Enoch Brailsford and Beatrice Annie Mason

[bbuster]

Enoch and Beatrice traveled separately to South Africa from England in about 1907.  Beatrice was accompanied by her sister-in-law to be, Grace Brailsford.  In 1909 Enoch and Beatrice were living in Braamfontein, Johanesburg where the first of their three daughters was born in 1909, I have the birth certificate for that daughter.

I am trying to  trace the marriage of Enoch and Beatrice.  Any help and guidance would be gratefully received.

Enoch, Beatrice and their 3 daughters returned to England in 1923, while Grace stayed in South Africa.

Regards, Bbuster..

[-Glen-]

Hi Bbuster,

Have you used the NAAIRS website before?

http://www.national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm

There is a record for an Enoch Brailsford dated 1949 in the Transvaal Deceased Estates Index and then one in 1950 for a Beatrice Annie Brailsford.

Kind regards, Glen.

[bbuster]

Thanks Glen for replying.
I have seen these entries on that site and have wondered why they were there as I am fairly sure that Enoch and Beatrice died in England in 1949 and 1950 respectively.  Does it mean that they still had interests in SA?  Before asking someone to look at these entries have you (or anyone else) any idea what information they may contain - the fact that I'm really interested in is the names of Beatrice's parents -something I hope their marriage certifcate would contain if I could locate it.
Grace definitely died in SA and there is an entry in the data base for that.

Once again thanks for your interest, best regards, Bbuster..

PS. Another strange fact is that Enoch & Beatrice and there 3 young daughters made a visit to England in 1916 for 3 months right in the middle of WW1!  I wonder what was so important that they undertook such a dangerous trip.

[-Glen-]

Hi,

I've ordered several deceased estate files previously. It could mean they died in SA or it could mean they died in the UK and still had interests in SA. In the case of Enoch and Beatrice, i've just checked the UK death indexes and they're both there, so i'm guessing they died in the UK. It's probably worthwhile ordering copies though, because they can contain a whole wealth of knowledge! Most of the ones i've ordered, happen to include the marriage cert.

Best regards, Glen.

[bbuster]

Thanks Glen that's really helpful.  What I will need now is a tutorial on how to order copies of the relevant papers and some idea of the cost - a visit is out of the question as I live in the UK.  Any guidance gratefully received, Bbuster..

[-Glen-]

Hi Bbuster,

I'm in the UK too. I've ordered a few sets of these estate files now. Some of the file copies I've been able to get direct from the Archives staff, but this can be an extremely slow process. It's much better to hire a local researcher. You should find a list of them, on the NAAIRS website. Their services are usually priced more than reasonable!

Let me know how you get on! Glen.

[bbuster]

Thanks very much Glen for that information and I will let you know how I get on - however I am very slow at getting round to things so it could be several months before I get onto to it.  The spring weather is a big distraction!

Happy hunting, Bbuster..