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SAINTS in SOUTH AFRICA St Helena Island Descendants Living in South Africa (SIDISA) is an organisation started by Merle Martin of Kirstenhof in the last three years. She aspires to document the history of the Cape coloured people whose ancestral lineage can be traced back to St Helena Island, because there is so little published about this topic. Ms Martin says: 'There is a definite link between coloured people and St Helena. My aim is to get people to come and tell us their stories. I was always interested in searching my family tree. I've heard so many people say they have ancestors from the island. My paternal grandmother was from the island.' She has a list of people who claim to be linked to the St Helena bloodline. Many St Helenians came to the Cape shortly after the abolition of the slave trade 1832 because there was a shortage of labour. Between 1873 and 1884 the Cape government shipped 22 232 St Helenian immigrants to the colony which led to the establishment of the Emigrants Advice Office in London in 1887 through which financial support was given by the government to employers of artisans and domestic labour. The newcomers moved into relatively empty areas east of the city, namely District Six and Woodstock, which became overcrowded before the turn of the 19th c.
Anyone wishing to know more can contact Ms Martin by email:
Information supplied by Mogamat Kamedien PRO for the Cape Family (History & Heritage) Research Forum.
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