His parents were Pieter van Breda and Catharina Sophia Myburg.

Out of his marriages with Gesina van Reenen, Beatrix Elizabeth Lategan and Maria Adriana Smalberger he became the father of nine children.

van der Byl wanted to build a church for the farming community in the Overberg, part of the Cape Province.

When a town started to develop around the church it was called Bredasdorp, a name derived from Michiel van Breda's last name.

[5][6][7] In 1840 Cape Town, founded as a provisioning station by Jan van Riebeeck in 1652, was declared a municipality.