Doctoral Degrees (History)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (History) by Author "Damon, Eleanor Denise"

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    'n Genealogiese analise van die Cyster-familie van Pniël : hulle bydrae tot die ontwikkeling van 'n sendingdorp en 'n geslote gemeenskap in Suid-Afrika
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Damon, Eleanor Denise; Burden, M.; Heese, H. F.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of History.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This is a study of the family history of the Cyster family of the mission station in Pniël in the Western Cape. The overview of the family history starts before the inception of the mission station in 1843 up to the current generation. The family tree covers a period of 200 years and is based on genealogical and cultural historical methodology. The ancestral patriarch, Carel Cyster, was working as a slave on the neighbouring farm of Lekkerwijn, in the district of Groot-Drakenstein. The archival resources are not clear about his residence before he registered as a slave on this farm. The names of all the slaves who are documented appear without any surnames. It is thus difficult to identify the patriarch because of all the hundreds of persons who had the same name as him. He married Sara Willemse on 23 July 1844 in Pniël. The origin of Sara is also from the same farm of Lekkerwijn where she lived with her mother and family. According to oral history she was known as a "duusvrou". Ten children were born out of this marriage, six boys and four girls. One of the daughter's genealogical footprint cannot be followed after she was baptised in the church of Pniël. The family had to reconstruct themselves as a family unit with a new sense of identity after the emancipation of the slaves in 1838. The choice to join the mission station had many positive consequences for the entire family. The biggest benefit was that they could legally stay together as a family. The majority of the family are still living on the mission station today as part of the closed community where they follow the traditions that were started many years ago. The seven generations of the other nine children of Carel Cyster en Sara Willemse can easily be researched by looking at the marriage, baptism and membership registers of the Congregational Church in Pniël or in the Archives of the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa in Stellenbosch. The off-springs of this pioneer couple have migrated across the world where they, like their forefathers, contribute to the communities they belong to. The social mobility of the Cyster family evolved from humble beginnings as farm workers to careers where they compete in the top echelons of the job market. Modern technology has immensely simplified the task of the researcher to gather information from online resources. Data of family members can also be entered onto a family website by the members themselves.