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Research in Other Countries => South Africa => Topic started by: DJS1991 on Sunday 26 July 15 23:22 BST (UK)
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Nellie's timeline:
1. Nellie was born 8th December 1921 in Oswestry, Shropshire, England. Daughter of Henry BRENKLEY and Elsie May BRENKLEY nee BURGESS. Nellie was the eldest daughter of their parents Marriage. She was one of three, later came Ada May BRENKLEY born 1924 and Lilian Elsie BRENKLEY born 1927.
2. Nellie gave birth to her first son Ian Arthur BRENKLEY in 1939, more commonly known as Arthur Ian BRENKLEY, Nellie gave him away to be fostered at 6 weeks old. Arthur passed away in 2014.
3. Nellie gave birth to her second son Terence BRENKLEY in 1941, Terence was adopted 3 months later he was born. He died in c2008.
4. Nellie Married an American Soldier called Charles Donahue on the 4th December 1942 in Repton, Derbyshire, Charles Donahue's service number is 36345827 and he was posted in the UK in the May of that year.
5. Nellie lived in Chelmsford Essex from 1947 to 1950. In 1949 she sailed back from DURBAN to Southampton and stayed in 8/9 Park Road.
6. In 1950, Nellie sailed with a William Henry HEARN from Southampton to Cape Town with the future permenant residence as SOUTH RHODESIA. Her sister Lilian, now Lilian Elsie PAUL lived in Bulawayo in 9 Yeatman Road for a period of 20 years before they moved to South Africa after the country changed to ZIMBABWE. After 1950 the trace goes cold......
7. A letter dated 21 November 1968 from Lilian Paul to her sister Ada, now Ada HOLLINGS says that Lily believed Nellie went back to the UK 18 months ago (May 1967) but she wasn't sure as she hasn't seen or heard from her within that time.
If anyone can find any information at all that would be a great help, there was a rumor that Nellie got re-married with the guys surname JACKSON but that can't be proven for sure as there is no evidence for it
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Hi there
Have you tried Family Search, they have quite a lot of records from that area.
Good luck
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Hi there
Have you tried Family Search, they have quite a lot of records from that area.
Good luck
Hi I've already tried family search and found nothing. Thanks I've been searching for 2 years now and Nellie's son Arthur searched all his life with no luck.
Thanks
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Hi
Unfortunately a lot of records in that country have been lost or destroyed. Good luck with your searching
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Hi would anyone be able to do a refresh on Nellie's search? I mean have a look again from the beginning for any records in South Africa or Rodeshia(Zimbabwe), I'm still not giving up hope, an answer might be in the identity.org website where I found her sisters death notice.
If she did die in south africa, her date of birth on the website would be 19211208
Thanks
DJS
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Was Nellie her name or was it short for something else?
What were the details of her sisters death notice it may help to find her.....
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Was Nellie her name or was it short for something else?
What were the details of her sisters death notice it may help to find her.....
Nellie was her name, she didn't go under anything else.
Her sister Lillian died in 1990 in Pretoria of coronary thrombosis. It lists her identity number, husbands name, date married etc.
It's just Nellie who's the mystery.
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It is also possible that those records are not yet online if she died in the last 20 years or so.....
I have checked all the data bases that I have access to and no results, even using combinations of her names....
The Zimbabwe Deaths only go up to 1977, there are un-indexed ones that you can look through
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1837900
Click on the "Browse through images" they are listed alphabetically, you may have some luck, but not if she died after 1977.
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It is also possible that those records are not yet online if she died in the last 20 years or so.....
I have checked all the data bases that I have access to and no results, even using combinations of her names....
The Zimbabwe Deaths only go up to 1977, there are un-indexed ones that you can look through
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1837900
Click on the "Browse through images" they are listed alphabetically, you may have some luck, but not if she died after 1977.
Hi yes I've looked through the Zimbabwe records but I couldn't find anything with her surnames she had at that time. It could be there but it would be time consuming going through every page, if they transcribed them onto the website then I might get something
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There may be a long wait for that, South African records for transcribing that I'm doing for Family Search are around the 1940's or so depending on what archive you are transcribing. They still have to be arbitrated and then put on line. The Zimbabwe collection isn't amongst those listed for transcription at the moment.
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Researchers email 26 Apr 17
NELLIE LOUISA DONAHUE
1. Arrival in Rhodesia, 1950
The postcards you have are (it seems to me) postmarked 1949 rather than 1950, and in one of them Nellie refers to returning to England soon. So it may be that she and WH Hearn visited Rhodesia on holiday in 1949 – if I’d had more time I could have searched the Immigration Registers to confirm this.
I did however search the 1950 Immigration Registers in the “D” section, and after a while was pleased to find Nellie arriving by train on 2 July 1950 at the Plumtree entry point. [She had probably caught the train at Cape Town]. Her occupation was given as what looks like “M’gress” which if so could be an abbreviation for “Manageress”; she said she had come from the UK and was en route to the Norfolk Hotel in Salisbury. She also said she was visiting Rhodesia for six weeks. An Immigration Docket was opened for her (no. 464 of 1950) but unfortunately the Archives does not have these dockets.
I then checked under the “H” section on the same date and found Wm Henry Hearn there. His occupation was given as Engineer and his destination and intended period of stay were the same as Nellie’s. His Immigration Docket was no. 472 of 1950.
(Archives ref. of Immigration Register: S 3723/2/4).
2. Biographical sources for Nellie and Bill in the 1950s in Rhodesia
a. Naturalization applications
The Archives staff were unfortunately unable to locate the bundle which would have included the name Donahue.
They did locate the bundle which would have included WH Hearn’s, but there was none in his name: which means that he did not in the 1950s apply for naturalization as a Rhodesian citizen.
b. The Rhodesia Directory
I searched the 1951 and 1953 editions (the sections for the mains towns Salisbury, Bulawayo, Gwelo and Umtali – also Marandellas, to be safe) but Nellie and Bill did not appear there. Nor did a family called Paul appear at Yeatman Road, Bulawayo. But although most people who were settled in Rhodesia appeared in the Directory, not everyone did.
I also checked the 1961 edition (the Bulawayo and Salisbury sections), with the same lack of results.
If I had found them, their addresses would have enabled me to locate their Census Returns. But without addresses, it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
c. A possible Nellie Donahue divorce
I went to the Registrar’s Office of the High Court and searched the indexes of various annual Civil Registers (which include all divorces) under the names Donahue and Jackson. I tried the volumes for 1951, 1952/3, 1955, 1957/8, 1958/9, 1959/60, 1961, 1963 and 1964. But Nellie did not appear there.
3. Death
I checked the Archives’ index to biographical newspaper articles (which includes obituaries) but Nellie Donahue and WH Hearn do not appear there.
The Archives has indexes to deceased estate files up to 1977, but Nellie Donahue/Jackson/Hearn and WH Hearn do not appear there.
The Master’s Office of the High Court has indexes going up to the present, so I went there and paid Search Fees for them to look in their indexes, but they found that Nellie Donahue and WH Hearn do not appear there.
4. Conclusions
It does look as though Nellie and Bill left Rhodesia at some stage and died elsewhere: unless of course she died in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe after marrying someone with a name other than Hearn or Jackson. But as things stand at present there is no way of knowing that.
Another possibility is, as you say, that Nellie and Bill settled later in 1950 in Northern rather than Southern Rhodesia: ie, that they did in fact only holiday in S Rhodesia for six weeks in July/August 1950 and then moved on to N Rhodesia. This might explain their non-appearance in the various biographical sources noted above, in which most longterm residents in Rhodesia tend to appear.