Gertruij van den Bijl

• Name	Gertruij van den Bijl
  Gender	Female
  Married Name	van Brakel
  Person ID	I1056	Main Tree
  Last Modified	12 Dec 2025

  
  

  Family
  Marriage	1 Apr 1708	Stellenbosch, South Africa
  Family ID	F360	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	12 Dec 2025

  
  

• Notes

  In her petition to the Council of Policy, 15th June 1723, she states that she, with her husband, had five children, three of whom were still living at that date. That for the first nine years of their marriage he was a good husband, even tempered and considerate (betaamt en toestaat) but that over the last six years he had been ruined by becoming a drunkard, which was not only reflected in his domestic affairs and occupation, and in beating his wife, but he was no longer providing for his family, reducing her children to begging. The farm was falling into ruin, the animals no longer tended, the slaves fleeing because of his brutality in his drunken state. He was refusing to see his wife, forcing his eldest son to drink with him and, in his worst states asking his children for rope with which to hang himself. She therefore requested permission to sue for divorce, which permission was granted.