Andries Ignatius Marthinus van Rooyen (b10c2d7)
by Gina Shepherd
Published: 17 July 2025
Andries Ignatius Marthinus van Rooyen, born 1804, was the youngest son of Dirk van Rooyen and Anna Magdalena Meyer. He was married to Johanna Dorothea Bouwer, daughter of Petrus Cornelis Frederik Bouwer and Anna Catharina Nel.
While some of Andries’ siblings also trekked, they did so somewhat earlier generally, and in different trek parties. According to Voortrekkerstamouers by Jan Visagie there is no certainty as to when this Van Rooyen family departed from the Albany district, but he mentions that they had crossed the Orange by 1845.
A study of the baptisms of their children would give some clues. Their first child, Anna Catharina Magdalena was baptised in Uitenhage in 1831, and the second child Dirk Petrus Cornelius in Uitenhage in 1839. In the estate of the third child, Petrus Cornelis Frederik he is estimated to have been born in 1840 in ‘Olipahantshoek’ according to the death notice. The Uitenhage baptism registers often noted where the family lived. In Anna’s baptism it was not noted, but in Dirk’s it was given as ‘Visch Rivier’, which may refer to the Great Fish River. Unfortunately there is no clarity on where ‘Oliphantshoek’ was situated as there were several in the Cape Colony, but there was one in the Albany district in which Andries and Anna’s farm ‘Mooimeisiesfontein’ was situated in the ward ‘Visrivier’. My next step was to consult the Albany baptism register and I found Petrus Frederik born 1 December 1839, and baptised 29 December 1839.
Visagie states that the farm ‘Mooimeisiesfontein’ had been put up for sale in 1837, along with 1,000 merino sheep. Given the baptism date we can assume that the family were still in this area at the time of Petrus’ birth.
The next two children, Anna Catharina Magdalena and Johanna Dorothea, are reported in South African Family Registers (SAF) as being twins, born on 10 January 1842. There is no baptism information given in SAF and the source of this data is not stated. I consulted the Albany baptism register and found a baptism for Johanna Dorothea born 10 January 1842, and baptised 16 January 1842. There is no mention of the other twin, Anna Catharina Magdalena. It is possible she died soon after her birth and was thus not yet baptised.
The baptism in Albany in January 1842 shows that the family were still in the Cape Colony at that time.
The next child to be born was Andries Ignatius Marthinus van Rooyen who was baptised in Winburg along with other Voortrekker children on 21 December 1845 by Rev. Daniel Lindley.
This Van Rooyen family did not trek with any of Andries’ family, but there is a strong possibility they joined the trek with Johanna’s family led by Joachim Christoffel Espag, whose trek party departed the ‘Visrivier’ ward of Albany in 1842. It appears that Espag’s initial intention was to trek to Natal, but he settled in the Ohrigstad district, while the Van Rooyens settled in Winburg, but it is not known when they parted ways. Espag’s party of 23 families (and an enormous number of stock animals) included the following family of Johanna Dorothea Bouwer (adults), wife of Andries Ignatius Marthinus van Rooyen:
- Her parents, Pieter (or Petrus) Cornelis Bouwer (b12c1) and Anna Catharina Nel;
- Her brother Petrus Frederik Barendse (b12c1d6) who also settled in what would become the Orange Free State;
- Her uncle Dirk Bouwer (b12c5) and his wife Susanna Cornelia Helena Nel;
- Her cousin Adriaan Petrus Johannes Bouwer (b12c5d6);
- Her uncle Jeremias Jesias Bouwer (b12c6) and his wife Johanna Elisabeth Buys.
Confusingly Andries and Johanna’s last child, Dirk, was baptised in Glen Lynden on 26 March 1848, so the family may have returned to the Colony at some point, possibly to visit. Both Andries and Johanna died on the farm ‘Doornhoek’ in the Winburg district in 1862 and 1896 respectively, so it is clear they did return to Winburg.
Trek leader JC Espag was not a well know or well-documented Trek leader so it is not clear which route his party followed. Given their starting location they may have had a similar potential route to several other treks, namely Trichardt, Retief or Potgieter. It is likely they made their stopover at Thaba ‘Nchu, which most trek parties did.
Genealogical information
Please see the database for detailed sources. Links are not given as they change regularly. Please use the search function.
Andries Ignatius Marthinus VAN ROOYEN (b10c2d7) *19.01.1804 ≈Swellendam 08.04.1804 †’Doornhoek’, dist. Winburg 04.05.1862 s.o. Dirk VAN ROOYEN and Anna Magdalena MEYER x ca 1830 Johanna Dorothea BOUWER *Somerset East 04.05.1811 ≈Graaff-Reinet 08.07.1811 †’Doornhoek’, dist. Winburg 22.04.1896 d.o. Petrus Cornelis Frederik BOUWER and Anna Catharina NEL
e1 Anna Catharina Magdalena *01.08.1830 ≈Uitenhage 09.01.1831
e2 Dirk Petrus Cornelius *27.07.1838 ≈Uitenhage 13.01.1839
e3 Petrus Cornelis Frederik *’Oliphantshoek’ 01.12.1839 ≈Albany 29.12.1839 †’Doornhoek’, dist. Winburg 17.11.1869 x Winburg 06.01.1862 Magrieta Maria VAN NIEKERK *19.07.1841 ≈Uitenhage 02.10.1841 †’Doornhoek West’, dist. Senekal 28.10.1920 d.o. Johannes Jacobus VAN NIEKERK and Martha Maria PIENAAR
e4 Anna Catharina Magdalena *10.01.1842
e5 Johanna Dorothea *10.01.1842 ≈Albany 16.01.1842 †’Doornhoek’, dist. Senekal 12.06.1909 x Winburg 01.09.1862 Salmon Johannes Lodewyk VAN NIEKERK *17.04.1840 ≈Uitenhage 04.07.1840 †’Wardenstoren’, dist. Senekal 26.04.1918 s.o. Johannes Jacobus VAN NIEKERK and Martha Maria PIENAAR
e6 Andries Ignatius Marthinus *05.04.1845 ≈Winburg 21.12.1845 x Kroonstad 07.02.1870 Anna Maria Elizabeth KRAUSE *ca 1854 †Parys 21.04.1921 d.o. Hermanus Lukas KRAUSE and Christina Wilhelmina BOTHA
e7 Dirk *06.04.1847 ≈Glen Lynden 26.03.1848 x Kroonstad 19.10.1870 Zacharia Christina Carolina PRELLER *04.10.1850 ≈Pietermaritzburg 27.10.1850 †dist. Kroonstad 30.12.1879 d.o. Carel Frederick PRELLER and Maria Margaretha NAUDE
Research on subsequent generations is ongoing and available in the database.
General Sources:
- Visagie, Jan C. 2011. Voortrekkerstamouers 1935–1845. Second edition. Pretoria: Protea Publishers. pp. 551–552; 88; 182.
- Genealogical Insitute of South Africa. 2018. South African Family Registers, vol. VanH-Vei. Stellenbosch: GISA. p. 586.
- Visagie. Jan C. 2021. Minder bekende Voortrekkerleiers. University of Stellenbosch. pp. 46–47.
Image sources:
- Map showing Albany district within Cape of Good Hope (circled in white): https://www.oldmapsonline.org/en/maps/b945443e-81f2-5a52-9d52-69081e40659d?gid=24cd5be0-43ce-52cf-ba67-4686ba301b8a&year=1848#position=6.8521/-31.708/22.922/-1.24&year=1848 [accessed 17 July 2025].
- Frankfort, Eduard. 1905. De Trek via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JM_M009340,_schilderij_%27De_Trek%27_door_Eduard_Frankfort,_1905-1905.jpg [accessed 17 July 2025].
- Pierneef, Jacobus Hendrik. 1938. Die Groot Trek via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JH_Pierneef_-_Die_Groot_Trek_1938.jpg [accessed 17 July 2025].
van Rooyen Genealogy 
