Dear Jan and other listers, Although I am not researching the AUGUSTYN family myself, I did in the past help someone with their research into this family. According to the SA Genealogies Vol 1, the "stamvader" was Jan Heymerik AUGUSTYN * Amsterdam 1784, teacher + Versefontein, Calvinia 22.10.1862. His parents were Jan AUGUSTYN and Johanna HEYMERIK. He married Johanna Maria VAN OMMEN, daughter of David VAN OMMEN and Wanderina GEERLING on 1.3.1818 in the Lutheran Church, Cape Town. I will send a scan of the relevant pages from SAG to your private e-mail. I know there are various AUGUSTYN estate files in the Cape Archives and these appear to be centred around Calvinia, Fraserburg, Beaufort West and Sutherland. As to your hypothesis of a slave origin, I doubt that this is correct but, as I have said, I have not researched this family very well. There were to my knowledge no caucasian slaves brought to the Cape. All slaves were from Africa, the East and possibly one or two South American natives. What did happen is that with the various wars between Poland and Russia, there was a displacement of persons (refugees) to Germany and further as the economy of Western Europe was in a far better state than that of Eastern Europe, many young persons went to (especially) Holland in search of work. These persons invariably entered into contracts of employment with the Dutch East India Company. The fact that Jan and Johanna married in the Lutheran Church could be indicative of a link, in either family and possibly in a previous generation, to German (and / or Polish) ancestry. You will find that slaves are more prevalent in the maternal lines. Regards Paul LE ROUX Paarl LE ROUX x STEMMET MILNS x SANDS