Childhood in Delft c 1656-85

Jacob Alewijnsz Tol of De Snouck, Jacob Gerritsen Straet, Delft (in 1647 given as Oudenlangendijck) died September 1662, Delft; buried 10 September 1662, St. Joris Kapel, Oude Kerk, Delft. When he married Lijsbet van der Piet on 3rd of March 1647 at the Nieuwe Kerk, Delft , he was not a young man, probably already in his 40's but a bachelor nevertheless, while his wife was around 20. When they married he was living in the house called 'De Snouck' on the north west corne corner of Ouderlangendijk and Jacob Gerritsenstraet and the Oude- langendijk, just off the main Market Square in Delft.

This map of Delft by J.Blaeu from 1649 shows the Nieuwe Kerk in its centre, at the front of which is the main Market Square. Oude Langendijk Road runs parallel to the square on the right of this, a block over.

His family had lived in this house since at least 1620, and his widow continued to live there after his death, so this seems to have been where Adriana was brought up.

This is a present day google image of the 1600s house, and you can visit it yourself on Google maps -https://www.google.com/maps/@52.011372,4.3596059,3a,75y,196.86h,90.... The house was built in 1593 by Jacob Alewijnsz Speldemaker (surname or occupation?) when he obtained permission to build a warehouse for his house on the north west corner of the Jaep Gerritsstaet

on the right, Modern Oude Langendijk Road

Jacob Alewijnsz Tol died in September 1662 and was buried 10 September 1662, St. Joris Kapel, Oude Kerk.

The Old Church, by Cornelis Springer (1877)

On the 21st December 1663 his widow, Elisabeth van der Piet, appeared before the Weeskamer at Delft and reported that there were five children, Marij aged 16 years, Alewijn aged 9, Ariaentie, age 6 years, Dirck aged 4 years and Willem Jacobs Thol aged 2 years. Although still looked after by their mother, they were appointed three guardians - Willem van Assendelft, Mr Nicolaes van Assendelft Advoct. and Geerardt van Assendelft - and their inheritance presumably invested and used to feed and clothe them until they came of age which Adriana would have done around 1681.

• Maria 1647 -1669
• Adriana 1649 -1652
• Elsje1651 -1652
• Alewijn 1654 -1674
• Adriana 1656
• Dirck 1658
• Willem 1660

(There are two children of Jacob Alewijnsz. Tol of Langendijck buried in the Oudekerk, Delft: one on the 16th February 1652 and the other on the 14th September 1652.)

On 22nd December 1685, their daughter, Adriana Jacobsz. Tol, appeared before the Delft Weeskamer and stated that she was the wife of Johannes Smit, soldier. She declared that her mother had raised and provided for her properly; she thanked her for her good care and freed her of any further obligation.

From the Weeskamer records Lijsbet seems to have brought up her family in'de Snouck' - the same house her parents-in-law had lived in - but at the time of her death her address is given as 'Zusterslane bi hoff' in the Church burial books. She was buried 18 March 1692, Nieuwe Kerk, Delft. adapted from http://www.ballfamilyrecords.co.uk/delft/I003.html

First Marriage 4-1-1682

x Jan Smit died 1696, soldier in the company of Captain Moor (1681) of the garrison at Delft, and, from 1687, Jonkers Hoek in Stellenbosch

'Their application to marry is recorded in the Delft Ondertrouw register, apparently akin to the Huwelikshof at the Cape, or the Banns book of the English church, on the 25th October 1681. An objection was raised to their marriage and the second reading of the banns was forbidden (see above). Eventually, on the 22nd December, the prohibition was lifted. Since this was, apparently, a Monday, one assumes that the second reading of the banns did not take place until the following Sunday, 28th December and for the third time, again presumably, the next Sunday, the 4th January 1682.
The last note in the Ondertrouw register reads 'Attestatie gegeven op Schipluiden den 4 januarij 1681' [sic - presumably the usual mistake made at the start of a new year!] which a Dutch friend translates for me as 'Given letter of transfer to Schipluiden the 4 january 1681'. I have assumed, until I can establish for certain, that this 'attestatie' or letter of transfer, was specifically to allow the couple to marry at Schipluiden (not far from Delft).
Unfortunately, so far as I have been able to establish, no Schipluiden marriage registers exist for this period. This means that we do not know when they were married - the 4th January 1682 (a Sunday) would have been the earliest date possible, immediately after the third reading of the banns.[June Barnes]

Marriage Banns 5/10/1681 Johannes Smits & Adriana Tol, protested by Lucretia v. Santen
Banns Date 25/10/1681
Place Delft
Miscellaneous: 2nd commandment ceased.Lucretia v. Santen, wd. v. Robbert v. Santen declares that she has made a child with the br.gom (she withdraws this statement) progress 27-12-1681
Date of betrothal 1681-10-25
Attestation 1 4-1-1682 (state 1681) Schipluiden

• Johannes Smits (groom)
• Adriana Tol (bride)

Marriage Banns: 20/12/1681 Johannes Smits & Adriana Tol
Delft, Dutch Reformed Church, 68-89 Marriage certificates Nieuwe Kerk
Date 20/12/1681
Place Delft

• Johannes Smits (groom) soldier stationed in Delft, in the company of Captain Moor
• & Adriana Tol (bride) of Ouderlangendijk (Delft)

Life at the Cape
The earliest certain mention of Jan Smit at the Cape that I have so far found is in the Cape Town church registers when his son Christoffel was baptised on 9 May 1688, and for Adriana Tol the earliest date is 16 October 1689 when their son Jacobus was baptised at Stellenbosch. [June Barnes]

Jan became a Burgher apparently circa 1687, in Dutch Vryburgher or Vrijburgher, a status in which a soldier or other employee of the VOC was released from their contractual obligations to the VOC and permitted to farm, become a tradesman, or work for others. [June Barnes] In a declarion signed before the Secretary of Stellenbosch on the 11th October 1705 and witnessed by Augustus Meijhuijsen and Jacobus Smit, Johannes Mulder and Dirk Coetsee, both Old Heemraden, stated that it was known to them that a certain farm in Jan de Jonkers Hoek, to the east above the farm of the late Jan de Jonker, had been in the possesion of Jan Smit from 1687 until his death and was still in the possesion of Andries Cuijper as the husband of Jan Smit's widow.

Richard Ball's Notes

Jonkershoek Twin Peaks

* 1. Joannis Smit, 1683 -c1714, baptised 10 January 1683, Nieuwe Kerk, Delft. He is probably the Jan Smit who married Eva Zaaijman in 1711 and who died circa July 1714, without leaving any children.
* 2. Christoffel Smit 1688 -1770 , baptised 9 May 1688, Cape Town farmer of Sútrij or Lútrij, Stellenbosch married Catrijn la Fêbre 9 February 1721, Stellenbosch >children
* 3. Jacobus Smit 1689-c1752, baptised 16 October 1689, Stellenbosch (baptism recorded in the Cape Town registers) farmer of Uylekraal, Swartland, he died circa 1752. married Elisabeth Slabbert, 3 March 1709, Cape Town >children
* 4. Hulsie Smit 1691 -1760, baptised 1 April 1691, Cape Town (this name is probably a phonetic rendering by the minister of the name 'Hilletje' under which name she appears in all later records). She died circa January 1761. married Matthias de Beer and later Jan Georg Zorn >children
* 5. Francois Smit c1693 -c1758 , born Cape of Good Hope farmer in the Vierentwintigrivieren area, he died circa 1758. married Maria van Staden, 19 November 1719, Drakenstein
* 6. Alewijn Smit 1695 -1774, baptised 28 September 1695, Cape Town farmer of Zo Voorbij, Vierentwintigrivieren. He died circa 1774. married Hester Bekker, 25th December 1718, Drakenstein. She died the 11th January 1778.> children

Cape Muster Rolls 1690-98:
A Jan Smit is listed in the Cape muster rolls from 1690 on, (there are no muster rolls between 1686 and 1690) but Jan Smit and Adriana Tol as a couple are first mentioned in the1692 rolls, resident at Stellenbosch with four children. Richard Ball's Notes

• In the 1692 Opgaafrol (tax return) they are listed as having three sons and one daughter, one pistol, one rifle (?- seijd geweer), one flintlock, two horses and six oxen.Richard Ball's Notes In the Dutch East India Company's muster roll of free burgers for 1692 he is listed as Jan Smit from Maastricht [June Barnes]
• In 1693 and 1695 they are listed again, on both occasions with five children, Johannes Smit being described as 'from Maastricht' in the 1693 roll.
• In 1696 we have just 'the widow of Jan Smith' (this muster roll made no note of children)
• and in 1698 'the widow of Jan Smith with 6 children'. Richard Ball's Notes

Jan's Death between the 1st and 6th October 1696
On 1st October 1696 Jan Smit was insulted by Jacob Cloete. Enraged, Smit drew his rapier, but Cloete evaded the blows and clouted Smit with a piece of wood, beat him with his fists and kicked his chest, shouting: 'Lie there, you dog!'. Within a very few days, during which he suffered continual pain in his chest, Jan Smit died.On the 6th Ocober it was reported that Matthijs Greef had been to inspect the corpse. (source: Cape Archives, 1/STB 18/153, Notarial Declarations)Richard Ball's Notes

Adriana's life after Jan Smit

• From 1692 through to 1695 she is listed in the muster rolls as living in Stellenbosch with Jan Smit
• In 1696 she is listed in the muster rolls as the widow of Jan Smit,
• in 1698 as 'Adriana Talks, wed: Jan Smith 6 k[inderen].'

x NN

c 1699 (extramarital relationship?) with unknown

• Johanna b.1700
• On 20th June 1700 she had a daughter, Johanna, baptised in the church at Stellenbosch. The baptismal entry reads: Johanna dochter van (left blank), de moeder Addrijana Tol de getuijgen Joggum Sachs en Marta Lafeber gedoop 20 Junij 1700
• On the 29th June 1700, the Stellenbosch Church Meeting suspended Adriana from church services for a year. The reason is not stated other than that she is admonished to live a better life. Unfortunately none of the earlier Stellenbosch Church Meeting minutes, which might have contained a previous warning, appear to have survived.
• A year later, on the 28th March 1701, her suspension was continued.

Second Marriage 11 January 1705

x 11 January 1705 at Stellenbosch, Andries Cuyper (widower), ship's carpenter (1699) of Jonkers Hoek, Stellenbosch, freeman, died after 1713, but before 1722

• Adriana married a second time at Stellenbosch on the 11 January 1705, to the widower, Andries Cuyper, a ship's carpenter who came originally from Stettin, who died before 1722

He first appears at the Cape in a muster roll of Company servants dated 1697 as a sailor and in 1699 he is listed as a ship's carpenter. By December 1704 he was listed as a freeman. He was one of a group of 45 persons who undertook a bartering expedition to Hottentot territory in 1702. source: H.C.V. Liebbrandt - The Defence of W.A.van der Stel, Cape Town 1897, page 138).https://www.ballfamilyrecords.co.uk/smit/I142.html

• In June 1705 they were living in Stellenbosch in the area known as Jan de Jonkers Hoek.

Death

• Adriana Tol presumably died some time after 30 June 1722 on which date she is mentioned as 'the widow of Andries Cuyper' in the will of her son, Francois Smit.

[All images except for the the two modern maps, for which I'm looking for replacements, are free of copyright - Sharon Doubell Mar 2024]

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