| Notes |
- PRIVATE
- «b»de Savoye Jacques
«/b»of Aeth born 1636 arrived in the «i»Oosterlandt«/i» in 1688 with his wife Marie Madeleine le Clercq of Tournay daughter of Philippe le Clercq and Anthoinette Carnoy and three children. His mother-in-law also came with him. The children were Marguerite de Savoye then 17 years old Barbere 15 years (children of his first marriage) and Jacques nine months.
The «i»Oosterlandt left «/i»Goeree, Netherlands on 03 Feb 1688 and arrived in Table Bay on 25 Apr 1688. This was the 3rd Huguenot ship to leave Netherlands, 160 feet long, could carry 275 passeners & carried 24 Huguenots
In writing about his departure from Europe the Seventeen informed the Cape Governor that de Savoye had been for many years an eminent merchant of Ghent where he had been persecuted by the Jesuits to such an extent that his life had even been threatened. In order to escape he had decided to end his days beyond their reach and to take with him various flemish farmers of the reformed religion who had also suffered persecution and had also resolved to leave their Fatherland for the same reason as de Savoye. Amongst his party were the three brothers Nourtier who are described as his "domestiques".
He soon became a leader among the French community at the Cape: he was one of the deputation which, on 28.11.1689, asked the Governor and Council of Policy for a separate congregation for the French refugees, and the following year he helped to administer the funds donated to the French refugees by the charity board of the church of Batavia.
To begin with, De S. farmed at «i»Vrede-en-Lust«/i» at Simondium and in 1699 was also given «i»Leeuwenvallei«/i» in the Wagenmakersvallei (Wellington), but settled at the Cape soon afterwards. He apparently experienced financial difficulties since in 1701 he owed the Cape church council 816 guilders and various people sued him for outstanding debts. In 1712 he described himself as being without means.
In March 1712 he left for the Netherlands in the Samson, accompanied by his wife and mother-in-law. His application for free passage was refused by the authorities but due to their age were allowed to travel at half-fare as deck passengers.. Their house in Table Valley was sold in 1713. He enrolled as a member of the Walloon congregation in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on 16.12.1714, but only four months later, on 20.4.1715, they were given a certificate from the Amsterdam church prior to departure, presumably for the Cape. They were admitted as members of the Cape congregation on March 16, 1716. According to C.G. Botha, he died in October 1717.
De S. often clashed with other people. During the struggle of the free burghers against Wilhem Adriaen van der Stel, he was strongly opposed to the Governor and was imprisoned in the Castle for a time. He and Hercules des Pré went to court on several occasions to settle their differences.
He was also involved in a long-drawn-out dispute with the Rev. Pierre Simond, and this feud reached it's climax on19 November 1690 at the Huguenot Chucrch in Drakenstein. «i»"...when a demented Jacques de Savoye, together with his daughter Margo and his (mixed blood) son in law Christoffel Snijman, assailed an unrelenting Pierre Simond with a barrage of abuse. The couples first born had been denied baptism by the minister on the usual officious grounds the procedure had not been adhered to.... they then vented their anger...with cries and fulmination...calling him ...hypocrite, two faced, papist, Jesuit, Judas, Kaffir etc...." «/i»Was the refusal to baptise the child of Christoffel Snijman and Margo de Savoye really procedural, or was there a racial motvie? Later, Jacques de Savoye would petition the Heere XVII against the advancement of blacks and mixed blodds, in an unashamedly racist document. Curious, considering his own mixed blood son-in-law and grandchildren.
On the 17th July 1689 a daughter Aletta was baptised at Cape Town and married Pierre Meyer of Dauphine qv. On the 29th August 1694 a son Philippe Rudolf was baptised at Drakenstein. The latter does not appear to have married; in his will filed in 1741 he institutes his nephews and nieces Meyer as his heirs. He joined the service of the Dutch East India Company and was junior merchant and Keldermeester at the Cape where he died in 1741 and was buried in the church. Jacques de Savoye was buried October 1717. His widow buried May 1721.
In the Cape he owned the farm Vrede-en-Lust in Drakenstein. He was a slave owner, was appointed as Heemraad (town councillor) to represent Drakenstein on 28 December 1695, was Captain of the Drakenstein militia and an Elder in the church.
Jacques had money troubles. He was in debt to the VOC others and was known to be "«i»traag was om rekeninge flink te vereffen«/i»" (reluctant to settle bills quickly).
Nonetheless he was described as an honourable man "sy lewe is 'n waardige voorbeeld van reinheid en heiligheid in soverre dit moontlik was in die plek waar hy hom bevind het, waar afgodery hoogty gevier het."
Governor van der Stel in a letter to the Kamer van Delft said "Jacques de Savoye en sy gesin is 'n voorbeeld van ywer vir al die vlugtelinge en uitgewekenes, en dat hy as Heemraad aangewys is n.a.v. sy vaardighede."
He was active in the Free burgher revolt against W.A. van der Stel and was imprisoned in the Castle for a while. He returned to the Netherlands with his wife in 1712 on the «i»Samson«/i».
He left three married daughters in the Cape and one son who died without heirs. He returned to the Cape in 1716 and died at the age of 81 in October 1717.
He is listed with his wife in the 1695 Cape Muster ROll as "«i»Jacobus Savoije & Maria Magdalena Clerck 4 k«/i»"
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1636 - 1717 (81 years)
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