Roots
Rachel
A story that takes root in the Cape.
From the Faure Archive
Rachel’s story brings people, land and place together.
Rachel de Villiers Faure, 1694–1773
Rachel de Villiers was born into the first generation of a new Cape family.
Her parents, Abraham de Villiers and Suzanne Gardiol, were French Huguenots who had made their home among the farms and vineyards of the Franschhoek valley. With them came a heritage rooted in the land — and in the wine-growing traditions of France.
Rachel married Antoine Faure in 1716. Together they settled in Stellenbosch, and part of her inheritance helped them purchase their home there in 1722.
Her life was marked by both resilience and loss. Rachel raised seven children, outlived her husband and ultimately six of those children. Their eldest son, Abraham, survived to continue the family line.
But Rachel’s story was not simply one of endurance. In 1750 she purchased land in Stellenbosch that later generations would enlarge and cultivate. In doing so, she helped anchor the family more deeply in the landscape of the Cape.
From her parents’ vineyards in Franschhoek to the land she acquired in Stellenbosch, Rachel forms an important bridge between the family’s Huguenot beginnings and the farming and wine traditions that followed.
A refugee family had begun to put down roots.
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