Project: South African Roots/Sources

South African Roots Project Resources

Sources and Pre 1700 Profiles

Help:Sources_FAQ

Reliable Sources

Honor_Code

Help:Pre-1700_Profiles

Help:Pre-1700_Projects

Help:Uncertain

Help:Research_Before_Editing

Quiz-pre_1700

Death Records

NAAIRS

Contains a searchable index of records. Some records are photographed and can be found on the FamilySearch servers below although they have not all yet been indexed by FamilySearch. Here you can see which collections has images or has been indexed. Currently being indexed FamilySearch Indexing

Browse only published collections on FamilySearch

Wills

Inventories

Death Notices and Probate files

Civil Death Notices

Church Records on FamilySearch

An excellent collection of links to and breakdown of South African church (and civil) records on FamilySearch can be found at My People Puzzle.

A refined version (work still in progress) of the above baptism and marriage indexes can be found at SA Quick Links

Some Images in these collections

Birth and Baptisms

Baptisms Cape 1652-1800

The records of the Dutch Reformed Church (NGK) have all been indexed as far as I can tell and are spread over three searchable databases with duplication in some cases.

• Familysearch for the Cape. To note, a few hard to read pages were skipped and not indexed.
• eGGSA Baptisms
• eGGSA Cape and Stellenbosch

Drakenstein	1695-1717	1718 -1732	1732 - 1775	1775 - 1785	1809-1810

Ring registers 1845-1899

Index to surnames. First find the family member in this index. Note the town, register number and page. Next to that index link is the baptism records for the Cape link. Unfortunately Family Search did not index them by register number but by Rings up to about 1888 Thereafter alphabetically by town. With the Rings, take the year you are looking for and open the collections. At the back of the collections, usually the last or second/third last or so exposure gives a list of what was filmed in that collection. There are register numbers as well. Make a note of how many exposures were in each register. Now work back from the exposure count on the left top to find the right register where it starts. You have the page number now browse to the right page.

Note A new index of the Familysearch Collection of these Ring registers can be found under the town names at My People Puzzle

NG Kerk Ring indexs registers according to surname

Please note, although the indeks appears complete for the period, some years in some towns were not indexed.

Baptisms Transvaal

Baptisms Namibia

Marriages

Marriages Cape

Marriages Transvaal

Marriages Namibia

Immigration

Cape

Graaff Reinet Passe

Pasregister

Personalia of the Germans at the Cape

British immigrants to South Africa

Passenger Lists

Emigration

Other Information

Plekname/Place names South Africa, South West Africa, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland

GSSA

1820 Settlers

British Concentration Camps of the South African War 1900-1902

Voortrekkers

Dorslandtrekkers

Opgaafrolle

Slave Register during abolition period 1816-1838

• 1826 Eienaars indeks, by surname for all Cape Colony, giving District, Ledger, Folio. Useful, but not always complete.
• Familysearch search interface to slave registers: sometimes finds what you want.
• Register of Slaves 1762-1838 at Familysearch. A somewhat confusing listing of filmbatches and their contents. Administrative records of VOC/government owned slaves apparently goes back to 1762.
• Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery Owner claims Search Database Remember to enable Colony to Cape of Good Hope

• Attempt to index the scans at familysearch, so it it easier to find the correct Ledger and Folio for specific persons in a given District Space:Slave_Owners_and_Slaves_in_South_Africa

Private slave owners had to register their slaves from about 1816. This was done per District, organized in 'Ledgers', ordered by first letter of the surname, with numbered 'Folios' per slave owner. Each 'Ledger' starts with a catalog listing names of owners and the number of the corresponding 'Folio'.

In 1826 a general index was made, listing private slave owners from the whole Cape Colony, with their District, and the Folio number.

There is also very interesting detailed information, in French, about the continued importation of slaves from Mauritius, using the 'domestic slave' loophole, where people went to Mauritius, acquired a few slaves, and then travelled with these new 'domestic slaves' back to the Cape. This was then not considered to be 'overseas trade', which was forbidden. Registration administration in Mauritius was in French, and in the French tradition.

A first way to give value to this trove of information is probably to add a section "Slave Owner" to the bio of slave owners, to list the slaves on this registry. One can usually give an estimate of the date of birth for slaves, as their 'enregisterment' date is always given, usually with an estimate of their age. When slaves were born from slave mothers, their birth date is usually recorded. Usually the mother is listed, but nothing is given about the father. It is recorded when slaves are sold or just transferred to other people, usually with the new District, Ledger and Folio number.

Familysearch has a search page for this slave registry, but it often cannot find what is there. It would be worthwhile to make an index pointing into the relevant Ledgers, etc on the familysearch system.

Precis of the archives of the Cape of Good Hope