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Source SRC-515

Graaff-Reinet baptism register, September 1799, pages 116-117: the baptism of Roelof, son of Ockert Oosthuijsen and Susanna Catharina van Tonder, and the same couple standing witness

baptism register · an original record · consulted 2026-08-20

Type
baptism_register
Repository
FamilySearch, "South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Registers (Cape Town Archives), 1660-1994"
Reference
Film #008121018, ITEM 1 = GRAAFF-REINET, BAPTISM, 1792-1805. Image 82 of 176; the opening carries 'Bladzy 119/120' in the header and '116' and '117' as page numbers against the entries. Month band reads September 1799.
Consulted
2026-08-20

The citation as it was given

Supplied by [FAMILY] Roelof 1799 at graaff reinet. witness is roelof van tonder, so maybe they were at her parents. place.' | THE ENTRY: "'T Kind. Roelof. Waar van de Ouders Zijn: OCKERT OOSTHUIJSEN en SUSANNA CATHARINA VAN TONDER. Getuijgen: ROELOF VAN TONDER en MARIA MAGDALENA V.D. BERG. Verder: PIET BEKKER en CHRISTINA MULDER." That is PER-000147, whose row carried a bare 1799 and no place. | *** IT SETTLES THE MOTHER'S NAME. *** The Swellendam entry of 1808 (SRC-514) writes her in a hand that would not resolve, and was recorded there as '[?Sanna Elisabetha] van Tonder'. Here she is written plainly, twice on one opening, as SUSANNA CATHARINA VAN TONDER - which is what the model already had from FamilySearch (PER-000119, LC7N-L43). The marked reading in SRC-514 is superseded; it stays on that row as what its own page shows. | *** THE REGISTER NAMES HIM ROELOF, FULL STOP. *** 'Adolph' is not on this page. It comes from the tree and FamilySearch, and this is the first original to speak. | *** AND THE PARENTS STOOD WITNESS ON THE SAME OPENING. *** At page 117, the baptism of Stephanus Martinus, son of Pieter Besuijdenhout and Anna Catharina Nel, the witnesses are 'OKKERT OOSTHUIJSEN en SUSANNA CATHARINA VAN TONDER', with Nicolaas Goosen and Anna Margrietha Nel. So they were at Graaff-Reinet for church business in September 1799 and not merely passing a child across the font. | *** THE VENTERS ARE ON THE SAME OPENING, AND THAT IS THE FIND NOBODY WENT LOOKING FOR. *** Page 116 carries the baptism of MARIA ELISABETH CATHARINA, daughter of JAN LOUIS VENTER and JOHANNA JACOMINA SMITT - PER-000618, PER-000120 and PER-000121 - with Tjaart van der Walt and Maria Elisabeth Venter as witnesses, then Pieter Ernst Krieger and Anna Catharina van Aswegen. EIGHT YEARS BEFORE OCKERT ALMERO MARRIED ADRIANA CECILIA VENTER, the two families were in the same church on the same day. Adriana Cecilia was seven and Ockert Almero thirteen. Jan Louis Venter and Johanna Jacomina Smit are the grandparents the root couple's first daughter and second son were named for. Page 117 has more of them: Jan Adriaan, son of Jan Adriaan Venter and Alletta Sophia Besuijdenhout, with Jan Louis Venter and Johanna Jacomina Smit among the witnesses. | *** WHAT IT DOES NOT SAY, AND FRANS PUT HIS FINGER ON IT. *** This entry carries NO 'woonende aan' clause. The Swellendam entry of 1808 does. A baptism records where the CHURCH was, not where the household was, and a van Tonder godparent to a child named Roelof is the ordinary shape of a visit to the wife's people rather than evidence of residence. So 1799 at Graaff-Reinet does not compete with 1808 on the Olifants: one names a church, the other names a home. | ONE CORRECTION TO THE INFERENCE, offered because it is testable: the model's father for Susanna Catharina is CORNELIS van Tonderen (PER-000747, b. 1715) on tree evidence only, who would be 84 here. A Roelof standing godfather to a namesake grandson is more likely her BROTHER than her father, which is also what the vernoemingspatroon predicts for a seventh son. LEAD-0258. | THE DAY IS NOT LEGIBLE. The left margin reads 'Dens [?] September gedoopt' and the digit does not resolve at the size supplied, so the date is recorded as 1799-09. [TO VERIFY]

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

8 occasions. 2 of them are not yet tied to a person in this model - the names come off the page half-legible and matching them is research, not filing.

What rests on this source

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