Viljoen family: the first generations

The Cape of Good Hope in the 17th century.
 Francois Villion and Cornelia Campenaar, the founding parents of the Viljoen family, had six children (b1 - b6) as given below.
Two of these, Henning b3 and Johannes b4, propagated the family name. Both of them in turn had one son who propagated the family name, both of which incidentally carried the father's name, namely Henning b3c4 and Johannes b4c2. This gave rise to respecitvely the Henning branch and the Johannes branch of the Viljoen family tree.
Viljoen family tree
Only the male lines which propagated the Viljoen family name in the first four generations are shown in the graphic above (Henning branch in red, Johannes branch in blue). (x means married to; xx indicates second marriage). Full details of the first generations are given below:
  • b1 Pieter Viljoen, baptised in Cape Town 1677.02.07. He never married and was in 1699 witness at the baptism of the son of his sister Anna b2. In 1709 he was witness at the baptism of the son b3c2 Frans of his brother b3 Henning. Nothing else is known about him.
  • b2 Anna Viljoen, baptised 1678.05.19 in Cape Town, married 1691.12.09 Heinrich Venter; progenitors of the Venter family in South Africa.
  • b3 Henning Viljoen, baptised in Cape Town on 1682.05.19; farmed on the farm "Watergat" near Simondium, Cape. Married 1707 Margaretha de Savoye, born 1671 (widow of Christoffel Snyman), a Huguenot refugee who arrived in 1688 with her parents Jacques de Savoye and Marie Madeleine le Clerq at the Cape of Good Hope on the ship "Oosterlandt". From this marriage four children were born, and they are the parents of the Henning branch of the Viljoen family:
    • b3c1 Cornelia Viljoen, baptised at Stellenbosch on 1708.03.05; no marriage.
    • b3c2 Frans Viljoen, baptised at Stellenbosch on 1709.12.26, no marriage.
    • b3c3 Henning Viljoen, baptised at Stellenbosch on 1712.03.12; died young and renamed with:
    • b3c4 Henning Viljoen, baptised at Stellenbosch o 1713.06.16. Farmer of Drakenstein. Married on 1732.11.06 with Susanna Durand, baptised on 1716.06.06, daughter of Jean Durand and Anna Vermeulen. Twelve children, as follows:
      • b3c4d1 Margaretha Cornelia Viljoen, baptised 1734.01.09, died unmarried.
      • b3c4d2 Johannes Viljoen, baptised 1735.07.17, married Anna Cornelia Venter.
      • b3c4d3 Margaretha Theresia Viljoen, baptised 1737.06.02, died unmarried.
      • b3c4d4 Wilhelmina Johanna Viljoen, baptised 1740.08.14, died unmarried.
      • b3c4d5 Cornelia Viljoen, baptised 1743.10.13, married Johannes van Aswegen; remarry Jozua Joubert; remarry second time Gerrit Visser.
      • b3c4d6 Elizabeth Viljoen, baptised 1746.03.21, married Arie Willem van Wyk.
      • b3c4d7 Franciscus Jonathan Viljoen, baptised 1750.09.13, died unmarried.
      • b3c4d8 Jonathan Viljoen, baptised 1750.09.13, died unmarried.
      • b3c4d9 Pieter Albertus Viljoen, baptised 1752.02.13, died unmarried.
      • b3c4d10 Johannes Hercules Viljoen, baptised 1753.04.29, married Anna Jacoba Kruger; remarried Barbara Jacomina Peltzer.
      • b3c4d11 Albertus Viljoen, baptised 1755.08.31, married Johanna Elizabeth Griesel.
      • b3c4d12 Johannes Hendricus Viljoen, baptised 1758.07.02, married Susanna Elizabeth Lubbe.
  • b4 Johannes Viljoen, baptised 1684.09.24 Cape Town. Married 1708.08.14 to Catharina Snyman, baptised 1692.01.27, daughter of Christoffel Snyman and Margaretha de Savoye. Johannes Viljoen b4 therefore married with his sister-in-law's daughter from her first marriage, so that his sister-in-law was also his mother-in-law. From the marriage of Johannes Viljoen b4 and Catharina Snyman two children were born, and they are the parents of the Johannes-branch of the Viljoen family:
    • b4c1 Margaretha Viljoen, baptised 1709.12.01; died young.
    • b4c2 Johannes Viljoen, baptised 1711.09.19. Farmer of Drakenstein, later cattle farmer in Het Land van Waveren (present day Tulbagh). Received on 1745.12.06 the farm Doornrivier, (present) district of Worcester. Married on 1744.03.08 at Paarl with Aletta Olivier, baptised 1725.07.15, daughter of Hendrik Olivier and Maria Vivier. Eight children as follows:
      • b4c2d1 Johannes Hendricus Viljoen, baptised 1745.02.21, married Anna Francina Joubert.
      • b4c2d2 Christoffel Viljoen, baptised 1747.01.29, married Elizabeth du Plessis; remarried Maria Elizabeth Scheepers.
      • b4c2d3 Willem Viljoen, baptised 1748.10.06, died unmarried.
      • b4c2d4 Catharina Maria Viljoen, baptised 1751.04.25, married Pieter Jacobus Conradie.
      • b4c2d5 Jacobus Petrus Viljoen, baptised 1753.04,22, married Hermina Conradie.
      • b4c2d6 Hercules Viljoen, baptised 1755.10.05, married Elisabet Maria Rasp.
      • b4c2d7 Geertruy Jacomina Viljoen, baptised 1757, remarried Willem Jacobus van der Merwe.
      • b4c2d8 Aletta Cornelia Viljoen, baptised 1760.08.17.
  • b5 Cornelia Viljoen, baptised Stellenbosch 1686.10.13, married 1702 Herculé du Preez, remarried 1722 Christian Maasdorp.
  • b6 Francina Viljoen, baptised Stellenbosch 1689.04.24. She is believed to have been born after the death of her father, after whom she was named. Married Jacob Cloete, baptised 1675.11.03, with whom she had six children.
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