Jacobus Gideon Nel (1812-1873)

1812 – 1873 · Nel line

Names

Given: Jacobus Gideon
Surname: Nel

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: Elias Albertus Nel (1777-1834)
Mother: Susanna Hendrina Louisa Louw (1791-1834)
Brothers and sisters: 1810Albertus Johannes Nel (1810-1871)

1816Elias Albertus Nel (1816-1878)

1819Johannes Jacobus Hendrik Andries Nel (1819-1834)

1823Maria Johanna Nel (1823-1834)
Married: Susanna Francina Louw (1817-1902) 2 February 1834
Children: 1836Jacobus Johannes Gideon Nel (1836-1916)

1838Susanna Hendrina Magdalena Nel (1838-1909)

1842Anna Francina Christina Nel (1842-1912)

1844Elias Albertus Nel (1844-1914)

1846Christina Elizabeth Nel (1846-1908)

1850Johannes Abraham Nel (1850-1941)

1852Hester Jacoba Nel (1852-1935)

1858Catharina Wilhelmina Arnoldina Nel (1858-1939)

1863Gideon Jacobus Louw Nel (b.1863)

A life in the record

1812 born Born
7 February 1813 occasion Baptism at Hantam [TO VERIFY: congregation]
2 February 1834 married Married Susanna Francina Louw (1817-1902)
1873 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 Jacobis Gidion Louw Jup:Z. baptism · 7 February 1813 · the name-giver
stood for them Helena Antonia van Aarde baptism · 7 February 1813
stood for them Gerrit Jacobis Nel baptism · 7 February 1813
stood for them Marta G[?]ondina Nel baptism · 7 February 1813

What we don't know

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

Baptism register, 7 February 1813: Jacobis Gidion Nel, born 21 October 1812 at the HantamNederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk, congregation not stated in the crop [TO VERIFY: Clanwilliam]Leaves 64-65, baptisms of January and February 1813; the Nel entry is under 'Gedoopt op den 7:e February 1813'

Research notes

[FS batch, 7 Sep 2026] Added from the FamilySearch family-group view THESE ARE DIRECT ANCESTORS OF FRANS AND THEIR SIBLINGS, which 6's scope rule admits outright - the Nel line runs to Kola's mother. Years and FamilySearch ids only, no places: the tree's place strings are hostile and none is imported. The two ends of the line are on documents - SRC-630 for the 1813 baptism, SRC-399/SRC-400 for the 1867 baptism of Christina Elizabeth NelH - and the middle is compiled tree.

*** THE MAN OF SRC-630. *** Baptised 7 February 1813, born 21 OCTOBER 1812 at the HANTAM, son of Elias Albertus NelL and Susanna Henderina Lonisa Louw, with JACOBIS GIDION LOUW standing as first witness - the man he is named for, and the point at which GIDEON enters this family. He married SUSANNA FRANCINA LOUW at Clanwilliam on 2 February 1834 and is the father of PER-001816, Kola's maternal grandfather. THE REGISTER SPELLS HIM GIDION AND THIS IS THE OLDEST ATTESTATION OF THE NAME IN THE LINE - see LEAD-0343 for what that does to the Gilliam readings of 1888. *** 1834 WAS A CATASTROPHIC YEAR IN THIS HOUSEHOLD. *** He married in FEBRUARY 1834; his father, his mother and two of his siblings - one aged fifteen, one aged eleven - all carry a death year of 1834. Four deaths and a wedding inside twelve months. What happened is not recorded here and the coincidence of years comes from a compiled tree, so it is a question rather than a finding. [TO VERIFY]

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

Was the Nel third name Gilliam or Gideon, and who was Hendrika Gertruida Visser? priority P2 · LEAD-0343
The Calvinia register of 2 December 1888 (SRC-629) writes GILLIAM for both the child Kola (PER-000219) and his maternal grandfather (PER-001816), where this model has carried GIDEON for both from compiled sources. Which is the baptismal form? And the fourth witness, HENDRIKA GERTRUIDA VISSER, is held nowhere here, yet Kola named a daughter Hendrieka Gertruida in 1929 - who was she to this family?

What would settle it The grandfather's own baptism entry for the name; any register naming Hendrika Gertruida Visser beside a Nel, a van Wyk or a van der Merwe.

Elders

FamilySearch profile L5GT-QDL