Jan Blignaut Marriage Registration Jan (Jean) Blignaut, born May 1677 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, son of Pieter Blignaut and Elisabeth Desbordes, came to the Cape in 1723 as a soldier on the ship "Huis Te Assenburg".
However, his name appears among the French refugees treated in "Huguenot Families at the Cape of Good Hope". After reaching Holland, he entered the United East India Company service. It is alleged that Daniel Hugo approached him to be a tutor for his children. However, Jean was not a schoolmaster for long, as Daniel passed away about a year after Jean's arrival. On November 7, 1725, he married Anna Rousseau, widow of Daniel Hugo and became the owner of several farms.
Anna was baptised on July 8, 1694, and was the second child of Pierre Rousseau and Anne Retief. Jean started writing his name as Jan shortly after he came to South Africa. His signature in a church council minutes register, dated 1734 of the first church in Paarl, confirms this.
There is also confusion about the original spelling of "Blignaut". All the signatures of Jean / Jan were signed as Jan Blignaut and not Blignault, as is wrongly suspected. There are some of Jean's descendants who use those of Blignault. However, the inflection is limited to a small group of people.
The couple lived on the farm Bethel, Paarl District, Western Cape, South Africa, until Jan Blignaut’s death on 2 March 1753. With his passing, he left five perennial children and was the owner of many farms in his estate, seven farms registered, including the beautiful farm Zion.
"Huis Te Assenburg" Ship The “Huis Te Assenburg” ship was built in 1718 by the shipyard “Kamer van Amsterdam” used by the United East India Company (VOC) from 1718 to 1735 and was 145 feet in length. The ship could carry a cargo of 800 tons with a crew of 180 - 250 people depending on the cargo load. During her voyage from port Texel, the Netherlands on 9 January 1723 on her way to Batavia, Dutch East Indies also known today as Jakarta, Indonesia via "The Cape of Good Hope" Jan Blignaut arrived on 12 April 1723 under the captaincy of Jacob Thoorn. The ship was named after the Castle Assumburg "Kasteel Assumburg" located in the town of Heemskerk, the Netherlands which dates to the 13th century and was rebuilt in 1546 by Gerrit van Assendelft.
P.J. Blignaut: Pieter Jeremias Blignaut (26 June 1841, in Paarl – 1 November 1909, in Bloemfontein) was a South African (Boer) civil servant, Government Secretary of the Orange Free State (1879–1902), and served twice as Acting State President, first after the death of President Brand (1888–1889), and again after the resignation of President Reitz in 1895–1896. After the conclusion of the South African War, Blignaut served as a member of both the legislative council and the Legislative Assembly of the Orange River Colony. He was also a member of several state commissions.
Blignaut went to Gymnasium School and, after school, joined the colonial administration in Cape Town and passed in 1861 the examination for the State Service Certificate and moved to Orange Free State in 1862. Blignaut had a successful career from Clerk to the Landdros & Justice of Peace to Landdros to Government Secretary and twice as Acting State President of the Orange Free State.
Chris Blignaut Chris Blignaut (1897–1974) was ’n Afrikaanse sakeman, sanger en liedjieskrywer. Hy was die eerste Suid-Afrikaanse sanger wat ’n kontrak met ’n platemaatskappy aangegaan het (in 1930). Van sy treffers sluit in: Ou Ryperd, Ou Tante Koba, Die Donkie en Daar Oorkant Die Spruit. Hy het altesame 120 opnames oor sy loopbaan gemaak. Blignaut was ook die eerste uitvoerende kunstenaar van Afrikaanse ligte liedjies. Omstreeks 1923 het hy een van die eerste sangers geword wat oor die radio uitgesaai het en in ’n radiowedstryd die beste gevaar het in die afdeling vir baritons en oratoriums. Blignaut kon ook daarop aanspraak maak dat hy die eerste Afrikaanse sanger was wat in kort rolprente vir die Afrikaanse silwerdoek opgetree het.