Help desperately needed in finding out about SA family history

[Jemilla]

Hello,

I really need help with finding out more about my partners SA history. We've started researching his family history and plan on taking information back to SA when we next see his grandparents.

He was born in Durban, as was his grandmother Dulcie Carlson. Her parents were: Carl Frederick Tingsted (later changed to Carlson) and Charlotte Harrison. I know they lived on Brand Road, Durban as Dulcie was born there. Carl was a Swede and was born in Sweden. I read somewhere that a lot of Swede's in SA at the 1900's were missionaries - is this very likely? Charlotte Harrison was born in Durban. It's a very English surname so I am wondering if her parents moved there?

His grandfather's parents were:
Johannes Martinus Delport and Mary Kathleen (maiden surname unknown). Johannes came from the first De la Portes on the Cattendyk after feeling persecution in France. Johannes was born in the Free State.

One of his granddad's grandma's was English, but his granddad isn't sure which. I also know that the Delports were farmers and were caught up in the Boer War. Mary Kathleen was born in Durban.

This is as far as we know, I have tried using the national archives of sa for research but I struggle to get my head around it.

Any help, connections, links, advice you can give us would be extremely appreciated.

Best wishes, Jemilla

[JustinL]

Hello Jemilla,

I have found a couple of interesting records so far in the RSA database of the NAAIRS.

REFERENCE 968/1963

DELPORT, JOHANNES MARTINUS. BORN IN PRETORIA. SSP MARY KATHLEEN       
           LOUISA DELPORT (BORN FARRELL). DECEASED ESTATE.

and

REFERENCE 3595/1972

DELPORT, MARY KATHLEEN LOUISA. (LOUISE). (BORN FARRELL). BORN IN     
           VERULAM. PR/SP JOHANNES MARTINUS DELPORT. ESTATE NO. 968/1963.       
           DECEASED ESTATE.

Estate papers can provide a lot of interesting info.

I shall keep looking.

Justin

[JustinL]

                                                                 
REFERENCE 3977/1969                                                             
                                                                 
CARLSON, CHARLOTTE. (BORN HARRISON). BORN IN DURBAN, NATAL. PRSP     
           CARLSON, FREDERICK CHARLES. ESTATE NO. 1472/1947. DECEASED ESTATE.   

and
                                                                   
REFERENCE 1472/1947                                                             
                                                               
CARLSON, FREDERICK CHARELS. S/SP CARLSON, CHARLOTTE. (3977/69).       


Justin

[Jemilla]

Justin you are amazing!

Thank you so much for those, they all match as well to my info, so it must be them.

Thank you for your help, I can't tell you how appreciated it is

[Jemilla]

Hi Justin,

I've tried doing some hunting around - and knowing her surname now (Mary Kathleen's) this certainly gives a new image to it all.

Mary Kathleen Farrell is possibly one of the most Irish Catholic names you could stumble upon, so that gives a lead as to her roots. Were there many Irish who emigrated to SA?

I can't find a birth or marriage record for either Mary or Johannes. I'm guessing that they were born around 1900- but I could be wrong.

Could Johannes have moved to the Free State for farming?

I know that on this side that one of the mothers of these two was English. I highly doubt it was on the Delport side, and most probably on Mary Kathleen's side.

Can you advise on the best places to search BMD's? I have tried Family Search and Ancestry24 is closing down - family search wasn't much help at all.

Does it matter to much about the families religious affiliations as to where I look for BMD's?

I am assuming, and I could be wrong that the Delports were aligned to the Dutch Reformed Church; Mary Kathleen to the Catholic church and I think that Charles Carlson could have been a missionary from Sweden - possibly methodist?

Thank you for your help

[JustinL]

Hi Jemilla,

I'm glad to have been of some help.

The records I found in NAAIRS would tell you their ages at death and quite possibly the names of their parents. You should definitely obtain all four files.

Look at this example http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,241126.0.html

You should have a good rummage through this hugely informative website;

http://southafricanresearcher.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/sources-of-information.html

You may have to consult church records, so knowing their denominations will be important.

Farrell is certainly pretty Irish (my home is in Dublin), but you can't assume that her parents were Catholic. Mary's father could have married an English protestant before or after arriving in Natal. Veralum was founded by 400 Methodists!

My paternal grandfather and his siblings were born in Pietermaritzburg in the 1880s to a German-Jewish father and an English Anglican mother, who had married in London. My gf and his siblings were baptised in the Anglican church.

You've got some interesting work ahead of you.

Justin

[3sillydogs]

Hi Jemilla,

Research here is not always easy.  As you mentioned Ancestry24 has closed and it was a valuable source of information.  i find you need a lot of patience and a sense of humour at times researching South African records.  I have been on the trail of my ancestors some time and am no closer than I was back then.

I'm not sure if you have checked the South African collections of Family Search, but they have quite a lot of records, some collections are images which you have to browse through, but it is often worth it, other collections are indexed.  I am inclined to agree with Justin, that Delport would more likely be with the Dutch Reform Church or Reform Church. 

If you go to Family Search and select the Africa Collection from the main page, the South Africa from there.  Keep checking back though more records are being added all the time.

Good luck with your searching
 Sue

[Jemilla]

Hi Justin and Sue,

Thank you for your replies.

The Delports came from the first De la Porte's from France, the Protestants driven out. I know they were Boers, and farmed a lot of land, so I can ascertain that they would have been part of the Dutch Reformed Church. The first De la Portes to arrive in South Africa fled to Holland, as it has always been a far more accepting country, and married there before getting on the ship.

Justin - you make a good point about Farrell and the Catholicism. My family's home is Cork predominantly, Waterford, Youghal, Dublin. So I'm going on what I know already about Catholic's from the Republic. But you make a very good point in how it can be so complicated as well with Irish history after the fighting between the two faiths.

Her family could have been forced to convert as well to Protestantism. I know in records of my Irish family that derogatory terms were used in the records to describe them.

The beauty of South Africa, for me as a British person- ironically- is how diverse it is! In terms of backgrounds and faiths.

The Delports are so interesting because of how they got there and their involvement in the Boer war. One of my partners relations was the first ever to find diamonds in SA - near Delports Hoop.

Sue - I think you are right about that sense of humour! I have tried the SA part of the family search site, and nothing much comes up - in fact nothing does in direction relation to these great grandparents. I'm not sure if there is some kind of trick to use.

I know with ancestry.com if you use a * after someones name / place more detailed results can come up and different variations. Does family search work the same?

Justin thank you for those links, and thank you both for your advice on this - it's certainly armed me with more information!

Best wishes

[Jemilla]

Hello again,

I am trying to find a way to order those estate records like you suggested Justin, I cannot see for the life of me where this function is on the site.

I have emailed them, but not sure when I will hear back.

Can you advise on where I can order these records from?

Many thanks