Pierre Joubert | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1664 (1664) La Motte-d'Aigues, Provence |
| Died | 1732 (aged 67–68) |
| Occupation | winemaker |
Pierre Joubert (1664–1732) was aHuguenot winemaker born inLa Motte-d'Aigues.
After the revocation of theedict of Nantes, Pierre Joubert (Jaubert) went into exile at the age of 24, leaving La Motte-d'Aigues to reachRotterdam in the Netherlands. On this occasion, he brought out from France a bible in a loaf of bread, visible in theFrench Huguenot Memorial Museum in Franschoek, South Africa.
The Dutch offered him the opportunity to settle in the Huguenot refugee community of South Africa, winemakers on whom Dutch merchants relied to supply their customers withwine in theIndian Ocean. He even receives 28.20 pounds from the "bavarian fund" to settle down.[1]
He leftHolland in March 1688 on board of theBerg China, a ship of theDutch East India Company, to reach theTable Mountain on 4 August 1688, near which he founded the village of Provence, after a three-and-a-half-month voyage. Then he founded the village of Lamotte, before that of Bellingham, then in 1709 that of La Roque and a little later the domain of L'Ormarins, created byJean Roy, another Huguenot from theLuberon and later bought by the billionaireAnton Rupert.[2]
He lost his wife Suzanne Reyne during the crossing during which 19 other people passed away. He married a 20-year-oldBreton woman, Isabeau Richard, who had just lost her husband. The couple will have six sons and five daughters, one of whom will be the grandfather of Boer generalPetrus Jacob Joubert, who will be minister of justice ofTransvaal, one of the first shareholders of gold mines and candidate for the presidency of the Republic, beaten byPaul Kruger.
The estates were quickly sold to merchant Gabriel Dutoit but it was a great-grandson, Gideon Joubert, who bought him in 1915. Pierre Joubert left aDrakenstein's correspondence.