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Person PER-001635

Schalk Willem van der Merwe (1794-1866)

1 February 1794 – 29 May 1866 · van der Merwe line

Connection to the Koup

Took part in something recorded here: The van der Merwes cross from the Boland into the Hantam (1794/1808).

Names

Given
Schalk Willem
Surname
van der Merwe

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.

Immediate family

Father
Carel Aaron van der Merwe (1771-1850)
Mother
Elsje Johanna van Heerden (1778-1828)
Brothers and sisters
Married
Anna Jacoba Louw (1793-1868) 6 December 1812
Children

A life in the record

  1. 1 February 1794 born Born
  2. 1794–1808 event The van der Merwes cross from the Boland into the Hantam
    Carel Aaron van der Merwe's eldest son was born at Elsenbosch in the Vier-en-Twintig Riviere, Piketberg district, on 1 February 1794. Another son was born at Tygerhoek in the Hantam about May 1808. Both facts come from the men's own death notices, which state a birthplace and an age to the day. Betw
  3. 6 December 1812 married Married Anna Jacoba Louw (1793-1868)
  4. 7 April 1833 witness Witnessed a baptism · Schalk Willem van der Merwe (1833-1904)
  5. 29 May 1866 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.

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. Death Notice 2786, filed 12 July 1866: Schalk Willem van der Merwe, Carel Aaron's son, of the farm Lokenburg, Calvinia districtFamilySearch, "Cape Province. Probate Records 1864-1866" (as titled on the image viewer). The Cape series is Master of the High Court, held at KAB, Western Cape Archives.Death notice no. 2786, filed 12 July 1866. Image 2138 of 2278 in the viewer. [TO VERIFY] the ark, film and DGS number: the sheet arrived as a screenshot in conversation on 9 Aug 2026 and the breadcrumb above the image is all that was captured.
  2. Kennisgeving van Sterfgeval 3465 1/2, filed 21 June 1839: Izaak Johannes van der Merwe, Carel Aaron's son, of the place Enkelde Wilgeboom in the Hantam[TO VERIFY] The collection header was not captured. The form is the Dutch-language Cape death notice under Ordonnantie No. 104, so the series is Master of the High Court probate records, KAB.Kennisgeving van Sterfgeval no. 3465 1/2, filed 21 June 1839. [TO VERIFY] the ark, film, image and DGS number. Supplied as a screenshot in conversation on 9 Aug 2026.
  3. Baptism 7 April 1833: Schalk Willem Burger, child of Jacobus Adriaan van der Merwe and Anna Magdalena Wilhelmina Lubbe, born 23 February 1833[TO VERIFY] Dutch Reformed Church baptism register, pages 106-107. The congregation is not printed on this opening; this model already places the baptism at Clanwilliam and the date on the page agrees with it to the day.Pages 106 and 107, the entry of 7 April 1833. Supplied as a photograph of the register opening in conversation on 11 Aug 2026. [TO VERIFY] the collection, film, DGS and image number: none is visible on the photograph and per 5a-ii the reading and the citation are two separate claims. The transcription below is read off the image and is not in doubt.

Research notes

[TREE, via a FamilySearch fan chart Name, dates and the FamilySearch id only. NO PLACE IMPORTED: the tree's place strings are systematically wrong and are not evidence (see PER-000760).

[9 Aug 2026, SRC-346] HIS DEATH NOTICE READ, AND IT NAMES HIS PARENTS. Death notice 2786, filed 12 July 1866: 'Schalk Willem van der MerweL Carel Aaron Zoon', born 'Elsenbosch 24 Rivieren (Dist. Piketberg)', parents 'Carel Aaron van der MerweL' and 'Els[i]e Johanna van Heerd[en]', a LANDBOUWER, married, died 29 May 1866 'ter plaats Lokenburg' aged 72 years 3 months 28 days, leaving losse en vaste goederen. That age computes back to 1 FEBRUARY 1794, which is the day FamilySearch gives for his birth, and the birthplace matches word for word. The year-only dates this row carried are replaced. WHAT THIS DOES TO THE TREE: his parents are PER-001639 and PER-001640, who were already in this model as the parents of JACOBUS ALEWYN van der Merwe (PER-001633) on the other side of the same pedigree. So Jacobus Adriaan (PER-001631) and Jacobus Alewyn were brothers, and the 1833 marriage of Schalk Willem Burger to Elsje Johanna van der MerweL was a marriage of FIRST COUSINS. The line doubles back on itself one generation above them. See LEAD-0143 for the one thing this does not settle. HE IS ALSO THE MIGRANT. Born at Elsenbosch in the Piketberg district in 1794 and christened at Tulbagh; his brother Izaak Johannes (PER-001658) was born at Tygerhoek in the Hantam about May 1808 [SRC-347]. The family crossed from the Boland into the Hantam between those two births.

[11 Aug 2026, SRC-377] HE STOOD AS A WITNESS at the baptism of his grandson Schalk Willem Burger at Clanwilliam on 7 April 1833, with his wife Anna Jacoba LouwH and both of the child's other grandparents. The grandson carries his name.

[11 Aug 2026, SRC-388] HE IS NOT QUITE THE FIRST TO MOVE, and the distinction is worth keeping. He was born on Elsenbosch in the Piketberg district on 1 February 1794 and christened at Tulbagh; he died on Lokenburg in the Calvinia district on 29 May 1866. But he made that journey AS A CHILD. The move was his father's, Carel Aaron's (PER-001639), and it happened between February 1794 and May 1808 - the window his own birth and his brother Izaak Johannes's fix. What he is, is the first of this direct line to be RAISED in the Hantam and to die there. He married Anna Jacoba LouwH at Tulbagh on 6 December 1812 and FamilySearch gives them twelve children, of whom this model holds one. See SRC-388; they are not imported.

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.

Elders

FamilySearch profile LC3Q-F7L