This is the home of the South African Venter Community. We are not affiliated to a specific Venter family or grouping. Our goal is to publish validated and verified Venter artefacts and all contributions are welcome. Particularly authentic family stories, photos & documents (no originals please, but electronic copies) and anecdotes.

 On this site you will find copies of Venter related documents from about 1679, never seen or found elsewhere. - At least, we will be the first to publish on the Internet!

 We have established this website because we could not find a "real" South African Venter home on the Internet. A home where one could read and learn about the Venter ancestry and history. Most Venter websites are owned by individual persons or families, focussing on personal history and ancestors or descendants. Many of these (including "official" ancestry websites contain incomplete and incorrect information about the Venter family and we felt that an independent Venter place is needed on the Internet to address the inconsistencies and incorrect history.

 It is not that these sites intentionally publish the incorrect history. In most instances, references are made to "trusted" authors, who published incorrect information, or who turned assumptions into facts.

 Where did the South African Venters come from and who are they? This is a question asked by many and researched and published by just as many "professionals". Books and other information published, contain incorrect information and in some instances, based on poor research. If one is to search on the internet, it is clear just how bad it really is. It is of particular concern that many accept the information and history as "true", without verifying and questioning what is at hand and then use this information in their own family history and ancestry. The Internet has enabled the proliferation of this incorrect information to enormous proportions. Speculation became fact.

 From a scientific point of view, South African Venters who have submitted their DNA, have their results as belonging to Haplogroup R1a1a1b1a1-L1029, updated 1 October 2015 (previously R1a1a1g1c). The R1a lineage is believed to have originated in the Eurasian Steppes north of the Black & Caspian Seas. This lineage is thought to descend from a population of the Kurgan culture, known for the domestication of the horse (circa 3000 B.C.E.). These people were also believed to be the first speakers of the Indo-European language group. This lineage is found in central & western Asia, India, and in Slavic populations of Europe.

 We are hoping to correct and highlight some of the incorrect and wrong information via this website, by providing evidence to the contrary. You will be provided with documents and access to authentic sources to verify for yourself. If you then start to question the current sources and do "deeper" research yourself, we have achieved our goal of improving the quality of the Venter historic information.

 Please note that we regularly update the site content with new information. We have several megabytes of authentic information to load and it takes time. We welcome suggestions and ideas on what you would like to see on the website. You can place this on the Venter Community Forum, or e-mail us.

 This website does not belong to us. It belongs to everyone Venter, particularly South African Venters, or descendants of South African Venters. This is your opportunity to make this website your own. Join here or sit on the fence here.... or send us a Tweet via Twitter...

 A Venter memorial stone was erected by Venter family members at the Riebeek Kasteel Dutch Reformed Church (NG Kerk) in 2013 (unveiled February 2014). We hereby acknowledge the contributions of Prof Barend Venter, Chris Venter (Loxtons), Chris Venter (Yahoo), Christiaan Venter, Christo Venter, Machiel Venter, Martin Venter, Mathys Venter and Piet Venter. The Church was selected because we don't know where Hendrik and his family were buried, but we do know that they lived in the area.