Closure of Ancestry24
We regret to advise that the Ancestry24 business will close on 28 February 2013.
After this date, the web-site www.ancestry24.co.za will cease to function.
With regard to any premium subscription, which was planned to continue past 28 February 2013, we will be refunding the entire subscription amount that you paid to us.
This effectively means that you will have been able to utilize the premium access at no charge during the portion of your subscription that is expired at 28 February 2013.
We trust this relieves the inconvenience.
The refund mechanism will be in the same manner as you paid.
n other words:
- If you originally paid by credit card then the refund will be done in the same manner.
- if you originally paid by electronic bank transfer then the refund will be done via our ABSA bank account.
These refunds will be effected to your account during January / February 2013.
Full access to Ancestry24 will, however, remain available to all users until the 28th February 2013.
During this time:
- no further new content, paid subscriptions nor new users will be added.
- no further development nor activation of family trees will done.
- for any member who does not have a backup of their family tree, we will be able to provide a text version (not a GEDCOM file) on request. You will need to provide us with your user name and email address so we can facilitate your request.
I will still personally be available during this time to answer any queries or provide help where needed on genealogical matters.
We thank you for your support and understanding.
Kind regards
Heather, Andrea and the Ancestry24 Team
Why?
Hi Heather
I am absolutely devastated to hear this. Where am I going to find genealogical information now? This site has been so helpful in tracing my elusive ancestors. South Africa lacks genealogical research sites and Ancestry24 is the only one that I know of. What’s going to happen to all this valuable information?
Kind regards
Patty
How tragic to receive this email. Sad news for South Africa as a whole especially as our country is full of fascinating history and colourful characters.
How sad! Can you recommend any other site for us to use.
Wow I cannot believe it. This site was a wealth of information to us all. What will happen to all the information. It will be so sad not to be able to have access any more.
Regards
Penny Hobbs
No! This shouldn’t be allowed to happen!
Hi, I am shocked to hear you are shutting down. Your site enabled me to demolish a 20 year old brick wall which had driven me and my husband nuts. So our profound thanks to you, we made some thrilling discoveries. Very best wishes for the future.
Anne Smith
Hi Heather
I am sorry to read this.
I appreciated your help and time.
regards
Robert
I am sorry to hear this. The closure of this resource is a great loss to the growing community of family historians.
This is not good news at all….
Hi Heather, A newsletter telling us what will happen to all that data you’ve painstakingly collected and transcribed, will be most helpful, especially to your subscribers who are in the middle of lengthy projects. Will you stay with the data, assuming it will be taken over by another organisation, or is the whole valuable resource going to be vapourised to nothing. The return of subscription is of little importance, compared to the continuation of this resource. Whatever the future holds, good fortune to you and your team, and thanks for the service. Regards, Anthony.
Heather – I am absolutely stunned by your news! I simply don’t care about remuneration but am concerned about information that I have not yet downloaded. Are you transferring your records elsewhere, or is there anyway we can negotiate with you for information we need to download? I am so sorry about the closure of your site, I know that you have put so much energy into maintaining it all. Please let me know about the info and where you’re going to be…kindest regards, Coral Anna
This is the worst news for South African genealogy. This site has been an invaluable source of local information.
Very sad news indeed …. does that now mean that all the data is lost or has it been bought by Salt Lake City?
Absolutely devastating news! Please please please let the info not get lost!!! This site is so valuable and cannot merely be closed down.
Very disappointed to hear the news. We were not quite yet at the same level as e.g. ancestry.com but it was a great start to SA genealogy. Where do we go from here?
No :’( this is so sad!! Is there any way to transfer the information to ano
ther site (familysearch/geni/myheritage) ?? Or will there be a way to get some of the information… This has been a wonderful help in my family search.
What disastrous news – I echo all the comments above and would also love to know if the information is being taken over or transferred elsewhere. What a shame if it’s all to be lost.
Does this mean that DNA testing will also no longer be available. It is was my intention to have this done in the near future.
this is sad news
Please let us know what will happen to all the information. Will it be held by the Archives or other organisation that will continue the work. After all the work by volunteers to transcribe the records I trust that it will not be dumped and no longer be available to researchers.
Heather I feel devasated at the news. I am having so much luck finding my SA relatives after years and years of searching, and now where do I go from here??. I am with Ancestry.com but your site was the best for SA records.
How sad to hear that the premier South African Genealogy site is to close!
Many thanks to you all for the work that you carried out on behalf of South African family history
All the best
Rick Aindow
I’m absolutely stunned by the news that site is going down on the 28 Feb, worried about my research but even more so for the team that worked so diligently.
Will the data be available on another site?
The information on this site was invaluable to me in tracing my ancestors, found more information on Ancestry24 than on the EGGSA website.
Will miss the volunteer work, please tell me you carrying on with this work some where else!!!
I agree – this is a terrible loss for people interested in their ancestors. So sorry to hear of the closure – hope someone else will step forward and continue with this huge and wonderful task! Sanet
Shocked to hear this news! Why?
So much work has gone into transcribing all this information – please say it isn’t just going to be lost.
This site has been invaluable in my search for family info – thank you for all your hard work Heather!
I too am absolutely shocked by the news that your site is to close. There is no other comparable South African site. It would be good to know your reason for this sudden decision. Hopefully all is well with you and your family. Many thanks for your dedication and assistance over the years. Kind regards.
Please don’t worry – the data will go to a good home and you will be notified. The volunteering will go and and must continue. Whoever takes over the data will absorb the volunteers and all the work gone into it.
Thanks so much for all the kind words – it really is appreciated.
Thanks so much for all the hard work you have put into the project
What a shame! I had only recently joined this site, there is so little online info for SA. I’m assuming your records will be subsumed into the global Ancestry database? Good luck for the future and well done for all your hard work to date.
Hi Heather,
Really sorry to hear about the closure of your site, it’s amazing what one can find here. I am not a paying subscriber but would like to access a number of data collections. Is it too late to subscribe to obtain this info? Also, can one still do the DNA testing before the official closure date?
Thanks
Hi Heather,
We ae shocked when we received your email about closing down. We are from Australia,and researching my Great Great Granfather. Alfred Samuel Henri Girling born in Orange Free State in 1861. I have found info for his father and a child passed away in 1903. Where can i find more info now your site is closing??
Thank you
Debbie
Sorry should be Alfred Henri Samuel Girling !!!!!
This is sad news, I found some really helpful search results when I was using the Ancestry24 site.
Very disheartening news – has been a great resource. Very much hope the data does go to a good home.
I am really upset that you are closing down. My Australian cousin has just found you and has asked for my help in tracing the records he has just found on your site for his grandfather who came to South Africa in the early ninties.
I hope you all will be going to good jobs in your field and good luck for the future
Joan Kirk
I am sorry to hear this news, but not surprised. Heather: I salute your efforts and wish you all the best in future. I also hope the data goes to a good home!
So sorry hear your sad news – is the reason political or financial or other? Please tell us how access family history records after the site has closed down, I’m nowhere near half-way with my digging! Your work has been amazing and I thank you all and wish you the best with future endeavours.
So sorry to hear about the site closure. Thanks to Heather and her team for all their hard work over the years, and the best of luck to them in their future endeavours.
How very sad, Heather. Clearly many people are totally mystified and it would help us all if you could share your reasons for the closure of this amazing resource. If this is not possible, let me wish you all the very best and thank you for your hard work and dedication in keeping this vital facility alive. I trust that your successor will be as diligent! Good luck!
Peter Stubbs
Dear Heather and Team, I have only been using this site for about 6 months and found it absolutely inspirational in directing me along purposeful genealogical searches. Like so many others, I am utterly devastated by the news that you are shutting down. You will be leaving a huge gap that will be extremely difficult, if impossible, to fill. No doubt you all feel as wretched as we do. Is there nothing that can be done to save the site?
Pieter
The data will not be lost and as soon as the new custodian has all the paperwork, you will be notified.
Heather,
Thanks so much for your follow-up replies reassuring us that all your work is not lost. It puts my mind at ease that the information will be available and now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that the new home is a service that I already subscribe too
.
Anyway, congratulations of a job fantastically done and I echo the sentiments of those who wrote before me.
Kind regards,
Dylan
Dear Heather
Thanks for running such a fantastic site. I am extremely sorry to hear that you are closing down the site. I have found this to be by far the best resource for South African ancestral research. I wish you and your team well for the future
Regards
Jeff Cole
Thats terrible news- your website has been most helpful.
Dear Heather, I too am devastated that Ancestry24 is closing down. I loved its South African focus and the search model – the hits could be narrowed down by collections. I have unlocked loads concerning my family – Huguenots, Dutch, German and English. I still have to build on what I have discovered and will miss you very much. I have also appreciated your personal touch – my queries always responded to with prompt replies and pointing me in the right direction, e.g., concerning my great-grand mother who I deeply worried about for years – she had refugee status on her death notice. I found she did not die alone. So, thank you, thank you so much for all you have done and I wish you, your family and your team all the best. I am pleased your hard work and that of your team will not disappear. It has been much appreciated!
In the past years I have finally been able to find information about my heritage and learning about who I am from information listed. It’s expensive on my budget to travel to Cape Town to research through the repository. I am hoping that someone else will keep this site alive and viable. I am sorry to hear that this will be closing, so now I’m scrambling to document as much as possible before the end of the month.
Graham
Hi Heather & Team
I’m shattered and saddened at your intended
closure.
You have provided me with such insight into an ever excitng search for my forefathers. What will we do without your superb collection of information.
All the very best to you and your Team.
Cecil Brimacombe
What disappointing news! Is all the painstaking research going to be lost? We must all thank you for all your hard work, Heather.
Please let us know where we can find this elusive information in future?
Thanks again and try and keep up the good work.
K. Dodds
I happened to log in on the day this was announced, and I have delayed responding because I hoped we would hear more. I hope you will contact your subscribers before the 28th, so that we know where the information on your site will be hosted. I feel sure that the delay in providing us with this information is beyond your control.
I want also to thank you, Heather, for your support. I was impressed by how quickly you responded to any queries, certainly well within the timescale of some of the ‘big’ names. I hope you will be able to expend your energy, enthusiasm and efficiency in an enterprise which satisfies you!
I have delayed saying anything hoping there would be some good news forthcoming. You and the team have done a FANTASTIC job and I will hard pressed to get any info about ancestors in SA now. Your site has helped me fill in many gaps and complete missing dates etc. I wish you and your team all the best.
Gareth
Hi Heather,
I was hoping for some kind of miracle, but as today is the 26th, it looks like it is not going to happen. I am truly sorry that this is happening, but would like to thank you and your team for what we did have. Wishing you everything of the best for the future.
Kind regards,
Sandee
Dear Heather (and team!)
Just to say thanks for providing such a useful and user-friendly site – it is really sad that the site is going and you are definitely going to be missed. I hope that the new custodian of the data is able to follow in your footsteps by providing such an excellent service. I wish you and your team all the very best for the future.
Denise
Heather
As the month draws to a close and site lockdown nears are you able to give us any further information about where the data is going … and when?
Any crumb would be appreciated!
John
Hi John
As soon as I have an answer I will let the users know.
kind regards
Heather
Well it’s one day to go – I hope there will be some news soon as to what is happening with the data
Good luck to Heather and the staff – your site will be missed
Dear Heather & Staff,
I have not done as much research as I had hoped so will have to wait & see what the outcome is regarding this amazing site. The deadline for closure is to-morrow and I along with many thousands of your dedicated clients are hoping for another excellent group such as yours to continue your good work. I am glued to Ancestry24 at present to ascertain news about the future! My husband corresponds with many others on Rootsweb about many subjects relating to genealogy, etc; will you be available on it so as to keep in touch & also consider private research? Good Luck to All the volunteers. I do hope that you will be happy with the outcome as no doubt you have had a lot of input into finding a suitable substitute. Best Wishes, Ann Rodger
Dear Heather,
I have only done about 10% of what I want to do through ancestry24.
Please email me your new contact details asap so that I am able to renew with the successor business … [email protected]
Noel
Dear Heather and Staff,
We have enjoyed the years with you at Ancestry24 and will be sad to see it all end. Your hard work has been appreciated and we wish you well in the future.
Do you have a contact address from tomorrow?
Kindest regards
Paul
Dear Heather and Everyone
This is such a sad day…..
Thank you to you all for all your fabulous work and indeed help – I hope that in some way this can continue.
Kind regards
Lizzie
And now? Its the end of March and the site’s still going! Does this mean the decision to close has been revoked or are negotiations re the content still in process?
Hi Jo-Anne
We are carrying on with access to paid users until the notification of the new owners is made or a link to the new site. We don’t want to lose any customers.
regards
Heather
Hi Heather,
I have been unable to access any records for the last month. Tried again today but each time I do a search I get the Closure of site message. Any reason why ??
Regards
Carol
Hi Heather
I hope the team is doing well under the circumstances. What happens to the DNA tests. Who will continue with it?
Thank you for everything you have done.
Salih Davids