Cecilia van de Kaap, SM

Record of Cecilia as mother of Elizabeth Gertruyda here: Baptism record: "South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Registers, 1660-1970," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-11116-194767-61?cc=147... : accessed 30 August 2015), South Africa > Cape of Good Hope > Cape Town > Baptisms 1780-1794 > image 123 of 199; State Archives, Cape Province.

Research is continuing on this profile - more sources have been found but not the complete picture as yet. See Discussion. Note that there is no connection to Pieterse or Pieterson; the connection relates to an earlier, unrelated, Cecilia van de Kaap.

It is likely that Cecilia was the daughter or granddaughter of a bonded slave, probably with Dutch or German father and possibly grandfather, who was subsequently manumitted. Many slaves were captured from the Coromandel and Malabar coasts of India in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and based upon the DNA of a 5th-generation grandchild, it is almost certain she was of Indian descent.

Many slaves were given the name Cecilia, and suffixed by where they were born. Johanna, Petronella, Susanna and Catharina were other names that followed the conventions of the time. So it is somewhat significant that the names of the daughters reflected these conventions.

See also husband Johann's profile for further records of the family.

(See MOOC record on Johann's profile - it is assumed that Cecilia was dead by this time. The law at that time generally gave half of the inheritance to a surviving widow, with the other half divided equally amongst surviving offspring.)

The message below doesn't identify the sender or her/his sources - does anyone know?

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Hello Margaret,

I am contacting you about this profile: Cecilia van de Kaap, SM

Her birthplace is given as Germany. Highly unlikely for a slave woman. At all the births of her children she is named either Cecilia van de Kaap or Zelia vande Kaap or Celia van de Kaap.

I don't have much on them, but I had a look at the baptisms in Cape Town church records. The first five children were baptised as illegitimate children. No mention of illegitimate is made at the baptism of the last four children so one can assume that they were married between 6.4.1787 when Johan Valentyn was baptised and 28.12.1788 when Elisabeth was baptised, but one will have to confirm this in the marriage records. Cecilia was born at the Cape of Good Hope, probably as a slave child. The marriage records may give a clue whether she was still a slave when she married Johann Philipp. Their marriage date may have been 14.9.1788, not verified. He was a cook in the hospital from 1782-89.