South African Sources of Information
Formal South African Sources can be classified as follows:
|Department of Home Affairs|
|Master of the Supreme Court|
|Church or Parish Records|
General sources of information can be classified as follows:
|Libraries and Museums.|
|Family History Centers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.|
|Other Associations and Societies.|
Genealogical Institute of South
The documents available from the Department of Home Affairs are:
Approximate commencing dates for the registration of Births, marriages and deaths in the various provinces is as follows:
The facilities, files and records of the Department of Home Affairs are not accessible or available to private sector genealogists and researchers, and neither is there an index for perusal by the public, however the public may submit applications for copies of birth, marriage and death certificates.
Many of the earlier records are in the possession of the National Archives of South Africa Repositories, and although the issue of certificates can only be done by the Department of Home Affairs and the records cannot be photocopied, researchers can get access to marriage and death registers older than 20 years.
Two types of certificates are available, as follows:
Abridged certificates give narrow personal information about the person being researched.
Full certificates are more useful as they include details such as names of parents, dates and places, etc.
For genealogical purposes Full certificates should be obtained.
apply for certificates from outside
There is a charge associated with obtaining copies of these certificates, which can be obtained when writing or applying for certificates.
Return to Index.
The documents available at the Master of the Supreme Court are:
Estate Files that comprise:
A death notice.
A last will and testament.
The distribution account.
Commencing dates for the estate files kept at the various Master's Offices:
The purpose of the Master's Office is to:
Administer the liquidation and distribution of the estates of deceased persons.
Administer trust property given under the control of any person by a deceased person.
Administer the property of minors and persons under curatorship.
Administer derelict estates.
Regulate the rights of beneficiaries under mutual wills made by any two or more persons.
are four provincial offices and one office presided over by an Assistant
If the estate has not yet been wound up, the public do not have access to that file.
These very important documents give much information about the deceased including personal details, those of his/her spouse(s), children and other beneficiaries. Addresses often also give clues to the researcher about where to find relatives of the deceased, while wills are valuable for the keen collector of signatures.
Return to Index
The documents available at an Archives repository include:
The correspondence files, registers and other documents of government offices and the offices of local authorities that are, or were, located in the provinces concerned.
Photographs, Maps and official publications
Microfilms of documents housed in the depot concerned.
The Estate Files before the dates listed under The Master of the Supreme Court, for the various Provinces.
are archives repositories in
addition there is the National Archives in
Return to Index
The documents available at Churches include:
Church Minute Books
Church records can provide a wealth of information but are problematical in that not all churches have central repositories for their records. Several churches still have their records at parish level.
Church records are the oldest records that most people ever use preceding the information available from the Department of the interior.
for the Dutch Reformed Church in SA are extant almost from the founding of
the settlement at the
Information available from Church Records
Return to Index
The records available from cemeteries are:
Tombstone inscriptions provide a wealth of information in that they provide information such as date and place of birth and death, age of the deceased at death, place of origin, names of other persons related to the deceased, besides the names, maiden surname and 'pet names' of the deceased.
The limitation is that the availability of the information is dependant on the location of the tombstone and only for as long as the inscription remains legible.
are of course a great many rural or farm cemeteries outside the jurisdiction
of municipalities, considering that
This information is indexed by cemetery, and the results are published by the State Archives Service. Copies are available at all archives' depots and at various libraries and institutions that deem it necessary to purchase these volumes.
The cemetery information is also available on computer to which the following institutions have access:
The reading rooms of all the Provincial Archive Depots.
The libraries of the
Universities of Cape Town,
The Cory Library, Grahamstown.
The South African
Library and the
New information is constantly being added, as more cemeteries are processed by the Archives Service.
The published indices can supplement your research by providing a quick reference, to ascertain where a person is buried and thus at which provincial archive depot his death notice is held; or where or when the person was born, which could help you in finding his baptismal entry, and so on.
The indices are particularly helpful for children who died at a young age and for whom there is rarely a death notice.
Burial Registers rarely provide more information than the person's full names, his date of burial and his age at death. Burial registers only exist for cemeteries within municipal boundaries and are of course the property of the town council concerned.
These registers become invaluable when a person is buried in a grave that doesn't have a headstone and the register is the only means of identifying where and when he was buried.
Return to Index
Military records can be found at various places and there are several publications that provide valuable information to the researcher.
SA Defence Force Archives
Archives of the
Archives of the
Archives of the officer charged with gathering information concerning deaths among the Republican fighting forces and civilians, 1899-1902. Very comprehensive, giving name of deceased, age, address and place of death.
The SA Defence Force Archives are not open to the public, but you may write to obtain information.
The Commonwealth War Graves Board have lists of all casualties in SA, their places of burial, etc. including all South African deaths overseas and all British killed in SA.
The particulars of all persons who served in the South African Armed Forces from the time of union in 1910 are available from the SADF Documentation Centre.
need permission from the person concerned or from his eldest living relative
to obtain information from these records.
Records Available include:
Newspapers and much, much more.
Public libraries in most centres have sections on genealogy and deserve a visit from every beginning genealogist early in his research. Libraries at universities also contain sections of genealogical interest.
The conscientious and methodical researcher will never underestimate the value and the role of museums in genealogical importance. Museums are a great source of information to any genealogist, and often specialist museums hold information pertinent to particular cultures, fashions of the day, historical themes or eras.
Return to Index
its foundation in 1894, the first Family History Library in
Most of the main libraries records have been acquired through an extensive microfilming programme that began in 1938 and continues to the present.
200 microfilmers are filming original records in
courthouses, churches and other archives in many countries throughout the
Family History Center Libraries in
While previous research can be very helpful the information may be inaccurate or incomplete. Much of the information has been submitted by library patrons and has not been verified by the Family History Library, so always evaluate the information you find very carefully.
The International Genealogical Index (IGI)
IGI is a computerized index of names extracted from various records. The
1989 edition lists the names of over 180 000 000
deceased persons. It is available on microfiche and at newer or larger
libraries on CD
The IGI lists such information as the names of the parents or spouse and the dates and locations of births, christenings, marriages and other events.
Family Group Records Collection
The Family Group Records Collection consists of more than 8 000 000 Family Group Record Forms. These contain information on families from all over the world.
The Family Group Records Collection is divided into two parts:
The Patron Section that contains forms sent in by patrons as part of a four-generation programme.
The Archives Section that contains forms submitted before 1969 to have LDS temple ordinances performed.
Both sections are available on microfilm. The film numbers are listed in the author/title section of the FHLC under Family Group Records Collection. For the Archive section you can only request 16mm films.
The main library has thousands of family histories, most of which are in book form, however some are microfilm or microfiche copies.
To find out if the main library has a history that includes your ancestor, look for your ancestor's name in the surname section of the FHLC catalogue. This section does not list every name in the libraries' records, but does show the major families included in each family history.
The Family Registry can help you to find others who have already done or are in the process of doing research on your ancestor. People who are interested in working with others have submitted the names of individuals or families they are looking for to the Family Registry. These names are listed on microfiche at the family history center.
Why not submit a form and list your details in the Family Registry. There are no fees for this service.
A great many other documents such as Census Returns, Birth, Marriage and Death Registers and the like can be obtained, on loan to your local History Center, from the main library in Salt Lake City, at a nominal cost.
Return to Index
Societies exist in many countries of the world, and
Members of the GSSA do not undertake research on behalf of researchers but they will guide, assist and teach you how to go about researching your own family.
In addition, the GSSA publishes "Familia," their own quarterly journal which contains valuable information of interest to anyone researching their South African roots.
Return to Index
are a number of other associations and societies in
The Huguenot Society
aim of the Huguenot Society of South Africa is to preserve the Huguenot
|Published family histories and genealogies.|
|Family files with biographical and genealogical information about many families.|
|Indexes to the estate files in the four provincial archives and copies of some death notices from the four provinces.|
|All the volumes of Familia: Quarterly Journal of the Genealogical Society of South Africa.|
|Photographs of various individuals and families.|
|Completed family group sheets and ancestral charts.|
|A register of researchers and of families about which research is being done.|
|Funeral notices and epitaphs on gravestones.|
|NG Kerk registers of the four provinces up to about 1900 on microfilm.|
|Some Zimbabwe death notices on microfilm|
|Lutheran Church registers of Cape Town and district on microfilm.|
|The voters' roll of the Republic of South Africa on Microfiche|
|A variety of local and foreign genealogical publications.|
For comments and feedback concerning this site, please E Mail me.