[2] In June, 1703 he married Elizabeth Von Brakel, the wealthy widow of Joris (Hans Jürgen) Grimpen, who owned a collection of farms[3] in the district.
Tas became secretary of the "Brotherhood", which viewed the Dutch East India Company (VOC) administration at the Cape as corrupt and dictatorial.
Like other senior VOC officials, the governor, Willem Adriaan van der Stel also owned a farm, Vergelegen.
A counter-petition was prepared and signed by 240 of the 550 Cape free burghers, wherein they defended Van Der Stel's policies and denied Adam Tas' allegations.
In retaliation, Adam Tas and 15 other free burghers (most of whom were of Huguenot descent and residing at Drakenstein) accused VOC officials of allowing the rights of Christian "Caffers, Moulattos, Mestiços, Castiços and all the black breed living among us" to be equal to the rights Christian Europeans and that the counter-petition was invalid because many of the freeburgers who had signed it were 'untrustworthy' because of their 'Cham blood'.
Lloyd, a librarian at the National Library of South Africa[8]) After he was convicted, Tas was thrown in the "Black Hole" – a damp dungeon completely devoid of any light located in the Castle of Good Hope.