Francois du Toit

Provided by Kevin Oram:

Francois Du Toit, born 3 May 1717, baptised 23 May 1717, Paarl. Died 30 June 1793, at his farm “Roodewal”, near what is now Worcester, Swellendam District, Dutch Cape Colony.

Francois Du Toit married his first wife Petronella van der Merwe at Paarl on 22 January 1741. She was born 21 April 1720 at Paarl and died in October 1747 in Swellendam District near what is now the town of Worcester (formally established in 1840, but long a settlement prior to that date, with a Dutch Reformed congregation from the mid-18th Century AD). A suburb of modern Worcester is named “Roodewal” to this day.

Petronella was the daughter of Schalk Willem van der Merwe and Anna Prevost, herself a French Protestant born at Marck near Calais, Artois, on 18 February 1681 and baptised at Guines on 23 February 1681.

After Petronella’s early death at age 27, Francois remarried at Waveren (later re-named Tulbagh) on 13 December 1750, to Anna Jordaan who was baptised 6 April 1727 at the Cape and was herself the young widow of Jacobus van Heerden. Anna was the daughter of Jan Jordaan and Susanna Jordaan.

Our Du Toit line continues through Pieter Edouard Du Toit (aka Pierre), the first child and son of Francois and Petronella Du Toit. Two other children, a son Schalk Willem and a daughter Anna Susanna followed after Pieter’s birth and before Petronella’s death in 1747.

Francois Du Toit held the farm “Roodewal” near modern Worcester from 1763. This farm was a loan farm (“quit rent” farm) previously rented by his father Pierre Du Toit (from 1716) in the Breede River Valley (Swellendam District). Regrettably I have been unable to discover much more information about Francois Du Toit. As matters stand we do not know where he farmed prior to 1763.

It is at least possible Francois Du Toit farmed on “Roodewal” from well before 1763, notionally as his father Pierre Du Toit’s sub-tenant, as Francois’ son Pieter Edouard Du Toit was born on “Roodewal” in 1741.