Johannes Petrus Jacobs

The Jacobs in South Africa are mainly of Dutch origin. The early Jacobs arrivals in the 1680's included a French Huguenot refugee and a Dutch orphan girl being sent there in search of a husband. A young Jacobs boy, Stephanus Erasmus Jacobs, became famous in 1866 when he discovered on his family's farm - at Hopetown on the fringes of Cape colony - what turned out to be the Eureka diamond. The find sparked a diamond rush and marked a major turning point in the economic history of South Africa.

Since that time the number of Jacobs has grown and Jacobs is the most common white surname in South Africa. Early Jacobs in South Africa

The following were early Jacobs recorded in South Africa: 1688 Ariaantje Jacobs marriage aged 21, born in the Netherlands

1693 Jan Jacobs birth in Paarl, the Cape

1698 Pierre Jacob death aged 51, born in France (Calais)

1703 Adriana Jacobs birth in Cape Town

1721 Daniel Jacobs birth in Drakenstein (Paarl), the Cape

1738 Anna Jacobs birth in Tulbagh, the Cape

Two Jacobs came to the Dutch South African colony in 1688, but from very different situations.

Pierre Jacob arrived on the De Schelde in June with his wife and three children. They were French Huguenots escaping persecution in their home country. His family settled in Drakenstein and soon added an "s" to their name. A descendant David Jacobs made the trek with his wife to new farmland at Zeerust in the Transvaal in the 1850's.

Ariaantje Jacobs was one of eight orphans that arrived on the Berg China later in the year. Her father had died when she was five months old and her mother when she was eight and she was eighteen years old when she left the orphanage in Rotterdam to go to the Cape. It had been felt that the male settlers of the Cape needed wives. Consequently orphan girls were sent there, giving them the opportunity for a better life and resolving the problem of the lack of female population. Ariaantje was married almost immediately on arriving there.