Jan Adriaan Venter (Sr., 1779-1870)

1779 – 19 May 1870

Connection to the Koup

Took part in something recorded here: Two generations of Venters baptised at Tulbagh on one day (1779~).

Names

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.

Immediate family

Father: Petrus Venter
Mother: Martha du Plessis
Brothers and sisters: Jan Louis Venter

A life in the record

1779 born Born
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
about 1779 occasion Baptism at Tulbagh (Roodezand)
19 May 1870 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.

stood for them Jan Adriaan Venter baptism · about 1779 · an elder namesake the child is named for; not identified against the model's namesakes
stood for them Cornelia Smit baptism · about 1779
stood for them Paul Venter baptism · about 1779
stood for them Magdalena Maria Venter baptism · about 1779

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

No dated record ties this person to a specific piece of ground.
4 other people in this model carry the same name. Never match on a name alone.

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

Sources

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

Youngest child of Pieter Venter d'oude and Martha du PlessisM - 'oud 10 jaren' in his father's April 1789 inventory (SRC-581), baptised at Tulbagh [?1779] (SRC-583), died 19 May 1870 at [?Mosquit]fontein, district Bloemfontein, aged 91 (SRC-582). Brother of Jan Louis VenterL (PER-000120) and uncle of Adriana Cecilia (PER-000002). HIS STERFKENNIS CARRIES THE FAMILY'S PRE-PAARL GROUND: 'geboorteplaats district Olifantsrivier, Kaapkolonie' - the district named, while his baptism names the church, Tulbagh, which served that country. One of the family who went NORTH to the Free State while his brother's line went to the Koup. Widower of Margaretha Johanna [?Louw].

[24 Aug 2026, FS detail supplied] FS LHQK-HM8 confirms 1779-1870 and both marriages: Aletta Sophia Bezuidenhout (MWNJ-9DY, m. 28 Oct 1798 Cape Town, d. 1808) and Margrietha Johanna LOUW (2CBB-WND, 1791-1854) - which confirms this row's [?Louw] reading of the sterfkennis. Six children by the first marriage per FS; the Free State branch is not followed outward.

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 LHQK-HM8