Jacobus Stephanus van Zyl

20 September 1809 – 10 April 1906

Connection to the Koup

Married into a household on this ground: Susanna Catharina Oosthuizen (b.1811) (1830-09-25).

• event Two Oosthuizen sisters of Middelwater marry two van Zyl brothers1829/1840

Names

Given

Jacobus Van

Surname

Van ZIJL

The formal baptismal name and the name a person was actually called are both kept, and neither is derived from the other. Spelling drift between records is evidence, not noise.

Immediate family

Father

Casper van Zyl (1781-1863)

Mother

Susanna Abigaël Breytenbach (Bredenbach)

Brothers and sisters

Wynand van Zyl

Married

Susanna Catharina Oosthuizen (b.1811) 25 September 1830, Catharina Helena van Dyk 27 July 1840

Children

• 1832Casper Wynand Cornelis Van Zyl
• 1834Ockert Almero Van Zyl
• 1836Jacobus van Zyl
• 1838Adriana Cecilia Van Zyl
• 1839~Susanna Catharina Van Zyl

A life in the record

1. before 1866 event The Bloemfontein kerkraad talks him out of founding a town
   He had already had erven surveyed when the predikant and kerkraad of the NG gemeente Bloemfontein - OF WHICH HE WAS HIMSELF AN OUDERLING - persuaded him to drop it: a new town inside Bloemfontein's parish boundaries would hurt the congregation's finances. He gave way, and then went ahead anyway in 1
2. 20 September 1809 born Born
3. 6 December 1809 event Jacobus van Zijl baptised
   Born 20 September 1809, so eleven weeks old. Baptised the same day as his brother Wijnand, who was eighteen months old - which is how a family history came to record them as twins born 6/12/1809. He is the man who married Susanna Catharina Oosthuizen of Middelwater and laid out Brandfort in 1866.
4. 1829–1840 event Two Oosthuizen sisters of Middelwater marry two van Zyl brothers
   Johanna Jacomina (b. 14 Dec 1808), the root couple's eldest, married Wynand van Zyl; her sister Susanna Catharina (b. 17 Nov 1811) married Jacobus van Zijl (20 Sep 1809 - 10 Apr 1906). Johanna Jacomina's marriage is recorded at Beaufort West on 1 Feb 1829. REPORTED BY Fred van Zyl, a descendant, and
5. 25 September 1830 married Married Susanna Catharina Oosthuizen (b.1811)
6. 25 September 1830 event Jacobus van Zyl marries Susanna Catharina Oosthuizen at Beaufort West
   The marriage this project had only by testimony until today. Her sister Johanna Jacomina had married his brother Wynand; between them the two couples put five and several more children into the Beaufort West register. [FS]
7. 1836–1838 event Jacobus van Zyl treks from Prince Albert to Natal
   "een van die weinige voortrekkers wat vanaf PRINS ALBERT uit die westelike deel van Kaapland getrek het tot in Natal" - one of the few Voortrekkers who trekked from Prince Albert, out of the western Cape, all the way to Natal. That is the family's own account and it agrees exactly with the published
8. 11 July 1838 event Adriana Cecilia van Zyl baptised at Beaufort West
   Born 18 June 1838, baptised three weeks later. Daughter of Jacobus van Zeyl and Susanna Chatarina Oosthuisen. NAMED FOR HER MOTHER'S MOTHER, Adriana Cecilia Venter (PER-000002) of Middelwater - the first daughter, exactly as the vernoemingspatroon predicts. Witnesses: Hester Elisabet Strydom, Jan Lo
9. 11 July 1838 occasion Baptism of their child, Adriana Cecilia Van Zyl at Beaufort West
10. 19 August 1838 event Jacobus Petrus van Zyl baptised, and both van Zyl households are in one witness list
    Born 5 June 1838, son of Wynand van Zyl and Johanna Jacomina Oosthuisen - THIRTEEN DAYS before his cousin Adriana Cecilia. Among the witnesses: JACOBUS VAN ZEYL AND SUSANNA CATARINA OOSTHUISEN, the other brother and the other sister, standing for their nephew. Also Jacobus Johannes Oosthuisen and An
11. 19 August 1838 witness Witnessed a baptism · Jacobus Petrus Van Zyl
12. 1839–1843 event Keerom granted as a rekwesplaas - about 6,000 morgen
    After Retief's murder he and others turned back, and got as far as the place later called KEEROM. He meant to rest there before trekking on, liked it, and asked the NATALSE VOLKSRAAD to grant it to him. About 6,000 MORGEN was granted as a rekwesplaas under the occupation law of the day. NOTE WHAT TH
13. 27 July 1840 married Married Catharina Helena van Dyk
14. 27 July 1840 event Jacobus van Zyl remarries at Potchefstroom, the first hard evidence he went north
    Catharina Helena van Dyk, at POTCHEFSTROOM in the Transvaal. Susanna Catharina Oosthuizen had died that same year. WHY THIS MATTERS BEYOND THE MARRIAGE: it is the first dated record placing him north of the Orange. He is at a font in BEAUFORT WEST on 19 August 1838 and at an altar in POTCHEFSTROOM o
15. 1866 event Brandfort laid out on Jacobus van Zyl's farm Keerom
    47 stands sold in 1866; proclaimed a town in 1874/75; a municipality by 1884; named for President J.H. Brand of the Orange Free State. One published account calls the founder "a Voortrekker from PRINS ALBERT", another has him arriving from Natal after Piet Retief's murder - compatible if he trekked
16. 10 April 1906 died Died

Who stood with them

Who signed at a baptism, a will or a survey is not incidental. It is the clearest surviving record of which families stood close to which.

• they stood for Jacobus Petrus Van Zyl baptism · 19 August 1838
  dates known, no other trace here

Stories

• subject The brother-in-law who founded a town

What we don't know

• No dated record ties this person to a specific piece of ground.

A sourced gap beats an unsourced fill. These are the open questions on this person, stated rather than papered over.

Sources

1. Fred van Zyl to [FAMILY] Van Zyl/Oosthuizen descent, Vrolikheid birth tradition, and the Marico Klaarstroom.private (message to Frans, via the Klueplaas Facebook thread)Message of 29 Jul 2026
2. Brandfort, Free State: founding on the farm Keerom, 1866 - published accounts Wikipedia (Brandfort); Rural Exploration; Geni (Jacobus Stephanus van Zyl); FamilySearch LCV6-XNT
3. Handwritten van Zyl family history, page 2. Jacobus van Zyl (1809–1906), Bloedrivier, Keerom and Brandfort FamilySearch, attached to the profile of Jacobus Stephanus van Zyl, LCV6-XNT (Memories/Documents). Written up by the family; author not named on the sheet.FamilySearch person LCV6-XNT, attached document, page 2
4. Baptism register, 6 December 1809. Wijnand and Jacobus van Zijl, sons of Casper van Zijl and Susanna Abigaël Bredenbach FamilySearch, "South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Registers (Cape Town Archives), 1660-1994"; State Archives, Cape Provinceark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSK6-CS1D-T, cc=1478678, image 1 of 1; register pages 148-149
5. Beaufort West baptisms 1838. Adriana Cecilia van Zyl (11 Jul) and Jacobus Petrus van Zyl (19 Aug), the two van Zyl x Oosthuizen households FamilySearch, "South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Records (Stellenbosch Archive), 1690-2011"; citing Genealogiese Instituut van Suid-Afrika, Stellenboschark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-68TW-GLX, cc=1392488; South Africa > Cape > Beaufort West > Baptisms 1819-1844 > image 212 of 302; register pages 210-211

Research notes

These are working notes, not finished prose: they carry the reasoning, the corrections and the things still marked to verify. They are kept here so the page itself can read as what is known.

Open questions

• Was the Jacobus van Zyl on the Blood River roll our Jacobus? priority 1 · LEAD-0047

  The roll of the Wenkommando names exactly one van Zyl - 'van Zyl, Jacobus' - among 388 men. Is he Jacobus Stephanus van ZylH, FamilySearch LCV6-XNT (1809-1906), who married Susanna Catharina OosthuizenL of Middelwater and laid out Brandfort in 1866? AND, since 1 Aug 2026, a harder version of the same question: the Beaufort West baptism register puts him IN THE CAPE COLONY on 19 August 1838, a named witness at his nephew's baptism. Blood River is 16 December 1838, about 1,200 km away. Could he have made it?

  What would settle it A de Villiers/Pama code against the roll entry. 74 of the 388 entries carry one and this one does not; if any published version of the roll carries a code that resolves to our man (FamilySearch LCV6-XNT), the question is closed. This project does not assign itself a De Villiers/Pama code - [FAMILY] FS is our anchor. Failing that: any Cape record placing him in the colony between September and December 1838 would make Blood River impossible rather than merely tight - an opgaafrol, a transfer, a witness signature. That is now the cheaper test, and it is a NEGATIVE one.

• Three van Zyl landholdings in this district, and whether they connect priority 1 · LEAD-0057

  Are Casper van ZylMe Senior of Modderdrift No. 106 (1833), Lucas Daniel Fromon van Zyl of Klipgat No. 114 (d. by 1911), and the Brandfort van Zyls of S018 one family?

  What would settle it A death notice or estate account that puts two of these three men in one descent. Ten named heirs from the 1916 deeds would be the fastest route, because ten names are far easier to match against the tree than one.

• Brandfort: is the founder's farm Keerom documented, and when did Susanna Catharina die? priority 2 · LEAD-0045

  Published accounts have Brandfort laid out in 1866 on Jacobus van ZylH's farm Keerom, and one calls him 'a Voortrekker from Prins Albert'. What does the deed for Keerom say, and what became of his first wife Susanna Catharina OosthuizenL, born on this ground in 1811?

  What would settle it A transfer deed for Keerom naming Jacobus Stephanus van ZylH, or a death notice for Susanna Catharina giving a date and a place.

• Were Jacobus and Wynand van Zyl twins, born 6 December 1809? priority 2 · LEAD-0048

  The van Zyl family history says Jacobus and Wynand were TWINS, both born 6/12/1809. The model has Jacobus at 20 Sep 1809 and Wynand at 1808. Which is right?

  What would settle it A baptism entry for either brother giving a date, or both on one day.

• Does Tokkie's son-in-law's van Zyl line come down from the Brandfort van Zyls? priority 3 · LEAD-0049

  Tokkie's daughter married a van Zyl, born 1954. Does his line come down from Casper van ZylM of Swellendam (1781-1863, PER-001376) - the same van Zyl family that married two Oosthuizen sisters off Middelwater in the 1830s?

  What would settle it A parent chain from his FamilySearch profile back to LC3S-V28 (Casper van ZylM, 1781-1863), or a clean break showing a different van Zyl line.

Elders

FamilySearch profile LCV6-XNT