Volume 20 Issue 1/2004
We would like to
wish everyone a most successful year of research, and hope many of those brick
walls will come tumbling down!
Nigel reviewed
2003 and discussed financial accounts which have been finalised and are
available for your perusal. He also
reminded members that our portion of their membership fee is only R20.00 and we
discussed ways of trying to increase our kitty by means of fundraising. At the moment we are fine, financially
speaking, so this matter will come up if and when necessary. Nigel congratulated Joan on her achievement
which had also been noted by the National Treasurer who confirmed that we had
out performed some of the bigger branches.
We discussed
future speakers and visits and Nigel showed us a list of Family History Society
and Phillimore publications.
Nigel thanked
Jenny and the Family History Centre for the use of their facilities for all our
meetings.
Graham and Rona
are no longer available to stand on the committee and Nigel thanked them for
their many years of dedicated service to our Society. The entire committee was thanked for their contribution and as no
additional nominations were received the rest of our committee has been
re-elected. The full committee is
listed elsewhere in this newsletter.
We discussed 2004
and there will be no change to dates in our diary of events. The visit to Pietermaritzburg Archives in
August will remain although poor attendance may force us to review this matter.
There will be 4
newsletters in 2004 and Nigel asked for articles to be submitted for inclusion.
Nigel suggested
that we contact other Societies for exchanging advertising of our
organisations.
In closing Nigel
wished everyone success in the research for 2004.
We have arranged
for two speakers this year.
13th
March 2004. Barbara Maude- Stone has kindly offered to
give us a talk and slide show on the book “Dear Old Durban”. These books will be for sale at the meeting
at a cost of R35.00.
12th
June 2004. Dr Tony Cubbin, previously of the University
of Zululand will talk to us about the Origins of British Settlers in Port
Natal.
We have some
additions to our library.
Seasons of my Life
- Kindly donated by Graham Bode. I have read this book and it is most
enjoyable. About Hanna Hauxwell who
lived an extraordinary life in the Yorkshire Dales. Other names on her family
tree are Bayles, Dent, Anderson, Tallentyre and Sayer.
Jenny Harries had kindly gathered some very useful and interesting information from the S A Mailing lists and put them in a lever arch file which is on top of a shelf on the desk next to the door at the FHC. We are all welcome to use it.
We would like to
ask members to volunteer to catalogue films, microfische and CD’s that are held
at the FHC. We are all familiar with
trying to find that particular film, or perhaps even send for it when it may
well be in one of the drawers or the filing cabinet and it would be of great
benefit to our members and a wonderful ‘thank you’ to the FHC. This will have to take place wide of our
normal meeting, another Saturday, and could you please respond by the 13th
March so that we can make the plans. Please support us in this
venture!
There are certain articles in the Familia
which some of us would also like to have printed in English and Nigel has taken
this matter up with the National Executive, who have agreed that we have a
valid point and will look into this matter.
Mr Pieter Nel has
kindly agreed to give us a talk and presentation on the information at the
Archives. There are many of us who are
not aware of all that is available at this valuable repository. If sufficient members are interested we will
arrange this trip. This will take place
in the morning instead of our usual afternoon meeting at the F H C. The Archives are open on the 2nd
Saturday of every month. Please let us know if you’d like to go by the 13th
March so that we can make the arrangements.
To promote and facilitate interest and research in genealogy and family history to present members, to the genealogical hobbyist and to all members of the public who may be interested in genealogy and/or family history.
To promote general understanding of Genealogy and its value, to understand and maintain professional status and dignity for genealogists amongst the members of the Genealogical Society of South Africa and the public.
To encourage the observance of the highest standards of research by members of the Society.
To provide a wide range of educational courses, research programmes and services for the general benefit of GSSA branches and members, as well as any other service or assistance as may from time to time be decided upon by the National Council of GSSA.
To encourage and develop links with Family History Societies.
To establish and maintain contact with like minded Societies throughout the world.
To establish a certification program to promote the reliability, professionalism and integrity of all South African Genealogists and Record Researches.
To assist in the preservation of all genealogical records and memorabilia.
(This article about Nigel’s grandfather
appeared in a newspaper in 1936.)
James McFerran
has been in three wrecks, and he saw seven drown …told to R.W. Tungay.
Come with me and
yarn with a Durban man who is home from the sea for good -
home after escaping death in three shipwrecks. We shall hear from him of
great seas and great dangers…..
In boisterous
weather in 1900 a steam trawler the Lion, was swept against the Durban North
Pier. With a gaping hole in one side
and with her propeller blades broken, the ship sank. Seven of the crew were drowned.
Behind this tragedy is a mystery which has baffled the marine authorities. The ship vanished. Surveyors and divers have been unable to find a trace of
her. It was surmised that the vessel
had slipped into a hole, caused by scouring at the end of the breakwater.
Now the harbour
officials hope to solve the mystery. An
extension of the pier, known as the cant, was built after the wreck. This cant is now to be removed to make
navigation easier.
Under the stone
and rubble and concrete blocks which comprise the cant, the engineers expect to
find the Lion. If they do, and if the
hull is less than 40 feet below low water, a diver will cut her plates with an
oxyacetylene flame or blow her up.
The man I have
invited you to meet is James G. McFerran, who was chief engineer of the
Lion. This adventure in the Lion was
his third shipwreck. It was because of
this ill-luck that he decided to “swallow the anchor”.
He is grey now and
has retired but his memories of his life at sea are vivid and at his home the
other day, I enticed from him the story of the Lion, of the wreck of the Kathleen
Anderson eight months before, and the stranding of a ship conveying pilgrims
from the Red Sea to Bombay in 1895.
Fishing Impossible
……
Great seas, he said, whipped up by a strong wind thundered along the coast and made fishing from the Lion impossible. When the ship made the entrance to Durban harbour from the fishing grounds off Isipingo, seas were crashing furiously against the breakwater. The danger signal was hoisted on the bar. All night the Lion tossed about; the crew waiting for the heavy seas to subside, and for the danger signal to be lowered.
Eventually they
got permission to cross the bar. They
were steaming across the entrance when a big wave struck the ship and threw her
violently on to the end of the breakwater.
The propellers ground against concrete blocks. Both blades of the starboard screw were knocked off and one on
the port side.
“I was in the
engine room when I felt the blades strike”, said Mr McFerran. “It was then impossible to navigate the
ship. A little later a severe bump
against one of the blocks knocked a hole into the engine-room. Water rushed in with such force that we were
almost carried off our feet. We
scampered on deck – there were 30 of us on board – as she bumped against it
time and again. Then came a never-to-be
forgotten sight. The seas drove her
into smooth water about a hundred feet from the entrance. She turned completely
round and, in a matter of seconds, stood up on end and sank. Seven men, nearly all of them old men, lost
their lives. I cannot remember all of
them,but I can recall that my second engineer was George Rees. A man named
Hunter, and another was known as German Peter, whom I saw crushed between the
ship and the breakwater when he slipped in trying to jump across. There was a man named Laurenson whose body
was picked up some days after, near the Umgeni River, and an old Norwegian whom
we know as Captain Shiva.”
“Captain Hugh
Legg, the master, was one of those picked up by a little fishing vessel which,
despite tempestuous seas, did a wonderful work rescuing several struggling men
in the water”
“The Board of Inquiry, presided over by the late Sir Percy Binns, Chief Magistrate, found that the accident was due to an Act of God.”
Mr McFerran
explained that the Lion did not immediately disappear. The dredger Grampus actually got a wire
round her, but the bridle slipped off.
A Rennie liner knocked the mast out of the ship. A few weeks later when the weather calmed
down and it was decided to remove the obstruction, no trace of her could be found.
He thinks it
possible that the ship was swept into a hole at the end of the breakwater or
that she has been covered by quick sands.
A few months afterwards when he was working as an engineer on the
Government dredger Nautilus – recently scuttled by the shipbreakers – soundings
of 35 feet were taken where the Lion sank.
He thinks it is unlikely that the wreck of the whip will be found, but
if it is, he yearns to have his cabin door of which he still has the key.
(Next
Newsletter - We continue this most interesting account!)
Bowlman -
dealer in crockery
Bowyer/Bower -
made bows used in archery
Bozzler -
parish constable
Brabener -
weaver
Brachygrapher -
shorthand writer
Brailler -
made girdles
Brasiler -
dyer
Broom–dasher -
dealer in brooms
Buck Washer -
laundress
Buddleboy -
employed to use and maintain vats used in lead and tin mines for washing
ore
Buffalo
Soldier - soldier serving in a black regiment in the US Army in the West
Bumboat Man -
met ships at anchor with goods for passengers and crew to purchase
Bummaree -
middle man between the wholesaler and retailer at fish markets
Burgess -
represented a borough at official levels
Burler -
quality inspector for clothing
Burneman -
carrier of barm or water for brewers
Burye Man -
grave digger
Buss Maker -
maker of guns
Butner -
button maker
Butty -
negotiated mining contracts and supplied the labour
When and from
where churches were seceded
(This
information is very helpful when sending for a film)
Queenstown 1842 Beaufort West
Rawsonville
(Goudini) 1879 Worcester
Reivilo 1883 Dutoitspan(?)
Rhodes (Rossville) 1893 Barkly East (Rossville is once
more part of Barkly East)
Richmond 1883 Graaff-Reinet/Beaufort-East
Riebeeck-Kasteel 1863 Swartland
Riebeeck West 1858 Swartland
Riversdale 1839 Swellendam
Robertson 1853 Swellendam
Rondebosch 1891 Wynberg
Roodezand
(Tulbagh) 1743 Cape Town / Stellenbosch
Rossville (Rhodes) 1893 Barkly East (Rossville is once
more part of Barkly East)
St Stephens (Cape
Town) 1851 Originated
independently
Schietfontein
(Carnarvon) 1874 Victoria West, whites first ministered to by
Rhenish missionaries
Simonstown (Kalk
Bay,Fish Hoek) 1851 Wynberg
(On establishment, name was Simonstown only)
Somerset East 1825 Graaff-Reinet/Uitenhage
Somerset West 1819 Stellenbosch
Springbok
(Namaqualand) 1850 Clanwilliam
Stellaland
(Vryburg) 1883 Originated independently
Stellenbosch 1686 Cape Town
Sterkstroom 1891 Molteno
WARNING
GENEALOGY POX
Very Contagious to
adults!
Symptoms: Continual complaint as to need for names,
dates, and places. Patient has blank
expression, sometimes deaf to spouse and children. Has no taste for work of any kind, except feverishly looking
through records at libraries and courthouses.
Has compulsion to write letters.
Swears at mail carrier when he or she doesn’t leave mail. Frequents strange places such as cemeteries,
ruins, and remote, desolate country areas.
Makes secret night calls. Hides
phone bills from spouse. Mumbles to
self. Has strange faraway look in eyes.
THERE IS
NO KNOWN CURE
Treatment: Medication is useless. Disease is not fatal but gets progressively worse. Patient should attend genealogy workshops, subscribe to genealogical magazines, and be given a quiet corner where he/she can be alone.
Remarks: The
unusual nature of this disease is that the sicker the patient gets, the more
he/she enjoys it!
(Anonymous Author)
(The following appeared in S A and S A Immigrant mailing lists.)
The following
announcement is made with the listowner's permission
It is with great pleasure that we announce the dawning of a new era in South
African genealogy. After much discussion which involved a few people interested
in promoting South African genealogy, ideas and plans came
together to make it possible for the Genealogical Society of South Africa
(GSSA) to open a virtual branch.
This branch is known as eGSSA.
For many years there have been people who, for various reasons, could not join
a regular GSSA branch. Some of these reasons include living too far from a
branch or living outside South Africa. These people still have a
need to belong to a branch and to enjoy the benefits of GSSA membership, such
as receiving GSSA's flagship journal, Familia. eGSSA has been established to
meet these needs. We plan for members
of eGSSA to be able to hold virtual meetings in the future, either via
streaming technology or in a chat room a-la-MSN. It is also planned that eGSSA will make some
of the GSSA products available electronically, and that some databases could be
placed on the Internet for search purposes. This all depends on the
availability of storage capacity.
eGSSA's website is currently hosted at
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/profoto/eggsa
The management eGSSA team is as follows:
Branch
Chairperson:
Colin Pretorius (based in Australia)
Secretary:
Anne Lehmkuhl (based in Canada)
Treasurer:
André van Rensburg (based in Australia)
Technical adviser:
Barry Kruger (based in Australia)
Ex
Officio:
Martin Zöllner (based in South Africa)
Regional representatives:
Australia/NZ/Oceania/Asia: André van Rensburg (based in
Australia)
North & South America: Anne
Lehmkuhl (based in Canada)
Europe & the
UK:
Richard Ball (based in the UK)
Africa & the Middle East: Daan
Hamman (based in South Africa)
The membership fees are as follows:
South
Africa
R115 ( R90 per annum GSSA fee & R25 eGSSA fee) .
Rest of Africa and Middle East : US $ 22
North and South
America
US $22
United
Kingdom
GBP 10
Europe
Euro 18
Aus/NZ/Oceania/Asia
Aus $ 25
The abovementioned fees include an electronic copy of Familia. Other benefits
include discounts on some CD products.
Current GSSA members can also join eGSSA by paying the R25 fee. Current GSSA
members that already receive Familia via postal delivery, can choose to receive
the electronic Familia instead.
Payments for residents IN south Africa can be done via Nedbank, while payment
for residents OUTSIDE south Africa will be done via Paypal.
For those people who are not currently GSSA members, or cannot join a current
branch, this is an ideal opportunity to become part of GSSA and to step into
this exciting era.
Regards
Colin Pretorius
Members are reminded that they are very welcome to submit articles for inclusion in our forthcoming newsletters. They may also submit names from their brick walls.
There will be a notice board hung in our section at the FHC and members are invited to post their area of interest to connect with others who are researching that same area to enable the sharing of films. e.g. Umtata, Sussex etc.
14th February Personal
Research
13th March Speaker - Barbara Maude- Stone
10th April Personal
Research
8th May Personal Research
12th June Speaker
- Dr Tony Cubbin
10th July Personal Research
14th August PMB Archives
11th September Personal Research
9th October Speaker /Activity
13th November Personal Research
11th December Ancestral Tea
15th January 2005 AGM
Nigel McFerran, 22
Edgbaston Drive, Westville 3629
Phone: (031) 266-3177. E-Mail: mcferran@eastcoast.co.za
Jaq Benade,
P.O.Box 2337 Pinetown, 3600.
Phone:
(031)708-3746. E-Mail: jaqb@telkomsa.net
Joan Rachmann, 31
Adrienne Ave. Glenashley 4051
Phone: (031) 572-3184.
Cynthia McFerran,
22 Edgbaston Drive, Westville 3629
Phone: (031) 266-3177.
E-Mail: mcferran@eastcoast.co.za
Ann O’Brien -
Phone: (031)208-2910
Paul du Plessis
- Ph: (031) 767-2676
Annelise
Peters - Ph: (031) 208-2910
Family History
Centre,
Church of the
Latter Day Saints,
144 Silverton
Road.
Entrance in
Montgomery Road
Phone: (031) 202
3024
Our meetings are
held at 2.30 on the 2nd Saturday of every month except in August
when we have an arrangement to go to the Pietermaritzburg Archives between
8.30am and 12.00pm. Our AGM is held on the 3rd Saturday in
January.
For the record,
the F.H.C. is also open at the following times:
Tuesday 6pm
– 9pm for own research
Wednesday 1pm – 4pm
Thursday 9am – 12.30pm and 6pm – 9pm
1st Saturday of every month 10am- 4pm