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Person PER-000269

Alviso Louis Almoro Pisani

about 1767 – ? · Pisani line

Connection to the Koup

Took part in something recorded here: Louis Almorò Pisani reaches the Cape (1781).

Names

Baptismal name
Alviso Almoro
Called
Louis
Given
Alviso Louis Almoro
Surname
Pisani

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.

A life in the record

  1. about 1767 born Born
  2. about 1767 event Alviso Louis Almoro Pisani is born at Venice
    About 1767. He joined the Dutch East India Company in 1780, at thirteen or so, and was at the Cape by 1781 - described as the first Italian immigrant to the Cape of Good Hope. Nineteen years old when he stood as a witness at the font in 1786 and a farming family took his middle name for their own. S
  3. 1781 event Louis Almorò Pisani reaches the Cape
    [SRC-078] A Venetian of about fourteen, in the service of the Dutch East India Company - said to be the first Italian immigrant to the Cape. Five years later he stood godfather to an Oosthuizen child and gave the family a name it still uses.
  4. 11 May 1786 witness Witnessed a baptism · Ockert Almero Oosthuizen
  5. 1795 event Pisani joins the Swellendam rebellion
    [SRC-078] He helped draft the manifesto of the Swellendam rebels and commanded armed men. Arrested, imprisoned in the Castle at Cape Town, exiled to the Netherlands and then to France. The Oosthuizens were marrying at Swellendam in 1783 and 1807 - the same district in the same years.

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

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, 11 May 1786: Occert Almaro Oosthuijzen, child of Ocert Oosthuijsen and Susanna Catharina van Tonder FamilySearch, "South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Registers (Cape Town Archives), 1660-1994"index entry ark 1:1:624P-3Y54; register page 34; born 25 April 1786, baptised 11 May 1786; image 3Q9M-CSV8-W9W5-D
  2. Louis Almora (Alviso Louis) Pisani - Geneanet tree of Marietjie Pienaar Geneanetgw.geneanet.org/marietjie?p=louis+almora+alviso+louis&n=pisani

Research notes

THE MAN OCKERT ALMERO OOSTHUIZEN WAS NAMED FOR. [SRC-076, SRC-078] Born about 1767 in VENICE. Joined the Dutch East India Company in 1780 and was at the Cape by 1781 - described as the FIRST ITALIAN IMMIGRANT TO THE CAPE. Sailor, then a farmer from 1792. Stood as a witness at the baptism of Ockert Almero OosthuizenL on 11 May 1786, where the register calls him "Louij Almaro Pisanie Baron de Felion van Venesia in Italia". Married Dina Johanna CraffordM about 1790; one daughter, Catrina Carolina Elizabeth. IN 1795 HE JOINED THE SWELLENDAM REBELLION, helped draft its manifesto and commanded armed men; he was arrested, held in the Castle at Cape Town, and exiled. The Oosthuizens married at Swellendam in 1783 and 1807, so this is the same district and very likely the same circle. Dates in the online tree are inconsistent (it gives a death about 1790 yet has him farming in 1792 and in arms in 1795) [TO VERIFY]. || 29 Jul 2026 [SRC-085] ONE MAN, NOT TWO. Combrink states that ALVISO "was so unknown at the Cape that it was changed to LOUIS" - so "Louij Almaro Pisanie" and "Alviese Almaro Pesanie" in the 1786 register are the same person under his Italian and his Cape name, exactly the doopnaam/noemnaam split we deal with everywhere else. PER-000270, which I created as his father, has been merged into this record. Combrink has him marrying Dina Johanna CraffordM in 1789 (Geneanet says about 1790) and his eldest son baptised at the Cape in 1792 as Louis/Alvisa Almoro - which also rules out the 1786 witness being that son, since the son was not yet born. Combrink adds that the surname PISANI is the root of the Afrikaans DU PISANI.

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.