Fred's Blog

This article is part of my research on My Fathers Before Me.  David Senecal was the second generation Senekal in South Africa, in a line of Senekals of which I am the tenth.

I will update this article as more information becomes available, so please check back from time to time.  Last updated:  25 February 2010.

David Sénécal was the eldest son of David Sénécal and Anna Madelaine du Puys.   (Read more about David and Anna here).  He was born on 3 October 1695 in the district of Klein Drakenstein, in modern-day Paarl.  During the early part of his life he must have lived on the farm “Salomons Vallei”, where his parents moved to some time during 1695.  Records show that he was christened on 16 October 1695 in Drakenstein.  He was probably christened by Reverent Pierre Simond, who was the reverent for the French Huguenots at the time (I need to confirm this fact).

I unfortunately do not have any information about what he did during his lifetime, and would love to dig up stories about him.

He married Marthe Marie Bruére on 30 November 1732.  The interesting thing is that Marthe was David’s cousin.  Cases where cousins married was common during this time period.  Marthe was the daughter of Estienne Bruére and Suzanne Du Puys (read more about them here).  Suzanne was the younger sister of Anna, David’s mother.

They had five children, David (1733 – bef. 1798), Jacob (circa 1735 – 1771), Daniél (1738 – ?), Anna Elizabeth (1740 – ?) and Anna Magdalena (1744 – circa 1772).

He died in 1769.  According to a different source, SAG11, he died on 28 March 1773, on the farm “Hooprivier”, in the district of Swellendam.