Insights
into Claas Jansz: van Rensburg Signatures
1661-October 1728
Author: A.M. van Rensburg (b4 c2 d1 e6 f5 g5 h3 i2)
Webmaster: M.A. van Rensburg (b4 c2 d1 e6
f5 g5 h3 i2 j1)
Claas Jansz b4 Willem c2 Nicolaas d1 Willem e6 Willem f5 Nicolaas Jacobus
Back to home Claas Jansz Page 1 Page 2 Footnotes
Six Signatures of Claas
I have located six signatures of Claas Jansz: van Rensburg. There are a number of questions we can address:
Did he spell his name Claas, or Claes or Claus? Was Jansz his fathers name or an already fixed surname?
I will refer to the signatures numbering the once in the left column from top down as one, two, and three and those in the right column from top down as four, five and six.
1. Claes - number two could indicate an "e". Claus - number five seems to clearly contain an "u"
2. I do not believe that Jansz was a fixed surname, rather it was his father's name. Signature five and six clearly has an "en" ending. When one looks at the other signatures with this in mind you will notice the abbreviated version of this.
A couple of other observations: Signature number four - he uses a lower case "j" whereas all his other signatures, he uses uppercase "J". Not once did he signature include "van Rensburg".
Some things to keep in mind when researching: His name could be thus Claas/ Claus/Claes or the full equavalent with the prefix "Ni". Thus Nicolaas, Nicolaus, Niclaus, Nicolaes could all be possibilities. Claas is also sometimes filed under "Jansz". His father could have been Jan or Johannes.
A similar challenge exists today when researching the family. Material can be found under "van Rensburg" or "Rensburg" or "Janse van Rensburg" or "Jansen van Rensburg" or even just "Jansen" / "Janse"
b4 Willem c2 Nicolaas d1 Willem e6 Willem f5 Nicolaas Jacobus andre@clover.com.au