Susanne Reyne

Oorlede voor die skip "Berg China" Rotterdam op 20 Maart 1688 verlaat het, of tydens die boot se reis na die Kaap.

Suzanne Reyne in Harry Booyens' 'God Bless the good ship China'

One of the more interesting locations is La Roque d'Antheron. It is the only one of our group of Vaudois towns that actually lies on the south bank of the Durance River. It has a long history of Vaudois culture. In the year 2009 it will still have a Rue de Vaudois. In this area the name Rey abounds, but it is Suzanne Reyne (the feminine form of the surname) who holds our interest. In fact, there are two Suzanne Reynes in town at this time and we have no simple way to tell them apart as yet... (Two Suzanne Reynes from La Roque appear in the books; Another travels in the company of a Marie Reyne and appears at Neuchâtel)

By 31 October 1687, when this main refugee group arrives at Frankfurt, Suzanne Reyne has already been
there two days. The Gardiol family from Lacoste behind the Luberon, the Verdeaus (who were at Schaffhausen with Suzanne Reyne), the two Furets and Pierre Joubert of La Motte have all been at Frankfurt since the 27th of the month -that is four days earlier. The Frachasse family of two brothers and the wife of one of them probably traveled totally separately from all the others and have arrived on the 18th of the month, nine days before.. Suzanne Reyne, La Roque d'Antheron in the Church Books: Arrives Genve: 24.09.1687 Schaffhausen 09.10.1687 Frankfurt 29.10.1687...

VOC Passenger List in Rotterdam dated 3 months before sailing: Susanne Resue23 (20) unmarried (Resue is no doubt an erroneous transcription of Resne, an alternative spelling of Reyne)... Sometime during the three month period following their arrival in Frankfurt, Pierre Joubert and Suzanne Reyne develop a relationship. Having submitted her name for going to the Cape of Good Hope, Suzanne no doubt does not want to give up this dream. And this is how she and Pierre end up on 1 February 1688 in front of the pulpit in the Belgian Walloon Church in Brielle near Rotterdam (Commission pour l'histoire des églises Wallonnes, Bul. de la Comm. pour l'histoire des églises Wallonnes, Vol.1; (1885), pp.243). Since minister Etienne Villet (ibid p246) of that church comes from Mérindol, he no doubt is favourably disposed toward Suzanne, who is from nearby Roque d'Antheron. The church promptly obtains the approval of the magistrate to have the banns of the couple read three times on that day, so that they might be married before their ship sails. This no doubt assures Pierre a berth on the ship with Suzanne....

Given that Pierre Joubert is already concluded to be aboard the ship China, it stands to reason that his wife of 48 days, Suzanne Reyne, also boards, However, she never arrives at the Cape and we are forced to conclude that she dies on the voyage. [or shortly before? Sharon Sep 2016] http://members.shaw.ca/cliffwoodfogge/Documents/China4thEdition.pdf

Pierre Joubert, Suzanne Reyne & Isabeau Richarde in Boucher

The name Pierre Jaubert (Joubert) does not appear in the December 1687 list of refugees on the Berg China; that of Susanne Reyne (Resne), however, “jonge dochter out 20 jaren”, is included. There was clearly a last-minute marriage here, as the register of the Walloon church at Brielle in the United Provinces indicates. The ceremony took place on February 1, 1688 and was conducted by Godefroi Lambiron after the publication of the required banns in a single day, with special permission of the town-council. The wording of the marriage entry has perpetuated an error: the bride is described as “Susanne Reyne de la Roque, native d’Antheron en provence”. It should read: “Susanne Reyne, native de La Roque-d’Antheron en Provence”.171 La Roque, closely linked until 1663 with the Lourmarin church, lies south of the Durance. Pierre Jaubert’s place of birth is correctly given as La Motte- d'Aigues. At the time of his marriage he would be about twenty-four years of age.

Also in the embarkation list for the Berg China are Pierre Malian (Malan), a young man of twenty-three, and his wife of twenty, Isabeau Richarde. Herein lies an apparent mystery, since we hear no more of Pierre Malian and Susanne Reyne and find that at the Cape Pierre Jaubert is the husband of Isabeau (Elisabeth) Richarde. It is perhaps no mystery at all. Death doubtless claimed two of these refugees and the survivors remarried.172 The place where this second ceremony took place remains uncertain.

...The Rey, or Roy family is also numerous in several localities north and south of the Durance and many lived at La Roque-d’Antheron. Su- sanne could perhaps be a child of Jean Rey and Jeanne Parise, who were living there in 1674.175 A Madeleine Reyne was a Rotterdam refugee in 1687 and there was a Marie Reyne at The Hague two years later. In neither case is the place of origin given. However an Etienne Rey of La Roque settled in Berlin, where he was a master basket weaver in 1700.176 There was a link between the Rey and Barret families of La Roque and between the Barrets and the Richards.177 The Barrets, as we shall see, had a representative at the Cape. An Elisabeth Rich- arde became a member of the Walloon church in Amsterdam in March 1688, while the marriage of Jeanne Richarde of Lacoste to Antoine Mal(l)an was celebrated in Provence before early 1675.178 The surname Malian is widely distributed indeed and there can be no certainty about the birthplace of the Pierre Malian whose name appears in the Berg China’s embarkation list. • M. Boucher.M (1981). French speakers at the Cape: The European Background. Pretoria, UNISA: Ch 7: Cape Settlers III: from South-Eastern France and Adjoining Territories p189-90