Early Life
Sarel Cilliers was born the fourth of seven children in Schoongezicht, Cape Colony to Carel Cilliers and his wife, Elizabeth Catherine Louw. In 1806 his parents sold Schoongezicht, when Cilliers was five years of age.
From an early age he was well-acquainted with working life on the family farm, as he would often help with pastoral and elementary responsibilities. In his early life, he also developed a strong sense of community and religious duty. On Sundays, the neighbors gathered together to hold services and Holy Communion. It was in his childhood that Cilliers's religious values and aptitude for spiritual leadership were first developed, as he was said to of had a personal encounter with God at age 10. He would often share his faith with other children and encourage them to worship, and strengthen their bond with God.
On 6 October 1823, Cilliers married Anna Francina Viljoen, the daughter of Christopher and Aletta Viljoen Booysen. Cilliers fathered eleven children from his marriage to Anna. During his younger years, Cilliers was of a slim build, and it was only later in his life around the time of the Greak Trek that he became stouter in appearance.
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“Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians ...”
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