Willem Schalksz van der Merwe (abt. 1648 - 1716)

Born about 14 Apr 1648 in Oud-Beijerland, Zuid-Holland, Nederland

Ancestors

Husband of Koddo van Guinea — married [date unknown] in de Caep de Goede Hoop

Husband of Elsje Jacobs (Cloeten) van der Merwe — married 9 Sep 1668 in de Caep de Goede Hoop

Descendants

Died 12 Jul 1716 at about age 68 in Drakenstein, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa

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Willem Schalk van der Merwe is a Cape of Good Hope - Kaap de Goede Hoop (1652-1806) Stamouer-Progenitor Join: Cape of Good Hope - Kaap de Goede Hoop (1652-1806) Project Discuss: DUTCH_CAPE_COLONY_PROGENITORS

Biography

Name

Willem Schalk ^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} (Willem Schalkszoon ^[7][8][9])(Willem Schalks ^[10][7])(Willem Schalksz ^[11][12]) van der Merwe ^{[1][2][10][3][4][5][11][7][8][9][6][12]}

General

Arrived in 1660 in South Africa in service of the Hollandse Oost Indische Kompagnie (H.O.I.K) and on 1677-03-23 was granted permission to cultivate the farm 'Kronendal' in Houtbaai. During 1681 it became his legal property - the first property of a Van der Merwe in South Africa. ^[8]

He arrived at the Cape as a bosskieter on the ship Dordrecht. This ship called at the Cape many times but did in fact arrive at the Cape on 26th April 1661 to depart on 5th May 1661, the date on which he was granted his letter of freedom so perhaps we can assume that he arrived on this voyage, which left Goeree in the Netherlands on 6th December 1660. (VC39, part 3, page 123 and De VOC-site). At the end of March 1663 he petitioned the Council of Policy to take him back into Company service and it complied, appointing him adelborst on a salary of 12 guldens per month. (Resolutions of the Council of Policy, C. 2, pp. 318-330. Saterdag ultimo Meert ao. 1663) He appears on the muster rolls of Company servants until 1665 and then, from 1666 in the muster rolls of independent settlers. (Muster rolls, VC 39) On the 23rd March 1677 the Council of Policy granted to Willem Schalck and Pieter van de Westhuisen land at Hout Bay which they were required to farm efficiently, and to contribute one tenth of its produce to the Company each year (Resolutions of the Council of Policy, C10, pp. 89-94. Dingsdagh 23 Maart 1677). On the 2nd February 1688 he was granted permission by the Burgerraad (Burger Council) of the Cape to transfer from the Cape area to go to live at Drakenstein (1 STB 15/2) and on the 7th September 1692, he was granted farm land at Drakenstein, on the Berg River. ^[11]

When precisely he moved his family there I don't yet know, but after May 1688 the baptisms of his children are no longer to be found in the Cape Town church registers, and were presumably recorded in the (now missing) Drakenstein church registers. (MOOC 9/1/23, Verkoop Conditien and 1 STB 15/2, Permissions to transfer) In her will dated 1710 his daughter, Jakomina Schalk, named her siblings then living; her sisters as 'Feijtie, Lena, Magtelt, Elsie, Neeltie, Eula' and her brothers as 'Schalk Willems, Pieter and Hendrik Schalk'. ^[11]

On 27th June 1707 he sold up his farm on the Berg River in Drakenstein and all his possessions, paying off all his debts. The money resulting was to be used to maintain him for the rest of his life and also his minor children (MOOC 9/1/23, Verkoop Conditien, MOOC 13/1/,5, Boedelrekening) ^[11][13]

Birth

Date: Willem Schalk{s} was born about 1640 ^[10][7] / abt 1643 ^{[3][5][11][12]} / Apr 14, 1648. ^[2]

Place: Oud-Beijerland ^{[3][5][9][12]} (Near Rotterdam ^[3][9]), Zuid-Holland, Nederland ^[5][14][12] / Broek, Netherlands ^[11][15] / Netherlands ^[3] (Holland ^[2][4][9])

Marriage

Date: 9 Sep 1668 ^[3]

Place: Cape of Good Hope ^[3]

Groom: Willem Schalcq

Bride: Elsjen Jacobs ^[16]

Den 9 Septemb An' 1668. Willem Schalcq met Elsjen Jacobs dochter van Jacob Cloeten ^[16]

Emigration

Date: 1660 ^[4][5]

Place: Netherlands ^[5]

Immigration

Date: 26 Apr 1661 ^[5][11]

Place: Cape of Good Hope ^[5][11]

Willem Schalck van der Merwe voor d'Camer Delft anno 1661 pr ‘t schip Dort aangelant en ao. in vrijdom getreden ^[17][18]

Occupation

Free Burgher

Date: 5 May 1661 ^[5][18]

Events

Volgens Stamouers het Willem 'n verhouding gehad met 'n slavin wat Simon van der Stel aan hom gegee het. Haar naam word nie genoem nie. Hy het 'n kind by die slavin gehad met die naam Maria Schalk wat later met Paulus Heyns getroud is. Dit is nie seker of die slavin en Koddo van Guinea dieselfde persoon is nie. Die slavin en haar dogter, Maria is in 1686 vrygestel. ^[19]

Death

Date: Willem (Schalks ^[10]) van der Merwe passed away in 1716 ^[1] / [on] 12 Jul 1716. ^{[10][2][3][4][5][11][7][9][6][12]}

Place: Cape [Town ^[3][9]], [South Africa] ^[2][3][5][9]

"Willem Schalk van der Merwen den 12de Julij 1716 overleden" ^[20]

Burial

Place: Franschhoek, [South Africa] ^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} WikiTree profile Van der Merwe-48 created by Willem Schalk van der Merwe{-48} 23 June 2011.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5} WikiTree profile Van Der Merwe-1115 created by Johan Smit 17 January 2015.
3. ↑ ^{3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10} WikiTree profile Van Der Merwe-31 created through the import of flakey (3).ged on 18 April 2011 by Anton Bergh.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4} WikiTree profile Van der Merwe-252 created through the import of wikitree upload.ged on Jul 19, 2012 by Arrie Klopper.
5. ↑ ^{5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12} WikiTree profile Van der Merwe-315 created through the import of Ancestors_DippenaarAndre_noinfo.GED on Oct 23, 2012 by Andrew Dippenaar.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2} WikiTree profile Van der Merwe-3275 created by Giselle (Hattingh) Piscaer 13 October 2018. Source:
   • http://vandermerwefamilytree.com/en/Extract.html
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4} WikiTree profile Van der Merwe-480 created by Pieter Meyer, Mar 20, 2013.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2} WikiTree profile Van Der Merwe-438 created by Jannie van der Merwe 11 February 2013.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7} WikiTree profile Van Der Merwe-1657 created by C Waller on Feb 23, 2016. Source:
   • Gedcom File Michael Bryan - mbryan47 at gmail.com 11/03/2007 28 AUG 2012.
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4} WikiTree profile Van der Merwe-652 created by Anonymous Delport 29 July 2013.
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 11.8 11.9} WikiTree profile Van der Merwe-504 created through the import of Vermaak Family Site - 05 May 2013.GED on May 5, 2013 by Dina Vermaak.
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5} WikiTree profile Van Der Merwe-4968 created by Anri Walters 20 September 2020. Source:
    • http://hanekom.org
13. ↑ See this G2G-feed "Looking for a baptismal image & transcription for Willem Schalks, Schalkszoon van der Merwe (abt. 1648 - 1716)" and specifically the answer (& research) of Rob Ton on mar 17, 2016, that warrants further investigation: "[...] I have looked at a large number of claims about Willem's birthplace. Of most interest to me was a thesis paper titled Huntington's Chorea in South Africa by Michal R. Hayden dated 1979. In this paper he indicates that Willem first arrived in the cape circa 1658, being made a free burgher in 1661. The paper also mentions a possible connection to a van de Merwe family originating in Rotterdam in the 17th century whose descendants are also affected by Huntington's Chorea. (available here from University of Cape Town). With this connection to Rotterdam in mind I went back to the period maps. A 1684 map of Rotterdam shows an area called "Broek", just east what was then Rotterdam 'proper'. In modern terms it is bounded roughly by the modern streets Crooswijkseweg, Boezemsingel, Boezemlaan, and by the Boezem. I think the birth suggested on the profile of 1648 is extremely unlikely - with the 1658 arrival date above that would mean Willem was taken on as an Arquebusier/Bosskieter at 10 years of age. I don't have any facts to support the following, but I would guess to command the higher pay of an Arquebusier took 4 or more years of training/experience and that this would not have started before age 16. (For comparison one study found the average age of arquebusiers in France a century later was about age 40). I would therefore suggest a birth of about 1638 (or earlier) - this would translate to a second marriage at age 30 (in 1668) and a last child born at age 60 (in 1698), both of which I feel are reasonable for the era. In summary, I would be focusing on looking at Rotterdam or Oud-Beijerland records from closer to 1638. [...] The Rotterdam locality I pointed out from the 1684 map should probably be "Voor Rubroek" (the label was broken up and 'Broek' was capitalized so it appeared to be a complete place name). There is also "De Berch en Broeck Polder" (around Hillegersberg) which has a "Broeck Mole" There is also "De Brouck Polder" just outside Vlaardingen. All of these are options for a "Broeck" birthplace for Willem. And while it has nothing to do with the question I find it interesting that this map also shows the "Leproos" just outside the city to the North West [...] I found a family tree on GeneaNet that I thought I would mention - it is not well sourced by any means, but it may contain some clues worth following up as it suggests names for a grand-father and great-grandfather for Willem as well as a wide variety of cousins and uncles. The person claimed as William's grandfather, Willem Huijgens van de Merwe, is listed as born at Dubbeldam circa 1590. I also found another place that is a candidate for the "Broek" where Willem was born - just outside Gouda. [see this Wikipedia article]. Lastly, I thought I would mention an interesting coincidence: I noticed that on one 1749 map, North-east of Oud-Byerland is a place called "Goodschalk Oord" (modern name is Goidschalxoord) - The name "Godschalck" is derived similarly to "Schalk" and I noticed in some early records the two being used interchageably." Seen and added by Philip van der Walt Mar 20, 2016.
14. ↑ [...] "so maybe we have more luck searching for them in that area (Rotterdam, Oud Beijerland Archief, place Broek).
15. ↑ See: Van der Merwe Familiestamboom / Familytree, link provided in this G2G feed by Bea Wijma, Aug 29, 2015. [...] "so maybe we have more luck searching for them in that area (Rotterdam, Oud Beijerland Archief, place Broek).
16. ↑ ^{16.0 16.1} Source:
    • LDS (Family Search) First Marriages in GOGH Added by Ronel OlivierMay, 2019.
17. ↑ Source:
    • The Genealogical Society of South Africa: eGSSA branch, South African Records Transcribed. A selection of historical records transcriptions. Den Haag Lists of FreeburgersVrijboek 1681 page double page spread 27, folios 601v and 602r. Seen and entered Aug 17, 2015 by Susanna de Bruyn.
18. ↑ ^{18.0 18.1} Source:
    • VOC Archives (Negotieboek) - "Toegang: 1.04.02 Inventaris van het archief van de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC), 1602-1795 (1811)", Inventarisnummer
    4017 1681 - 1682 [1682], Image 708 (https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/archief/1.04.02/invnr/4017/file/NL-HaNA_1.04.02_4017_0708). Added by Gerhard Swart on 6 July 2023.
19. ↑ Stefan Steyn 11 June, 2014.
20. ↑ Source:
    • Membership Register - "South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Registers (Cape Town Archives), 1660-1970 ," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKD-19W9-9?cc=1478678 : 20 April 2023), > image 1 of 1; State Archives, Cape Province. Added by Gerhard Swart on 6 July 2023.