First Time Here?
(Introduction)
This Web site was developed by us, Dennis & Claudine DeWitt
to pay tribute to all members and ancestors of the DeWitt family of Melaka
and their related families so that they will not be forgotten and they will
always remain in our hearts. This Web site was also constructed for the benefit
of future generations of the DeWitt family, such as our daughter, Avery, so
that she and others from the younger generations will be able to learn to
honour those who lived before them and learn the true heritage of their family.
We also hope that we will inspire the interest of others who are intrigued
by the genealogy of the DeWitt family and take part to assist us in our research.
The information that you will find within this Web site
have been laboriously gathered and put together after many years of research.
Most of it would have been impossible without the invaluable help of three
very important persons. The first is my late father, Mr. Albert Horace DeWitt,
who with his guidance and encouragement has cultivated my interest on the
history of my family. The second person is my uncle, Mr. Aloysius E. Robless,
a retired teacher who is an amateur historian from Melaka. Last but not least
is my first cousin, Mr. Christopher Pereira from whom most of the information
on the earlier generations of DeWitts in Melaka were obtained.
From many books of references and history including the
story of 'The Black Tulip' by Alexandre Dumas, the DeWitt name (which means
'the white one' in Dutch) is referred to the illustrious brothers, Johan and
Cornelis DeWitt from Dordrecht, the Netherlands. However, our research shows
the DeWitt family from Melaka is NOT directly
linked or descended from the two illustrious brothers from Dordrecht. The
first DeWitt to step on Melaka shores was during the Dutch occupancy of Melaka
on 12th May 1816 when he arrived from the Dutch colony in South Africa. His
name, Petrus Johannes de Wit. (Please note that Petrus and his ancestors actually
writes his surname as "de Wit". Over the years, it must have changed until
the spelling "DeWitt" is now accepted by most as the norm. There have been
different variations of how the surname is written but the spelling always
remain the same. In this web site I have uniformed the name to "DeWitt" to
avoid any confusion).
The Dutch settlement at Table Bay in South Africa, under
the leadership of Jan van Riebeeck, was established back in 1652. Its purpose
was to supply fresh produce and meat to the fleets of the Dutch East India
Company (VOC) for their voyages between Europe and the spice islands of the
east. The settlement was then known among sailors from around the world as
"The Tavern of the Seas". With the kind help of fellow on-line researchers,
we have found out that our ancestors first arrived in South Africa only in
1700. The de Wit family there remained for four generations before one of
them decided to give up everything and take the chance to travel to the Indies,
arriving at Dutch colonial Melaka where he found a new life, a job and married
a local Dutch descent girl.
Tracing our family history further back, we have also found
that the first of our ancestors to arrive in South Africa, Jan de Wit did
not come from Europe but in fact came also from another Dutch colony. The
colony was under the control of the Dutch West Indies Company (WIC) and the
place was know as Nieuw York, Nieuw Nederland, now known as New York in the
United States of America. New York dates from an establishment of a Dutch
colony at New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island in 1624. In 1664, England seized
from the Dutch the land around the Hudson river known as New Nederland and
divided it into the colonies of New York and New Jersey. Jan de Wit of "Stanton
White", was born in 1677 at Nieuw York, Nieuw Nederland. He was the son of
Willem de Wit also of Nieuw York, Nieuw Nederland. At the moment we are unable
to find out what or where is "Stanton White" and any help from you will be
much appreciated.
With the finding of so much information regarding the history
of the DeWitt family, the last few months have really been very exciting for
us. Never did we expect to uncover in such a short time more then 323 years
of family history! We wish to thank all those who have been so very helpful
to our research and for sharing the enthusiasm to investigate into the history
of our family, particularly Faith Roberts of Hong Kong, Gerda Pieterse of
South Africa, Herman Oomen of the Netherlands, Clive Skelchy of Melbourne,
Australia and Barry Pereira of Singapore.
Due to the technology of the internet that helps provides
us with so much information obtained from other on-line researchers and the
creation of a borderless society, we expect further exciting breakthroughs
in our research in the near future. Therefore, we invite you to bookmark our
web site and revisit us from time to time to find out what new discoveries
we have made.
To all family members, we would appreciate any contribution,
photos, documents or related information that you may have regarding our research
of the Genealogy of the DeWitt family from Melaka . If you are not related
to us, we wish to invite you to discover within this web site the rich heritage
of our family and if it is within your means we would appreciate any help
you are able to give. We are particularly interested in tracing back the roots
of the DeWitt family as far back as possible - to the Netherlands if possible.
If you think you are able to provide us with any relevant information, please
contact us by E-Mail.
Thank you for visiting.
Dennis & Claudine.
LEARN MORE ABOUT:
Melaka, The Historical City