Petronella is listed in the 1693 slave census as a “full-breed” school child of unknown origin. She would therefore have been between four and thirteen years old in 1693, and it is likely she was born around 1688 as her first child was baptised in 1708. The baptismal register for 1708 lists her as “Petronella Lammerts”. In later references, “Lammerts” is sometimes recorded as “Lambertse” or Lambertsz”.

The lodge women of Cape Town, 1671 to 1795 Prof. Robert C.-H. Shell