When did my ancestor arrive in SA and on which ship?

This is the most frequently asked question in South African family history research. It’s also one of the most difficult to answer. To begin with, it depends on the ancestor’s point of departure: was it Hamburg or some other port in Europe. Did he sail from a British port? And during which decade?

If your ancestor embarked at a British port after 1890, outward-bound passenger lists are now online at findmypast

These lists exist from 1890-1960 and originate from Board of Trade records held in BT 27 at The National Archives, Kew. Destinations include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Canada and USA.

Online access to these passenger lists is a valuable resource: there were no indexes to the original registers, many of them were fragile and took time to search. As they were arranged monthly by port of departure it was necessary to know an approximate date of departure and the port to have any hope of finding an ancestor. The online facility is a gigantic step forwards.

However, 1890 was the start of the final decade of the 19th c and the great era of British emigration to South Africa began much earlier, in the second decade of that century.

There are two points to bear in mind:

1. If an ancestor was part of an organized emigration scheme, there is a good chance of finding out more about him – or about them, if the entire family emigrated together.

2. If an individual passenger wasn’t part of an organized group but paid for his own passage and was free to settle in whatever part of the country he chose, his arrival is usually less easy to trace.

Ancestors buried in Durban?

While we're on the topic of death, a query came in today asking about burials and cremations at Stellawood Cemetery, Durban.

Stellawood –a vast cemetery in the suburb of Umbilo, Durban - was opened and burials begun in 1904. The Stellawood Crematorium, however, dates from 1926. There are registers for both the Cemetery and the Crematorium, searchable at the relevant office by year. These records are not online. 

Update: see eGGSA gravestones in South Africa at
www.eggsa.org/library/main.php?g2_itemId=43

Stellawood Cemetery memorial inscriptions are currently (2012) being photographed by a group of dedicated volunteers.

The memorial inscriptions at West Street Cemetery, Durban, read like a roll-call of Natal settlers. Much earlier burials took place at the Point Cemetery: at the link below there’s a list of who was buried at the Point Cemetery and details of the exhumation of the remains of colonists and their re-interment at West Street Cemetery in 1896.
molegenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/09/heritage-month-point-settlers-memorial.html

An index to West Street Cemetery has been published by GSSA (Genealogical Society of South Africa) in their Cemetery Recording Project series on CD. Other Durban cemeteries covered in the series include St Thomas's Church Cemetery and the Wyatt Road Military Cemetery.

Photo shows the Point Settlers' Memorial at West Street Cemetery.

Other contents of a South African Deceased Estate file

The Liquidation and Distribution Account gives details of all the assets in the estate, including movable and immovable property, and also lists claims which have been paid out of the estate such as advertisements in newspapers, funeral expenses etc.

The distribution part refers to how the assets were divided amongst the beneficiaries. One of its uses for family history can be providing names of grandchildren who may not have been mentioned at the time the will was made. This information could take the family historian forward to living descendants.

An inventory of the deceased’s belongings can offer various important facts. The full legal description of a piece of land, given under immovable assets, may come in handy for searches at the Deeds Office. (For more on inventories, see my post of 30 January 2010 entitled ‘Getting the best out of NAAIRS’.)

It’s really worthwhile looking at any miscellaneous correspondence in the estate file e.g. invoices from tradesmen claiming settlement of accounts. An undertaker’s invoice may note the burial place, even a plot number of a grave. It will also give an idea of the scale of the funeral – and who paid for it (there were often arguments among relatives as to who should foot the bill for the tombstone).

A simple list of garments turned out to be my great great grandmother’s mourning clothes, as well as some for her daughters, ordered from the ‘Silk Mercer, Milliner and Straw Bonnet Manufacturer’ – hats, gloves, ribbons, braid, lace tuckers and (a vital accessory for the occasion) handkerchiefs - so that the family would be correctly attired for my great great grandfather’s funeral in 1869.

Tradeplates and engraved letterheads on correspondence can make decorative illustrations for a family history narrative.

All the above points emphasise that you'd miss out on a great deal of information if you were to access only the Death Notice in a Deceased Estate file.

Where there's a Will ... in SA

If a will was made by the deceased, it should be found in his deceased estate file. Some wills are not particularly informative being in a standard format, though beneficiaries (people benefiting under terms of the will) are named and specific bequests such as the medals of a military man may be included. Occasionally, there are unexpected revelations e.g. additional bequests to a favourite god-daughter, or an adopted or illegitimate child previously unknown to the family; or even a mistress being rewarded for services rendered (be careful, she might have been the housekeeper).

Family rifts may show up in the will. One angry father would not allow his daughter to benefit under his will because she had 'taken her mother's side' in her parents' divorce. A child not appearing as a beneficiary isn't necessarily evidence of a rift. Sometimes parents preferred to leave assets to children who weren't as well-established as the others. This could lead to ill-feeling in the family and to a will being contested.

Instructions might be given in the will as to the deceased's choice of burial or cremation, which could be helpful when you're seeking his last resting-place.

If an individual died intestate (no will) the document will obviously not be among the contents of the estate file.

In family history research, it's essential to look beyond the stated facts: a list of children on a Death Notice of 1903 showed 5 sons and 3 daughters, only 2 of them 'of age' (majors) and all of them living with the surviving parent, their mother. The minor children ranged in ages from 14 to 4 and none of them were wage-earning. From the time of his father's death, the eldest son would have to take on the role of breadwinner. The Death Notice revealed that the estate was of limited value, and that the deceased had died intestate, leaving no immovable property and not much in the way of movables either. Reading between the lines, a parlous situation for this family - and not a particularly unusual one. Considering the date (1903) it's possible that the father was a casualty of war; the Anglo-Boer War ended in 1902.

South African Death Certificate

Not to be confused with the Death Notice, the South African Death Certificate is a much briefer document. The piece of information it offers which does not appear on the Death Notice is the cause of death. This is given by the doctor in attendance, and includes duration of the final illness.

The only way to acquire an official copy of the Death Certificate is through the Department of Home Affairs. When ordering, ask for a FULL certificate, unless you need the certificate for certain visa or other legal purposes in which case obtain a VAULT copy. If delegating to a researcher, mention the reason for wanting the certificate.

In the SA context, pause for thought before embarking on the ordering of any certificates (birth, marriage or death). There is generally a waiting period for the ordering process to grind through the Department’s mill. If you have located a Death Notice for the ancestor it may not be worthwhile pursuing the Death Certificate.

Why no Deceased Estate file for my ancestor?

There isn't a deceased estate file for every person who died in South Africa. Reasons for not locating an estate file vary. The most obvious is that, contrary to what you've been led to believe, the individual may have died in another country. There could have been minimal assets, literally ‘no estate’. The death may be of too recent a date to appear on the online index, NAAIRS. Death Notices did not exist until 1834 and to find information for the period before that date trying other research avenues will be necessary.

An ancestor who lived in South Africa but died in England may have had a South African Death Notice if he owned property in South Africa. In such a case, the country where the estate was administered would depend on where the individual was resident at date of death. Frequently, delays may be caused and a South African Death Notice may not be filed for some time after the death occurred.

Finding two separate Death Notices in one deceased estate file may mean that the first form was completed at the place of death e.g. by the camp Adjutant during a military conflict – there are many instances of this during the Anglo-Boer War. Later, a more detailed Death Notice would be produced.

The format of the Death Notice changed at various dates. Earlier forms were printed horizontally across the page and often on blue paper which doesn’t photograph particularly well. These ‘sideways’ Death Notices were invariably completed by hand (not always legibly) in pen and ink. The vertically-printed Death Notice followed, but were still filled in by hand until the advent of the typewriter made them easier to read (except where the ribbon was over-used and the text faded).

Recent Death Notices include the SA identity number which first came into being in 1955. The ID number can be important if you want to acquire a South African Death Certificate.

Death Notice in SA research

The Death Notice is a significant document for the family historian seeking South African ancestors. It should provide the following details: full name of deceased, birthplace, parents’ names, deceased’s age at death, occupation, place of last marriage, marital status, names of surviving and pre-deceased spouses, date and place of death as well as names of major and minor children. If the children were minors, their dates of birth should appear; if daughters, their married surnames may be given (which could be helpful for tracing forward to the next generation); if the deceased was unmarried, his siblings’ names may be listed – and could be mistaken for children’s names if the Death Notice isn’t carefully read.

There should also be an indication regarding assets – movable (i.e. property, land/buildings) and immovable (i.e. furniture, jewellery etc) – whether these assets exceeded a certain value (this varies according to era) and whether the deceased left a will. The informant’s signature is shown, as well as whether he/she was present at the time and place of death.

It’s important to remember that the fullness and accuracy of the Death Notice is in direct proportion to the knowledge of the informant – who may or may not be the next-of-kin. Sometimes the names of the deceased’s parents aren’t given, but are substituted by the word ‘Deceased’ or ‘Dead’. ‘Birthplace’ may be stated as ‘England’, for example, with no clue as to county.

The informant, even a son of the deceased, could have forgotten his grandparents’ names and in all likelihood never met overseas family members. Close kin were under stress of bereavement when completing the Death Notice form, which could make a difference to the quality of information given. In cases where the informant was a boarding-house owner, or some other stranger who happened to be present at the death, details given on the Death Notice might be sketchy.

It has been suggested that some informants gave deliberate misinformation in Death Notices. If this is so, it happened rarely. Usually the contents of the Death Notice will help you make considerable progress with your family history quest.

Deceased Estate files in SA family history research

In the context of South African family history research, deceased estate documentation is a valuable starting point. If an ancestor died in SA, the chances of discovering further information are good – better than if he was passing through on his way to another colony or making a temporary stay before returning to his place of origin.

Using deceased estate material it’s possible to go back to his earlier history as well as forwards to more recent generations, even to living descendants.

First, search NAAIRS to identify a relevant deceased estate file for your forebear. If his area of residence isn’t known search on the RSA (all SA) database adding a reasonable time frame for the event in the ‘beginning’ and ‘ending’ facility at the foot of the search form. As always, it helps if the ancestor had an unusual surname or forename.

You can expect to find the following in an estate file: Death Notice, Will, Final Accounts and correspondence. All of these are potential sources of information. There’s a tendency to access only the Death Notice: while this is an important document, it’s advisable not to stop your search there but to check (or delegate your researcher to check) the other file contents too.

It is false economy to limit a search to the Death Notice alone. There is so much more to be discovered in even the most unlikely pieces of paper e.g. an argument by correspondence between family members over who would pay for the tombstone reveals precise details as to burial place of the deceased. Such information may not be obtained easily elsewhere.

Predicting file contents in SA family history research

There are instances where it may be difficult to predict file contents: NAAIRS offers the references but these need to be interpreted and sometimes the only way to do that is to access the original documents.

The code PWD (Public Works Department) doesn't sound promising for family history information, yet records concerning alterations to a bridge included a letter giving the ancestor's year of arrival in South Africa, previously unknown. This detail made it feasible to search passenger registers for that date parameter.

However, frequently the index reference may be all you need to establish what an individual was up to at a particular point in his South African career. A memorandum filed under CSO (Colonial Secretary's Office) could reveal that on a certain date the ancestor applied for an appointment in the civil service. In such a case, the file contents could add little to the index reference: it might be better to consult published civil service lists for the appropriate period.

It really depends on how lucky you are with finding references to your ancestor/s on NAAIRS. Where only one reference occurs it hardly matters what type of file it may lead to: at that stage it's a matter of leaving no stone unturned.

MAN database on NAAIRS

Apart from public records, i.e. records generated by government, South African archives repositories also hold private collections presented to them for preservation. These accessions, as they’re called, include biographical and genealogical information, family trees and unpublished manuscripts of family histories which could save you time if someone else has made a study of the family you’re researching. Bear in mind that manuscript (or even printed) family trees shouldn't be taken at face value and it's advisable to check all the details presented.

To check, search the MAN database on NAAIRS for manuscripts, collections of photographs, maps and other material held by all South African repositories, as well as material available at South African museums, libraries and universities.

All these can be discovered at www.national.archives.gov.za