Friedrich LUYT, a master carpenter of Konigsberg, East Prussia (now Kalinigrad, Russia), arrived at the Cape in 1753 as a soldier in the service of the Dutch East India Company. On becoming a burgher of Stellenbosch,
he changed his name from the German spelling to the Dutch, thus Friedrich Luit became Fredrik Luijt (now spelt Luyt). He signed a land grant in Stellenbosch as "Freidrik Leitt".

His first marriage was to Rachel LE ROUX (daughter of French Huguenots Jean ROEX and Maria DE HAAS) on 13 Aug 1741. One child was born of the marriage which ended in divorce. Despite in-depth research, French Huguenot expert M Boucher says the background of this Jean ROEX or LE ROUX of Normandy remains a mystery. The most probable identity for the Cape refugee, he says, is the man who became a member of the member of the Walloon congregation in Amsterdam in May 1687, although another of that name from Normandy was accepted as a citizen of Groningen in 1682. A Pierre Le Roux from the Pays de Caux was also in Amsterdam in 1686.
According to Boucher, Marie (or Maria) DE HAAS, the daughter of burghers Guillaume DE HAAS and his wife Marie-Catherine DURIER of Lille, was born in Lille, France.

CHILDREN
b1 Maria LUYT (born 1742) X 28 Mar 1756 Hendrik Ernst KERKHOF

The two of them got divorced.

Rachel went on to marry Jacob DE VRIES, and Friedrich married Hendrina STEENBRUGGE (b 1730, daughter of Johan Martin STEENBRUK of Sangerhausen, Germany and Aletta MYBURGH**) on 24 Nov 1748.
Hendrina was the widow of Heinrich (or Hendrik) EVERS (or EVERTS) of Paderborn, Germany (m 19 Feb 1745 - no children. When LUYT died, Hendrina married on 30 Aug 1761 Johan Michiel STEYN (or STEIJN) of Konigsberg.

CHILDREN
b2 Aletta Josina LUYT (b.16 Nov 1749) X Matthij VAN EYSSEN (m.11 Feb 1763)
b3 Anna Sophia LUYT (b.11 Jul 1751)
b4 Coenraad LUYT (b.29 Apr 1753;d.20 Apr 1835) X Johanna Elizabeth BRAUNE (b.10 May 1761;m.28 Apr 1777)
b5 Martha Hendrina LUYT (b.30 Mar 1755;d.1796)
b6 Johanna LUYT (b.12 Dec 1757;d.21 Jul 1839)
b7 Hendrina Maria LUYT (b.1759)
b8 Martha Maria LUYT (b.1760;d.1799)

Coenraad was a blacksmith. Johanna Elizabeth BRAUNE was the daughter of Daniel Coenraad BRAUNE, a shoemaker from Quedlingburgh, Halle, Germany (he was prohibited from keeping slaves due to ill-treatment), and Johanna Jacoba BESTER, b 10 Nov 1743, daughter of Michiel BESTER and Elizabeth KRUGER (Elizabeth was the daughter of Jacob KRUGER and Jannetjie or Johanna KEMP, daughter of Nicolaas KEMP, a mulatto slave mandoor and Cecilia SWERISSE. See section on Nicolaas Kemp for more details.) Michiel BESTER was the son of Andreas BESTER (See section on Andreas BESTER) and Anna BOK, who was the daughter of Christiaan BOK, who arrived as a German soldier, went on to be an inn-keeper in Rondebosch, and farmed for a year before his death in 1718, and the slave Anna Groothenning van Bengale. (See section on Christiaan BOK for more details.)

Sources:
LUYT family tree compiled by Lionel Luyt and Gwen Craig
French speakers at the Cape: The European Background by Maurice Boucher
J A Heese/R T J Lombard, South African Genealogies
Andre van Rensburg"s website

Researcher
Sharon Marshall