van die Kaap Genealogy and van die Kaap Family History Information

At the 'Cape of Good Hope' in VOC days from 1652,the name "van de Cabo' or 'van de Caab' appears quite often in old records,denoting slaves or descendants of slaves of Cape origin(usually Khoikhoi).Early Cape NG Kerk records list every local as 'van de Cabo' after their surname,if no surname,then it refers to a slave,but it can be very confusing(dreadful 17th & 18th century handwriting also!).A child of a slave woman and 'European'(most often German VOC soldiers/sailors),if the father is officially recorded,would get his surname PLUS 'van de Cabo/Caab' tacked on.Note:male slaves were strictly forbidden from having that kind of contact with 'European' women on pain of torture and death!There was,however an increasing number of 'free blacks'-manumitted(freed)slaves,many of whom went on to become Afrikaner progenitors or ancestors.