← The land

Person PER-000120

Jan Louis Venter

1754 – 1824 · Venter line

Connection to the Koup

Held ground in this district: Middelwater (1822).

Names

Baptismal name
Jan Louis
Given
Jan Louis
Surname
Venter

The formal baptismal name and the name a person was actually called are both kept, and neither is derived from the other. Spelling drift between records is evidence, not noise.

Three generations around this person

Petrus Venter 1726
Jean Louis du Plessis 1691 Magdalena Rousseau 1695
Martha du Plessis 1730
Jan Louis Venter 1754 Johanna Jacomina Smit m. 27 April 1777
Catharina Petronella Venter 1779 Martha Jacoba Venter 1782 Maria Catharina Venter 1783 Petrus Jacobus Venter 1785~ Jacobus Daniel Venter 1786 Maria Magdalena Venter 1787 Elisabeth Johanna Venter 1789 Jan Louis Venter 1790 Adriana Cecilia Venter 1792 Hester Engela Elizabeth Venter 1793 Johanna Jacomina Venter 1795 Johannes Henricus Venter 1796 Maria Elizabeth Catharina Venter 1799 Francois Alwyn Venter 1801 Catharina Petronella Venter 1803

Work out how this person is related to somebody else →

Click any name and the same three generations are drawn around that person instead. There is no first couple here and no top to the tree: it is only ever the family standing closest to whoever you are reading about, and a blank is a gap in the record rather than a statement about anybody.

Immediate family

Father
Petrus Venter
Mother
Martha du Plessis
Brothers and sisters
Jan Adriaan Venter (Sr., 1779-1870)
Married
Johanna Jacomina Smit 27 April 1777
Children

A life in the record

  1. 1754 born Born
  2. 27 April 1777 married Married Johanna Jacomina Smit
  3. about 1779 event Two generations of Venters baptised at Tulbagh on one day
    Entries 90 and 91 of the Tulbagh register, side by side: Pieter Venter baptises his youngest son Jan Adriaan, and in the next entry stands godparent to his granddaughter Catharina Petronella, Jan Louis's first daughter - uncle and niece at the font together, about the same age. The earliest occasion
  4. about 1779 occasion Baptism of their child, Catharina Petronella Venter at Tulbagh (Roodezand)
  5. 19 March 1786 event Petrus Jacobus Venter baptised at Paarl
    Baptised at the family's own church with his father's two sisters and their husbands standing - Tjaart van der Walt with Maria Elizabeth Venter, Jan Louis du Plessis with Hester Venter (the couples MOOC8/50.47a names, SRC-581). The register writes no birth date; he was born about 1785.
  6. 19 March 1786 occasion Baptism of their child, Petrus Jacobus Venter at Paarl (Drakenstein) [FS]
  7. 15 February 1788 event Jacobus Daniel and Maria Magdalena Venter baptised at Paarl
    A double baptism: Jacobus Daniel a two-year-old at the font, born 26 January 1786, his godparents his mother's family, Jacobus Smit among them - the child carries his name.
  8. 15 February 1788 occasion Baptism of their child, Jacobus Daniel Venter at Paarl (Drakenstein) [FS]
  9. 22 October 1790 event The Venters' last Paarl baptism: two children together
    Elisabeth Johanna and Jan Louis jr brought to the font together, eighteen months and three months old. The family does not appear at Paarl again: their next baptism is at Graaff-Reinet in November 1792, and the move to the Sneeuberg falls between - about 1791, eighteen months after Pieter Venter d'o
  10. 22 October 1790 occasion Baptism of their child, Elisabeth Johanna Venter at Paarl (Drakenstein)
  11. 22 October 1790 occasion Baptism of their child, Jan Louis Venter at Paarl (Drakenstein)
  12. 25 November 1792 event Adriana Cecilia Venter baptised at Graaff-Reinet
    Born in the Sneeuberg district about the end of May 1792 (her death notice's age, SRC-580) and baptised at the new Graaff-Reinet church with Smit kin standing - the family's first appearance on Karoo ground. She would marry Ockert Almero Oosthuizen and die at Prince Albert in 1858; the whole Koup st
  13. 25 November 1792 occasion Baptism of their child, Adriana Cecilia Venter at Graaff-Reinet
  14. 1792–1799 event The Venters on the Sneeuberg
    Adriana Cecilia is born in the Sneeuwberg district about May 1792, her death notice says so in its own hand, and the family's Graaff-Reinet baptisms of 1792, 1794 and 1799 are the church trail off this ground. A REGION waypoint: the range, not a farm.
  15. September 1799 occasion Baptism of their child, Maria Elizabeth Catharina Venter at Graaff-Reinet
  16. 1822 land Held it, Middelwater
  17. 1822 land Lived on it, Middelwater
  18. 1824 died Died
  19. 5 March 1837 event Ockert Almero Oosthuizen baptised at Beaufort West
    Born on Middelwater 27 November 1836, baptised at Beaufort West on 5 March 1837 - a fourteen-week wait, which is what distance did to these families. Both paternal grandparents stood as witnesses, with a Venter and a Strydom for the other two sides. Nineteen years earlier his father had been baptise
  20. 5 March 1837 witness Witnessed a baptism · Ockert Almero Oosthuizen

Ground they are on record on

Who stood with them

Who signed at a baptism, a will or a survey is not incidental. It is the clearest surviving record of which families stood close to which.

Stories

Others of the same name

Afrikaans naming repeats hard, and the Cape Dutch naming pattern reuses a name on purpose, a child who died young has the name given again to a later sibling. These are different people. Never match on a name alone.

What we don't know

A sourced gap beats an unsourced fill. These are the open questions on this person, stated rather than papered over.

Sources

  1. Baptism, 5 March 1837: Ockert Almero, child of Jan Adriaan Oosthuise and Susanna Catharina Oosthuise, Beaufort West FamilySearch, "South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Records (Stellenbosch Archive), 1690-2011"; citing GISA, StellenboschSouth Africa > Cape > Beaufort West > Baptisms 1819-1844 > image 198 of 302; ark 3:1:S3HY-68TW-G3P; cc=1392488, wc=M64H-PNL:13850901,13850902,14731201,14762701
  2. Graaff-Reinet baptism register, 25 November 1792 - Adriana Cicilia, daughter of Jan Louwries Venter and Jacomina SmitCape Archives (KAB), Dutch Reformed Church registers, Graaff-Reinet G6/3/1; filmed as roll 106 of project S-AF 00532Bladz 3, in the column headed "Den 25 November", year 1792 at the head of the opening. Filming target card: ROLL NUMBER 106, CAPE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH REGISTERS - PROJECT S-AF 00532, DETAIL OF ITEM NUMBERS, Item 1: CONGREGATION GRAFF-REINET G6/3/1, RECORD BAPTISM, YEAR 1792-1805. FamilySearch film # 008121018; the bladz 6-7 opening is image 12 of 776. | [24 Aug 2026] PROVENANCE NOW PROVEN BY TARGET CARD: 'ROLL NUMBER 106 - CAPE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH REGISTERS - PROJECT S.AF 00532 - item 1, GRAAFF-REINET G6/3/1, BAPTISM, 1792-1805'. The register id this project inferred from the pages is what the card states.
  3. Baptism of Petrus Jacobus Venter, 19 March 1786 - and the register writes no birth datePaarl NG, register G3/3/4 (baptisms 1786-1799) - PROVEN BY TARGET CARD, 24 Aug 2026: 'CONT FROM ANOTHER ROLL - ROLL NUMBER 79. CAPE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH REGISTERS - PROJECT S.AF 00532. DETAIL OF ITEM NUMBERS' listing items 4-9 as Paarl baptism registers, item 9 being G3/3/4, 1786-1799. The item assignment is by year-fit: only G3/3/4 covers 1786-1790. Film of 125 images. Earlier note stands: FamilySearch L4Q7-841 independently gives the christening place as Paarl, Drakenstein.Register opening paginated 6-7, second entry on page 6
  4. Baptism of Jacobus Daniel Venter, 15 February [1788], born 26 January 1786Paarl NG, register G3/3/4 (baptisms 1786-1799) - PROVEN BY TARGET CARD, 24 Aug 2026: 'CONT FROM ANOTHER ROLL - ROLL NUMBER 79. CAPE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH REGISTERS - PROJECT S.AF 00532. DETAIL OF ITEM NUMBERS' listing items 4-9 as Paarl baptism registers, item 9 being G3/3/4, 1786-1799. The item assignment is by year-fit: only G3/3/4 covers 1786-1790. Film of 125 images. Earlier note stands: FamilySearch L4Q7-841 independently gives the christening place as Paarl, Drakenstein.Register opening paginated 58-59, last entry on page 59
  5. Paarl G3/3/4, pages 150-151: two Venter children baptised together, 22 October 1790 - the family's last Paarl appearancePaarl NG, register G3/3/4 (baptisms 1786-1799) - PROVEN BY TARGET CARD, 24 Aug 2026: 'CONT FROM ANOTHER ROLL - ROLL NUMBER 79. CAPE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH REGISTERS - PROJECT S.AF 00532. DETAIL OF ITEM NUMBERS' listing items 4-9 as Paarl baptism registers, item 9 being G3/3/4, 1786-1799. The item assignment is by year-fit: only G3/3/4 covers 1786-1790. Film of 125 images.Register opening paginated 150-151; roll 79, project S.AF 00532
  6. Kennisgeving van Sterfgeval no. 5024 (43): Adriana Cecilia Venter, filed 27 March 1858 - Ockert Almero and Adriana Cecilia's wife, and the 1858 half of the project's 1859 boundaryFamilySearch film, image 1023 of 2,166. VERY LIKELY THE SAME FILM AS SRC-077 (007844939, Cape Probate Records of the Master of the High Court, 1822-1990), whose husband-notice sits at image 1888 OF THE SAME 2,166 - the identical image count is hard to read any other way, but the target card has not been seen for this pull, so the film number is [TO VERIFY]. SRC-077's caution transfers: FS attributes that film to Pietermaritzburg; the records are CAPE, order originals from KAB.No. 5024 (43), filed 27 March 1858
  7. Tulbagh register, entries 90 and 91: two generations of Venters at one font, [?1779]Tulbagh (Roodezand) NG - target card supplied: 'CONT FROM ANOTHER ROLL - ROLL NUMBER 88, CAPE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH REGISTERS - PROJECT S.AF 00532', items being TULBACH baptisms G4/7/3 (1813-1824), G4/7/4 (1824-1841), G4/7/5 (1743-1808), G4/7/6 (1770-1790). The opening sits in G4/7/5 or G4/7/6 by year; which is [TO VERIFY]Opening carrying entries 88-108 of one year, closing on the tally '48 zoons en 60 dogters maken tesamen in dit bovengem. jaer'. Year not visible on the crop; [?1779] from the tree's birth year for entry 91's child

Research notes

[SRC-073] Father of Adriana Cecilia VenterH (PER-000002). Born in the Drakenstein.

30 Jul 2026 [SRC-134] The 1829 Rondavel estate's debts run to 'Jan Louis VenterL j:r' and 'the widow of Jan Louis VenterL' - but the tree kills his wife Johanna Jacomina SmitH in 1824 (a widower cannot leave a widow), and a Jan Louis witnesses a family baptism in 1837. At least two, probably three men of the name [TO VERIFY, LEAD-0015].

[4 Aug 2026] NO DEATH DATE HELD, BUT HE WAS DEAD BY 1829 AND AN INVENTORY SHOULD EXIST. The 1829 Rondavel estate lists debts to "Jan Louis VenterL j:r" and to "the widow of Jan Louis VenterL" [SRC-134] - so he had died by then, which puts him inside the MOOC8 range (the Orphan Chamber inventory series effectively ends in the 1830s). He is one of the two grandfathers the whole Koup line runs through, and this project holds no estate paper for him at all. ORDER RECOMMENDED, see ARCHIVE-REQUESTS.md 8. A DISCREPANCY THAT ONE INVENTORY WOULD SETTLE, recorded rather than resolved: his wife Johanna Jacomina SmitH (PER-000121) died in 1824, so either he died before her and the 1829 "widow" is a SECOND WIFE, or that estate was still open five years on. Nothing here decides it. [TO VERIFY]

*** [23 Aug 2026] THE SIBSHIP MARRIED IN BLOCS, AND IT IS THE SHAPE OF THIS WHOLE PROJECT. *** Of the thirteen children of Ockert Jacobus OosthuizenL (PER-000118) with a recorded marriage, SEVEN married children of just TWO households - and in each case they married SIBLINGS.

THE VENTER BLOC, all children of Jan Louis VenterL (PER-000120, b.1754) and Johanna Jacomina SmitH: Ockert Almero x ADRIANA CECILIA VENTER (Oct 1807, Swellendam); Dina Magdalena x JAN LOUIS VENTER the younger; Cornelia Petronella x PETRUS JACOBUS VENTER.

THE STRYDOM BLOC, all children of Daniel Jacobus StrydomM (PER-000337) and Anna Magdalena CalitzM (PER-000338): Jacobus Johannes x ANNA MAGDALENA STRIJDOM (6 Mar 1808, Uitenhage); Cornelis Andries x JOHANNA MACHTELD PETRONELLA STRYDOM (11 Apr 1813); Roelof Adolph x HESTER MARIA CATHARINA STRYDOM; and SARA MARIA OOSTHUIZEN x DAVID JAN STRYDOM - the man granted RONDABEL on 15 April 1841.

A LIKELY THIRD PAIR: Gerrit Adriaan married Petronella Catharina SchoemanM and Pieter Marthinus married Catharina Elisabeth SchoemanM. Neither Schoeman has a recorded parent here, so whether they were sisters is UNTESTED - and the pattern is exactly why it must be tested rather than assumed. An eighth tie runs through the Bothas: Susanna Johanna married Jan Hendrik BothaL, whose mother was a HESTER VENTER.

THE TIMING IS TIGHT. The Venter marriage of October 1807 and the Strydom marriage of March 1808 are FIVE MONTHS APART, and the father died in April 1809. The two alliances were made in the last eighteen months of his life and were still being made fifteen years later.

WHAT IT EXPLAINS: Rondabel. David Jan StrydomM held it from 1841 and it was with Jan Adriaan OosthuizenL by 1868 - and David Jan was married to Jan Adriaan's AUNT. See STO-0043.

*** [23 Aug 2026] DU PLESSIS IS IN THE DIRECT LINE, ONE STEP ABOVE THE VENTER SIBSHIP. *** Martha du PlessisM (PER-000750, 1730-1796) married Petrus VenterM on 14 October 1753; their son JAN LOUIS VENTER (PER-000120, b.1754) fathered the sixteen Venter children of STO-0046 - among them Adriana Cecilia, who married the root Oosthuizen, and Maria Catharina, who held Rondabel by 1829. So Martha is the grandmother of the root matriarch, and a du Plessis reaching Rondabel is not merely a coincidence of a common surname.

Superseded: answered below TWO OTHER DU PLESSIS TOUCH THAT FARM AND NEITHER IS JOINED TO HER HERE: Ignatius Michael (PER-000050, d.1818), whose Rondabel the inventory places ON THE TARKA, 380 km east and probably a different farm; and Cecilia Maria (PER-001346), who died on the Koup Rondabel in 1895 and has no parents recorded at all. LEAD-0272.

*** [23 Aug 2026, CORRECTING THE SAME DAY'S OWN CONCLUSION] MARTHA DU PLESSIS AND DANIEL DU PLESSIS ARE FIRST COUSINS. *** Martha's father is JEAN LOUIS DU PLESSIS (PER-001909, 1691-1768) and Daniel's is CHARL PRIEUR DU PLESSIS (PER-001903, 1688-1736), and both are sons of JEAN PRIEUR DU PLESSIS (PER-001905, 1638-1708) and MARIE MADELEINE MENANTEAU (PER-001906).

SO THE SHARED ANCESTOR IS REAL AND THE COINCIDENCE DID NOT DISSOLVE. Jean Prieur du PlessisM is the 4x-great-grandfather of CECILIA MARIA DU PLESSIS, who died on Rondabel in 1895, and the 2x-great-grandfather of ADRIANA CECILIA VENTER, the root matriarch, and of MARIA CATHARINA VENTER, who held Rondabel by 1829.

WHAT WENT WRONG IN THE TEST: LEAD-0272 asked whether Martha and Daniel were SIBLINGS, FamilySearch's sibling list for Charl Prieur's children correctly contained no Martha, and that correct answer was read as closing the question. It closed one relationship and left the obvious next one untested. A negative result is only as wide as the question asked of it.

[24 Aug 2026] THE MOVE FROM PAARL TO THE KAROO IS NOW BRACKETED BY REGISTERS AT BOTH ENDS. Last Paarl baptism: 22 October 1790, two children together (SRC-579, register G3/3/4). First Graaff-Reinet appearance: 25 November 1792, Adriana Cicilia baptised with Smit kin standing (SRC-555, register G6/3/1) - and that child was born in the SNEEUBERG district, so the household was on Karoo ground by her birth in 1792. [FAMILY] Jan louis venter must have moved from paarl to karoo around 1791. - the bracket supports it: between October 1790 and mid-1792, centred on 1791. A church switch alone is a kin-signal, not an address; here the birthplace and the witnesses at both ends carry the move. THE ARC MATTERS TO THE KOUP: this is the man counted at Middelwater in 1822 (OWN-000112), whose daughter married Ockert Almero OosthuizenL - Paarl to the Sneeuberg about 1791, to the Koup by 1822, and the Oosthuizens married into the land he took up.

[24 Aug 2026, later] THE BRACKET IS NOT A CLEAN BREAK: FS's baptism sequence returns to Paarl in Dec 1795, May 1797 and Mar 1801, with Graaff-Reinet in 1792, 1794 and 1799 and Swellendam in 1803. Whether that is a return to the Boland or journeys from a fixed Karoo home to the family's own church is LEAD-0302 - the same oscillation the Oosthuizens produced over the same churches, which 5's third rule showed was kin, not address. The couple's joint testament of 1824 is indexed at MOOC7/1/93.21 and is not yet held.

'his father died 1789 - is that why he moved...?' The timing supports it: Petrus VenterM (PER-000749, LC2X-PW4) is dead by 9 April 1789 [TREE], the last Paarl baptism is October 1790, and the household stands in the Sneeuberg by 1792. A father's death is the classic trekboer trigger - the estate winds up, the son's portion is paid out, and the capital goes into stock and a wagon. RECORDED AS HYPOTHESIS, not fact: what would prove it is Petrus VenterM's estate papers of 1789 (MOOC8 inventory or MOOC7 will naming Jan Louis as heir and dating the payout) - and note his mother Martha du PlessisM lived until 1796, so the WERF may not have emptied even if the sons scattered. See LEAD-0302.

[24 Aug 2026, later] THE TRIGGER IS NOW DOCUMENTED: he himself helped inventory his father's estate (MOOC8/50.47a, SRC-581) - mobile wealth, Rd 2,335 of it cash, and as transcribed no land at all. His portion came in money and stock, and there was no family ground to hold him at Paarl. The last Paarl baptism follows eighteen months later.

[24 Aug 2026] DEATH 1824 [FS], AND THE WILL INDEX AGREES: FS L4Q7-8S2 gives 1754-1824, and the couple's joint testament is indexed at MOOC7/1/93.21 under 1824 - the year his wife also died here. Whether the will registered at his death or hers is open until MOOC7/1/93.21 is read (LEAD-0302). Two pointers, no original yet: tagged accordingly.

*** [SRC-605] HE WAS DEAD BEFORE THE 1823 ROLL WAS TAKEN, so the death year of 1824 carried here is too late. *** His wife is entered on it as his widow, in her own name, at line 16. LEAD-0330.

These are working notes, not finished prose: they carry the reasoning, the corrections and the things still marked to verify. They are kept here so the page itself can read as what is known.

Open questions

Elders

FamilySearch profile L4Q7-8S2