• General Notes

  Gerrit Victor was born in Amsterdam, and was in the service of the V.O.C. in Ceylon, where his two children were conceived. In 1666, he arrived in the Cape of Good Hope as a sick-visitor. He was appointed a schoolmaster and conducted classes in an attic,thought to have been in the castle. He received pay of a quarter rix-dollar monthly for educating a child of a citizen or servant of the company. When ships called at port, the attic was converted to an inn and the children sent on vacation. Later he was accepted as a burgher; in 1677 headed the orphan chamber; in 1680 was registrar of marriages; he was standard-bearer of the
  citizens’ guard and between 1678 and 1680 was deacon of the Cape church. In 1676, his wife got permission to establish a bakery and shortly thereafter he won a licence to establish a wine house. In 1681, he again went into the  service of  the V.O.C. and, as a result, was sent as a sick-visitor to Batavia. He  returned the following year and resumed his trade in wine. By 1692, he was a well-to-do farmer capable of harvesting 100 bags of grain each season.  

Details of Gerhard's family with Christina (Steyntje) van den Berg