ORCA

This is the proposal I wrote in applying for an ORCA Mentoring Grant through BYU. FINAL PAPER NOW AVAILABLE!

TRACING THE SOUTH AFRICAN IMMIGRANT ANCESTORS

Importance of Project

Although South Africa has only been a union since 1910 and an independent country since 1961 its immigrant history spans three and a half centuries. South Africa’s historical birth is 1652, when the Dutch landed at the Cape of Good Hope to establish a way-station to assist ships en-route to the East. From these humble beginning South Africa has developed into a diverse nation that is the home to thousands of immigrants and their descendants from all over the world.

Historically, South Africa was occupied first by the Netherlands administration from 1652-1795; where the population grew from a mere nine original farmers in 1657 to over ten thousand inhabitants by 1780. This increase occurred not only because of Dutch immigrants, but also because of the assisted immigration of French Huguenots by the Dutch East India Company.

South Africa was later occupied by the British Administration from 1795-1910 which brought about a great population increase. By the end of the 19^th century the population was nearing six million.

Previous research is lacking in the information available on the South African immigrant ancestors. This research project will attempt to rectify this problem, by going to the countries from which they emigrated, namely the Netherlands and England, and find records that trace them back to their birth and residence origins.

The information and records I will acquire will be useful to South African family historians who are not able to progress further back than their immigrant ancestor. Furthermore, this will also help genealogists worldwide as South Africa is home to thousand of immigrants from the Netherlands, France, Germany, England and Scandinavia. Furthermore many previous South African’s now live abroad in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, and this research may be of interest to them too.

Main Proposal Body

I plan to find records in the Netherlands and England, which indicate more than the port or place of emigration, but the towns and villages that South African immigrant ancestors came from. For instance, I will look for records that indicate places of birth, christening or residences.

In preparation before going to the National Archives of England in London, and the National Archives of the Netherlands in Hague, I will examine the holdings of the Family History Library, in Salt Lake. I will look for immigration records to South Africa and emigration records from England and the Netherlands. In this way, I will become familiar with which types of records list the information I am looking for. This preparation before going to Europe will make my time there more effective, as I will already be familiar with the records of these countries and I will waste time on records I have already seen, or records which the Library already has.

Once in England and the Netherlands, I will search for emigration records to South Africa that list information about the emigrants, which will lead me to find their true origins. I will then attempt to acquire the records I find, that are currently not available through the Family History Library. With the permission of the archive I will make either paper or digital copies of these records. I will then give these records to the Immigrant Ancestors Project at BYU. The Immigrant Ancestors Project is a student run project where international emigration records are gathered and then extract by volunteers and made available on a free a free searchable database.

In the spring term 2006, I will fly with my second mentor (recommender), Cynthia Doxey, to London, England and spend three weeks searching in the National Archives and The British Library in the India office records. I will then spend two weeks searching county record offices associated with the port cities of Liverpool and Southampton.

After researching in England I will then travel to the Netherlands with my mentor, George Ryskamp. I will spend two weeks in the Netherlands. I will search the large cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam and also the smaller archives in Gronigen and Zeeland. I will also search the Dutch East India Company records, as this was the means of transportation of many emigrants to South Africa.

Anticipated Academic Outcome

I intend to give a presentation at Brigham Young University’s Annual Genealogy and Family History Conference in the Summer term of 2006. I will also submit a paper to be published in Familia, the quarterly newsletter of the Genealogical Society of South Africa. I will give the record copies that I acquire to BYU’s Immigrant Ancestor Project to be extracted onto their free, searchable database. I will also develop a free website, with the help of my mentor and the Immigrant Ancestors Project, on how to do Dutch genealogical research. This experience will assist me with my quest to become the first Accredited Genealogist for
South Africa. It will give me first hand research knowledge and skills, and the opportunity to learn from two experts in the genealogy and family history fields.

Qualifications

After taking the introduction to Family History class I developed a passion and great interest in Family history and Genealogy. I changed my major from Biochemistry to Family History and Genealogy and am desirous to become the first Accredited Genealogist of South Africa. I am currently taking classes such as Latin paleography, English history, and Dutch research to better prepare me for this research endeavor and my genealogical goals.

I grew up in South African and speak both English and Afrikaans. Afrikaans is a branch of Dutch and therefore I will be comfortable reading Dutch manuscripts. I have conducted personal research in South Africa and am a member of the Genealogical Society of South Africa. Furthermore, I work as a research assistant in the British Project of the Immigrant Ancestors Project at the Center for Family History and Genealogy at BYU.

With the aid of my mentors, we will make a great team in accomplishing the goal of tracing the South Africa immigrant ancestors.

Project Timetable

Spring 2006: May 1^st to May 21^st – London, England

May 22^nd to 29^th – Southampton, Hampshire

May 30^th to June 6^th – Liverpool, Lancashire

June 7^th to June 14^th – Amsterdam & Rotterdam, Netherlands

June 15^th to 22^nd – Groningen & Zeeland, Netherlands

Fit With BYU’s Mission

Family history encompasses all of the missions of BYU. It is spiritually strengthening, intellectually enlarging and character building and it encourages service. Furthermore, it is one of the three missions of the church to “redeem the dead”.

The following is a favorite quote: “Our motives are not selfish; our purposes not petty and earthbound; we contemplate the human race past, present, and yet to come as immortal beings, for whose salvation it is our mission to labor; and to their work, broad as eternity and deep as the love of God, we devote ourselves, now and forever. (The First Presidency; Improvement Era, 1907, p.495).

Sources

1. De Villiers, Christoffel and Cornelis Pama. Genealogies of old South African families. Cape Town and
Amsterdam: A. A. Balkema, 1966

2. Lombard, RTJ. Handbook for Genealogical Researching in South Africa. Pretoria: Humans Sciences Research Council, 1990

3. Pama, Cornelis. World Conference on Records and Genealogical Seminar Papers (Area G). Immigration patterns in South Africa and their effects on genealogical research – Netherlands Administration and British administration. Salt Lake City: The Genealogical Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1969

4. Trewhella and Cameron. A New Illustrated History of South Africa, Second Edition. Johannesburg and
Cape Town: Southern Book Publishers, Human and Rousseau, 1991