Untraceable Family! What now?

[Robert Ferreira]

I have been trying to research my family for just over 11 years now. Mostly without success.
We had a massive family feud years ago when I was still a child. I thought to get around the issue
by applying for the birth certificates of my father to find out who his parents were. I knew their names, but not the birth years. I have that now.
Here is where the fun starts. When I applied for their birth certificates I got nothing. According to the Department of Home Affairs there are no records of them. None! How is this possible?
Furthermore I can find no website or database with any information on any family member of mine.
For a joke I tried to find myself and my siblings on every Birth register database online that I could find. Sadly I do not exist according to any database.
So my question is this; what the hell do I do now?
I can easily trace my mothers side with no problem all the way back to 1700's, yet my fathers' side I can't get before 1921 which was their birth years. Were they aliens perhaps?
Any help or assistance will be appreciated.

[Milliepede]

Which country are you looking in?

Possibly the surname has been changed along the way or spelt incorrectly.

If you can provide names for some of the people who are or would be deceased can have a look for you. 

Was it your grandparents who were born in 1921?

[StanleysChesterton]

Probably foreigners who changed their name when they came into the country.  Some did it officially, some just started using an invented name.

I worked with a girl years ago who told me her dad had completely made up their name when they'd arrived.

That type of tracing takes more specialist help, from people used to tracing people from certain countries or religions.  If you can work out which country/religion might be most relevant that's a start.

Even the Queen's family changed their name from Saxe-Coburg to Windsor because of anti-German feeling at the time.

Just a thought - have you tried checking sites like this:  searchelectoralroll.co.uk - I can often/usually find most people on there, if you're also seeking current people.

[Finley 1]

For a joke I tried to find myself and my siblings on every Birth register database online that I could find. Sadly I do not exist according to any database.

It surely must then be down to a 'name change' -  for reasons known to the family.

However, it  must mean .. you are not sent rubbish through the post  

xin

[aghadowey]

Welcome to Rootschat  We've members from all over the world with lots of experience of finding details of missing people however you haven't given any indication of what country you family are from so it's difficult to give anything other than general advice at the moment.

"According to the Department of Home Affairs there are no records of them." When I used google to see what this might be it came up with a South African slant- http://www.dha.gov.za/ - but perhaps that's not the right county.

We aren't allowed to post details of living, or possibly living people, but most countries have restrictions about access to birth/marriage/death records so you need to check the range of dates a database actually covers before you start checking it for records.

If you can't find your grandparents, etc. it may be that the database doesn't cover the appropriate years or area, that they weren't born in that place or they were registered with different names (either completely different or a slight variation).

[Robert Ferreira]

Which country are you looking in?

Possibly the surname has been changed along the way or spelt incorrectly.

If you can provide names for some of the people who are or would be deceased can have a look for you. 

Was it your grandparents who were born in 1921?

It is for South Africa. I had the suspicion my grandfather was born in Germany, but some of the family members say he was born in South Africa although no one is sure.
His name ^(*)
He lived most of his life in Pietersburg(now Polokwane) in the Northern Province(once part of Transvaal)
He is currently in an old age home with very vague memories. I know he was in the military. The Army is not very helpful with their records as I can't even get my estranged father's records.
Anyway, my Grandmother is now Deceased.
Her name was Frances Catherine Smal.
She was only a month apart from my grandfather so born in 1921 as well.
She died either end of November or beginning of December of 1999. I was not allowed at the funeral and was also told weeks after the funeral that she had passed away.
Weird family I have right?



^(*) Moderator Comment:
Edited in accordance with RootsChat policy of not publishing details of living people here, or details of people who may still be living. This is to protect all concerned from spam, identity abuse, internet abuse, etc, etc.
Please use the Personal Message (PM) system for exchanging personal data.

[whiteout7]

So can you not apply for Frances Catherine Smal's 1999 death certificate, that should tell you her parents and what country she came from.

What are the rules in your country, here I have no problem getting a grandparents death certificate even a very recent one.

Sounds like the normal problem we all have researching our families, you need to get back just one generation to your great grandparents and then the data bases are not protected by privacy laws.

[aghadowey]

Rootschat isn't a forum for tracing living relatives and we aren't allowed to post details of anyone who might still be living, so you'll need to remove your grandfather's details.

If your father is still alive (as is your grandfather) then it's perfectly understandable you couldn't get military records.

I'm not sure what records you will be able to get under South Africa law or what they would contain but consider the following-
- grandmother's death certificate might list her parents, birthplace, etc.
- grandparents' marriage certificate might list their birthplaces, parents, etc.

Newspaper notices, gravestones, church records... lots of possible places to get details

[sharonmx5]

[\quote]
She died either end of November or beginning of December of 1999. I was not allowed at the funeral and was also told weeks after the funeral that she had passed away.
Weird family I have right?
[/quote]

Not so weird really.  My Gt Grandfather was living in the same town as me and died when I was about 11 but I never met him and he was never spoken of.  I was shocked to find he was alive when I was a girl; I didn't find this out until about 2 years ago.  I had always assumed he died before I was born.   What made it worse was that nobody seemed to know any reason why this happened.

Families are strange sometimes.