Ds. Michiel Vos
Full name: Michiel Christiaan Vos Lifespan: 1759 Cape Town - 1825 Tulbagh Occupation: NG Kerk minister, missionary Vos was a pioneering South African-born Dutch Reformed Church minister, noted for his missionary zeal, energetic evangelization of slaves and Khoi-Khoi, and role in early missionary societies at the Cape. Timeline Background and Early Life A man of incessant energy despite being troubled throughout his life with a painful skin disease ( dauwworm / dermatitis / exzema), Vos was born in Cape Town as the youngest of five children. His family had Pietist influences; his maternal grandfather was a freed slave (Michiel Bok), giving him slave descent on his mother’s side. His father came from Batavia, his mother, Johanna Bok, was born in Cape Town. Orphaned young (father Jan Hendrik Vos from Batavia died early), he received what education was available locally and was apprenticed as a silversmith to his older brother, Jan Hendrik Vos. One of his older brothers, Jacobus J...