6. | Pieter VAN DER BYL, b1 was born on 14 Jan 1659 in Overschie, near Rotterdam, Netherlands; was christened on 1 Jan 1661 in Overschie, near Rotterdam, Netherlands (son of Gerhard Pieterzoon VAN DER BYL, progenitor and Sophia VAN DEN TEMPEL); died on 9 Oct 1723 in Stellenbosch, Cape, South Africa. Notes:
farmer and heemraad
Van der B. came to the Cape with his mother shortly after 1668. At first he lived with his parents on asmall farm of thirteen morgen called Varietas in Table Valley, at the foot of the Windberg, but in April 1680 his father moved toStellenbosch. On 29.8.1688 Van der B. married Anna Sophia Bosch (26.6.1672- 17.3.1701) in Cape Town and the young couple went to live on the farm Vredenburgh, where Van der B.'s father was farming. In 1692 Van der B. was granted the farm 'Babylon's Toren', but after his father's death in 1698 returned to settle on Vredenburgh which consisted of fifty-two morgen, 141 square roods, on the northern bank of the Eerste River, just west of Libertas. When his first wife died he
married Hester ter Winkel. (1702)
In 1704 he was granted a third farm, Vijffontein (later Klavervalleij), consisting of sixty morgen and 500 roods. He also owned a stand in Cape Town, No. 6 in block D, on the Eerste Bergdwars Street which he sold in 1715 and a year later boughta farm from a certain Barend Lubbe. It comprised thirty-eight morgen and was only a few kilometres from Vredenburgh. Shortly before his death he also bought the farm De Voorspoed (sixty morgen in size) at Riebeeck's Kasteel.
Apart from his farming interests Van der B. began to play an important role in the community. in 1687 his name was mentioned as ensign of the Stellenbosch Dragoons and in 1695 he acted as lieutenant of a company of free burghers fromDrakenstein. He became heemraad for the first time in 1695, being recorded as such with some interruption in the documents of the Company until 1720. He served the Church as a deacon from 1697 onwards, from 1702 until his death. in September1719 he was given the honour of laying the cornerstone of the first church in Stellenbosch.
Van der B. played an important part in the struggle against W.A. van der Stel and his officials; as he was a neighbour of Adam Tas, Van der B.s name occurs repetedly in the latter's diary. In 1706 he, Jan van Meerland, Henning Husing,Ferdinandus Appel were exciled to the netherlands, where they submitted a petition to the Seventeen. This led to the recall of the Governor and some of his friends. During van der B.'s absence in the netherlands his wife hester continued thebattle against Johannes Starrenburg(h), who was a friend of the Van der Stel's, and on 18.9.1706 she and the wife of Wessel Pretorius demonstated against Starrenburg(h) in public. By July the following year Van der B. and his fellow exciles had
returned to their country in triumph.
There were three sons and seven daughters of Van der B.'s two marriages. Two of the sons, gerrit and Pieter, ahd descendants. Pieter's sons all died bachelors, however, so that when Van der B. died Gerrit was the sole ancestor of the Van der Bijl family in south Africa.
A.J. Boeseken
Dictionary of South African Biography Vol IV
Farmed Babylons Toren, Drakenstein and Vredenburg, Stellenbosch.
29.8.1688 trou "Pieter van der Beijl jongman geboortigh van Overschie met Sophia Bos J. dogter van de Caap." Pieter was die s/v Gerrit van der Bijl en Sophia van den Tempel en is gedoop 14.1.1659. Hy boer op Babilonstoren, Drakenstein en Vredenburg, Stellenbosch. (Anna) Sophia = 26.6.1672 was d/v Dirk Bosch en Geertruyd Meijntinghs. Pieter trou c1702 met Hester ter Winkel. Hy sterf 9.10.1723.
Pieter married Anna Sophia BOSCH, a1b2 on 29 Aug 1688 in Cape Town, Cape, South Africa. Anna (daughter of Dirk BOSCH, a1 and Geertruyd MEYNTINGS) was born about 1672 in Cape Town, Cape, South Africa; was christened on 26 Jun 1672; died on 17 Mar 1701 in Stellenbosch, Cape, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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