Paul Bisseux

A third death among the emigrants took place on September 7, that of “een van onse franse passagiers kinders .. . genaamt paulus biosse (Paul Bisseux) gebooren tot middelbg” ..Two of the five survivors among the Vosmaar's passengers were the baker Jacob Bisseux and his son Pierre, elder brother of the boy Paul who died on the voyage. Pierre Bisseux was christened in Middelburg on February 17, 1694 and Paul on November 26, 1695. The latter was thus less than a year old at the time of his death. A third brother, Jacob, was baptized in the Zeeland capital on January 7, 1691. Their mother was Marie Lefebvre. Was this the daughter of Paul Lefebvre and Marie Taillefert? It is possible, although she is not described as a married woman in the log of the Vosmaar. Bisseux remarried Elisabeth Pochox (Pochot) in 1700 and in the same year an inventory of the goods formerly owned by Marie Lefebvre was drawn up. If Bisseux ’s first wife survived the voyage, then there were two Marie Lefebvres on the Vosmaar.

• Boucher.M (1981). French speakers at the Cape: The European Background. Pretoria, UNISA (Search, using the individual Chapter Name below, to download each as a pdf):
  • CHAPTER EIGHT Cape settlers IV: from Burgundy to Picardy pp226-228