Dreyer-boom » Willem Willemsz van Zijl aka van Zyl, van Zeijl, van Zeyl, van Zuijl SV/PROG (1666-1727)

Persoonlijke gegevens Willem Willemsz van Zijl aka van Zyl, van Zeijl, van Zeyl, van Zuijl SV/PROG 

• Hij is geboren in het jaar 1666 in Delft, Delft, South Holland, The Netherlands.
• Beroep: farmer, Vrede en Lust , Drakenstein, kaap de Goede Hoop..
• Hij is overleden op 8 maart 1727 in Vrede en Lust Farm, Drakenstein, de Caep de Goede Hoop, Dutch Cape Colony (South Africa), hij was toen 61 jaar oud.

Gezin van Willem Willemsz van Zijl aka van Zyl, van Zeijl, van Zeyl, van Zuijl SV/PROG

Hij is getrouwd met Christina van Lovern.

Zij zijn getrouwd op 29 november 1694 te Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, Nederland, hij was toen 28 jaar oud.

Kind(eren):

1. Wilhelmina van Zijl  1695-1763 
2. Albertus (Albert) van Zyl  1697-???? 
3. Johannes van Zyl  < 1700-1742 
4. Hendrina van Zijl  ± 1701-????
5. Gideon van Zyl  1703-1773 
6. Pieter van Zyl formerly van Zeyl  < 1706-1782 
7. Hester van Zyl  < 1709-1738
8. Christina (van Zijl Corbach Frappe de Winnaar) van Zyl  ± 1709-1760
9. Johanna (Johanna van Zeijl) van Zijl  ± 1718-< 1738

Notities over Willem Willemsz van Zijl aka van Zyl, van Zeijl, van Zeyl, van Zuijl SV/PROG

 

. His story starts in Delft in 1668, in the home of a Catholic tinsmith, Willem van Zyl Sr (also written Van Seijl) and his wife, Aeltgen (or Nelletgen) Pieters van Adegeest. The Van Zyls, unlike many Hollanders of the time, are sufficiently well-off to own a proper family home in Wijnstraat. True to tradition, the eldest son, Hubertus (or Albertus), learns their father’s trade to take over the family business. While the second, Frans, joins the VOC as a soldier, Willem Jr heads for Amsterdam, the most affluent merchant city in Europe, where he becomes a gardener. Willem finds lodgings in Verwer Street, nowadays situated in the oldest part of the city, and soon meets a 21-year-old Protestant girl who is living with her aunt alongthe nearby Waal. Christina van Loveren was born in Amsterdam and christened on 7 June 1673, in the same church where she was to be married, which also happens to be the oldest church in the city. Herparents, Jan Juriaensz and Annetje Jans were also married in the Oude Kerk, ten years before christening their little daughter. The fact that there is no church record of Jan and Annetje christening any other babies might indicate that they were childless and adopted the little girl, for at the time it was highly unusual for a couple to have one child only. Jan was buried from the Oude Kerk in 1676 and Annetje in 1680, leaving little Christina orphaned at a very tender age. When the young couple’s banns are first read on 12 November 1694, both Christina and Willem have lost their parents. Their marriage ceremony in the Oude Kerk takes place two weeks later, on 28 November. ^{https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Zijl-158#_note-text-305">[1]https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Zijl-158#_note-ONDERTR">[2]}

The Van Zyls soon move to Haarlem and on 21 October 1695, the eldest of their eight children, Willemina, is christened there. Two years later, Albertus is christened in the town Velsen, just outside Haarlem. Willem and Christina are ambitious and intent on securing a better life for their offspring. Opportunity knocks when Willem’s brother Frans writes to them from the Cape. According to a new scheme, free passage is offered to the Cape, provided they remain there for 15 years. Without much hesitation, they decide that the arguments in favour of leaving weigh heavier than those against. Their links with Holland are neither sentimental nor binding. The fact that both sets of parents have passed away certainly makes the move to the Cape easier. On 22 September 1698, 32-year-old Willem, his 25-year-old wife and theirtwo toddlers board "De Drie Croonen", skippered by Jan Speelman, and sail from Texel. They travel in the same fleet of seven ships as the new Governor Wilhem Adriaen van der Stel, who is on board the Stad Keulen. ^{https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Zijl-158#_note-text-305">[1]}

During the fearful journey twenty seven people die, mostly from dysentery and fever. The living conditions are desperate. Men and boys sleep on the open deck, whereas the women and daughters share a cabin. Willem and Christina keep all their worldly possessions in a huge old Batavian kist made of Philippine mahogany and finished with splendid Genoese copper clamps. To prevent it from capsizing in turbulent waters, it rests on two front feet only. The very same kist, imbued with countless memories, is now owned by a direct descendant, Mrs Jean Retief, née Van Zyl, of the wine estate Van Loveren in Robertson. ^{https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Zijl-158#_note-text-305">[1]}

On 23 January 1699 the perilous voyage is finally over. The Van Zyls are welcomed at the Cape with open arms, Willem’;s experience as a nurseryman standing him in good stead and he immediately starts work as deputy chief gardener at Rustenburg, the Company’s nursery in Rondebosch. Willem van Zyl never looked back in his new homeland. Barely three years later, the gardener becomes a free burgher, with enough resources to buy one of the Drakenstein’s most splendid farms, as well as two slaves and four horses. Within three days, Vrede en Lust had as many owners. ^{https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Zijl-158#_note-text-305">[1]}

Two days after Christiaan Ehlers takes transfer, Van Zyl acquires one half of the farm. The other half is transferred in his name a year later, on 11 January 1703. These transactions are recorded in the collection of documents entitled "Transporten en Schepenkennis" (Transport and Shipping Information) in the Deeds Office. Meanwhile, Christina has her hands full raising the expanding family. On 4 July 1700 Johannes is born. On 30 October 1701, Hendrina is christened in Cape Town (she probably died young). On 9 December 1703 Gideon, conceived not long after the family moves to Vrede en Lust, is christened in Drakenstein. On 12 December 1706 it is Pieter’s turn, followed by Hester and Christina on 20 April 1709 and 14 September 1709 in Stellenbosch and lastly, on 11 December 1718, Johanna in Drakenstein. The family flourishes and becomes the founders of a numerous Van Zyl dynasty. All four brothers, Albertus, Johannes, Gideon and Pieter, become farmers in the Drakenstein valley, with the middle boys marrying two sisters, Catharina and Maria Elisabeth van Eeden. Lady luck is smiling upon Willem van Zyl. He joins the burgher defence force as a cavalryman in 1702. The next year he is promoted to the rank of ensign and in 1705 he serves as second lieutenant under https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Du_Preez-433">Captain Hercules des Pres. Even though he is fast becoming an influential burgher, Van Zyl has to wait for his ambition tobe realised. He desires official distinction and on several occasions, dating from 1704, he is nominated for the position of Heemraad. However, he is pipped to the post time and again by other contenders, such as the Frenchman Abraham de Villiers. Fortunately recognition is forthcoming from various sources and Van Zyl certainly proves himself tobe a valued member of local society, capable of handling authority. In the 1706 Minutes of the Magistrate and Heemraden, Willem van Zyl is appointed overseer of a group of tien influential burghers, including the brothers Claude and Charles Marais, hisfriend Pieter van der Bijl, and the three Nortier brothers, Daniel, Jacob and Jean, who are responsible for the maintenance of roads and drifts (fords) stretching from Van Zyl’s farm to Joostenberg. ^{https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Zijl-158#_note-text-305">[1]}

On 5 January 1706 Van Zyl signs the petition against https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_der_Stel-27">WilhemAdriaen van der Stel’s corruption together with seventy two complainants, including his good friend Adam Tas. Most of the Stellenbosch and Drakenstein farmers are involvedin this attempt to impose limitations on the Governor’s tyrannical rule. For Willem van Zyl, this act is as good as a death warrant. The Governor retorts by soliciting 243 signatures from residents testifying to his innocence. Threats convince several farmers, including Van Zyl, to sign unwillingly. When Adam Tas hears of the retraction, he rides out personally to Vrede en Lust to discuss the matter with Willem and Christina. Both are in a quandary: they do not want trouble, yet they are strongly opposed to the Governor. Eventually Van Zyl concedes and withdraws his signature. ^{https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Zijl-158#_note-text-305">[1]}

By the middle of the year, there is still no positive response to the petition. While the Here XVII are dragging their heels, Van Zyl and eight co-conspirators, all respectable citizens, are ordered to present themselves at the Castle for court appearance. The men decide to ignore the issue, after which they are summoned publicly by means of a poster, but still they stay away. They protest that the nature of their crime has never been mentioned and undertake to ignore any order by the Governor until they receive a reply from Holland. The court case then takes an interesting turn. The fiscal, https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Haesewinkel-1">Christoffel Hasenswinkel, is sent to arrest Van Zyl, who is tipped off about the imminent visit and goes into hiding with his friends. When Hasenswinkel arrives at Vrede en Lust and reigns in his horse, he only finds Mrs Van Zyl and the numerous offspring. Christina is readyfor the fiscal. She complains non-stop about the hardships of her existence, about having to cope with a bunch of unruly kids, about a husband who disappears and leaves her in charge of everything. What a miserable life! The Council of Justice finds the men guilty in absentia on 9 August 1706. They are banned to Mauritius for five years’ manual labour without wages. Their possessions are tobe confiscated, they are fined and will never again be considered for any political or military position. For months the men go under cover in the veld near Vier-en-Twintig-Rivieren, hiding in the bush, mountains and caves. Three are captured and sent away, but Van Zyl remains fugitive until August 1707, when the tyranny of Governor Wilhem Adriaen van der Stel finally comes to an end upon his being recalled by the Here XVII. ^{https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Zijl-158#_note-text-305">[1]}

Van Zyl is a prosperous farmer who tries his hand at everything, from viticulture to the cultivation of grains and raising livestock. This is clearly indicated by the annual Opgaafrollen, compulsory inventories stating each person’s possessions for poll tax purposes. In 1702, Van Zyl bought a farm with 8 000 vines and a crop of 10 leaguers of wine; by 1706, the figures for Vrede en Lust have increased to 14 000 vines and 14 leaguers of wine. One leaguer equals 577 litres, and roughly 1 000 vines are needed to produce 1 leaguer of wine. Seven years later, Van Zyl owns 30 000 vines. ^{https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Zijl-158#_note-text-305">[1]}

The upswing inhis fortune is in keeping with general trends and in the course of the 18th century, Drakenstein instead of Stellenbosch becomes the most important centre of viticulture at the Cape. Total Drakenstein figures for 1718 indicate that Van Zyl fares extremely well. He possesses 20 000 vines out of a total of 832 700, and 12 leaguers of wine compared to a total of 448½. As a wine farmer, his success is surpassed only by about five other colonists. By the end of the 17th century, Drakenstein also excels at the cultivation of cereals, winnowing more wheat than either Stellenbosch or the Cape district. In 1702, the year Van Zyl acquires Vrede en Lust, he sows 6 muids of wheat and winnows 20; 4 muids of rye and winnows 40; 2 muids of barley and winnows 10. The decline in the first annual yields indicates that Van Zyl is experimenting with crops, learning the hard way, through experience. As early as 1705 he learns that barley gives disappointing results. In future he will concentrate onwheat, which means that he has to start applying for sowing permits, the first of which is issued on 20 April 1714, on condition that he supplies the Company with one tenth of his crop. ^{https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Zijl-158#_note-text-305">[1]}

Livestock farming presents its own dilemmas. In Drakenstein, as in Stellenbosch, grazing deteriorates to the point where farmers hardly have sufficient food for their animals. However, compared to wheat and wine, meat fetches excellent prices. Furthermore, sheep and cattle farming do not require huge capital outlays and transportation and labour costs are minimal. To solve the grazing problem, the government issues permits in the well-known hunting territories of the Swartland, the Berg River and Vier-en-Twintig-Rivieren – areas that are nothing more than communal grazing land for the established Cape farmers. The loan farm system, which gradually developed out of the grazing licence system, became very popular. Thissize of a loan farm was about 3 000 morgen, measured by walking thirty minutes in each of the four wind directions. The procedure was simple and eliminated the need for a surveyor to measure the land. Although in theory the government could confiscate the farm, this happened very seldom in practice. Initially the livestock were left at these outposts to be supervised by grown sons, white servantsand reliable slaves. In time the pioneers settled on these farms and built houses. ^{https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Zijl-158#_note-text-305">[1]}

Van Zyl needs extra grazing for hisconsiderable herds. Having started out with 100 sheep and 20 cattle, he owns 400 sheep and 32 cattle by 1705. The next year, he has 500 sheep and 40 cattle. In 1708, not long after the Van der Stel debacle, he starts renting a second property, De Honing Fonteijn, situated next to the Berg River in the Vier-en-Twintig-Rivieren area where he had been in hiding. He improves the land at his own expense, erects homes and pens for the animals and becomes its rightful owner fourteen years later, after an appealing to the authorities. In 1714, the year he is allowed to return to Holland in terms of his original contract, he purchases Leeuwenhoek in the Lower Berg Valley. The next year, his livestock numbers 700 sheep, 140 cattle and 16 pigs. According to the depiction in E.V. Stade’s famousdrawing of 1710, the simple, rural nature of the little Drakenstein community stands in marked contrast to the majestic backdrop of the mountains. Certain beacons are clearly recognizable today, including the Babylon’s Toring. Life is rolling along gently for Willem and Christina van Zyl. They own 3 servants and 5 slaves and employ home teachers for their children. Their lifestyle does not differ much from that of other farmers. Like many of them, Willem occasionally applies for a permit to go hunting game such as eland and hippo. His weapons include a musket flintlock, a pistol and a fencing sword. Several instances of his hunting in the vicinity of the Berg River are noted from 1709 onwards. ^{https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Zijl-158#_note-text-305">[1]}

Althoughthe Van Zyl’s are prosperous and even see fit to leave a bequest in their will to the Drakenstein poor, Christina’s rectangular house is extremely basic, nothing at all like the fancier letter of the alphabet homes built two generations later. The windows of the hut or hovel are tiny,the interiors dark, rendered even more sombre by clay floors and reed ceilings. The primitive buildingmaterial weathers badly and the timber for fuel and bricks is cut within wagon-haul. Industriousness and commercial instincts turn Vrede en Lust into a model farm. On Sundays, after the religious sermons, the Drakenstein burghers do their weekly shopping for supplies at the farm shop on Vrede en Lust, a stone’s throw from the church, and far more convenient than travelling all the way to town. On 19 December 1719 there is great jubilation in the Van Zyl household. Willem finally fulfils his ambition to become Heemraad of Drakenstein, despite the ruling that none of the conspirators against Wilhem Adriaen van der Stel would ever be eligible for public office. At last, this deserving man receives the recognition he so desires. On 29 January 1720, he attended his first meeting as Heemraad; thereafter he served two more terms. ^{https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Zijl-158#_note-text-305">[1]}

In 1721, https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pasques_de_Chavonnes-3">Governor Maurits Pasques de Chavonnes receive a petition from Van Zyl and a number of friends and neighbours complaining that Khoi women visit their slaves, who were of Malay and other extraction. Of these visits, children are born. The farmers request that these offspring be indentured to those who rear them, otherwise they have no compensation for all their trouble and expense. They also petition for legislation to be imposed and a certain number of years to be determined during which time their slaves cannot be seduced or frightened by the Khoikhoi who recognize no authority. ^{https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Zijl-158#_note-text-305">[1]}

When Willem van Zyl passes away in the age of 61 years in 1727, Vrede en Lust is a highly desirable property with sixteen slaves. The outbuildings consist of a wine cellar next to the house, bake house, smoke house for curing meat and preserving hides, and a shed with heavy ox-drawn farming equipment such asharrows and ploughs behind the pressing house. The homestead has six rooms downstairs and three attic rooms under the roof. The sitting room is full of glassware and porcelain displayed on shelves for visitors to admire. Intimate friends and family are received in a more comfortable sitting room, concealed from public gaze. Here the family Bible sits on its own stand beside a huge looking glass. Various tables, framed prints and ornamental chests are arranged all over the room. Six chintz curtains with valances are draped across the three windows. ^{https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Zijl-158#_note-text-305">[1]}

Less lavish is the room to the left, with two curtained beds, clothes shelves and a huge linen cupboard. There is also a jumble of storage items, from hats and medicines to garden seed and iron wire. Most of the chairs seem to have found their way to this room – seventeen altogether. The small, rear room has four beds, two of which are curtained in chintz, and the farmer’s guns. When the appraisers go up into the roof, they use the external staircase at the back of the house. Here they find three storage rooms with miscellaneous items, useful and useless all jumbled together: pots and pans, ropes, glass window panes, grain and beans, canes and curtain rings. Coming downstairs, the appraisers move into the prep room which houses the copper and brass utensils, pots and pans, objects made of tin, wood and iron, and many valuable pewter vessels, spoons, dishes and plates. The kitchen itself, with its floor-level hearth and kettle, pots and pans hanging from the chimney chain, is reserved exclusively for cooking. Contemporary cooking occurred in earthenware vessels, in the Cape as in Europe. Coarse red earthenware containers were made locally, and proved to be the only ceramic table-ware made in the Cape until the 20th century. One seldom sees them in museums nowadays, although they are commonly found in archeological collections of excavated wares. They are easily broken, mundane items like dishes, pans, pots, coal holders and colanders, often with little feet on the base to raise the vessel above very hot coals. ^{https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Zijl-158#_note-text-305">[1]}

Exactly how prosperous “Vreed en Lust” was, can be deducted from the content of the wine cellar. This building contains 18leaguers of white wine and 3 of brandy, 1 aum of brandy, 16 empty leaguers, 2 ½ leaguers, a wine press, barrels, a bag of sulphur, salt for curing and preserving meat and hides, spars, thatching, windows and doors to adorn new buildings, bits and pieces for making and repairing vehicles and farm equipment, and moulds for making bricks. In addition, there is a specialised pressing house forthe grape harvest. The ten slaves are an important asset in the estate: they came from Timor, Madagascar, Malabar, Bengal and Rio de Lago. Two men were Cape-born, and the single woman slave, Susanna,was originally shipped to the Cape from Bengal in India. In Willem’s will, the widow’s portion is 9 439 guilders, and special provision of 2 000 guilders is made for the 9-year-old Johanna, the only child who has not yet left the parental home. Furthermore, Johanna and her seven siblings receive equal portions of 393 guilders. ^{https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Zijl-158#_note-text-305">[1]}

On 19 October 1728, Christina sells Vredeen Lust as a going concern to David de Villiers for 10 200 guilders, Cape valuation.6 With Johanna and a female slave, Eva of Rio de la Goa, she moves to house in Table Valley,on which 800 guilders are still owing at the time of Christina’s death in 1730. Her 12-year-old daughter is bequeathed gold and silverware, household effects and other moveable property, as well as the slave, Eva. Christina furthermore stipulates that a feather bed with all its paraphernalia, including silk and linen sheets, should go to her daughter Hester van Zyl, married to the burgher Hendrik Muscher. The remainder of the estate is to be divided amongst the eight children. The inventory compiled after her death shows that she scaled down enormously when she left Vrede en Lust. It isclear that Christina van Zyl left Vrede en Lust with just those possessions required for life in the relatively civilised Table Valley settlement. The wagons, carts, ploughs and cellar equipment which remains behind will henceforth be used by a new generation of farmers. ^{https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Zijl-158#_note-text-305">[1]}

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