This project is designed to collect Research Information, Discussions, Queries etc on the Nel/ Nell family of South Africa.

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Core profiles

• Guillaume Néel bap 25 December 1663 Quevilly, Rouen, Normandie, France
• Estienne Niel b c1668 Dauphine, France

Two unrelated men, of whom only the former has a Nel surname descent line in SA. Estienne does, however, have living descendants.

LINE 1 DESCENT Guillaume Néel

• Pierre Néel x 18 Apr 1660, Normandie Judith Gouye

• Nicolas c1661
• a Guillaume Néel bap 25 Dec 1663, Rouen, Normandy, x 3 May 1685, Amsterdam Jeanne de la Batte (do Jacques de la Batte & Susanne Laurent)

• b1 David Néel bap 7 Mar 1686 - d. b 1688
• b2 Jean Néel bap 4 May 1687 - d. 1740 x Susanna Fourie b. bt 26 Oct 1698 - 27 Mar 1701

• b2c1 Willem Nel b. 25 Apr 1717
• b2c2 Jan Nel b. b 13 Nov 1718
• b2c3 Lowies Nel b. 16 Feb 1721
• b2c4 Susanna Nel b. 4 Oct 1722
• b2c5 Martinus Nel b. 19 Nov 1724
• b2c6 Johanna Margaretha Nel19 b. 26 Mar 1730
• b2c7 Adriaan Nel bap 25 Mar 1736

• b3 Jeanne Néel b. 1688 x 1 Jan 1708 Pieter Pijl xx c1715 Barend Pieters b. c 1690

• Johanna Pieterse bap 13 Oct 1715
• Harmannus Pietèrsz bap19 Sep 1717
• Leonora Pieterse bap10 Sep 1719
• Elisabeth Pieterse bap 24 Aug 1721
• Maria Pieterse bap 26 Dec 1723
• Johannes Pieterse bap 23 Dec 1725
• Catharina Wilhelmina Pieters bap 28 Nov 1728 - d. b 14 Mar 1756

• b4 Cornelia Nèl b. c 1690 - d Jan 18, 1756 x 22 Nov 1711 Adriaan van Jaarsveld

• Adriaan van Jaarsveld bap 2 Oct 1712
• Albert van Jaarsveld bap 30 Sep 1714
• Johanna Catharina van Jaarsveld bap12 Jul 1716
• Susanna van Jaarsveld bap 24 Dec 1719
• Hester van Jaarsveld bap 24 Aug 1721
• Catharina van Jaarsveld bap 4 Apr 1723
• Willem Adrijaan van Jaarsveld bap 15 Sep 1726
• Cornelia van Jaarsveld bap 14 Nov 1728
• Renier van Jaarsveld bap 8 Oct 1730
• Anna Margaretha van Jaarsveld bap 18 Jan 1733
• Engela van Jaarsveld bap 6 Mar 1735

• b5 Isia Néel bap 27 May 1691 x 11 Feb 1725 Margaretha Beijers b. 26 Feb 1690

• b5c1 Willem Nel bap 21 Jul 1726
• b5c2 Johanna Katharina Nel bap 28 Nov 1728
• b5c3 Esajas Johannes Nel bap 8 Apr 1731
• b5c4 Johannes Nel bap 7 Feb 1734

• b6 Willem Nel b. c 1696
• b7 Jùdith Nel bap 3 Aug 1698 x 11 Nov 1714 Willem Odendaal b. c 1685 - d. 19 Jan 1732

• Willem Odendaal bap 10 Nov 1715
• Susanna Odendaal bap 9 Jan 1717
• Joannis Odendaal 6 bap 14 Apr 1720
• Henricus Johannes Odendaal bap 28 Nov 1723
• Judiik Odendaal bap 27 Apr 1727
• Gerrit Odendaal bap 26 Feb 1730
• Adriaan Isac Odendaal bap 29 Jun 1732

• b8 Elias Nel bap 28 Jul 1701 x 21 Oct 1731 Anna Coetzee xx 15 Mar 1733 Anna Vivier bap 13 Jan 1714

• b8c1 Johan Abraham Nel bap 28 Aug 1735
• b8c2 Albertus Nel bap 5 Oct1743
• b8c3 Willem Adriaan Nel bap 16 Mar 1755

• b9 Adriaan Nel bap 23 Dec 1703 x bef 1726 Catharina Appel bap 26 Oct 1704

• b9c1 Levina Nel bap 7 Apr 1726
• b9c2 Ferdinandùs Nel bap 25 Apr 1728
• b9c3 Willem Adriaan Nel bap 3 Dec 1730
• b9c4 Johanna Nel bap 22 Mar 1733
• b9c5 Jan Nel bap 9 Oct 1735
• b9c6 Catharina Nel bap 12 Jan 1738
• b9c7 Isaak Nel (twin) bap 15 May 1740
• b9c8 Cornelia Nel (twin) bap 15 May 1740
• b9c9 Judik Maria Nel bap Nov 25 1742
• b9c10 Elsje Nel (twin) bap 19 Sep 1745
• b9c11 Aderjan Nel (twin) bap 19 Sep 1745

• b10 Pieter Willem Néel b. c 1704 x 8 April 1725 Altijn "Aletta" Gerritsz van Deventer b. 27 Jun 1700 BIRTH SOURCES NEEDED

• b10c1 Adriana Nel bap 31 Mar 1726
• 10c2 Willem Nel bap 10 Aug 1727
• b10c3 Gerrit Nel bap 12 Dec 1728
• b10c4 Johanna Nel bap 24 Dec 1730
• b10c5 Pieter Nel bap 31 Aug 1732
• b10c6 Jacomina Nel b 24 March 1734 SOURCES NEEDED
• b10c7 Jan Nel bap Feb 26 1736
• b10c8 Gesina Nel b c 1738 SOURCES NEEDED
• b10c9 Cornelia Nel bap Nov 27 1740
• b10c10 Johannes Nel bap January 13, 1743 SOURCES NEEDED

• b11 Hester Nel bap 1 Aug 1706 - d. c 1785 x 30 Nov 1721 Pieter Venter bap 18 Oct 1699 - d. c 1765

• Jan Hendrik Venter bap 26 Dec 1723 - d. 1795
• Petrus Venter bap 19 May1726
• Wilhelmus Wouterus Venter bap 6 June 1728
• Jan Adriaan Venter bap 14 May 1730
• Johanna Sophia Venter bap 28 Oct 1731
• Francois Venter bap 7 Feb 1734
• Jacob Venter bap 22 Jul 1736
• Frederik Venter bap 29 June 1738
• Jacob Venter bap 15 May 1740
• Anna Cornelia Venter bap 14 October 1742
• Johannes Venter bap 15 September 1744 SOURCES NEEDED
• Johannes Albertus Venter bap 27 May 1747
• Hercules Venter bap 26 Jul 1750 SOURCES NEEDED

• Marthe 1665
• Pierre 1668
• Pierre Jacques 1669
• Marianne 1671

LINE 2 DESCENT Estienne Niel

• UNKNOWN PARENTS

• a Estienne Niel b1669, Dauphine, came to the Cape as a VOC soldier in 1692; later farmed at La Dauphine, Oliphantshoek, Drakenstein x c 1700 Marie Madeleine Marais b c 1681 aka Maria Magdalena in SA. Arrived at Cape 26.4.1688 on the 'Voorschoten' aged 6 from the Netherlands, having fled France the previous year.

• b1 Marie-Madeleine Niel bap 21 Jan 1703 - d. bef 4 Feb 1727 x 5 March 1719 Francois Louis Migault b. c 1690 banished, after her death. Children given to uncle Estienne

• Maria Elizabeth Migaùlt bap 15 Feb 1722
• Johannis Stefanùs Migaùlt bap 26 Mar 1724

• b2 Estienne Niel bap 8 Feb 1705
• b3 Rachel Niel bap 10 Jul 1707 x c 1724 Paul Jourdan bap 25 Sep 1695

• Jacobus Jourdan bap 20 May 1725
• Elizabeth Jordaan [1726] NEED SOURCES
• Marija Jordaan bap 9 Feb 1727
• Johannes Jourdan bap 23 Jan 1729
• Stefanus Jourdan bap 23 Sep 1731
• Paul Jordaan 29 Aug 1733
• Pieter Jordaan bap 3 Mar 1737
• Andries Jordaan bap 5 April 1739
• Rachel Jordaan bap 25 Sep 1740

• b4 Anna Niël b. c 1708 x 26 Jan 1721 Andreas Grovè b. c 1690

• Mariana Groff bap 20 July 1721
• Sophia Grovee bap13 Dec 1722
• Stefanus Grovee bap 26 Mar 1724
• Rachel Grovè bap 21 Oct 1725
• Margaretha Grovè bap 22 Jun 1727
• Elisabeth Grovè bap 2 Oct 1728, d. 15 Jun 1785
• Sùsanna Grovee bap 2 Jul 1730
• Andries Groviè bap 6 Apr 1732
• Johannes Grove bap 14 Mar 1734
• Anna Grove 26 June 1735
• Johannes Grove bap 19 Mar 1738
• Johannes Godlieb Grove bap 6 Sep 1739
• Godlieb Grove bap 19 Nov 1741

• b5 Jean Niel bap 8 Nov 1711 x 21 October 1731 Drakenstein Sara Coetzee bap10 Dec 1713

• b5c1 Anna Maria Niël bap 5 Oct 1732

Overview of Family History / Progenitor Details

[Research Notes by Lee Cahill, 29 November 2012 (Updated 24 March 2013)]:

• Guillaume Nel (Neél) was born in Rouen, France in 1662 and was baptised the following year.
• As a young adult, he fled from religious persecution in France and went to Amsterdam, as the Dutch government offered Huguenot refugees safe passage to the Cape of Good Hope.
• He married in Amsterdam on 3 May 1685.
• On 19 February 1688, he, his wife and two young children left for the Cape of Good Hope on board the ship De Schelde. They arrived in Table Bay on 5 June 1688.
• On 9 November 1690, Guillaume (who was soon known as Willem in the Cape) purchased the farm Blaauwklip in the area of Moddergat in the District of Stellenbosch from Gerrit Jansz Visser.
• In 1711, he purchased the farm Bootmans Drift in Drakenstein.
• He died at the Cape of Good Hope on 17 June 1735.
• The details about this ancestor and his family are constructed from various MyHeritage family trees.
• In particular, the following source gives the name of Guillaume's father as Guillaume and not Pierre: http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/person/Guillaume-Neel/77401941-8010991. This older Guillaume is often left out of records that are contracted, and which give Pierre as the father of Guillaume SV/PROG.
• Further information is available from The First Fifty Years Project: http://www.e-family.co.za/ffy/g5/p5712.htm.

Nel/Nell Family History

• According to notes about the Nell family on Genealogy.com, which cite the Amsterdam County Office (Gemmentenarchief) as the source, the family is descended from Guillaume Nie'l, a Huguenot refugee who fled from Normandy to Amsterdam in the late 1860's. He settled in Bethaniensteeg (which is today in the Red Light District) and worked as a tailor. There he met Jeanne de la Batte of Toulouse, who was also a refugee. They married in Amsterdam and had two children there. Due to the influence of the Dutch language, their surname soon became contracted to Nel. The family emigrated to the Cape of Good Hope in the spring of 1869 aboard the VOC vessel, de Berg China. Guillaume and Jeanne received 80 rijksdaalers (guilders) from the Dutch East India Company to settle at the Cape, and started a farm in Groot Drakenstein, where they had eight more children.
• According to the same notes, while studying in the UK during the 1950's, one Marius Louis Nel commissioned a study of the Nell/Nel family history. While there is no documentation to support this, apparently the Nel family can be traced back to Ireland in around 1100. The Irish branch of the family was known by the surname of O'Niell, and they lived in Tara. The family fled unrest in about 1300. Some of them fled to France, where they dropped the 'O' from O'Niell. Later they apparently dropped the second 'l' too and the surname was contracted into Niel.

About the Nel Surname

Source: Geni

The NEL surname originated from the Viking name NJAL. A clan of Vikings settled in Ireland c. 500 B.C. and became known as the UI NEILL/O' NEILL clan. According to tradition, they descended from HEREMON, son of MILLISIUS, the first absolute Monarch of Ireland. The O' NEILLS of ULSTER are the oldest traceable family left in Europe. NIALL is an Irish word which means CHAMPION. The O' NEILLS settled in the Tara area, now County Meath, Ireland. A branch of the O' NEILLS moved to LYONS FRANCE c.1300 A.D. where the name was modified to NEIL/NEEL. When the French Huguenots fled to The Netherlands, the FRENCH pronunciation of NE-EL led to the Dutch modifying the surname to NEL.

Queries & Discussions

• Discussion on Naming
• Jacobus Hendrik Louw Nel Untangling his line Discussion

Resources

• South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Registers (Cape Town Archives), 1660-1970
  • https://familysearch.org/search
• Delia Robertson's First Fifty Years Project
  • http://www.e-family.co.za/ffy/g5/p5712.htm
  • http://www.e-family.co.za/ffy/g8/p8608.htm

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• WELKOM CUZZINS: Geni SA Projects' Main Site Index & Help Page

See Also Related Geni Project Pages:

• Index of Other SA Surname Projects
• SA Progenitors on Geni