in with no shortage of zeal, but also "with the deepest piety of life and with true dedication to his Lord," according to Rev. Dreyer. The Rev. Hofmeyr's full career included many baptism services, including on farms in the district, and he sometimes baptized 24 children at a time. He entered all their names, as well as the names and address of their parents and witnesses, in the Baptism Book; and the witnesses did not let him down, for with the baptism of their own children, they exceeded the record with as many as 12 witnesses. In between these things, he also had time to care for his own children and study Dutch. Second church building One of the first tasks the Rev. Hofmeyr took on was building a church. The old church had dilapidated thatch and was simply too small. In 1869, therefore, the council decided to build a much larger church on the same land on the southern end of Beaufort Street. At the time, many towns built their churches at the end of a street to allow a clear line of sight to them. Two walls of the old building remained, but the rest was brand new and laid out by the German-born architect Carl Otto Hager. It was dedicated on November 17, 1871. The festivities began on a Thursday when the worshipers of the district began coming to town, filling the hotels to the point where local families had to board them. That day at noon, a church bazaar was held in the warehouse by a Mr. Webb to raise money for the construction fund, bringing in £73. The following day, the dedication ceremonies began in earnest. The tower was incomplete, the walls unfinished, and the paint job a work in progress, but given the long-planned day of dedication, the congregation soldiered on. In the morning, the members and other guests arrived in the hall of Gill College, where the Rev. Stegmann of Glen Lynden gave a short prayer. The entire "procession" (as the article in Volksblad called the march) proceeded to the church where the Rev. Hofmeyr opened the doors in the Name of