Records at a Glance: South Africa

Cemetery records
Tombstone inscriptions and burial registers are helpful for tracing people without markers and children without death notices.

• Genealogical Society of South Africa’s ongoing Cemetery Recording Project index http://www.eggsa.org

Church records
Churches’ documentation of baptism, marriage and burial are a major source for vital records before civil registration. Some still kept on parish level

• Anglican archive at Witts University http://www.historicalpapers.wits.ac.za
• Other church archives at the Cory Library http://www.ru.ac.za/corylibrary

Civil registrations
Registration of births, marriages and deaths began 1868-1900 (varied by province and record type); some death and marriage records appear much earlier. Originals and certified copies from Department of Home Affairs

• Many older records at national archives http://www.national.archives.gov.za; request through consulate
• Burial records in municipal offices
• Many civil registration records on microfilm at the Family History Library http://www.familysearch.org
• Many searchable at Ancestry24

Civil service lists
Detailed books on members of the civil service were published for many years in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

• National libraries, national archives.
• Some on Ancestry24

Estate files
These exist for people with significant financial assets, and contain a death notice, will, and the liquidation and distribution account.

• Master’s provincial offices for mid-1900s on
• Provincial offices of national archives for earlier records

Passenger lists
No central index exists, and records after early influx of immigrants are spotty.

• Ancestry24
• South African Genealogy http://www.sagenealogy.co.za
• South African Passenger Lists http://sa-passenger-list.za.net

Property ownership records
Find deeds to property including land and slaves (until 1838 in Cape Town).

• Deedsweb http://www.deeds.gov.za (look at ownership history under current properties)
• Slave transfers indexed in Robert Shell’s Changing Hands

Voter lists
Municipal rolls of eligible voters exist for various years from 1884 to 1907, and a few post-1910.

• National archives
• Ancestry24

From the March 2011 Family Tree Magazine