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eGGSA Newsletter
International Branch of the GSSA num ber 6 Novem ber 200 8
November 2008
Stamouers site to be maintained by eGGSA
Andre van Rensburg, who created this wonderful web site, which
opened on 26th March 2000, and has maintained it over the years,
adding updates and new entries as people have provided them, has
asked eGGSA to take over the care and maintenance of this web site.
Inside This Issue
This was one of the earliest web sites to deal with South African
1 Stamouers Web Site
genealogy and is still one of the most valuable. eGGSA is therefore very
1 eGSSA new web server happy to take over its maintenance.
2 Die Wiele Fees ‐ Wheel Festival
To date the entries of South African Stamouers or Founding Parents
3 Next GSSA NEC meeting have been limited to those who arrived before 1795, but to celebrate
4 Useful Web Sites the new custodianship, accounts of later Founding Fathers (and
5 More Useful Web Sites Mothers!) will be welcomed.
6 Free Books Download Please have a look at the existing entries and submit your Progenitors’
6 From the Cemetery Project
family details in a from ready to copy and paste to a new page on the
web site and send it to editor@stamouers.com
9 This and That
eGGSA web site moves to new web server
A move became necessary because of the rapidly growing number of
files that make up this web site. This has been largely due to the great
increase over the last few months in the gravestone photographs so
ably and industriously loaded, captioned and managed by Alta Griffiths
This issue of the eGGSA and her small band of hard working helpers. But there is also a large
Newsletter was produced by backlog of photographs of documents from the archives waiting both
Richard Ball. for web site space and volunteers to manage them.
richard@eggsa.org The new web server is with the same hosting company, which has
proved excellent, but noe located in Dallas, Texas, whereas it was
previously housed in Chicago.
Over the last two weeks all the files from the existing web site have
been moved to the new one. Because there are so many and so little
spare space was left on the Chicago server, all the files had to be
downloaded (they are backed up to computer disk in any case) and
then uploaded to the new site. This entailed the movement of
approximately 140,000 files totaling around 20 Gigabytes of data. It
has been a time consuming job but is now successfully accomplished.
PAGE 2 eGGSA NEWSLETTER
25 October 2008 - Die Wiele Fees (The Wheel festival) Worcester
eGGSA tesame met GGSA‐ Weskaap het weereens 'n promosie
veldtog gedoen om genealogie te bevorder. Die keer op
Kleinplasie, Worcester. Die Wiele fees is 'n fonds insamelings
poging vir die Pionierskool op Worcester, 'n skool vir
leergestremdes.
ander stalletjies op die skou ‐ other stalls at the show
Van die besoekers by ons tafel was
nuwelinge, andere het al bietjie ondervinding
gehad in die gebied van genealogie. Ons het
'n aantal navrae huistoe gebring ‐ en sal dit
aanstuur na die individuele navorsers toe wat
op die betrokke van werk. Ons kan in alle
eerlikheid sê dat die dag ons verwagtinge
oortref het.
Nuusbrokkie: Alta Griffiths, koördineerder
van die eGGSA en GSSA tafel, Vroeg oggend ‐ slag gereed ‐ Early morning ‐ ready for action
alta@pinnaclespot.co.za
________________________________
eGGSA together with GGSA Western
Cape, did another promotional day to
promote genealogy. This time at
Kleinplasie, Worcester. The Wiele Fees
(Wheel festival) is a fund raising event in
aid of the Pioneerskool at Worcester, a
school for children with learning
disabilities.
The table is getting busier ‐ Die tafel raak besig
Nadia Louw, on stage ‐ Nadia Louw, op die verhoog
eGGSA NEWSLETTER PAGE 3
Some of the people who visited our table
were novices, and others have already tried
their hand at genealogy. We brought some
queries home – and will be forwarding them
to the individual researchers working on the
specific surnames.
.... more visitors ... en nog besoekers
We can honestly say that the day exceeded
our expectations.
news item: Alta Griffiths, co‐ordinator of
the eGGSA Gravestone Collection, who At one stage we even had visitors behind the table
represented eGGSA on the GSSA stand. Op 'n stadium was van die besoekers tot agter die tafel
___________________________________________________________
Next GSSA NEC meeting will be at Goodwood 22 November 2008
The next meeting of the National Executive Committee of the Genealogical Society of South Africa (GSSA)
will be held at Goodwood, Cape Town, on 22nd November 2008 at 8:30. The agenda can be obtained from
Elmien Wood, GSSA Secretary, woodem@mweb.co.za
Please let Elmien Wood know if you wish to attend and are not a member of the NEC. She would like to
send the final agenda to everybody who will be present.
If you do wish to attend, please also let Marianne Olivier omariana@getnet.co.za know as she has to
arrange the meeting and needs to know how many people will be attending.
___________________________________________________________
PAGE 4 eGGSA NEWSLETTER
Interesting and useful web sites
On the Buitenposten email list during October, Daniel Jacobs provided information on two useful web sites.
1. The first is on his own web site gendata.co.za about which he writes:
Daar is 'n Boonzaaier‐versameling by die KAB onder aanwins‐verwysing A2039. Dit bevat 'n indeks op
dope van verskeie gemeentes in veral die Kaapse Skiereiland. Dit is hoofsaaklik Engelse Kerk‐demonasies
maar daar is ook 'n aantal dope by van die Lutherse Gemeente van Kaapstad. Die periode wat gedek word is
1808‐1854. Dit dek egter nie alle dope vir die periode nie.
Die indeks is opgestel deur Trudie du Bruyn en die databasis van ongeveer 5600 inskrywings word gehuisves
op Ron Smit se E‐family webtuiste en is hier beskikbaar: Engelse Doopseels
In the so‐called Boonzaaier Collection in the Cape Archives (Ref. A2039) there is an index of baptisms of
various denominations at the Cape (mostly of English speaking people and mostly situated in the Cape
Peninsula) as well as some baptisms at the Cape Town Lutheran Congregation. It covers the period 1808 to
1854, but not for every congregation.
The database, transcribed from the Booinzaier notes by Trudy du Bruyn, contains an index on about 5600
baptismal certificates. It is housed by Ron Smit on his web site and is accessible here: English Baptisms
2. The second is on Google Books ‐ Daniel writes:
By Google Books is 'n groot hoeveelheid digitale kopieë van HCV Leibbrandt se Precis. Vir diegene wat dalk
nie weet nie ‐ dit is van baie groot waarde vir kultuurhistoriese navorsing (die vleis wat ons aan die
geslagregister‐geraamtes probeer sit!).
Sien ook my webtuiste vir die aflaai van indekse wat Karel Schoeman op van die betrokke publikasies
opgestel het. Daar is ook nog 'n indeks deur Karel Schoeman beskikbaar gestel vir aflaai soos volg beskryf:
Indeks op 'n versameling lêers wat aan die Africana‐biblioteek by US geskenk is, met al die
navorsingsmateriaal wat gebruik is vir die tweede deel van Armosyn, die vyfdelige Kolonie aan die Kaap en
'n boek oor ds. Beck en sy suster. Dit is veral waardevol omdat materiaal uit 'n verskeidenheid bronne
volgens onderwerp saam geliasseer is, en omdat baie daarvan fotokopieë of drukstukke is van Nederlandse
artikels wat nie andersins in SA beskikbaar is nie.
At Google Books there are a number of digitised copies of volumes of HCV Leibbrandt's Precis of the
Archives of the Cape of Good Hope. For those who do not yet know of it, it is of great value for cultural‐
historic research (the flesh with which we attempt to clothe our family tree skeletons).
There are also available on my web site several indexes to the Leibbrandt publications compiled by Karel
Schoeman, as well as another index which Karel Schoeman has made available for downloading, described
as: Index to a collection of files donated to the Africana Library at the University of Stellenbosch and
containing all the research material used for the second part of Armosyn, the five part Kolonie aan die Kaap
and a book about Dominee Beck and his sister. It is particularly valuable because material from a variety of
sources has been related by subject and also because there are photocopies or prints of Dutch articles
which are otherwise not available in South Africa.
___________________________________________________________
eGGSA NEWSLETTER PAGE 5
More interesting links
Sue Mackay also drew attention to online books in connection with South African history and genealogy.
On the Rootsweb South‐Africa‐Immigrants‐British list in October she wrote:
Profuse apologies in advance to those of you who don't have a broadband connection ‐ this may damage
your pocket and seriously reduce the time available for all the jobs that need doing...
If you go to the Internet Archive : Text Archive you can download .PDF versions for free of old books of
genealogical interest. If you enter, for instance, Visitations or Parish Registers you will get a lot of UK hits.
If the flashing thumbnails annoy you, there is an option to turn them off on the right hand side.
Enter "Cape of Good Hope" and you get some very interesting hits. In the interests of my family not dying
from malnutrition I have contented myself with downloading two complete books for now, each of several
hundred pages: Visitation Diaries of the Cape of Good Hope (1848 and 1850) by Robert Gray, the Bishop of
Cape Town and History of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope from its Discovery to 1819, By Alexander
Wilmot and John Centlivres Chase (1868).
Happy Reading
_____________________
Also on Rootsweb, Jessica Coupe on the South‐Africa‐Immigrants‐British email list, drew attention to two
useful web sites:
The UK Incoming Passenger Lists from 1878‐1960 are now online at ancestry.co.uk (a pay for site with an
introductory trial period). It is searchable and you can see actual images also.
Cheshire Parish Registers Online. Anyone have SA ancestors who came from Cheshire? All the microfilms of
Cheshire parish registers held by the LDS church have now been put online at the Latter Day Saints
FamilySearch Record Search ‐ Pilot Site
This certainly promises to be a useful site but, at the moment, it consists mainly of United States records
and there is nothing available for Africa and little for other European countries. Interestingly enough, the
1841 and 1861 England and Wales census indexes are included ‐ if you want to look at the image you are
referred to a commercial web site, Find My Past.
Worth checking out ‐ you never know!
_____________________
Something I have found useful is this Birthdate Calculator which enables one easily to find an estimate of
Birth Date give the death date and age at death. This calculator is based on the Gregorian Calendar, the one
that was in use at the Cape from the earliest European settlement (but not in the UK until 1752). The page
is provided by Cliff Lamere and the calculator was created by Ben Buckner. Richard Ball
_____________________
PAGE 6 eGGSA NEWSLETTER
Free Books Download
Colin Pretorius, on his CDBooks‐r‐us commercial web site, is now offering a selection of free downloadable
book reprints in Adobe Acrobat PDF format:
Johannes Meintjes 1923‐1980
Uniondale 1901 ‐ A memento of the Anglo Boer War
The Anti‐British Crusade
A Sketch of the OFS
With Steyn and De Wet, by Philip Pienaar of the Transvaal Telegraph Service
Private John Jackson's Boer War Diary
___________________________________________________________
From the Cemetery Project
by Alta Griffiths, alta@pinnaclespot.co.za
Reaching our goal of 100 000 grave photographs for 2008 was accomplished in mid October. No fireworks
out there. But in the backroom it felt at one stage as if the graves were cloning themselves ‐ the numbers
just multiplied! And we still have graves coming in from everywhere – but please don’t stop sending them;
we will get to them!!
The Road to 100 000 Graves
We started 2008 with just over 50 000 gravestone photographs. Our initial monthly target was to add 4200
graves to the collection, but we soon realized that at that rate we would still have been captioning graves
in December so we set ourselves out to exceed the 4200 graves per month. Taking pictures is much quicker
than captioning them.
to increase awareness of our
project we advertised and then
advertised again and then
advertised some more for grave
photographs.
By mid May we had people
contacting us to find out how
far we were from our target
and offered to go out to the
cemeteries in their area to help
us out. The number of grave
photographs coming in tripled.
We need to thank Dirk Bloem,
GGSA North West, Wilna
Eygelaar and Johan Viktor in
particular in this connection!
Richard started upgrading the eGGSA web site in mid October. New uploads were temporary put on hold –
and the photos will be added to the November numbers. We have 5 people standing by to do their own
uploads!
eGGSA NEWSLETTER PAGE 7
To Contributors and Volunteers alike: thank you for making this project such a success!
Here are the Contributors:
Adelle Jerling David van der Merwe Jack Wright Paul Prinsloo Christo Heymans
Alta Roux Deidré Eygelaar Jacques van der Grijp Peter Moss Christo Schutte
Amanda van Blerk Derek Walker Jaleen de Beer Ray Pitt David le Roux
Amy Griffiths Dirk Bloem James Meintjes Renee Bradshaw Helge Kalleland
Andre du Plessis Don Mitchley Jan Coetsee Ronel Olivier Hendrik Louw
André Louw Eira Makepeace Janet Melville Ryan Griffiths Hetta Scholtz
Andries Smith Eleanor Garvie JJ Swanepoel Sandra Makein Ivy Coetzer
Anita Slabbert Erleen West Johan Herselman Sarel Burger Johan Lombaard
Ann Tiran Estelle King Johan Nel Shane Spargo Mieder Viviers
Annatjie Erasmus Fanie Blignaut Johan Oberholster Sharon Heslop Mike Erasmus
Annatjie Tiran Fanie Buys Johan Viktor Shelly Myburgh Mishack Nunu
Annelie Els Fay Lea John Cross Simon du Plooy Nico Burger
Annemie Lourens Ferdie van Wyk Joy Wellbeloved Sofia Holtshausen Willemine J. Lieuwes
Barnard Smit Garrett de Villiers Ken Mutch Stanley Cawthorne Willie Erasmus
Basil Royston Geo van der Smit Leoni Barnard Steve Herbert Wilma de Bruin
Beverley Moss George Dannhauser Liz Oberholster Sue Mackay Wilna Eygelaar
Bonnie Sydow Gerda Pieterse Louis Hurn Swannie Swanevelder Wynand Bezuidenhout
Brian Barrett Gert Esterhuizen Magda Lombaard Tanite Smart Christiaan Prinsloo (9)
Brian Britz GGSA –Noord Wes Mara Potgieter Tian Schutte Heather Gane
Brian Kaighin Gina Shepherd Marielle Ford Tielman Roux Mel Cross
Cathy Crouse Gordon Campbell Marion Moir Tombi Peck Willeen Olivier
Charlie Brook Gwynneth Thomas Martie du Toit Trysie Joubert
Chris Erasmus Hannetjie Riekert Martin Knoetze Vernon R Whittal
PAGE 8 eGGSA NEWSLETTER
Meet the Volunteer Captioners!
They never gave up!!! Without them there would be no captions to our graves ‐ imagine the search! If you
find an error in the captions please let us know – so we can fix it. Even the checker has to be checked!
Andrié Labuschagne – takes Annatjie Erasmus – manages Brian Barrett – single handedly
on all the big contributions to do the captions between transcribed over 33 000 entries
her travels all over the world at the Cambridge Crematorium
in East London
We are also very grateful to those people who managed to find a couple of hours
in their busy schedules to help us out. It was great to have you on board.
Estelle King Gwynneth Thomas André Louw
Ann Tiran Garrett de Villiers Patricia Frykberg
Simone Kay Dirk Bloem Lynn Coupethwaite
Deirdré Eygelaar Heather Gane
Eleanor Garvie June Barnes
Above: Heleen Nel spent many hours
captioning, starting at the top and
working her way right to the end.
Heleen we miss you very much and
trust you will be better soon!
Right: Deirdré and Wilna Eygelaar
took photos of all the graves in
Upington. Wilna labeled all of the
Upington photographs. Deirdré helped
out with captions in the volunteers
album.
eGGSA NEWSLETTER PAGE 9
eGGSA web site - don’t miss these
New among the Branch Newsletters we have GSSA Cemetery Recording News Vol 6 No 2 – June 2008 and
the Vrystaat Nuusbrief / Newsletter, MAIORES September 2008.
In the Bible Family Register collection, new are: VENTER Jasper Maarten getroud 1829 Magdalena Johanna
Stenekamp, Bible published 1832 ‐ National Cultural History Museum no HG 7859 and STREAK William
Samuel born 1791 married 1815 Louisa SMITH born 1797, photographs contributed by Sandra Streak
Among Gravestone photographs, soon to be ready for the main library: Hartenbos, Montague, Vredefort,
Humansdorp and Robertson
_____________________________
Membership Renewals / Hernuwing van Lidmaatskap
eGGSA (and GSSA) membership runs from January to December of each year. Don’t forget to renew your
membership for 2009 which can be done online through the eGGSA online shop now.
Those not yet members who join now you will get 14 months of membership, November 2008 to December
2009, for the annual fee.
Lidmaatskap van eGGSA (asook GGSA) loop vanaf Januarie tot Desember. Moet asseblief nie vergeet om u
lidmaatskap vir 2009 te hernu nie ‐ dit kan by die eGGSA webwinkel nou gedoen word.
Die wat nog nie lede is nie het hierdie maand die kans om 14 maande se lidmaatskap, November 2008 tot
by Desember 2009, vir die jaarlikse fooi te kry.
_____________________________
Your Contributions
Don’t forget that genesis (next issue due January 2009) exists to showcase our members’ findings and
discoveries in their genealogical research. Don’t put it off ‐ write your article now!
Any items for this newsletter that you think may be useful to other members, please let me have them.
And remember that Familia, the quarterly journal of our parent body, the Genealogical Society of South
Africa, next issue December 2008, also depends on our articles ‐ don’t hesitate to write up your research
and send your article either to genesis or to Familia.
Genesis receives very few articles in afrikaans, Familia has the opposite experience ‐ too few english
language articles. Please see if you can help redress the balance with your contribution.
_____________________________
