Retief Family Genealogy

A living, evolving record of the Retief family — the eleven-generation Huguenot spine from François Retif (b. Mer, 1663) down to the present day, together with the married-in lines that shape who the family has become. The Gen 4–5–6 stretch of the spine is documented to primary church and civil registers; the rest is laid out with honest certainty grading.

Each person and source carries a small badge — primary source, church register, family-confirmed, and so on — so it is always clear what is settled and what is still inference.

If you are not sure where to begin, start with Threads — the resonances and coincidences the documents have surfaced: the single 1843 document that names three generations at once, the two 14 Junes fifty years apart, the Sussex family who landed at Piketberg, the Petronella name that carries straight down, the Scottish Borders at the far end of the daughters' line.

The family lines

• The Retief Spine — François to today

  The eleven-generation Huguenot line from François Retif (1663–1721) to Attie's children, with the Gen 4–5–6 stretch documented to primary church and civil registers.

• The Laker Line

  The English Sussex family — James Laker (Rudgwick, 1790) and Sophia Pearce (Marylebone, 1815) — that settled at Piketberg and married into the Retief spine through their daughter Anne in 1837.

• The Saayman Line

  Attie's paternal grandmother's line — Maria Margaretha Saayman (1906, Calitzdorp) up through two further generations in the DRC registers of Calitzdorp and Laingsburg.

• The Van Zyl Line

  Attie's maternal grandfather's line — Johan Wilhelm Albertus van Zyl (1920, Cape→Johannesburg) up to Jacobus Lodewyk van Zyl (1879), where the public tree dead-ends.

• The Fuller / Frost Line

  Attie's maternal grandmother's line — the English-settler thread, running up to Philip Frost of Bodham, Norfolk (1787–1867), the documented progenitor at Port Elizabeth.

• The du Plessis Line

  Izelle's paternal line — the daughters' du Plessis side. Anchored five generations above Izelle from Marthinus Petrus (1878) up to his parents Herklaas Gerhardus du Plessis × Louisa Johanna Susanna Koen (m. Hopetown 1866); the bridge from there to the noble Huguenot stamvader Jean Prieur remains untraced.

• The Meades Line

  Izelle's paternal grandmother's line — Francina Carolina Meades (1915–2000) upward through four documented generations to the Dutoit's Pan diamond-fields wedding of 1883.

• The Tait Line

  Izelle's maternal grandfather's line — a deep Scottish settler family traced back seven generations to the Scottish Borders.

• The van Niekerk Line

  Attie's maternal grandmother's line — Sophia Wilhelmina Jacoba van Niekerk (1890–deceased) documented back four generations to Johannes Wilhelmus Albertus van Niekerk × Dorothea Oosthuysen at Riversdale, 1856.

The spine, in order

• François Retif Gen 1 2 Feb 1663 – 24 Sep 1721
• Andries Johannes Retief Gen 4 1782
• Sophia Maria Elizabeth Bauermeister Gen 4 1773
• Andries Johannes Retief Gen 5 6 Jul 1817 – 22 Jul 1843
• Andries Johannes Retief Gen 6 1837 – 1911
• Adriaan Albertus Retief Gen 8
• Adriaan Albertus Retief Gen 9 [private]
• Adriaan Albertus ("Attie") Retief Gen 10 [private]
• Frans Johannes Retief
• Sophia Johanna Elizabeth Retief 14 Oct 1839