PN Verburgh1
F, #13803, b. 8 December 1655, d. 16 December 1655
Company Journal | On 8 December 1655 in the Company Journal, as translated: Sloops returned stating that 20 of the sheep had died, and that the number on the island was 326. Bought again 39 and 27 young and old cattle, also received 13 others bought by Herry, who would have brought more but some natives had stolen 4 bags of copper and all the tobacco; had urged the natives to come to the fort with their cattle, where they could always obtain sufficient copper; did not seem satisfied that all our copper plates had been used up, as he had depended upon them; the wire being not much in demand;, would otherwise without difficulty obtain as much as we want. It is clear that if we had enough copper plate we would obtain 1,000 head of cattle even from those who had squatted here a while, and who daily come even without the help of Herry; but they would rather have plate copper than wire. Regarding the copper stolen from Herry we do not believe half his story, as he no doubt spent it in presents to court favour among the natives (the thirteen head of cattle will cost the Company a good deal) which would be advantageous, the more so as we observe that they are coming on very rapidly with their cattle. Therefore pretend to believe him and treat him kindly, much having been gained by having established a good understanding with these savages. Riebeeek's wife (Maria de la Queillerie) delivered of her second son (Anthony van Riebeeck) at the Cape, and in the afternoon the wife of Frederick Verburg (Meinsje Campen) of her first, a daughter (PN Verburgh) the first girl born here, after they had been married 9 months, less one day. Sloop returns from Robben Island; sheep all right.2 |
Citations
- [S654] Mansell Upham 'What can't be cured, must be endured … Cape of Good Hope - first marriages & baptisms (1652-1665)', First Fifty Years, Uprooted Lives - Unfurling the Cape of Good Hope's Earliest Colonial Inhabitants (1652-1713), (http://e-family.co.za/ffy/ui66.htm), January 2012. "b1 NN unbaptized girl born Cape 8 December 1655; dies 16 December 1655 - 1st non-aborigine born at the Cape."
- [S673] Precis of the archives of the Cape of Good Hope, December 1651 - December 1653[5], Van Riebeeck's Journal, &c. Part I, H.C.V. Leibrandt; (Cape Town, South Africa: W. A. Richards & Sons, Government Printers, Castle Street, 1897), p.250. Hereinafter cited as Precis of the archives, JVR Journal 1651-1653[5].