Genealogical Society of South Africa
Durban and Coastal Branch
Volume 23 Issue 2/2007
New Members
We would like to extend a very warm welcome to our
new members, Adrienne and Eric Kitchin, and Cedric
Furnivall and wish them lots of success in their
research and a fruitful association with the Society.
***
Message from the
Treasurer
Members are reminded that our membership fee for
2007 are due. Please note that subscriptions
may be deposited at 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 (Durban North)
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.
We would like to remind members of our local
branch, who are familiar with the internet, that they are entitled to RENEW
their membership of the GSSA in the electronic (virtual) branch, i.e.
eGSSA. If our members decide to avail
themselves of this option, please remember to elect “Durban and Coastal” as
your land-based branch. In this way you
will have the best of both worlds, the facilities on offer at the FHC in
Durban, as well as all the resources based in the internet branch. For more
information on this option, please contact one of the committee members.
***
“THANK YOU!”
FHC
Indexing Project Working Group
The indexing project undertaken by
the working group is almost complete.
On behalf of Jenny Harries of the FHC and our branch we would like to
salute Nigel and Cynthia McFerran, Shirley and Brian Richardson, Dawn and
Matthys van Niekerk,. Joan Rachmann and Lyn Paul for their time and dedication
and hard work put into indexing the resources of the Centre. We will all benefit from your fine
work. Thank you!!!!
***
The Konigkramer Family History
We would like to
extend our sincere thanks to Annelise Peters for donating a copy of her newly
published book on the Konigkramer Family History. This book is beautifully put together showing a pictorial history
of this prominent family who settled in the New Germany area. The book will be a valuable source of
reference for our library.
***
Report Back
·
10 February 2007 :
Our speaker in February was one of
our new members David Honour. Dave gave
an interesting account of how he has managed to trace his ancestors back to
1522! He has also completed a short
article for the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society magazine about emigration
to South Africa and had included in that article a list of 1820 Buckinghamshire
families who emigrated to South Africa.
·
24 February 2007
Our branch hosted the GSSA National AGM and Awards
Dinner at the Pinedene Inn Hotel which was a great success. The committee would like
to say a special thank you to all members who gave their support at the AGM and
the Awards dinner.
·
10 March 2007
Showing of the DVD
“The Ghost in Your Genes”.
Jenny
Harries surprised members at the meeting with the showing of a dvd entitled
“The Ghost in Your Genes". This
is a BBC production which revolves around the question of whether experiences
that your ancestors had, could be inherited by you, and could thus have an
influence on how you perceive the world you live in. This is investigated from a genetic point of view. For those who missed it we will arrange
another showing at a later date.
·
14 April 2007
“Sharing Workshop”
The
workshop produced some interesting information which was circulated to members
who attended. There was also a
demonstration on PAF software; on the NAAIRS website and on the Google search
engine.
The
GSSA Members CD was handed out as well as notices which are to be put up in the
smaller libraries in the suburban areas.
Members were able to chat and compare notes on various items. Thank you to all for your participation.
·
Saturday 21 April 2007
Visit to the West Street Cemetery
Members joined a tour of the West Street
Cemetery organised by the PMB Department of Human Sciences, Natal Museum who
gave an interesting commentary on the graves of prominent people buried at the
cemetery. After the tour members were
free to conduct their own search.
Diary Dates
·
Saturday 9 June 2007
Family
History Fair
After the first successful
Fair, the Family History Centre in Durban will be holding their second Family
History Fair from 9am to 3pm on Saturday 9 June 2007, at the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 144 Silverton Road, Musgrave. Please keep your diaries open.
***
“Limited Success in the Eastern Cape”
(Sent
in by Shirley Richardson)
For
several reasons, my brothers and I were told very little about our mother's
ancestry. Apart from her maiden name, our only knowledge was the fact that she
grew up in East London.
After retirement, I was
determined to find out more, and this was the reason for my interest in
genealogy and three trips to the Eastern Cape, over four years. Like most English speaking South Africans,
my paternal line also had its roots in that part of the world, thus I was not
short of work to do while I was away!
An added bonus of course was
to experience the places where my ancestors lived. Traveling on parts of the
Wartrail and Maloti Routes was a unique event for us. Some of the roads have
now been asphalted but it gave me a special feeling to be able to drive over
the gravel track up the mountain, on the way to the farming areas. We had to
cross a bridge constructed by a stone-mason in 1893 near Barkly East, on the
way to my great-grandfather's farm and I could imagine him driving the family
to town in his ox-cart, crossing over that very bridge. It was also a pleasant surprise to be shown
a picture of the church in Lady Grey, where my great-grandparents had married
in 1871. This tiny church was demolished in the early 1900's, as the
congregation had outgrown the facilities, and a new church was built on the
same site. The mountains there are just spectacular, forming part of the
foothills of the Southern Drakensberg and they alone are worth a visit to the
area , just to be able to absorb those awe-inspiring views. Villages may become
towns, mountains and valleys remain forever. If you ever plan a visit to those
parts, GO PREPARED. The nearest chemist is in Aliwal North, 160kms away from
Barkly East! I must mention here that I
was also so pleased to find the church in East London where my parents had
married. Of course, as is the norm these days, both the churches, in Lady Grey
and East London, were securely locked.
We spent some time in
Grahamstown in the Cory Library, and in the Settler's Museum, where I was
fortunate to find photographs of a few of my ancestors, taken in 1850. Just
looking at those pictures made me realize how difficult life was in those days.
Hardly a smiling face among them, and the ladies looked so stern!
Things have changed in the
Cory. Previously one had been able to
request a search by a qualified staff member, for a fee of course. That avenue
has been closed, so in effect the information contained in their many registers
has now become difficult to access. If one is unable to visit the Cory in
person, Mr William Jervois the resident genealogist at the Settler Museum, who
is sponsored by the 1820 Settler Association will undertake a search on your
behalf. His fee is by negotiation.
Our final stop was in Port
Elizabeth. The reference library in Govan Mbeki Ave has set aside a small area
for the storage of the books belonging to the Port Elizabeth GSSA. I was
fortunate to find a missing piece of one of my puzzles on my first day, but as
luck would have it, when we arrived on our second day we were confronted by the
sight of renovators busily chipping and scraping the ceiling and walls.
Obviously, further research was out of the question. We then spoke to Sandy in
the lending library and she very kindly brought us the Govt Gazettes of 1857.
These have been well preserved and I was able to read the "Shipping"
columns with ease. Not that they did me much good. Some of the entries stated
the arrival of such and such, passengers Mr and Mrs Grant, and "9 in
steerage." Another disappointment awaited us. Frustrated by our lack of
progress in other areas, we decided to visit the FHC on Thursday morning. We
had visited them before on previous occasions and were aware that their
premises are very small. However, we were surprised to be told on our arrival
that prior arrangements have become necessary in order to make use of their
resources. We now realize how fortunate
we are in Durban!
After this third attempt to
fill in the gaps in my family history by visiting the areas in question, I have
come to the conclusion that my best chance of achieving my goal is to view the
films so providently available through our FHC. Delyse, I hope I don't become too much of a nuisance in future!
EPITAPH:
Inscription
on the tombstone of George Farley in Bathurst, recorded by the Port Elizabeth
branch of the GSSA. George died in
1948, age 37.
Oh, tell me not that love can die,
My heart protest, it cannot be,
Though life and ages pass away,
LOVE shall live eternally.
***
Bulletin Board
·
Natal Marriages Indexing Project
(NMIP)
As you all know Adrian Rowe
and his dedicated team have been hard at work doing a great job on the
NMIP. Unfortunately though he is
running short of time!!!
Adrian has recently been
advised by the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU) that the NMIP has been
approved as a "mainstream indexing project"! Also that they will produce digital images
of the Natal Marriage films in due course and that the index will be linked to
GSU. This will be of great advantage
and will help make our lives a lot easier. To date they have almost reached the 40,000
transcriptions mark!!
Please members, Adrian is
desperate for volunteers to give a couple of hours a week or month in the FHC
transcribing marriages from film onto a computer - it is not difficult, but it
does help if a couple do it together.
If you would like to
volunteer you can contact Adrian during the day on his cell 0827089570, or otherwise
at home after 18h00, on 031-7644721.
·
Huguenot Society of Australia
We have recently been
notified by eGSSA of the existence of a Huguenot Society in Australia. They have quite an interesting website at http://members.optushome.com.au/ozhug/index.html
(According to the
Huguenot Society of South Africa website, Huguenot names from South Africa
include:
Bastiaans, Bisseau,
Blignault, Bruere, Celliers, Cortje, Costeux, Cronje, de Buys, de Lanoy,
Delport, du Preez, de Villiers, du Plessis, Durand, du Toit, Fauré, Fouché,
Fourié, Gouws, la Grange, Guillaumé, Hugo, Jacob, Joubert, Jordaan,
Labuschange, de Klerk, Leriche, Le Roux, Le Sueur, Lombaard, Malan, Malherbe,
Marais, Maré, Minnaar, Mouton, Naudé, Nel, Nortje, Pienaar, Retief, Rossouw,
Roux, Senekal, Taillefert, Terreblanche, Therond, Viljoen and Vivier.)
·
A copy of the English translation of "Groep sonder Grense"
H.F. Heese M.A. Phd. - "The Cape Melting Pot" Delia
Robertson, is available. The original
script written by Heese in the height of the apartheid era makes interesting
reading to all South Africans who can trace their lines back to the early
settlers.
It is a pdf format
file.
Please contact Eleanor
Garvie direct at garviek@dbn.sstormnet.co.za
or contact one of the committee members.
·
A special thank you to Eleanor Garvie for the copy of the “Titanic
Passenger List” which she has donated to our library and also for all the interesting
websites. A thank you too to Doreen
Nichols for the Family Tree Magazines which she also donated to the library.
·
Websites
Here are a few websites by
Dave Honour which were shared with us at the workshop :
Excellent website for
searching most of the UK registers including census returns, wills and military
records. Can be frustrating wading
through several pages of information only to find a reference to a file number
that means nothing, as you can’t see the contents. When information is found there is a £3.50 charge to download the
pdf file which usually comes through instantly and gives you 54 days to refer
to or copy.
Excellent site for
researching known people or places back to Domesday records. Information included on website includes
historical reference books, Manorial records, House of Commons debates and
maps. Website requires user to register
for free which enables the use of a bookshelf for quick access to previously
used texts.
Website for records of
Church of England clergymen from 1540 to 1835.
This website is under development but promises to be a very useful tool
for anybody researching information on Vicars, Bishops and ecclesiastical
records.
Easy to use website for
searching parish records from the East End of London, very useful for Cockney
descendants. Search tools enable the
locating of names within registers then a charge is levied for downloading the
whole register.
www.veteransagency.mod.uk/service_records
Very
good website for searching service records of army personnel from WW2 up to the
present day. For records previous to
1940 there are links to the National Archives where these records are kept.
http://www.irishfamilyresearch.co.uk
http://www.local-history.co.uk
http://www.healthanddna.com/genealogy.html
Zimbabwe Genealogy website
www.list.jaunay.com/ausnzpassengers/
Australia Genealogy
Australia Family History
Compendium
Something of interest for
all members wanting to do research in New Zealand
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/
The Papers Past web
site has been developed as the public access point for the National Library's
newspaper digitisation project. It is an important part of the Library's long
term commitment to digitisation as a primary way to increase access to the
Library's collections.
The initial aim of the
project was to digitise over 250,000 pages of New Zealand published periodicals
from the Library's collections and prepare them for online access. As this site
develops the range of periodicals and the number of pages available will
increase.
The papers covered are listed on: http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/browse.html
***
Historical Sites in KwaZulu-Natal
Bellair
Railway Station
This mainly Victorian-style
building was completed in 1900. It was
built by the Natal Government Railways and replaced the original station of
1876-1878 which served the Durban-Pinetown railway line. The line was opened on 4 September 1878.
Atherton (295 Florida Road)
This double-storey verandah
home was designed by architect William Emery Robarts in 1903 for Mrs Joel,
a member of the prominent Witwatersrand mining family. It was subsequently sold to the Boulle
family, who retained ownership for 50 years.
Atherton has been restored and is now a restaurant.
Congella Battlefield
The monument is dedicated to
Dick van Rooyen, Abraham Greyling, Cornelius van Schalkwyk, Theunis Oosthuyzen
and others who died at the Battle of Congella on 25 May 1842. The battle took place here, when a small
Voortrekker military force warded off an attack by a British force of 139
soldiers under Captain TC Smith.
Despite this battle the Voortrekkers continued to besiege the British
Fort.
Local Cultural History Museum
(Aliwal Street)
Used to house the Local
Cultural History Museum since 1965, this old courthouse was originally designed
by the Colonial Engineer Peter Paterson.
It opened on 24 May 1866 and is the oldest government building in
Durban. The north wing was added in
1891 and the south wing in 1897. During
the Zulu War of 1879, when Durban appeared to be in danger of attack, it was
temporarily loop-holed. It was taken
over by the Durban Corporation in 1910.
Morewood Memorial Garden
(Compensation Farm, North Coast)
This Memorial Garden marks
the site of the first sugar mill in KwaZulu-Natal, built by Edmund Morewood, a
pioneer in sugar cane cultivation and the first to produce sugar in Natal in
1851. The original pond from which
water was drawn for sugar making has been reconstructed and there is a replica
of the primitive mills used to crush the sugar in the earliest days.
***
LAST
LAUGH
(Extract from Funny Correspondence sent to the Family
History Department, Salt Lake City, Utah)
These
are copies of actual correspondence received by the Family History Department.
1.
Our 2nd great-grandfather was found dead crossing the plains in the
library.
2.
I would like to find out if I have any living relatives or dead
relatives or ancestors in my family.
3. Will you send me a list of all the Dripps in
your library?
4. My Grandfather died at the age of 3.
5. We are sending you 5 children in a
separate envelope.
6. Documentation: Family Bible in
possession of Aunt Merle until the
tornado hit Topeka, Kansas. Now only the Good Lord knows where it is.
8. The wife of #22 could not be found. Somebody
suggested that she
might have been stillborn--what do
you think?
9. I am mailing you my aunt and uncle
and 3 of their children.
10. Will you please send me the name of my first wife? I have
forgotten her name.
***
Diary Dates : 2007
12 May Personal Research
9 June Family History Fair, Durban (see details above)
14 July Speaker : t.b.a.
11 August PMB Archives Visit / Personal
Research
8 September Personal Research
13 October Speaker : t.b.a.
10 November Personal Research
8 December 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. In August, for any members who
are interested, 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