WILHELM MEYER OVERVIEW

By MA Meyer MCom (Inf), BCom (Hons-HRW), BMil(E), BTech PM

Various records and compilations had been made for the Meyer Family within the current South Africa. It started in the year 1652 when Jan van Riebeeck was ordered by the Dutch East India Company (DEIC - VOIC) to establish a settlement at the Cape of Good Hope to supply rations to ships passing to the East and back to Europe. On an annual basis a report was compiled, and a copy/original was sent to the Netherlands where the company had its head office. The Muster Rolls (monsterrollen) is preserved in the form of transcripts in the Cape Archives as VC 39-55 and 103. (Ball, 2005) It seems that yearly lists of the inhabitants at the Cape was drawn up by Dutch East India Company (VOC) officials and sent to the authorities in the Netherlands where they were preserved. Reference is also made to the Cape Town Dutch Reformed Congregation for Baptisms (1653 – 1756) (Keller, Hervormde Kerk. Cape Town Baptisms 1653 to 1756, 2005), Marriage (1658 – 1803) (Keller, Hervormde Kerk. Cape Town Marriages 1656-1803) and Membership (1665 – 1832) records. (Written and transcribed by Richard Ball and Corney Keller.
In evaluating the list of names, the emphasis was to identify people that might be linked to or related to the Meyer Family. The following information of interest was extracted from the Muster Rolls, Baptisms and Marriage Register. The information should be weighed against the background that the records are very old and in some cases some text had been lost, the writing style does not always provide a clear indication of the letter(s). There were no official records of the individuals and was written on hearsay and own spelling based on the phonetics and interpretation of the person recording the information.

The records indicate various spellings of which no one really knows the correct one. Some of the spellings used are the following: Meyer, Myer, Meier, Meijer, Meÿer. The records also indicate that the spelling for the same person may differ from one year to another. Richard Ball and Corney Keller must have had a painstaking exercise to transcribe the records

The following information was extracted from the list as written and transcriptions by Richard Ball on the Muster Rolls (Ball, 2005), reported to the VOC and the Church records of baptisms and marriages by Corney Keller.

Cape Muster Roll 1658:
Dirck Meyer, van Lunenborch}

Cape Muster Roll 1660:
Vryluijden
Pieter Vasagie, van Antwerpen
Particuliere landdtbouwers van de [.] Comdr. Riebeeck
Tieleman Hendricx, Uijtkijck, vrouw: Maijken Hendricx   kinderen : 1
Niederlantse dienaers:
Dircq Meijer, van Lunenburg

Cape Muster Roll 1662
Particuliere landbouwers van den commandeur Riebeecq van den Uijtwijck
Teuinisz van de Hooge Lijs,  mr. knecht
do. knechts
Dirrick Meijer van Lunenbergh

Cape Town Marriages 1670
Den 21 Juni
Pieter Vasagie van Antwerpen, en Catharina Kients van Terveer

Cape Muster Roll 1673
Vryluijden
Pieter Vasagie en Catharina Kiens

Cape Town Baptisms 1674
Den 25 Novembreen soontie van Pieter   Vasagie en Catharina Kients syn huysvr' wiert genaamt Guilliaam getuijghe was Maria Hendricx soo voor haer selven als voor Leuntie Kients woonachtigh in het Vaderlandt

Cape Muster Roll 1675
Vryluijden
Pieter Vasagie en Catrien Kiens  1 kind

Cape Muster Roll 1678 - free men
Vryluijden
Pieter Visagie en Catriena Tiens

Cape Muster Roll 1679
Vryluijden
Pieter Visagie en Catharina Tiens 1 k.

Cape Town Marriages 1682
Den 10 April
Willem Meier van Essen jonghman en Catarina Kyns, weduwe van Pieter Visagie.

Cape Town Baptisms 1684
Date:  Eodem dito (19 Mej)
Child Name:       Lucas
Parents:  Willem Meier en Catrina Kiens
Witnesses:  Theunis Dircksen Schalckwyck en Sandrina Maxwel

Cape Muster Roll 1685
Vryluijden
Willem Mijer en Catharina Kiens 3k
Jan Coenraad Myer         } in Compi.

Cape Muster Roll 1686
Vryluijden
Willem Meier n Catrijn Kien

Cape Town Baptisms 1688 (Serve as witnesses to a Baptism)
Den 13 Junii is een kindt gedoopt en genaamd Jannetie
waar van vader is Willem van Wijck moeder
Catarina Wijekers. de getuigen Willem Meijer en Catarina Kien.

Cape Town Marriages 1690
Den 6 Augustus
sijn in den huijwelijken staet vereenight
Maarten Pausion, vrijborger alhier met Catrina Kiens, van Vlissinge wede. van Willem Meier.

Cape Muster Roll 1692
Vryluijden
Marten Pousiaen en Catrina Kien  3 k.

Cape Town Baptisms 1693
den selfde dito (1 Februarij) een kint gedoop waer van vader is Hendrik Bouman de moeder Geertruij de With, tot getuijge was Cornelis Linnes ende Catarina Kiens, is genaemt Johanna

Cape Muster Roll 1708
Vryluijden
Jan Coenraad Meijer

Cape Muster Roll 1708
Vryluijden
District: Cabo (The rolls are usually divided into the people resident in the three districts then extant, the Cape (Cabo), Stellenbosch and Drakenstein.)
Marten Poussion en Catrina Kien
Isaac Visagie
Lucas Meijer
Pieter Meijer en Aletta de Savoije
Gerrit Hendrik Meijer en Susanna Costeux

Cape Muster Roll 1713
Vryluijden
Stellenbosch.
Lucas Meijer & Agatha Barents Blom }
Isaacq Visagie               } in Comp[agn]ie
Guilliam Visagie & Annetje Prinsloo
Cape District/ Drakenstein
Pieter Meijer & Aletta de Savoije

Cape Muster Roll 1714
December 1714
Stellenbosch
Hendrik Meijer
Drakensteijn
Lucas Meijer en Agatha Blom, en broer
Isaac Visagie
Hendrik Guldenhuijsen en Elsebe Meijer
De Cape
Pieter Meijer en Aletta de Savoij

Cape Muster Roll 1715/16
Cabo de Goede Hoop
Pieter Meijer en Aletta de Savoije
Stellenbosch
Lucas Meijer en Agatha Blom
Guillaume Visagie en Gerritje Prinsloo

Cape Town Marriages 1713 to 1756
1713
Date:     19 d:o
Couple: Pieter de Meijer, van [Amsterdam], wed:r met Helena Verhaijk, van d:o wed:e van Dominicus Blesius.

Cape Town Baptisms 1715
Date: 7 April
Child Name: Jacoba Elizabeth
Parents: Pieter de Meijer, en Helena Verhaik
Witnesses: Jacob Verhaik, en Elizabeth Bruinsteen.

Cape Town Baptisms 1716
Date: 31 Maii
Child Name: Sebastiaan Philippus
Parents: Pieter Meijer, en Aletta de Savoije
Witnesses: Pieter Meijer, en Aletta de Savoije.

Cape Town Baptisms 1717
Date: 14 d:o
Child Name: Helena Clara
Parents: Pieter de Meijer, en Helena Verhaik
Witnesses: Jacob Verhaik junior, en Magdalena Clara de Meijer.

Cape Town Baptisms 1718
Date: 6 Martii
Child Name: Catharina
Parents: Pieter Meijer, en Aletta de Savoije
Witnesses: Johannes Blankenberg, en Catharina Bouman.

Cape Town Marriages 1713 to 1756
1723
Date: 9 Maij
Couple: Johannes van Baarsenburg van Maastrigt, jongm: en stalmeester alhier, en Susanna Meijer van Cabo, jongej:r.

Cape Town Baptisms 1726
Date: 29e 7b:r.
Child Name: Dorothea Elisabeth,
Parents: d' moeder Catharina Elisabeth Meijer, de genoemde vader (sou syn) Cornelis Eelders,
Witnesses: getu: des kinds moeder; (onegt)

Cape Town Marriages 1713 to 1756
1730
Date: 21e Meij
Couple: Willem Meijer van Breemen, sold:t in dienst der e: comp:e wed:ur, met Judith Kuyp van Cabo d' Goede Hoop, wed:e wylen den burger Johannes Smuts.

GGSA/GSSA. FAMILIA OMNIBUS Vol 3 (2006) GSSA Compact Disk No. 020. The descendants of Wilhelm Meyer and Catharina Kiens, Compiled by: Richard Y Ford

July 2005 state/include the following:

“The first of the South African MEYER progenitors, he came from Essen in Lüneburg, Germany. Arrived in the Cape as a soldier with the VOC but became one of the first free burghers and farmed on the Liesbeeck River. An episode is described in the "Attestasies" of 1679: A permit was issued to three free burghers Gerrit Visser, Hendriks Jacobs, Jan Stoffels and an official Willem Meyer 'borrowed' from the Kompanje to shoot hippopotamus in the Breë River "for the maintenance of their families". The party left Capetown on 6 Sep 1679 with three wagons, 24 oxen and two trained Hottentots, Dickop and Trompetter. At the river 'Zonder Ende' they were joined by six Hottentots from the kraal of Coopman, captain of the 'Sonquas'. Towards the evening when it started raining, the strange Hottentots quietly left the camp. The following evening, towards sunset, while Willem and his party were skinning hippopotamuses, they discovered that the Hottentots had left with their oxen. Even more disturbing was a threat from the Sonquas Hottentots the following day that they leave or be killed. Without having achieved their objective they returned to the Castle without their wagons, oxen and meat.”

Given the information provided the question arises: “Could Dirck Meyer, van Lunenborch arriving in the Cape in 1658 (Dircq Meijer, van Lunenburg (1660 VOC Muster Roll) and Willem (Wilhelm) Meijer that is mentioned in 1679 and married Catharina KIENS in 1682 be the same person?

Based on the research of: Parma C. en C.G. de Villiers. Geslagregister van die ou Kaapse Families. Deel 1: A-M p573 identify Willem (Wilhelm) Meyer v. Essen in Lüneberg, † (died) 1690, x (Married) 10.4.1682 Catharina Kiens v. Terveere, wed.  v. Pieter Visagie as one of the MEYER Progenitors within South Africa. Dirck/Dircq/Dierk Meyer as indicated in the Muster Rolls of the VOIK arrived in the Cape in ca 1658. Wilhelm was born in 1650 as the son of Dierk Meyer. The family of Dierk Meyer is recorded as such: -Dierk Meyer (Family Search, 2023) * about 1623 in Obernheide, Stuhr, Diepholz, Niedersachsen, Germany, and married in/about 1648 with Cristina Hoyer, * 1626 in Obernheide, Stuhr, Oldenburg, Germany.

The children born in the marriage were:

Wilhelm Meyer * 1650 Essen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Johann Meyer * 1652, Obernheide, Stuhr, Oldenburg, Germany
Metke Meyer * 1654. Obernheide, Stuhr, Oldenburg, Germany
Dierk Meyer * 1655, Obernheide, Stuhr, Oldenburg, Germany
Anna Meyer * 1656, Obernheide, Stuhr, Oldenburg, Germany
Hinrich Meyer *1660, Obernheide, Stuhr, Oldenburg, Germany
Arendt Meyer *1664, Obernheide, Stuhr, Oldenburg, Germany

Progenitor: Wilhelm Meyer a1
Birth: ca 1650 from Essen, Lüneberg, Prussia
Spouse: Catharina KIENS
Birth: ca 1656 from Terveere (or Veere), Netherlands
Married: 10 Apr 1682, Cape Town, Western Cape (Keller, Hervormde Kerk. Cape Town Marriages 1656-1803)
Children: Lucas, b1 (19.05.1684 - ca1741) (Keller, Hervormde Kerk. Cape Town Baptisms 1653 to 1756, (2005)

[The name of the Progenitor’s wife is recorded in 3 different ways as indicated in the following church records during her 3 marriages. Name: Catharina/Catarina/Catrina Surname: Kients/Kyns/Kiens Origin: Terveer/Vlissinge ]

Cape Town Marriages
1670 Den 21 Juni: Pieter Vasagie van Antwerpen, en Catharina Kients van Terveer
1682 Den 10 April: Willem Meier van Essen jonghman en Catarina Kyns, weduwe van Pieter Visagie.
1690 Den 6 Aug: Maarten Pausion, vrijborger alhier met Catrina Kiens, van Vlissinge wede. van Willem Meier.

It is accepted that with possible minor errors in names and dates that Parma C. en C.G. de Villiers. Geslagregister van die ou Kaapse Families. Deel 1: A-M and GGSA/GSSA. FAMILIA OMNIBUS Vol 3 (2006) GSSA Compact Disk No. 020. The descendants of Wilhelm Meyer and Catharina Kiens, compiled by: Richard Y Ford July 2005 serves as a foundation.

Appreciation and thanks must be given to Mike Dollman, a descendant of Michael Meyer (1856) on his records and input in compiling the information.

The main objective is to compile a combined family tree for the descendant of Michael Jacob Meyer from 1813 to 2023. The lineage reference number for Michael Jacob Meyer * 1813 is a1b1c6d8e11 is the 5^th generation since Wilhelm Meyer (a1) arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in abt 1658.  Anyone that can assist in achieving this objective can contact the author to share information and achieve the objective.

You can contact the author at +27 - 83 - 882 - 6534 or archiemeyer44@gmail.com.