Editing Andries Pretorius (section)

==Early life and background ==
Pretorius was educated at home and although a school education was not a priority on the eastern frontier of the [[Cape Colony]], he was literate enough to read the Bible and write his thoughts down on paper. Pretorius had five children, the eldest of whom, [[Marthinus Wessel Pretorius]], later became the first President of the South African Republic (Transvaal).

Pretorius descended from the line of the earliest Dutch settlers in the Cape Colony. He belonged to the fifth generation of the progenitor, Johannes Pretorius<ref>{{cite web|last=Van Rensburg|title=Pretorius Johannes|url=http://www.stamouers.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=400:pretorius-johannes-&catid=5:n-q&Itemid=35|work=South Africa's Stamouers|publisher=Johan Hefer|access-date=10 February 2013}}</ref> son of Reverend [[:nl:Wessel Pretorius|Wessel Schulte]] of the [[Netherlands]]. Schulte in his time as a theology student at the University of Leiden changed his name to the Latin form and therefore became Wesselius Praetorius (later Pretorius).

Although the details of Andries Pretorius' early life are scant, it is most likely that he grew up on his father's farm named Driekoppen, about 40 kilometres north-east of [[Graaff-Reinet]].<ref name=GT1>{{cite web|title=Die Kosbare Erflating van Andries Pretorius|url=http://mieliestronk.com/pretorius.html|work=Mieliestronk|publisher=Dugeot|access-date=10 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115053857/http://mieliestronk.com/pretorius.html|archive-date=15 January 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>