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South Africa Death Notices

15 Sep By Leave a Comment

More Irish spent time in South Africa than you might think. A major source they left behind are “death notices.” This is a primary source for documenting birth places, and is contained in a deceased persons estate file. Estates date from 1832 in the Orange Free State. All the files are open to the public and housed in a South African archive or are on microfilm at the Family History Library: www.familysearch.org

The death notices are “fill in the blank” and was generated soon after a person died, usually by a relative. Information can include, name, occupation, address, birth place, date and place of death, age at death, names of parents and spouses (living and dead), children, and siblings. Of course, this is if the form was filled out completely!

The estate file itself usually includes a copy of the will with the typical information found in such a document. However, the provisions for a will was that the death notice was to be completed first and there was enough in the estate to even warrant opening a case file.

The Genealogical Society of South Africa: www.genza.org.za is currently compiling an index to the “Cape Masters Office Estate Files” which will be appearing online. 

The FHL collections by province are as follows: Cape (1834-1989); Orange Free State (1832-1989); Natal (1851-1950); Transvaal (1869-1958); Zululand (1890-1903). Make sure to look at for indexes to the estate files in the FHL collections.

Considering where South Africa is geographically located, its people had access to shipping lanes worldwide. Irish-South Africans can be found in most major countries where the other Irish settled. It may be within your family, or a branch of your family, that the birth place in Ireland is found through a death notice.

The Irish Migration to South Africa

17 Jul By Leave a Comment

What is today South Africa evolved from settlements established by the Dutch and English. The Dutch arrived in 1652 under the Dutch East India Company. In 1795, the British took over the Cape. This would later become the provinces of Cape Province, Natal, Orange Free State and Transvaal.

With the establishment of the British, the Irish would arrive in great numbers as merchants, mariners, soldiers, miners and settlers. The first distinct Irish group migration was in 1818 with a small party of Irish artisans. The famous 1820 group of settlers were transported to the Cape by the British Government and included five groups from counties Cork and Wicklow. Another County Cork group came in 1823. After these organized groups, most migration was of individual colonists.

One Irish immigration scheme was the planned transportation of women. Being so far from Europe, there was an abundance of men and few women. Beginning in 1849 the

Emigration Philanthropic Society of England began assisting poor Irish girls to leave the Irish workhouses. The resulting drama is the stuff of legends. In an 1851 scandal broke

aboard the immigration ship Gentoo which had become a floating brothel! The resulting embarrassment would enact policies where the Irish girls would be chaperoned on board by responsible English families. Then once in South Africa, small groups of girls were under the protection of married women, who guided them away from hasty marriages and unacceptable employment.

The Irish in South Africa played an important part of the European history and development of the country. Regardless of where your family immigrated; if you had a branch in South Africa, it’s history and records are worth exploring.

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