Retief Family Genealogy

The Retief Spine — François to today

primary source

The backbone of the family: an unbroken line from the Huguenot stamvader François Retif (b. Mer, Loir-et-Cher, 1663; d. Paarl, 1721) down to Attie’s children — eleven generations.

François fled the burning Reformed temple at Mer and sailed on the Borssenburg (Texel, 6 January 1688 → Cape, 12 May 1688). The line runs through his son Paul at Gen 2 — not the Piet Retief branch, which diverges at the second generation. The two share François as common ancestor and nothing below him.

Gens 4–5–6: documented to primary sources

The most-tested stretch of the spine is the fifth generation, Andries Johannes Retief (1817–1843) × Anne Laker — the couple some online trees (WikiTree) wrongly compressed out. Attie’s family record was right. Their place in the line is anchored by three primary documents:

  1. The 1843 Death Notice of Andries Johannes Retief (Cape Province Probate Records, no. 6273), filed 9 August 1843 — which on one page names his parents (Gen 4: Andries Johannes Retief × Sophia Maria Elizabeth Bauermeister), himself (Gen 5), and his three minor heirs (Gen 6: Andries Johannes, Sophia Johanna Elizabeth, and Frans Johannes Retief). It even records the farm name — Windhoek, Zwartland — that the family carried in memory for nearly two centuries.
  2. The 1837 Cape Town marriage register entry of Andries Retief × Anna Laker, 30 July 1837 — independent church-register confirmation of the marriage.
  3. The 1839 Swartland baptism register entry of their daughter Sophia Joanna Elisabeth Retief, born 14 October 1839 at Swartland — independent confirmation of the parents and their location.

All three documents attach in the FamilySearch tree to the same Gen 5 man. The Gen 4 → Gen 5 → Gen 6 stretch is now solid as it gets without going to the parish originals at Mer itself.

Recurring names

Three Andries Johannes Retief in a row (Gens 5–6–7), then three Adriaan Albertus Retief in a row (Gens 8–9–10), the name carrying straight down to Attie himself. His children are Gen 11.

Soli Deo gloria.

People in this line