Genealogical Society of South Africa
Durban and Coastal Branch
Volume 23 Issue 3/2007
New Members
We would like to extend a very warm welcome to our
new members, Marthinus Pretorius, and Ruth Archer and
wish them lots of success in their research and a fruitful association with the
Society.
***
Message from the
Treasurer
Please note that subscriptions may be deposited in
ANY branch of Nedbank in South Africa – our banking details are :
Account Name : The
Genealogical Society of South Africa
Bank : Nedbank
Account No. : 2144
092 346 (BROADWAY)
NB : Members banking via
INTERNET must quote the Code No. 114405 as well as our account number. Please notify the treasurer of your renewal
either by post, telephone (evenings) or by e-mail.
***
“Thank You”
Our Committee would like to thank three very
special ladies who are always on hand to help our members with invaluable
information and guidance especially for those researching Natal and the Eastern Cape
families. Your contribution, guidance
and willingness to assist our members are much appreciated.
·
Jenny Harries, who is the director of the Family History Centre, Church of
Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints,
·
Rosemary Dixon-Smith contributes articles to the UK edition of Family
Tree. Rosemary has written a number of excellent articles explaining
different aspects of genealogical research in S A, and last but not least
·
Delyse Brown, administrator/editor of Genealogy World - www.genealogyworld.net.
Delyse assists Jenny at the FHC and is
always on hand to share her knowledge and expertise especially on UK sources
and origins.
***
Report Back
·
Family History Fair - Saturday 9 June 2007
The Family History Centre in
Durban held their second Family History Fair on Saturday 9 June 2007, at
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and again was a great success . As with the first Fair, GSSA members offered
their help in the Library and also had a stall. An extract from a letter received from Jenny Harries tells it all
:
“I would like to
thank you and your committee and members for the wonderful stand that you put
together for the Fair on Saturday. It
was a very popular stand and made such a difference to the whole atmosphere of
the Fair and was run most professionally.
I have had such
positive feedback about the Fair and it is due largely to the excellent stands
and talks that we had on the day, and the helpfulness and friendliness of those
who were helping. It was really a team
effort and the whole team needs to be congratulated, so thanks once again for
GSSA’s contribution to the Fair”.
From the committee, we too
would like to thank you and applaud you for your great team work!!
·
Natal
Marriage Index Project
Adrian Rowe is the team
leader of a small group of volunteers, who have been transcribing Natal
Marriages since the beginning of 2006.
The Project was started after the generous donation of about 30,000 partial
transcriptions (European names only) of Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU)
films by Ellen Stanton of the United States.
The database fields have
been increased to include the ages of both parties and the place of marriage
and all race groups are being indexed.
The database contains 45,514 marriages as at the end of July 2007. The Project has been approved by GSU who are
in negotiations with the Dept of Home Affairs, the beneficial owners of the
records, to obtain their permission for the Indexing Project.
Anyone who is prepared to
volunteer their services to assist in this worthwhile project may contact
Adrian on 0317644721 a/h or at rowe@xsinet.co.za.
***
Diary Dates
·
Saturday 14 July 2007
Unfortunately the speaker
we had lined-up for the July meeting was not available. However as a result of the Fair
two potential new members were able to join us to assess the resources at the
Centre and to receive some guidance. We
look forward to welcoming them as new members.
·
Saturday 11 August 2007
Visit
to the Pietermaritzburg Repository
As in previous years August
is diarised for a visit to the Pietermaritzburg Archives. If you use NAAIRS extensively for Natal
research, this is your chance to search the registers and resources of the
archives.
The archives are open from
08:30 to 12:00 so if you are interested in the visit please or can assist with
transport please let us know.
You can also provide us with
your reference details obtained from the NAAIRS website, i.e.
Source/Volume/Reference numbers, so that we can pass it on to the archives who
will have the volumes ready for you when you arrive.
This is a REALLY worthwhile
excursion!!
PLEASE NOTE - for those who
will not be visiting the archives, the FHC will be open for personal research.
***
Cremation Records, Death Certificates
and Death Notices
Article by
Rosemary Dixon-Smith
dixonsmithbygad@eastcoast.co.za
In reply to a query which
arose in connection with cremation records, we received a very comprehensive reply from Rosemary Dixon-Smith
which I am sure will be of great benefit to members. Because of the length of the article we will have copies
available on request as well as at the next meeting in August.
Further information can be
found on www.genealogyworld.net under “Beginners Guide” as well as under ‘Making
the Most of Deceased Estate Files’.
***
A Genealogical Codicil to
My Last Will and Testament
While on the subject of death certificates and death notices!!!!
At the National AGM held in Durban recently one of
the points raised was : “What will happen to my genealogical work when I
pass away?”
Dennis Pretorius, member of West Gauteng branch, did
some delving and has come up with the following which can be inserted as a
codicil to your Will:
TO MY
SPOUSE, CHILDREN OR GUARDIAN
Upon my demise I request that you DO NOT
dispose of any of my Genealogical records, books, files, notebooks or computer
programs for a period of two years.
During this time please attempt to find one or more persons who would be
willing to take custody of the said materials and the responsibility of
maintaining and continuing the family histories.
In the event you do not find anyone to
accept these materials, please contact the genealogical organisations that I
have been a member of, to determine if they will accept some or all of my
genealogical materials. (List of
organisations and addresses follow).
Please remember that my genealogical endeavours consumed a great deal of
time, travel and money.
Therefore,
please do not ignore my requests.
Signature………………………………….. Date…………………………………..
Witness……………………………………… Date……..…………………………..
Witness…………………………………….. Date……..…………………………..
List the organisations and addresses
here.
***
Bulletin Board
v
For members researching
their Australian family WENDY WHITE, living in Australia, who is a member of
the Bundaberg Genealogical Association Inc., is happy to help us out by looking
up records in Bundaberg archives which holds BDM indexes for all Australian States up to various
dates, as well as some early shipping information, voters rolls, probates, etc.
for each Australian State.
Wendy also has access to the National Archives
online for War records. Not all
archival records are accessible as most are in the capital cities of each
state. She is willing to answer
whatever queries she can and may then be able to make further
recommendations. There is no payment
involved for research done by her - she is a fellow genealogist who has kindly
offered her assistance. You can either
contact Wendy direct at WENDYMAL@TPG.COM.AU.
v
The following is an
extract from the notes of the National Executive Committee of the GSSA held in
May :
Google
earth. As you
may know, Google earth is an internet web-based viewing facility of the
National Geographic Society. This
enables one to download a programme and data to your computer through which you
can tour the surface of the earth. It
is based on images taken by NASA and made accessible through the web. One can navigate to almost every location in
South Africa and the image can be enlarged to suit your purpose. The NEC of the
GSSA is negotiating with Google to allow the GSSA to make visible on Google
Earth the location of all Cemeteries in South Africa. In order not to clutter the present images on Google Earth, a
specific layer indicating the cemeteries will be made available. This is a very exciting development and we
wish the NEC luck with this endeavour.
Cemetery
CD. On the latest
version of the cemetery CD an error was discovered. Not all the data becomes available when one searches for specific
information. A replacement CD will be
made available free of charge to all members who have already bought the latest
version. You should not however, throw
the faulty CD away because photographs on it are not available on the corrected
version due to space restrictions.
GPS
Users. Users of
GPS who submit their data to the national cemetery project are requested to use
the WS84 configuration on the GPS. It makes the job of the compilers of the
cemetery data base extremely difficult if the data is submitted in another
format.
v
Farm Graveyards and
Small Cemeteries: A CD of graves, recorded by various people
some many years ago and covering much of the Transkei and other small places is
now available from the East Cape Branch of GSSA at a cost of R50. If you are interested in obtaining a copy
please contact Prof Gideon de Kock at gdekock@lantic.net.
v
Ellen Stanton has
kindly sent a new file of transcriptions of births in the Eastern Cape, to the
Family History Centre in Durban. The file has details of birth records in many
towns, big and small, too numerous to record here. They are mainly from the year 1895, although a few of the films
include the period 1822 to 1861. If you
are unable to attend the meetings our committee members are willing to do
"look-ups" for you. Please
let us have your requests, stating surname and area.
v
The following are new
products which are now available from the eGGSA webshop :
-
CAPENSIS, all issues
from 2002 to 2007
-
Die Bewaarders van ons
erfenis, parts 15-21
-
CAPENSIS is available
as individual files for each issue (4 per year). The files are in PDF format
and will be emailed to purchasers.
- A full list of the articles which have
appeared in CAPENSIS in the above-mentioned period can be seen at :
http://www.eggsa.org/capensis_contents.htm and the issues can be ordered at:
http://www.eggsa.org/cgi-bin/esales_dc.pl/ under genealogical items.
- The following e-booklets in the "Die
Bewaarders van ons erfenis" series is now also available:
15 - Beaufort (Wes)
16 - Cradock
17 - Colesberg 18 - Richmond
19 – Uitenhage
20 - Somerset (Oos)
21 - Albany
The above are available under the Historical Items
section of the webshop listed above.
v
Can anyone help
please? Our branch is in dire need of
more storage facilities. Do you have a
4-drawer filing cabinet in good condition that is not in use and that you’d
like to sell or donate to our branch?
Please get in touch with one of the committee members with any offers. Thank you!
v
Just Done Productions –
Publishing
This publishing house is an independent publishing
company based in Durban who are passionate about encouraging people to tell
their stories. They specialise in South
African material and work on a print-on-demand basis.
Just Done Productions offer a service that allows
authors to publish their work without having to speculate about its commercial
viability. So if you are interested in
publishing your family history for future generations you can contact Shireen
at publish@justdone.co.za or visit
their website at www.justdone.co.za.
***
The Story of Patrick And Margaret Lowry
by Harry
Neville
With kind
permission of Mary Alexander.
In 1857 the Governor of the Cape Colony, Sir
George Grey, had the task of trying to settle in British Kaffraria a number of
mercenary soldiers of the Anglo-German Legion of the British Army, who had been
disbanded after the Crimean War. The scheme was that these soldiers, mostly
single men, were to be settled in the Border region, where it was hoped they
would provide a measure of stability and security to that unsettled area, and
optimistically help in persuading the Xhosa population to turn to agricultural
pursuits, rather than to those of war. However, this scheme was doomed to
failure from the start. These young men had enlisted as soldiers and were not
at all enthusiastic about being farmers in a strange and hostile land. The
result was that more than half the contingent that disembarked at East London
promptly re-enlisted in the British Army for service in India, where fighting
had broken out resulting in the Indian mutiny. Consequently there were not less
than one thousand German ex-soldiers to be settled in Kaffraria. When the
scheme was first mooted it was coupled with an idea that these ex-soldiers were
to be accompanied by German peasant families. However, due to financial
considerations the Secretary of State for Colonies vetoed this idea. Somewhat hurriedly the authorities were
compelled to select one hundred suitable young women from among the inmates of
the Irish Union Workhouses. These institutions were places of refuge and
protection, set up for paupers under the British Poor Laws.
This small number offered no prospect of wives for
the one thousand bachelor soldiers. Eventually in 1858, Governor Grey had to
make other more practical arrangements, when he succeeded in bringing out
sixteen hundred German immigrants to settle in the Border region of the Eastern
Cape.
Meanwhile the one hundred young Irish emigrants
together with fifty-three other young girls who had signified their willingness
to be part of the scheme, joined up with various English artisans and their
families making a final ships complement of two hundred and thirty-one people.
A suitable vessel had been chartered to transport the passengers to the Cape.
This was the sailing vessel the “Lady Kennaway” of 583 tons. In due course this
ship set sail from Plymouth on 5 September, 1857.
On 20 November 1857 the “Lady Kenneway“ reached
East London where she dropped anchor in the roadstead. Work commenced
immediately with the landing of the new arrivals. All the single women, with
the exception of a few who remained in East London, were to be transported to
King Williams Town and they left on 26th November, in thirteen mule wagons
provided by the British Army.
In the Army escort was a young private in the
Royal Engineers, by name Patrick Joseph LOWRY. He was born 11 May, 1837 in
Phillipstown, County Meath, Ireland and had enlisted in the Royal Engineers at
the age of seventeen and a half years.
He had been drafted to the Cape of Good Hope, being stationed at
different times in various army depots in the Border region, during the 1850’s.
In one of the mule wagons under the care of Private
Lowry, was an Irish lass, Margaret GALLAGHER.
She was born in St James Parish, Dublin, Ireland in July 1833, but of
her early life very little is known.
From family records, it would seem that Margaret and Patrick fell in
love at first sight. They kept in
constant touch with each other and were married in the small Catholic Church in
King Williams Town, by Rev Father James Watkins less than two years later.
Patrick and his new bride settled in East London, where the first of their many
sons Patrick George was born in May 1860 . After promotion to full Corporal,
Patrick was transferred to Fort Beaufort and their next three sons were born
there. Thomas Frederick in December 1861, who died in infancy, Harry Thomas in
December 1862 and Percival Randolph William in November 1865. After another
promotion for Patrick to Sergeant, the young family were moved yet again, this
time to England where their fifth son was born in February, 1868. He was
William Joseph Walter.
Another move was soon to follow and this time the
family found themselves in Gibraltar, where they were stationed for the next
five years. During this time, another two sons joined the ranks of the Lowry’s,
Arthur Charles born in June, 1870 and Ernest Alfred in September 1872.
The next move was to be somewhat traumatic for
Margaret and Patrick as they set sail for Bermuda, with Margaret being pregnant
yet again, and with six lively and boisterous sons to care for in a small
sailing ship crossing the Atlantic. It was in Bermuda that their only daughter
was born, Annie Margaret Mary, in February 1875.
By now, Patrick had served two periods of ten
years in the British Army and he decided to ask for his discharge.
Accordingly the family was moved back to Britain,
where they were accommodated in barracks at Chatham. Patrick was finally given
his discharge on December 12. 1876. It would seem that it was the custom in
those days for a soldier in the British Army, upon honourable discharge, to be
allowed to choose his final destination, and to be transported there at the
expense of the British Army. Margaret and Patrick chose the Eastern Cape. They
were given passage on a slow troop ship to the Cape in 1876, sailing out of
Bristol on a voyage that took two months to complete.
Some of the older Lowry boys recalled memories of
this long journey in later years. The family was cooped up in one small cabin
and in rough weather the ship was battened down and most of the children
suffered from seasickness. The only light permitted at night was one small candle
which had to illuminate two cabins through the expediency of having the candle
placed in a tiny window between the cabins. When the candle burnt out, complete
darkness had to be endured for the rest of the night. Margaret managed to cope
with every emergency in the quiet and competent way her family remembers so
well, and for which she was noted in her later years.
Back in East London at last, Patrick had no
difficulty obtaining employment as a foreman on the construction of the railway
line from Cathcart to Queenstown. By the time the contract for this section of
the line was completed in 1880, Patrick had saved enough money to buy the
Hexagon Hotel in Queenstown. Finally, the family was able to lead a stable life
and the last son Sidney John arrived in December 1880. Five tranquil years
followed, before tragedy struck. Patrick suddenly became very ill with what was
later diagnosed as severe dysentery. At this time one of the older boys Harry
was managing a trading station near All Saints Mission, near Engcobo in the
Transkei. When his father’s health took a turn for the worse, Harry made
arrangements for the family to be brought to the All Saints Mission. However,
his father failed to improve and he had to be moved to Umtata where better
nursing and medical facilities were available. Sadly, the move was to no avail
and Patrick died in June 1886 at the age of 49. He was buried in the cemetery
of the St John’s Mission in Umtata.
Margaret was devastated, but her large family
rallied round, her affairs in Queenstown were wound up and she was settled in
her own home in Elliot Rd in Umtata. She lived for many years in comparative
comfort to see her family grow up and prosper. Harry, Percy, Willie and Arthur
were to set up a large and flourishing business known as Lowry Brothers, with
headquarters in Umtata. They held a virtual monopoly of the wholesale and
retail trade in Southern Transkei from the turn of the century till the
outbreak of the first World War.
Granny Lowry was a quiet and gracious lady, full
of charm with an Irish sense of humour. She spoke with a soft attractive brogue
and it is said that many a young lad offered to run errands for her, just to
hear her speak.
Mostly, she is remembered for her great kindness
and her many acts of charity.
Margaret Lowry, born Gallagher, died peacefully on
1st March 1908 at the age of 76 years. She was buried in the old cemetery at St
John’s Mission, Umtata where her husband Patrick had been laid to rest 23 years before.
FOOTNOTE:
The day after the last of the passengers were landed, a storm came up and the “Lady Kennaway” was blown into
the mouth of the Buffalo River, where she remained for many months. A full
passenger list of the “Lady Kennaway” is available in the Family History Centre
***
Diary Dates : 2007
11 August PMB
Archives Visit / Personal Research
08 September Speaker – t.b.a.
13 October Personal Research
10 November Speaker – t.b.a.
08 December Speaker / Ancestral Tea
***
Committee Members 2007 - 2008
Chairman
Jacques Benadie, P.O.Box 2337 Pinetown, 3600.
Phone: 031-708-3746 E-Mail: jaqb@telkomsa.net
Treasurer/Membership
Shirley Richardson
Phone:
031-266 1753 E-Mail : therichardsons@telkomsa.net
Secretary/Newsletter
Judy Letard, P O Box 1000, Mount Edgecombe
4300
Phone: 031-508 7304 (w) Cell: 072-146-7922
E-Mail: kdee@mweb.co.za
Librarian
Paul Bower, P O
Box 1156, Hillcrest 3650
Phone : 031-765
6512 Cell: 082 973 0221
E-Mail: anzan@mweb.co.za
Octogenarian
Annelise Peters - Ph: 031-208-2910
***
Our Venue for Meetings
Family History Centre,
Church of Jesus Christ of
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. 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
“Failure is the opportunity to begin
again, more intelligently”
- Henry Ford -