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Research in Other Countries => South Africa => Topic started by: rm91 on Thursday 06 October 22 08:52 BST (UK)
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Hello everyone.
I posted here a few years ago about my family in South Africa but I know a little bit more info now, so I thought I’d do another post, to see if anyone can uncover anything I’ve missed, as it’s still a bit of a dead end!
My great-grandmother was called Johanna Magdalena Zacks (or Sacks, Zaks, etc.) She was known to family as Ma Jean.
She was born in 1906. One document has her birth place as ‘Lynesburg’ but I’ve struggled to find this place. I wonder if it’s actually ‘Laingsburg’ or something? She died in Salt River, Cape Town, in October 1971.
Her bother was Gert Isaac Zacks, known to some family members as ‘Uncle Bertie/Boetie’. He was born in Cape Town in 1904 and died in Cape Town in 1979.
We were always told she came from a Jewish, possibly Russian or Eastern European family. I recently did a DNA test and I am 6% ‘Jewish Peoples of Europe’ so that makes sense. My mum, a granddaughter of Johanna, did a DNA test and got 17% ‘Jewish Peoples of Europe’ and for her, it pinpointed ‘Jews in Southwest Latvia, Lithuania, & Northwest Belarus’, ‘Jews in Southwest Latvia & Lithuania’, and ‘Jews in Southwestern Lithuania’.
We know that Johanna married a man whose surname was Wasmuth and she had three children with him between 1926 and 1930: Theodore (AKA Trevor), Kathleen Maud, and Fredericka Hildegard (AKA Freda).
However, so the story goes, Mr Wasmuth was not very nice to Johanna, and another man stepped in to help her. He was my great-grandfather, Albertus Lodewicus Antonie Stadler. His father had exactly the same name as him, his mother was called Gertrude Antoinette Palm (she later married another man named Joseph Cohen).
Johanna and Albertus never married (perhaps she left Wasmuth but they never divorced?) but they had four children together between 1935 and 1942: Antoinette Henrietta Gertrude, Albertus Lodewicus Antonie, Gloria Jean Patricia, and Jean Susan Gloria. She had another child, Carol (father unknown), in 1948.
Sadly, Albertus was lost at sea when his fishing trawler went down in a storm off Cape St Francis on 18/19 July 1942.
It does not look like Johanna ever remarried, and after Albertus, she continued to use the name Wasmuth, signing her children’s marriage stuff as either J. Wasmuth or M. Wasmuth. When she was buried, she was listed as ‘Johana Magdalena Wasmuth’.
But I don’t know who this Wasmuth chap was, I have not found a document for their marriage that fits.
There is one marriage in March 1926 between a Rudolf Frederick Gustave Wasmuth and a ‘Jannet Angelina Sacks’ (age 21, so a birth year of circa 1905) which is the right timeframe, but that name is dodgy… This woman signs it J. A. Sacks too.
And I have no idea who Johanna’s parents might be?
If anyone can find any info that I might have missed, I would be truly grateful! Thank you.
Russell
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It could be her marriage - she might have anglicized her name!
There is this DN for a person who could be Rudolf's father https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C91Q-CXT7?i=1340&cc=2517051
and this could be his mother
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C91M-Y9L1-8?i=531&cc=2517051&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQLK2-P88Z
her burial record
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSVY-D48H?cc=2790463&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQG15-8CM7
If she was Jewish you may need to contact the Synagogue in Cape Town. If you know her birthdate you could go into the Cape Archives and look at the Birth register for Cape Town and Laingsburg for 1905 - she may be listed there, and in which case you will be able to confirm her parents
There is a death notice for Gert Isaak Zachs https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9GG-FVGQ?cc=4319131&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A6DHL-HRS1 which has his birthdate and ID number - with the ID number you could order a copy of his Vault Birth record which would give his parentage
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Rudolph Friederich Gustav Wasmuth died in Durban Natal in 1962 https://www.graves-at-eggsa.org/main.php?g2_itemId=4347642DEPOT
NAB
SOURCE MSCE
TYPE LEER
SYSTEM 01
REFERENCE 508/1962
PART 1
DESCRIPTION WASMUTH, RUDOLF FRIEDERICH GUSTAV. BORN IN MODDER RIVER. UNMARRIED.
DECEASED ESTATE.
STARTING 19620000
ENDING 19630000
Here is his estate. Interesting it says unmarried.
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Not sure what this file is.
DEPOT SAB
SOURCE BVE
TYPE LEER
VOLUME_NO 1060
SYSTEM 01
REFERENCE W30/1572
PART 1
DESCRIPTION THEODOR WASMUTH.
STARTING 1944
ENDING 1947
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Could this have been her daughter?
DEPOT KAB
SOURCE CSC
TYPE LEER
VOLUME_NO 2/1/1/1942
SYSTEM 01
REFERENCE 373
PART 1
DESCRIPTION ILLIQUID CASES. DIVORCE. KATHLEEN MAUDE NICKLOES, BORN WASMUTH
VERSUS EUGENE AUSTIN NICKLOES.
STARTING 19570000
ENDING 19570000
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DEPOT KAB
SOURCE CSC
TYPE LEER
VOLUME_NO 2/1/1/2539
SYSTEM 01
REFERENCE 63
PART 1
DESCRIPTION ILLIQUID CASE. RESTITUTION OF CONJUGAL RIGHTS. FREDERICKA HILDEGARD
CLARK (BORN WASMUTH) VERSUS CHARLES GILES EDWARD CLARK.
STARTING 19650000
ENDING 19650000
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If you can get a copy of this it should have the parents names.
DEPOT KAB
SOURCE CO
TYPE LEER
VOLUME_NO 8670
SYSTEM 01
REFERENCE 22
PART 1
DESCRIPTION APPLICATION FOR LETTERS OF NATURALIZATION. ISAAC ZACKS.
STARTING 1904
ENDING 1905
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Is this A friend?
DEPOT KAB
SOURCE CO
TYPE LEER
VOLUME_NO 8646
SYSTEM 01
REFERENCE 22
PART 1
DESCRIPTION APPLICATION FOR LETTERS OF NATURALIZATION. ISAAC PERIL.
STARTING 1904
ENDING 1904
REMARKS FOR FURTHER CORRESPONDENCE SEE I ZACKS.
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Toby Zacks was born in 1905 in Laingsburg https://www.geni.com/people/Tobias-Zacks/4308387822460061954
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It could be her marriage - she might have anglicized her name!
Hello Gillian, I am sorry I have taken so long to reply to you. Thank you so much for having a look into this, and for sending these links.
I have seen the death notice for Gert Isaac Zacks but I did not think anything of the Identity Number. We don't really have these in England. Do you know how I would go about ordering a copy of Vault Birth record?
Thanks again.
Russell
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If you can get a copy of this it should have the parents names.
DEPOT KAB
SOURCE CO
TYPE LEER
VOLUME_NO 8670
SYSTEM 01
REFERENCE 22
PART 1
DESCRIPTION APPLICATION FOR LETTERS OF NATURALIZATION. ISAAC ZACKS.
STARTING 1904
ENDING 1905
Hi there, thank you for your posts. Sorry it has taken me so long to reply.
Excuse my ignorance, but where did you find these? I assume they're from an archive somewhere? How would I go about getting a copy? Thank you so much!
Russell
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If you can get a copy of this it should have the parents names.
DEPOT KAB
SOURCE CO
TYPE LEER
VOLUME_NO 8670
SYSTEM 01
REFERENCE 22
PART 1
DESCRIPTION APPLICATION FOR LETTERS OF NATURALIZATION. ISAAC ZACKS.
STARTING 1904
ENDING 1905
Hi there, thank you for your posts. Sorry it has taken me so long to reply.
Excuse my ignorance, but where did you find these? I assume they're from an archive somewhere? How would I go about getting a copy? Thank you so much!
Russell
Here is a copy : https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKK-29ZD-W?i=839
I'm not amazed that his parents are not mentioned ....
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If you look at the Estate File link I sent you - the second page is the Civil death notice from his Identity Book it contains his ID Number. Your best bet in obtaining a copy of his Unabridged or Vault Copy Birth record is to apply through the embassy in London or to hire a researcher in South africa to go to Home Affairs to obtain a copy of his birth record. You can apply to Home Affairs directly but most researchers find that this takes too long (years) http://www.dha.gov.za/. Given your guys was born in 1905 you could hire a researcher to go to the Cape Archives to look at the actual archived register - and to order you a photograph of the register page
Some companies that offer a service for obtaining documents from Home Affairs ( i have not used them but others have had success with them)
http://docs4expats.com/
http://unabridgedbirthcertificates.co.za/
Some researchers in Cape Town
Anne Clarkson - I'll message you email address and Heather MacAlister ancestors.co.za