Cornelis Petrus Jacobus van Zyl (1817-1906)

1817 – 1906

Names

Given: Cornelis Petrus Jacobus
Surname: van Zyl

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

1817 born Born
19 August 1838 witness Witnessed a baptism · Jacobus Petrus Van Zyl
1906 died Died

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.

they stood for Jacobus Petrus Van Zyl baptism · 19 August 1838
dates known, no other trace here

What we don't know

Neither parent is recorded, so this person is not attached to the tree above them.
No dated record ties this person to a specific piece of ground.

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

Sources

Beaufort West baptisms 1838. Adriana Cecilia van Zyl (11 Jul) and Jacobus Petrus van Zyl (19 Aug), the two van Zyl x Oosthuizen households FamilySearch, "South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Records (Stellenbosch Archive), 1690-2011"; citing Genealogiese Instituut van Suid-Afrika, Stellenboschark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-68TW-GLX, cc=1392488; South Africa > Cape > Beaufort West > Baptisms 1819-1844 > image 212 of 302; register pages 210-211

Research notes

[FS, 1 Aug 2026] LCV6-F3R, 1817-1906, son of Casper van ZylM and Susanna Abigael Breytenbach - so a younger brother of Wynand and Jacobus. IDENTIFIED AS THE WITNESS 'Cornelis Petrus van ZylM' at the Beaufort West baptism of 19 August 1838 (SRC-181): right name, right family, right place, and he was 21. Recorded as an identification, not a certainty.

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

Is Modderdrift's "Casper van Zyle Senior" the Casper van Zyl of the Beaufort West baptisms? priority 1 · LEAD-0056
Is the Casper van ZylMe Senior for whom Modderdrift No. 106 was surveyed in 1833 the same man as Casper van ZylM (1781-1863), father of the two van Zyl brothers baptised at Beaufort West?

What would settle it A death notice or estate inventory listing Modderdrift among his property, or a title deed giving his full names. Either settles it in one line.

Elders

FamilySearch profile LCV6-F3R