Hiring a researcher in South Africa

Lists of professional freelance researchers for each province are given, with contact details, on the NARS (National Archives of South Africa) website.
www.national.archives.gov.za/
Note that these details are not regularly updated as they should be.

If you decide to delegate to a local SA researcher, it speeds things up if you’ve done your homework first and are able to provide full source references from NAAIRS, copying and pasting these from the Results Details (not Results Summary) section of the index.

If you haven’t been able to find a relevant reference to your ancestor on NAAIRS try to give the researcher a reasonable amount of family history detail as a starting point: not your entire family tree going back to William the Norman, but somewhere between that extreme and minimal information.

Questions to ask (other than the important matter of costs and preferred method of payment) include whether the researcher will provide information as transcripts or as digital image files. Photocopying – on a flatbed copier – is not permitted in deceased estate material, and is in any case often impossible due to the size and binding of older volumes.

For preservation reasons, access may be denied to files (of any type, not only deceased estate files) which are in a fragile condition. So, don’t shoot the messenger if a researcher reports that a required file cannot be ordered.

More tips for finding SA ancestors on NAAIRS

Getting back to using NAAIRS for South African family history research: a common mistake amongst first-time users of the index is placing two search terms on one line of the search form. Detach surname from forename and enter the words on two separate lines of the form. Also make use of the Beginning and Ending features at the foot of the form to give a date parameter for your search: this helps limit unnecessary hits, especially if the surname is commonly-found.

If you’re looking for a deceased estate file for your ancestor, remember that if he died in South Africa comparatively recently, say within the last 30 years, the estate reference would not be reflected on the index e.g. in Natal deceased estate files up to 1974 are shown on NAAIRS.

There are two non-archival databases on NAAIRS: the Bureau of Heraldry (HER) and Gravestone Inscriptions recorded by the Genealogical Society of South Africa (GEB). Under the MAN database are National Registers of Manuscripts (NAREM) and Photographs (NAREF). On these you can search libraries and museums as well as archival repositories. NAREM could lead you to a shipboard diary: first prize would be one written by your own forebear but accounts by contemporary travellers can be useful. NAREF could help you locate a photograph of an ancestor.

Seeking SA ancestors on NAAIRS

For family historians who haven’t used NAAIRS before, it’s well worth reading the on-site introductory pages which explain information categories, source codes, acronyms and tips for structuring searches. The Help pages give user-friendly instructions for Getting Started, Searching, Selecting a Database, Saving Queries etc, plus a list of FAQ.

Before you begin the search, have some basic family history details handy: the ancestor’s name, location if known (i.e. Cape, Natal etc), an approximate date parameter, and any extra facts which would assist in identifying an individual on the index, such as an unusual middle name or a spouse’s forename or maiden name. This is essential when looking for a John Smith or Joe Brown, to avoid an avalanche of hits. As with any search, always try variant spellings of a surname.

If you find no reference to your ancestor on NAAIRS don’t jump to the conclusion that he never came to South Africa. He may simply have remained invisible as far as public records were concerned. Possible reasons for that are many and varied.

The colonies often provided an opportunity to turn over a new leaf and an emigrant may have used an alias. This would effectively mask his identity in the records and imaginative search options might be needed: e.g. he could have taken his mother’s maiden name.

Access NAAIRS at www.national.archives.gov.za/