The Petrus Letter
Copy of a letter written in Dutch
by Petrus Johannes DeWitt
The following is the transcript
of the above letter :
Aan
Den Weleerwaarde Heer J. Akersloot,
predikant van de Gereformeerde Kerk
Malakka
Weleerwaarde Heer
Word verzocht om het heiligen doop te willen bedienen aan den
jongst geboren Zoontje genaamd Willem Adriaan geboren op den 28 Februarij
jl., waarvan de ouders zijn Pertus Johannis de Wit en Jacobina Elisabeth de
Wit geboren Koek, de doopvader en doopmoeder de heer Willem Adriaan de Wit
deszelfs Echtgenoote mevrouw Maria Magdalena de Wit geboren Kotze.
Malakka den 24 e Maart 1825
't Welk doende [...]
The following is the transalation
of the above letter :
To
The Reverend Gentleman J. Akersloot,
minister of the Reformed Church
Malakka
Reverend Sir,
[You are] requested to administer the Holy baptism to the youngest
born son named Willem Adriaan, born on last 28th February. The parents are
Petrus Johannis de Wit and Jocobina Elisabeth de Wit, nee Koek; the baptism
father and baptism mother are Mr. Willem Adriaan de Wit and his wife Mrs.
Maria Magdalena de Wit, nee Kotze.
Malakka, 24th March 1825
Signed
Transcript and Translation
of the above letter was provided by
Mr. Pieter van der Vorm
Faculty of Languages and Linguistics
University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur
Dated : 14th June 2000
Note :
1. We wish to point out that in the above letter,
Petrus writes his surname as 'de Wit'. Notice that the first alphabet
is not a capital letter, there is a space between 'de' and 'Wit'
and also there is only one 't' alphabet in the name. Therefore we must
conclude that this should have been the way it was originally spelled. Over
the years, it must have changed until the spelling of 'DeWitt' is now accepted
by most as the norm. For the purpose of avoiding confusion, we have uniformed
the use of our surname to "DeWitt" to all family members with that
surname here in this web site.
2. The godparents of Willem Adriaan de Wit are
his own grandparents.This could mean that the grandparents (the parents of
Petrus Johannes de Wit) was probably present here in Melaka for the baptism
of their grandson.
