Andre GAUCH / GOUS van Languedoc, het as Franse Hugenoot in 1691 op die skip Spierdyk aangekom as wewenaar met een seun. Sy eerste huwelik was met Jacqueline DECRE in 1683. Hy was hoefsmid van 1692-1698, en landbouer en een van die min vlugtelinge wat nie in 1690 geldelike hulp nodig gehad het nie. Hy is op 19 Aug 1691 met Jeanne (Johanna) de KLERK, dogter van Pieter (Pierre) le Clercq en Sara Cochet, getroud. Johanna/Jannetje was die suster van Abraham de Klerk, hulle was van Straatskerk in Walcheren, hulle het op die Oosterland in 1688 uitgekom. Gous het een seun uit sy eerste huwelik gehad, en 4 kinders uit sy tweede:  

1. Estienne (Steven) * Geneve 1684, x 6 Maart 1718 Catharina Bock (dv Christain Bock and Anna Groothenning van Bengale
2. Marie gedoop in Amsterdam, jonk oorlede
3. Pieter * 1693 x 4 Mei 1721 Johanna Oosthuizen, xx 25 Nov 1742 Aletta Vorster
    [lees aub regstelling van Pieter se data]
4. Sara * 1695 x Christiaan Gobrecht
5. Jeanne ~ 25 Sep 1695
6. Andries * 1698 x 14 Mei 1719 Johanna Conterman

Gous word vermoor toe hulle jongste kind skaars "n maand oud is, op 26 Februarie 1698 terwyl hy sy vee gaan inspekteer het. Johanna de Klerk trou toe met Pieter Bekker.

Verwysings:
De Villiers/Pama
Heese/Lombard
M Cairns The Secluded Valley: Tulbagh
Verwysingsmateriaal, Boksburg biblioteek
Verwysingsmateriaal, Springs LDS FHC biblioteek

Saamgestel deur:
Martina Louw (nee van Breda)
Kennethl@xtra.co.nz
AM van Rensburg

Regstelling van data:

Pieter Gouws (3de kind) het `n huwelik met Aletta Vorster in 1742. Dit is nie moontlik as hy oorlede is.

Reference no.: MOOC8/5.27

Testator(s):
Pieter Gaus

9 Maij 1730

N:s Leij

Staat ende inventaris mitsgaders taxatie der goederen naargelaten en met 'er dood ontruijmt door den landbouwer Pieter Gaus, ter voordeele van zijn nagelatene huijsvrouw Anna Oosthuijsen ter eenre, en

zijne vier nageblevene kinderen, met namen:

Jannetje ter andere zijde
Dorothea
Pieter en
Sara Gaus
en mitsg:s nog een waarvan sij wed: swanger is

zoo en in dier voegen als deselve door ons ondergetekende als grootmoeder en oom van die kinderen zijn bevonden, opgenomen en getaxeert, in presentie van de gecommitt:e Weesmeesteren, namentlijk

Een opstal gelegen over 't Roode Sand gen:t de Doorne Revier aan de Brakke Fontain,

Uitgewys deur:
Phoebe van Emmenes.

Saamgestel deur:
Annelie Els.

PART I : THE EUROPEAN BACKGROUND

André Gauch(e) for the first time appears in the available records when, on 13 January 1683, he married Jaqueline Decre in Celigny, a small town approximately 20 km east of Geneva on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

The marriage entry, uncovered by Colin Graham Botha during his research in the archives at Geneva in 1920, reads as follows:

“Le samedy 13 janvier 1683 ont espousé André fils de feu Pierre Gauch du Pont de Monvers aux Sevenes et Jaqueline fille de feu Louis Decre de Sauverni” [1]

(On 13 January 1683 were married André son of the late Pierre Gauch of Pont de Monvers in Sevenes and Jaqueline daughter of the late Louis Decre of Sauverni).

Le Pont-de-Montvert on the Tarn River is situated on the southern slope of mount Lozere at the following coordinates: 440 21’ 47” N and 30 44’ 42” E [2]

It is uncertain whether André’s father, Pierre Gauche, passed away in Pont de Montvert or whether he also fled to Switzerland and passed away there. Nothing is known about André’s mother.

André’s father-in-law, Louis Decre, originally was from Sauverny which is situated on the border between France and Switzerland close to Geneve at the following coordinates: 460 18’ 66” N and 60 06’ 54” E. [3]

No further information regarding Louis could as yet be found and it is thus unclear whether he died in Sauverny or in Switzerland. Equally unclear is whether Jaqueline was born in France or in Switzerland. About her mother nothing is known.

All the evidence, whether circumstantial or direct, points to the fact that André himself was originally from Pont-de-Montvert and that he was a Huguenot refugee.

During André’s lifetime the region in which Pont-de-Montvert was situated was strongly Protestant. Some years after André had left Pont-de-Montvert, Protestant dissatisfaction with the Roman Catholic dominated authorities there culminated in the Camisard revolt in 1702. [4]

As will be seen later on in the text, all records regarding his religious affiliation during his lifetime confirm his adherence to the Protestant religion.
Exactly when André crossed the border between France and Switzerland, his age at the time, and for how long he had been in Switzerland before the date of marriage, is however unknown.

What is known though is that André left France for Switzerland before the date of the marriage mentioned above and thus before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in October 1685.
What exactly André did during his stay in Switzerland is unclear. What is known though is that many of the Huguenots who left France before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes found employment in Switzerland. It can therefore be assumed that he was employed in some or other way during his years in Switzerland.

As will be seen later, he was described as a blacksmith and lock and key maker as well as being employed in the fabric manufacturing sector at some stage.

According to the records referred to below, it seems that he remained in the vicinity of Celigny and the neighboring Coppet after the marriage and that two children were born to him and Jaqueline in Switzerland.

Until now the literature dealing with the French refugees that came to the Cape contains no indication as to the whereabouts of André between the date of his marriage in 1683 and 1690 when he joined the Walloon church in Amsterdam. Boucher, for example, speculated that André might have spent these 7 years in Switzerland. [5]

However, a close scrutiny of the records reveals that André only spent three of these in Switzerland and that, in July 1686, he was in Frankfurt on the Main en route to Bremen. [6].

The question therefore arises as to why André decided to leave Switzerland in 1686.

It seems that there were three main reasons.

In the first place the local authorities and inhabitants could simply not cope with the additional housing and other basic needs of the French refugees whose numbers had been dramatically increased by the large number of refugees who crossed the border into Switzerland during the so called Grand Refuge that followed on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.

Secondly, the local artisan unions became uncomfortable with the competition that they might had to face as a result of the influx of a large number of foreign artisans.

The third reason for André‘s decision to leave Switzerland might have stemmed from the new possibilities that were opened up by the invitations that a number of German estates had extended to Huguenot refugees to settle there under favorable conditions.

One such place was Bremen where almost 500 Huguenots were settled during 1684/85 [7]

At that stage Bremen was politically ruled by the Swedish monarchy and was a thriving business hub in Northern Germany.

In order to secure economic growth, people of all nations and religions were welcomed into the city. These included French Protestant refugees who were allowed to use the St Johannes Klosterkirche for their religious services. [8]

According to the records, André and his wife, with two children, received assistance in the amount of fl 3 at Frankfurt on 12 July 1686. The records also indicate that on that day one of the two children was suffering from small pocks. [9]

This infant died shortly afterwards and on 16 July 1686 André received further financial assistance to bury the child. [10]

In Frankfurt André and his family would also have received assistance of another kind.

Regarding this, Lausberg points out that “Sofort nach ihrer Ankunft und Registrierung wurden sie in Herbergen, Hospitälern oder bei Einzelpersonen gegen eine geringe Bezahlung, die vom Konsistorium der französischen Gemeinde aufgebracht wurde, mit Lebensmitteln versorgt und vorübergehend einquartiert” [11]

Three months after he had buried his child in Frankfurt, he arrived in Bremen during October 1686. In a list of Huguenots that at some stage lived in Bremen, the following entry refers to André’s life in that city:

“Andre Gauche/Gausha. Schlosser aus Montvert/Languedoc, wandert October 1686 mit Frau und Kind als einer von l’Escots Leuten ein; 1689 wird er mit wochentlich 48 gros unterstuetz, solange er krank ist, kurz darauf mit 60 gros, da er Frau und 3 Kinder hat” [12]

From this entry it is clear that André arrived in Bremen with his wife and a child and that he was part of a group that arrived under the leadership of a man by the name of l’Escot.

This gentleman was David l’Escot about whom the following is stated in the above mentioned Bremen list of Huguenots:

“David l’Escot. Seiden- und Wollwarenfabrikant aus Nimes/Languedoc. Er bracht 17 Arbeiter mit, grosse Freiheiten wurden ihm gewaert. Wandert October 1686 ein mit Frau und 6 Kinder und einem Dienstmaedchen. Das aelteste Kind war 11 Jahre alt. Wie lange l’Escot blieb, ob das Geshaeft florierte – darueber schweigen die mir vorgelegten Akten”. [13]

Although Beuleke was left in the dark about what further happened to l’Escot and his factory, it can be learnt from Thomas Klingebiel that l’Escot left Bremen for Hanover in 1689 with many of his workers, that he passed away in the same year and that the business was taken over by another Huguenot, Guillaume Alibert from LeVigan/Cevennen. [14]

From the above it is clear that André lived and worked in Bremen during the period 1686 – 1689 and that two more children were born there.

Whether André left Bremen with l’Escot and first moved to Hannover before he proceeded to Amsterdam is unclear.

The next information about André is that he became a member of the Walloon church in Amsterdam on 16 April 1690, where he also baptized a daughter, Marie, on 28 May 1690. [15]

Why he left the l’Escot business and moved to Amsterdam is not known.

Equally unknown is exactly why he took the personal decision to emigrate to the Cape.

Since the time that he left France, almost a decade before leaving Europe for the Cape, he was free from religious persecution and he therefore did not arrive at the Cape due to religious pressure.

It can possibly at best be said that he stepped ashore at the Cape as a French speaking economic immigrant adhering to the Huguenot strain of the Protestant religion.

It seems that André had 5 children before he embarked for the Cape. One died and was buried in Frankfurt in 1686, leaving him with four.

Whether his wife Jaqualine and some of the children died before he embarked or during the voyage to the Cape is unclear. He arrived as a widower with only one son.

At the Cape he married once more, had children and worked as a smith and farmer. He died in February 1698 under suspicious circumstances, most probably being murdered by his wife’s lover. [16]

Should it be assumed that he was twenty years of age at the time of his first marriage in 1683, he would have been in his mid-thirties when he died.

Quite a short lifespan for such an eventful life.

Notes and Sources

1. Botha, C.G., The French Refugees at the Cape. Cape Times Limited, Cape Town. 1921. p. 160a.
2. Google Earth
3. Google Earth
4. Monahan, W.G., Let God Arise – The War and Rebellion of the Camisards. OUP, Oxford, 2014
5. Boucher, M; French Speakers at the Cape in the first hundred years of Dutch East India Company rule: The European background. University of South Africa. Pretoria. 1981. p.173.
6. http://www.refuge-huguenot.fr/recherches.php - Notice n092455
7. Gresch, E; Die Hugenotten – Geschichte, Glaube und Wirkung. Evangelishe Verlagsanstalt, 2005. p.119.
8. 11. http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Bremen-Mitte and https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Johann_(Bremen)
9. http://www.refuge-huguenot.fr/recherches.php Notice n092455.
10. http://www.refuge-huguenot.fr/recherches.php Notice n092514.
11. Lausberg, M; Hugenottische Einwanderung nach Deutschland de.indymedia.org
12. Beuleke, W; Bremisches Jahrbuch Reihe A, 38. Band [1939] II. Herkunft und Berufe der Hugenotten in Bremen p.35.
13. Beuleke, W; Bremisches Jahrbuch Reihe A, 38. Band [1939] II. Herkunft und Berufe der Hugenotten in Bremen p.33.
14. Klingebiel, T; Die Hugenotten in den welfischen Landen Eine Privilegiensammlung.
Geschichtsblaetter des Deutschen Hugenotten-Vereins e.V. Band XXIII
Verlag des Deutschen Hugenotten-Vereins e.V. 34385 Bad Karlshafen 1994
15. Boucher, M; French Speakers at the Cape in the first hundred years of Dutch East India Company rule: The European background. University of South Africa. Pretoria. 1981. p.173
16. First Fifty Years Project at http://www.e-family.co.za/ffy/g5/p5222.htm.

Compiled by Dr SB (Rassie) Rascher
5 May 2016.