11 Generations of van Niekerks!

3-11pm

Mike’s late Dad, Pieter Johannes van Niekerk, did a lot of research into the van Niekerk family tree. He managed to trace the male line of his branch of van Niekerks all the way back to 1671. Nineteen years after Jan van Riebeeck arrived at the Cape, we were told, the first van Niekerk arrived. His name was Cornelius Gerritz van Niekerk. Then I read that he didn’t arrive at the Cape in 1671, but he married in the Cape in 1671. Either way, Mike was the 9th generation van Niekerk and when David was born, he became the 10th. Today, I discovered a slight error in this information. Julian, my book dealer brother, bought a book, which he thought might interest me…

It was published in 1955. We went out for coffee and some of this….

….and I found the appropriate page…

And as I read it, I realised that Cornelis van Niekerk was the 2nd generation – that either Jacob or Dirk were the first. They were the ones to arrive in 1671. Cornelis must have been a small child when they arrived as he married in 1691. 300 years later, in 1991, David,  the 11th generation of this particular line was born. Quite a heritage! 🙂 I must dig out the family tree that Mike’s Dad worked on.

In another book, published later, we found the van Niekerk crest…

And the signature of Cornelius Gerritz van Niekerk…

Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands.

Right now, I’m off to walk and then after I’ve put Granny to bed, we’ll go out for dinner. Nice!

In His Grip,

Helga xx 🙂