Brandfort laid out on Jacobus van Zyl's farm Keerom
1866 · national · Prince Albert
47 stands sold in 1866; proclaimed a town in 1874/75; a municipality by 1884; named for President J.H. Brand of the Orange Free State. One published account calls the founder "a Voortrekker from PRINS ALBERT", another has him arriving from Natal after Piet Retief's murder - compatible if he trekked out of the Karoo and was in Natal in February 1838. He is Jacobus Stephanus van Zyl, FamilySearch LCV6-XNT, 1809-1906, who married Susanna Catharina Oosthuizen of Middelwater. [TERTIARY SOURCES - see SRC-177 and LEAD-0045]
Who is on record here
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