Nicolaas Jacobus Smit, Vice-President of the ZAR, is born in Graaff-Reinet.

Nicolaas Jacobus Smit, was the eldest child of Nicolaas Jacobus Smit, (descendent of Jan Smit and Adriana Tol) and Elizabeth Magdalena van der Merwe, (descendent of Willem Schalk van der Merwe and Elsie Cloete) all progenitors from the Netherlands, arriving at the Cape prior to 1688.  Smit, a Boer general in the Anglo-Transvaal War and Vice-President of the South African Republic (SAR), was born at Doornbos, Graaff-Reinet district, Eastern Cape, on 30 May 1837. He was Commander of the Boer forces at the battles of Ingogo and Majuba. He won the Battle of Majuba Hill, the most important battle of the First Boer War, which was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881. As a member of the SAR Volksraad he was elected Vice-President in 1887. Nicolaas Jacobus Smit died in Pretoria on 4 April 1896.