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Source SRC-378

Baptism register entry 62, 1863: Frans Jacobus Wilhelmus, born 24 March 1863, child of Schalk Willem Burger van der Merwe and Elsje Johanna van der Merwe

church register (original scan) · consulted 2026-08-11

Type
church register (original scan)
Repository
[TO VERIFY] Dutch Reformed Church baptism register, pages 359-360. This model places the baptism at Calvinia on 7 May 1863; the page carries "Idem" for the date, which refers to an entry above and is not captured in the photograph.
Reference
Pages 359 and 360, entry 62. 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.
Consulted
2026-08-11

The citation as it was given

TRANSCRIPTION IN FULL. "62. Frans Jacobus Wilhelmus / geb. 24 Maart 1863 / Kind van: Schalk Willem Burger v.d. Merwe en Elsje Johanna v.d. Merwe". Getuigen: "Frans Jacobus Wilhelmus v.d. Merwe, Helena Jonetta Elizabeth Visagie, Frans Jacobus v.d. Merwe, Henderina Maria Visagie, Frans Johannes v.d. Merwe". THIS ENTRY CLOSES LEAD-0152. The mother in the register is ELSJE JOHANNA V.D. MERWE, which is what this model already held. ANNA MARIA VISAGIE DOES NOT APPEAR IN THE ENTRY AT ALL. AND IT SHOWS HOW THE ERROR WAS MADE. Janet Melville (SRC-373) read this register as giving "Francois, seun van Schalk Willem Burger van der Merwe en ANNA MARIA VISAGIE". Two Visagie women stand in the witness column of this very entry, one of them directly opposite the mother's line. A name taken across the gutter from the wrong column is the likeliest reading of what happened, and it is the same failure the previous opening of this register punishes - the two pages do not run level. Her own instinct was right: put the dates to her and she answered "hy is van die 2de vrou". THE REGISTER ALSO CONTRADICTS HER ON THE NAME. She reported he "kom voor as FRANCOIS in die Calvinia se doopregister". The register reads FRANS JACOBUS WILHELMUS, in full, in the same hand as the rest of the page. There is no Francois in the entry. THE WITNESSES PAIR OFF AS COUPLES: Frans Jacobus Wilhelmus v.d. Merwe with Helena Jonetta Elizabeth Visagie, and Frans Jacobus v.d. Merwe with Henderina Maria Visagie. Two van der Merwe men married to two Visagie women. So the Visagie connection to this family is real, and it is COLLATERAL rather than maternal. None of the five is identified. THE CHILD IS NAMED FOR THE FIRST WITNESS, an adult Frans Jacobus Wilhelmus van der Merwe alive in 1863 whom this project cannot yet place. LEAD-0157. NO PLACE IS GIVEN. The entry names no farm. Matjiesfontein as the birthplace comes from the 1956 death notice (SRC-382) and from FamilySearch, not from this page.

Kept verbatim. This project contradicts published genealogies and corrects a family's own oral tradition, so every claim has to be checkable by someone who was not in the room.

What has been transcribed from this source

1 occasions.

What rests on this source

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