Uys


Uys is the surname of a family that played a significant role in South African history during the nineteenth century and made distinguished contributions to South African culture, politics and sports during the course of the twentieth.

Origins

The earliest existing records show the Uys family living in Leiden and Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
The mother of the family's South African progenitor, Daentie Rycken, was the first to arrive at the Cape in 1677 with her second husband, Jan Hendriksz de Lange. She briefly travelled to the Netherlands in 1697 with her third husband, Dirk Mol, and returned to the Cape in 1699 accompanied by her adult son, Cornelis Jansz Uys. Shortly thereafter, in 1704, Daentie settled on the farm By Den Weg in the Stellenbosch Kloof where she lived until her death in 1725.
Cornelis Jansz Uys was the only child from Daentie Rycken's first marriage to the maritime carpenter Jan Cornelisz . Cornelis was accompanied to the Cape by his wife, Dirkje Matthysdr Westerhout, the niece of his mother's third husband. The couple established themselves in the heart of the Cape settlement on modern-day Strand Street.
In 1722 their only son, Dirk Cornelisz Uys, settled on the farm Groote Zalze in Stellenbosch, where he married Dina le Roux, who was of Norman Huguenot descent, and played a distinguished role in the local community as farmer, deacon, elder, burgher officer and alderman. Dirk was also one of the first European pioneers in the Overberg area of the Cape. The Uys family of southern Africa descend from this couple's three sons.
Two of the sons of Dirk Cornelisz Uys moved further into the interior of the Cape during the mid eighteenth century; their progeny played a notable role in the history of the colony and enjoyed fame as a distinguished and progressive frontier dynasty. The family also played a major role in the governance of the Dutch Republics in South Africa.

Onomastics

Surname

Genealogists have speculated that the name could be a variation of the French name de Louis or related to the Scottish island of Uist or perhaps a variation of the German name Husse. Reliable records do not exist to confirm any of these theories.

First names and nicknames

The Uys surname can also used as a first name, as is the case with the poet, writer and adventurer Uys Krige. A character in the novel Het Beloofde Land by Dutch author Adriaan van Dis also has this first name.

Arms

The arms of the Uys family are blazoned as:
Party per pale, in dexter vert three onions or in pale, in sinister argent a farmer standing on a stretch of grass holding a basket under his right arm proper.
These canting arms appear similar to those of the Van Uye family of Zeeland, to whom the Uys family are not related. The Uys arms are differenced from the Van Uye arms by the basket which the farmer holds; in the Van Uye arms the farmer is holding a bunch of onions. The onions in the dexter half of the arms are a canting reference to the Uys family name.
These arms were presented to the Dutch-South African heraldist and genealogist Cornelis Pama in 1960 by J.W. Prinsloo née Uys who informed him that they had been found in old family documents. Pama subsequently recorded these arms in his genealogical publications which led to their widespread dissemination and use by members of the Uys family. The Rootenberg family who descend from an extra-marital branch of the Kapkamma Uyses also have a canting reference to onions in their arms.

Legacy

Monuments and museums

Arts and humanities

Military