Atkinson Family

[Lee1951]

It seems that 70 Atkinson's immigrated to South Africa 1800 - 1901.    My paternal grandfather was Frank and he married and lived in Uitenhage near Port Elizabeth in the Cape.   My father was Leopold.  Some of his son's married German women and lived most of their lives and had families in the old South West Africa,   and I do recall one cousin I have named Gustav whom I think now resides in Uitenhage and worked at Volkswagen South Africa.  I seem to recall talk of Atkinson from Somerset in England but then am not sure if it was grandmother's family but also the city of Eastbourne in England came up.  I was appreciate any assistance tracing my grandfather's date of birth death and family history back to UK.   With thanks

[rutti tutti]

Hi there,
We need as many details as possible - what you have given is too broadbased. When roughly was you grandfather born and where, as well as details for your father. There are 22 Atkinsons in the PE area in the phone book, but none in Uitenhage as such.
Many thanks
Ruth

[Lee1951]

Thanks so much for reply, however most of the Atkinson's in Port Elizabeth are my immediate family,  i.e. Frank, Charles, Jason,  and possible this German cousin Gustav,   about 3 families are not.  But only I need to find out when our grandfather was born i.e. in Uitenhage near Port Elizabeth or if he was in fact born here in England.  He is definitely buried in the Church of England section in the Uitenhage cemetery as is my father,  Leopold who died on 7th September 1967.      If anyone could assist me as to a website where I could perhaps find his death registration,  this may tell me where he was born and his date of birth,  also all of his Christian names.  From there I hope to trace his father until I get to England.
Thanks again & regards
Lee

[rutti tutti]

Hi again,
In South Africa there are no websites with births marriages and deaths as in the UK. The only site that has very limited info is the IGI. The way to research, here in SA, is to work backwards. Here we have the National Archives which list the death notices for those that have died and left property. This is just an index of what is in teh archives. A death notice gives a lot of information, stating where the person was born, who his parents were, wife etc ( all this is contained in the guidelines.) Therefore if we know when your grandfather died you can look in the archives and see if there is a death notice for him - but we need to know approximate decade of death and it helps if you know his wifes name as well. However I cannot immediately see a death notice for him.

Please read the guidelines in the articles posted at the top of the board for detailed info on what is available in South Africa.
Ruth

[Lee1951]

Hi

I would think he died between 1935 - 1945 as I understand this was the decade my grandmother died and I also understand he died before her.
What does IGI stand for?   I agree that I should work backwards.   And I know that in the 1920's he lived at Philpot Street in Uitenhage as he signed my father's apprenticeship form - I shall check the exact date tonight that he signed this. I have just remembered my grandmother's name was Emerelda.  I checked immigrants to SA site and came across 70 Atkinson's in the period as per this site.  But I don't know what it means by Page Number etc.  I shall go back and look again tonight.  But menatime thank you

Regards
Lee