We would like to extend a very warm welcome to our new member, Martin Gardiner, and wish him lots of success in his research and a fruitful association with the Society.
***
Thank You
Our Society would like to take this opportunity to thank our past Chairman, Nigel McFerran for his dedication and hard work during the 5 years of being in the Chair. Nigel is always the first to lend a helping hand with any project or transcription and always willing to give advice when needed. He is presently part of the FHC Resources Indexing Project, and he and wife Cynthia are still seen regularly at our monthly meetings.
***
Members are
reminded that the subscription fee of R100-00 for 2006 is now due. Payment can be made by cheque to The
Genealogical Society of South Africa, Durban & Coastal Branch, P O Box
50063, Musgrave, 4062.
***
Dawn has
reminded us of some of the valuable research information held by our own
library!
Our thanks to
Judy Letard for donating the following to our library.
·
A hard
copy of the Verulam Victoria Natal Wesleyan-Methodist Chapel Baptisms 1859-1872 (with the kind permission of GenealogyWorld),
·
Passenger
lists 1830, 1831 and 1841,
·
The 1902
Voters Roll for Cape Town’s Districts 4 & 5 ,
Whilst some of the above are incomplete, you may just find that
elusive piece of information you’ve been looking for.
***
Jacques Benadie was appointed Chairman of our Society Branch at
the AGM in January 2006. He served as
Vice-Chairman from 2004-2006 and has been a committee member for 2 years. He has also been a member of the Society
for 5 years, and has also been our specialist in IT matters.
Jaq is
presently researching the Benade, Swiegers, Van Staden, Van Wyk & Du Raan
family names.
At our last meeting on 13 May we had a very
interesting presentation by Ricky Nortje who presently heads the South African War
Graves Project in South Africa. The
talk centred around the Project and a little about the War Graves
Commission. Ricky’s fascinating stories
and accounts of his documentation of war graves in South Africa was thoroughly
enjoyed by members! Should anyone be interested in contacting Ricky please
contact one of the committee members.
Also a special thank you to Martin Gardiner for helping us out with the
loan of his data projector.
***
Do you have any useful tips to share with us? Here are a few received
from Joan Rachmann which she has picked up from years of research and visits to
various archives :
- Take plenty of paper – a notebook is best,
-
Lots of pencils – some organisations won’t allow the use of pens at all,
-
An eraser and pencil sharpener are useful,
- A magnifying glass
(sometimes one has to peer pretty closely to decipher a handwritten or badly
reproduced document),
-
Small change to pay for photocopying of documents,
-
Your ID book (required on visits to Government Archives),
- On cemetery visits,
take white chalk and a rag. Rubbing
chalk over old inscriptions makes them easier to read and chalk can easily be
rubbed off afterwards.
Please contact one of your committee members or email it to kdee@mweb.co.za for publication in our next newsletter.
***
·
I believe there is a MAURITIAN ASSOCIATION in
Durban. Can anyone help me with the
contact details please? You can email
me at kdee@mweb.co.za. …. Judy Letard
·
Cynthia McFerran has had a photo of her granddad in
uniform on the bulletin board at the FHC for quite a while now and would really
like some help in identifying the regiment/commando unit depicted in the
photograph. Should you recognise the
unit you can contact Cynthia at McFerran@eastcoast.co.za
·
Has anyone had success in obtaining information
from the Kenyan archives, i.e. death notices/certificates. I have been trying for over a year now but
have had no success. The period I am
researching is the 1920’s. I’d really
appreciate any suggestions. You can
email me at kdee@mweb.co.za. …. Judy
Letard
(Extract
from : “Along those Lines..” by George Morgan, President of International Society of Family History Writers – Copyright 2005, MyFamily.com)
Following
up on the article by Chris Hoare entitled “Create a Legacy” which appeared in
our Newsletter Vol 21, Issue 4/2005, I came across the following article which
gives further food for thought!
“Many of
us spend a lot of time writing, reading, and responding to e-mail these
days. It is the exception for us to
write a real letter. E-mail also is a
different animal than the letters we were taught to write when we were
children. E-mail tends to be less
formal than written letters, and more formal than spoken conversation. It is an "in-between" form of
communication. In an electronic medium,
it also tends to be seldom printed and, more often quickly deleted, thereby
leaving no permanent paper record. How tragic to realise that that written
communication between family members concerning personal news and observations
on life's events disappear with a single keystroke, lost into the electronic
ether.
Therefore,
in these days of modern electronic communications, how then are we to leave a
legacy such as those diaries, journals, letters, and appointment books which
have come into our possession by our forefathers. What exactly do we put into writing in this electronic age? And what CAN we put into writing, capture,
and preserve as a written legacy for our descendants?
There is
no reason we cannot leave a written record for those family members who come
after us. I know, it seems like a whole
lot of work to write something down.
But how exciting it will be for our descendants at the turn of the next
century to know how we lived in what then will seem like primitive times!”
***
The following is an article that Joan Rachmann came
across in The Cornwall Family History Society Newsletter – Dec 1999 issue. It in turn is an extract from the “Royal
Cornwall Gazette dated 18 July 1818”.
“William George of
Penzance (shoemaker)
had reason to believe
that his wife was having too close an intimacy with a Mr CARMAN. Decided to sell his wife. On his way to the market he stopped at a
Public House and sold her to a grocer for half a guinea with a proviso that she
would not be sold to Mr CARMAN. The
grocer sold her to a man named CARBIS for 15 shillings who sold her to Mr
CARMAN for 20 shillings!”
No comment!!
***
(Kindly submitted by Doreen
Nicholson)
What a glorious name our Springboks had made for
themselves and how proud we were of them.
As after all wars, there
was a depression and many men were out of work. The Corporation hit upon the plan of building the Amphitheatre on
the beach to give employment to the men until they were established. What an
asset it is to be beach and a wonderful Monument to the men who built it. They worked so hard to make it the thing of
beauty that it is today.
Another change was the
demolishing of the old Market in Pine Street to build our fine new Market in
Berea Road. Everyone grumbled at first,
and said it was too far out of the way, but we soon got used to it. It was so convenient too with the railway
siding at Berea Station. A great
foresight on the part of the powers that be.
Today we are very proud of our Modern Market. On the old Market site, a bus terminus was built with shelter and
seats, for the buses leaving for the suburbs.
I cannot imagine why they later did away with it. Today it is a Car Park.
I wonder how many people
remember the old Battery on the Beach in front of the Natal Command, how as
children we used to gaze down at the old rusty guns with awe. The beach behind was known as the Battery
beach.
So the war to end all Wars was over, our men
started to return home, many disabled and for some the concept of living had to
be changed owing to the disabilities.
After four years of horror, one wondered if any could escape.
There were no radios, the
Natal Mercury would bring out a small leaflet.
If anything startling occurred on the Battle Front, you would hear the
newsboy on the street calling our “Special”, and you would dart out to buy a
copy which cost one penny. I well
recall the day the Mercury published two full pages of casualties after the
Battle of Deville Wood and the great offensive of the Somme. So many of the lads that you had grown up
with were among the published names.
Many died that day and many were wounded. Some who had gone away were mere lads.
To be continued…..
***
10 June Personal Research
08 July Personal Research/Speaker
12 August PMB Archives
09 September Personal Research
14 October Speaker/Activity
11 November Personal Research
09 December Ancestral Tea
20 January 2007 AGM
Jacques Benadie, P.O.Box 2337 Pinetown, 3600.
Phone: (031)708-3746 E-Mail: jaqb@telkomsa.net
Shirley Richardson
Phone:
(031) 266 1753 E-Mail : therichardsons@telkomsa.net
Judy Letard, P O Box 1000, Mount Edgecombe
4300
Phone: (031) 563-0522 Cell: 072-146-7922
E-Mail: kdee@mweb.co.za
Dawn van Niekerk, 3 Beaconsfield Road,
Westville 3629
Phone: (031) 262-4308 E-Mail : matthysv@iafrica.com
Annelise Peters - Ph: (031) 208-2910
***
Family History Centre,
Church of the Latter Day
Saints,
144 Silverton Road.
Entrance in Montgomery
Road
Phone: (031) 202 3024
Our meetings are held at
2.30 on the 2nd Saturday of every month except in August when we have an
arrangement to go to the Pietermaritzburg Archives between 8.30am and
12.00pm. Our AGM is held on the 3rd
Saturday in January.
For the record, the F.H.C.
is also open at the following times:
Tuesday 10 am – 12 noon.
Wednesday 1 pm – 4 pm
Thursday 9 am – 12 noon and 6.30 pm – 9 pm
Last Saturday of every month from 10 am – 4 pm
Or by appointment phone –
cell 083 661 4457
Apologies!!!
“Genealogists
never die, they just haunt cemeteries”