Charl Jacobus de Villiers, a3b6c4d5e10

He farmed at Dassenberg, Franschhoek for a brief time and then, in 1841, sold up and moved to the Beaufort West district in the Karoo, where he switched to sheep farming.

The question arises: Why did he leave Franschhoek for the Beaufort West district? The answer may lie in the fact that he had a number of older brothers, and so did not inherit a farm or enough money to be able to buy one locally when his father died in July 1839. The prospect of wool farming with breeds like Merino sheep from Spain; Angora Goats from Turkey, etc. may have seemed more attractive than the prospect of marginal wine farming at the time. This was also a time of greater mobility among farmers in the Cape, following shortly after the Great Trek of Cape farmers out of the Cape Colony in 1838, which followed on from the emancipation of the slaves by the British colonial government in 1834. Charl's younger sister, Magdalena Elisabeth and her husband Pieter Daniel de Villiers (b 30.05.1802) had joined the Great Trek in 1838 and migrated first to Natal and later to the Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga).

It is interesting to note the following from the Overview in the profile of his father-in-law, Jacobus Petrus' Kriel:

Kriel register no 11 b5c5 Jacobus Petrus (translated):
The property Dassenberg (2 morgen 53 sq roods in extent) belonged to JP Kriel between 1805 and 17.11.1842, with a break between 01.02.1839 and 08.12.1840 when his son-in-law Charl Jacobus de Villiers was the owner (married to his daughter Susanna Johanna Kriel (1810-1904)). During the last years of the DEIC, properties like this were granted for the purpose of establishing workshops for trade purposes. They were too small for farming. Later, additional property was obtained and consolidated to form more viable farms. JP Kriel snr also farmed other lands such as the Keerweder in Franschhoek.

It is possible that, after his father, Pieter Daniel de Villiers, died in July 1839, Charl Jacobus inherited some money and/or assets, and decided to sell what appears to be the unviable Dassenberg property back to his father-in-law, pool all his assets and buy a vastly more extensive, cheaper and more viable farm in the Beaufort West (Karoo) district. This would have been a pioneering proposition as there was little Karoo farm infrastructure by 1842.

It was an extremely successful move for the family, because at least three of his sons, Pieter Daniel, Jacobus Petrus (Koos Engelsman), and Charl Jacobus became extremely successful and wealthy sheep farmers in the area, and prominent citizens of the Beaufort-West district. The Hon. Pieter Daniel de Villiers was the member of Parliament for Beaufort West in the Old Cape Parliament (the Cape Upper House), a successful farmer, and a renowned horse-breeder, no doubt benefiting from the calcium rich waters of the Great Karoo. Jacobus Petrus established the farm Mimosa Lodge and was a Town Councillor for many years, and Charl Jacobus established the farm La Rochelle, and later became the Mayor of Beaufort-West, and a respected local philanthropist.

A disadvantage of farming on remote stations in the Great Karoo was, however, that the marriage prospects for their children were considerably reduced (compared to the Winelands). Charl Jacobus and Susanna Johanna de Villiers had 12 children, of whom 11 reached adulthood and 8 married. Of the 8 who married, 5 married children of Jacobus Francois Pienaar and his wife Margaretha Elizabeth Pienaar (nee Pienaar), out of a family of 10 children (in other words, 5 siblings married 5 siblings). De Villiers children Charlotta Jacoba, Pieter Daniel, Jacobus Petrus, Charl Jacobus, and Hermina Theodora married Pienaar children from the same family - Barend Jacobus, Margaretha Elizabeth, Adriana Susanna Gertruida, Susara Catherina, and Francois Daniel respectively. This created large numbers of double first cousins, some of whom e.g. Jacobus Francois (Jim) (second son of Pieter Daniel) and Maggie (eldest daughter of Jacobus Petrus) in turn married one another, sharing 25% of their DNA, resulting in a high risk of genetic defect for their offspring due to their consanguineous marriage cousin relationships. Gwen de Villiers and Charles Pienaar (grandchildren of these multiple sibling marriages) faced similar difficulties.