SOUTHERN RHODESIA RESIDENCY DOCUMENT

Question

On 10 Feb 2022 Rowland Roberts wrote on Roberts-41946:

HI, Please could you assist with what may be a tricky one. I am looking for a residency document which states that my South African born parents were residents of Southern Rhodesia at the time they applied for their first passports. I have no idea where one would find this or if it is even online. Here are my parents details:- Rowland Arthur Roberts, B:08/01/37 Durban. Bulawayo resident from mid-1940's. Anna Magdalena Magrietha Roberts (Koen) B: 22/05/38 Johannesburg. Shabani resident resident from mid-1940's. Bulawayo resident from early 1960's. Many thanks.

Answer 1

Try https://www.familysearch.org/search/

Answer 2

Hi

I think that this might be the person you are looking for:

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSL5-D7MJ-Z?i=1442&cat=497766

It is an a scan of voter registration forms - the birth date and place matches - make sure you click through all the pages as there are a few in there. These scans are unindexed but once you get the hang of how they are organised it is reasonably quick to find what you are looking for.

The image collection main page is here in case you want to search for anyone else: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/497766?availability=Family%20History%20Library. Just scroll down the page to see the list of scans.

I did find some naturalisation image collections in FAmily Search but I haven't yet been able to fathom how these are organised to search them - this is a list of collections (not sure which are indexed) under the Rhodesia Registrar General: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/results?count=20&query=%2Bauthor_id%3A349828

Hope this helps! I only just stumbled onto these records today and they unlocked so much for me. I hope they help you too :-)