Beyond the boundaries of the normal documents used every day to trace your family history, voters lists and municipal directories  can fill  huge gaps in your research. We have added over 900 Voters in the Bethlehem district to our collections to help you even more.

Many of our ancestors did change their jobs a couple of times and did not always lived in the same house or town as we always have believed. Our families moved and changed jobs as the economics of  the country changed and as as history changed. The Bethlehem voters list it a great new source for you.

Sometimes our families lived in one province but actually worked in another and traveled thousands of miles away and then came back home again without you even realising it. Many of these people were travelers, coach drivers, farmers and miners where traveling was a popular event as 1899 was the outset of the Anglo Boer war.  Bethlehem fell on the 7th July 1899  when it was taken over by the British.

Did you know that Bethlehem was the headquarters of the Free State Boers and that the famous Moodie Trek left Bethlehem for Melsetter in 1892 ?

Did you know that Cape Town has generally been considered as the initial major port of entry for South Africa?

How can we help?

Start searching over 60 000 records of passengers from Europe to South Africa on our Passenger Records

Search our Shipping Records to find out who the Captain of the Ship was and what cargo was on board

Tracing the departure of passengers from England can be found in various repositories such as the Cape Government Gazette papers (1805 to 1900) in the Cape Town and Natal Archives. Government Gazette papers are also held at the National Library in Cape Town.

The National Library in Cape Town also they holds passenger lists which were printed in daily newspapers under the shipping intelligence section.

Newspaper shipping columns are by far the most accessible but it is a long and tedious task. If you are not sure what ship someone arrived on during a particular then more than up to 52 newspapers of the Cape Times will need to be searched.

Most of the original shipping registers are non existent thus the newspaper records are inaccurate and incomplete.

Passengers in steerage or “economy class” are not listed and those that are no initials are given to classify any person.

However these passenger lists are guidelines and cannot be assumed as 100% correct. On many instances only initials and surnames are given, sometimes only surnames are given and titles and children were sometimes listed as “and 2 children” or “governess and baby boy” or simply 200 passengers and no names at all are mentioned. Many times surnames and names are misspelt, passengers also sometimes never embarked or their ticket was used by someone else and the names were not changed or they used a pseudonym name to escape some form of family or criminal predicament. On occasions where Saloon passengers where listed the rest of passengers would be a simple number.

Generally first and sometimes second class passengers are mentioned, but steerage passengers and the so called “economy calls” which were the majority on board – were seldom listed. Military regiments travelling by sea were usually listed as the regiments with its principal commanding officer only being named.

What to look out for

When unassisted or private individuals are listed generally only surnames appear unless they had a title such as doctor, Sir, Lady etc. Single women or unaccompanied people were listed either as Miss, Mrs. or Messrs. This does complicate researching when looking for the run of the mill surnames. Children too were treated as subordinates and where not mentioned and just listed as “and 4 children” or “master Wood”.

Records to be searched at the Cape Archives are the Registers of Arrivals and Departures of Ships, Algoa Bay 1846-1901 which are held under Reference CC which means the Archives of the Secretary, Cape Town Chamber of Commerce. These registers however give the captain’s name and sometimes the first class passengers only. Another good source is the Public Works Department PWD Volume 2/401 which holds passenger lists for 1872-1884.

There are also Registers of Applications for Aided Immigration 1882-1902 under the Public Words Department PWD Volumes 2/408 to 2/410 and Application Forms Received for Aided Immigration for the years 1875-1889 are in PWD Volumes 2/402-2/404.

In London at the Public Records Office in Kew, the reference BT 27 is the one to search for outbound passengers of 1890 to 1960. This documentation supplies the names of persons sailing from English harbours with the final destination being outside of Europe and the Mediterranean . To use these records the researcher must have some knowledge or approximate date of departure and the port to have any reasonable hope of finding a passenger’s name. The BT 32 Registers of Passenger Lists date from 1906 onwards.

Whilst prearranged immigrant schemes such as the 1820 Settlers and others are well-known these passenger lists are inconsistent and full of errors.

Economic Conditions

Around the time of the 1881 census was the tail end of the 2nd Industrial Revolution these were some of the aspects which changed peoples lives and made them immigrate.

1. the growth of cities and other population shifts

2. working conditions for men, women or children

3. changing role of women

4. impact of inventions on life

5. living conditions in the cities and in the countryside

6. health and sanitation

7. education

8. housing

9. income and wealth accumulation

10. role of labour unions

11. changes in family life

12. transportation

13. leisure

Bearing in mind the largest number of people immigrated to South Africa ever at one time was between 1856 and 1873 when tens of thousands of immigrants came from England. Most of them came to work on the expanding harbours and extensive railways systems. From 1870 onwards emigration to the colony peaked following the discovery of gold and diamonds.

By 1870 virtually all emigrants went by steamship. Competition between the steamship companies helped, to some extent, to improve conditions for the emigrants. From about 1900 third class cabins began to replace the steerage accommodation. Accommodation was still basic, but it was a considerable improvement.

Between 1830 and 1930 over nine million emigrants sailed from Liverpool bound for a new life in the New World of the United States, Canada and Australia and South Africa. For much of this period Liverpool was by far the most important port of departure for emigrants from Europe largely because by 1830, she already had well established trans-Atlantic links essentially in the import of cotton and timber. Liverpool was also well placed to receive the many emigrants from the countries of North Western Europe. Irish emigrants first crossed to Liverpool by steamship, while Scandinavians and Russians/Poles crossed the North Sea to Hull and travelled to Liverpool by train. Liverpool’s share of the emigrant trade began to decline from the late nineteenth century as emigrants increasingly came from the countries of southern and eastern Europe. Some passed through Liverpool, but more sailed from the nearer German and Italian ports.

There were three main motives for emigration. Some of the emigrants were fleeing from the hardships of poverty and unemployment; this was particularly applicable to the 1,250,000 Irish who emigrated between 1845 and 1851 as a result of the potato famine. For Russian and Polish Jews, emigration was a way of escaping from political and religious persecution. Other emigrants were not suffering the hardships of poverty or the terror of persecution, but were attracted by the possibility of a higher standard of living.

Most emigrants usually spent between one and ten days waiting for their ship in a Liverpool lodging house. In the mid-nineteenth century emigrants passing through Liverpool were liable to harassment and fraud by local confidence tricksters, who became known as ‘runners’. Runners frequently snatched the emigrants’ luggage and would only return it if the emigrant paid a large fee. In the late 1840′s and 1850′s, lodging houses were often inhospitable, dirty and overcrowded.

Until the early 1860′s most emigrants left Liverpool on a sailing ship, and the voyage to Australia would take about 3- 4 months. Most emigrants travelled in the cheapest class of accommodation, known as the steerage. This was similar to a dormitory with bunks down the sides and tables in the centre. It was frequently overcrowded with poor ventilation. Emigrating in a sailing ship could be unpleasant, particularly during a storm; it was only better in degree in the early days of steamships! Diseases such as cholera and typhus frequently reached epidemic proportion as infection spread through the confined decks. Scores of emigrants died on this account.

The 1855 Passenger Act helped to improve conditions, laying down minimum standards for rations, space and sanitation. From the 1860′s the situation began to improve as steam started to replace sail, and the steamship companies started to look after emigrants during their stay in Liverpool, with their representatives meeting the emigrants on arrival in Liverpool.

The emigrants were taken to lodging houses which were frequently owned by the steamship companies, but delays still occurred and there continued to be complaints about treatment in Liverpool even in the early 20th century.

Passports + Permissions

No permission, passport or application form was necessary in order to emigrate from Great Britain or Ireland in the 19th century. Only when financial assistance, from or via the government, was required, did forms of application have to be completed.

If you have any old newspapers or Cape Government Gazettes with passenger lists – please email them to us – your contribution will make a difference!

Some further reading:

• Aided Immigration from Britain to South Africa 1857 – 1867 by Esme Bull
• Cornish Immigrant to South Africa by Graham Dickason
• Emigrants Guide to South Africa
• British Residents at the Cape, 1795 – 1819. by Peter Philip

This historical cemetery is neatly tucked away in the leafy dorp of Piketberg and remains well kept with a locked gate and the older part of the original cemetery exists an grassy patch of land adjacent to the cemetery which remains peaceful and oblivious to any one that there are bodies buried beneath the lawn.

There are some rather old headstones to be found here as well as some interesting characters laid to rest from both the Afrikaans and the Jewish Community.

The town of Piketberg was laid out at the foot of the Piquet Berg in 1835 on the Government farm Grootfontein, which was granted free for this purpose by Sir Benjamin D'Urban. The first sale of plots took place in 1842-43, while a Dutch Reformed parish had been instituted in 1833. During the 1800's a number of Jewish families also settled in the town and their graves can also be found here. A magistracy was established in 1848, a village management board in 1902, and a municipality on 6 Jan. 1906.

The name Piketberg is derived from the old Dutch word 'piker' or `piquet' (from the French) in the sense of a military guard post (English: picket). During the governorship of Isbrand Goske (1672-76), when the colonists were involved in a war with the Hottentots under Gonnema, a platoon or a picket of soldiers was stationed on the mountain.

On Friday 22nd January myself and 6 other volunteers went to photograph Muizeberg Cemetery, a cemetery that has been vandalized and neglected for more than a decade. I started off by going to introduce myself to the office clerk who said it would not be a problem but he needed to inform his superior.

We started off by attempting to photograph the Jewish section as this has had severe vandalism and it was the easiest section to attempt. After 45 minutes an officious man from the council came to tell us that we had no right to photograph any headstone as it was municipal property and that we were stop immediately otherwise our cameras would be confiscated and the Metro police would be called.

We all stood their in shock and horror and could not believe what we were hearing.  For goodness sake – these people are dead and nobody owns their name, date of birth or death. We were told that we needed to get a license from the Civic Amenities office in Cape Town. I had a year ago already photographed 600 headstones from Muizenberg.

Nowhere at the cemetery office was there a signpost saying that photographing was not allowed. However there was sign for no littering, no dogs and no fire arms. Yet the place is littered with evidence of vagrants, broken bottles and headstones that have fallen over or are broken and no attempt has been made to rectify any of this.

The gentleman that verbally accosted us showed no evidence that he belonged to the City Council nor did he drive a car that told us what department he belonged. He never  even provided me with his name.

On speaking to the deputy mayor of Cape Town, he told us that he had never heard of this law before. Whilst trying to preserve our heritage and save this information  it is now illegal to photograph a tombstone. We await feedback from the deputy mayor

Please feel free to comment.  Our Gallery goes on – keep scrolling down

What is there in common between the first Prime Minister of South Africa, Louis Botha, and a Jewish South African boy who fought on the side of the British in the Anglo Boer war and was killed? The boys name was Meyer Joseph Rosen and after his death, and after the war, his father approached the Council and offered a sum of money if they could remember his son so they named three roads, in Highlands North, after the boy. Meyer Joseph and Rosen are named after him. Louis Botha Avenue also in Highlands North, was named after the Prime Minister.

I have been studying and reading various histories of the Witwatersrand and what I find very interesting is that this area from Nigel to Carletonville was developed to a large extent by Jewish developers. In addition, Jews were involved in the various councils and were rewarded in part by having roads and parks named after them. In no other area in the world have such a large proportion of Jews had so much to do with the development of three metropolitan areas. Not Cape Town, not Durban, not San Francisco and not Sydney, have this boast.

In preparing this talk, I have decided to divide the talk into three areas: those streets with Hebrew names or origins; those streets or parks with Jewish names; and those streets, which were named by Jews because they were the developers.

First let’s talk about Hebrew words. Foremost is Benoni. Benoni is a Hebrew word taken direct from Genesis, meaning son of my suffering. It was the alternative name given to Benjamin by his mother Rachel. When the East Rand was set up, there was an inconveniently shaped piece of land and the developer called it Benoni, son of my suffering because he thought that it would cause him grief as he tried to sell it.

Then on the West is a street called Ruhama. Ruhama again is straight from the bible and means compassion. It is in Hosea Chapter2 verse 1.

There is a Jordan Street, and a Sharon Street, which are biblical words.

Berea, the suburb in Johannesburg and incidentally in Durban, is a post biblical word used in the Christian bible as the name of a mountain It features in Acts chapter 17 verse 10. And in Sandton there is a Chabad Street, which was so named because there is a Chabad shul there.

A few years ago I was lent a book by a relative of mine, Isaac Lew, and the name of the book is the Street names of Johannesburg by Dr Anna Smith. Dr Smith was for many years the Librarian at Johannesburg Library. She wrote this book as her doctoral thesis and as I read it I was fascinated because in addition to the history in general, specifically I was intrigued by the many times that Jewish names appeared. Unfortunately the book was published in 1968 so many areas are not covered but many areas are covered very well.

Let’s look at the names on my borderline. In Germiston there is a Cachet Road. In South African history there is strong influence by the family Lion Cachet. In fact Potchefstroom University was founded by members of the family and the emblem of the University is a menorah. Now is Cachet Road a Jewish Road or not, seeing as the Lion Cachet family were originally Jewish but converted to Christianity in South Africa? Then I thought that Eckstein, he of the Zoo and the Zoo Lake, were of our ilk but Herman Eckstein was a pastor. The Beit family, the very rich ones, was not Jewish.

There can be confusion. When Isaac Lew encouraged me to write this talk, he said that I had to start with Max Langerman, after whom the HOD Lodge is named. True, Max Langerman was honoured with having the main road in Kensington named after him, because he was the Chairman of Kensington estates, the group that set up that township. But in Mayfair there is a Langerman street named after Sir Jan Willem Stuckeris Langerman who was not related or Jewish.

In Newclare there is a Ruben Road named for a Mr Ruben who was awarded the Royal Humane Society Medal and honoured by the City Council having a road named after him. In those days Newclare was an up and coming township and it was an honour. Jacobs Avenue in Fairways was named for Mr Jacobs who had owned the land and his widow insisted that the name be retained when the area was subdivided.

In Sandton there is a Fredman Drive, named after the developer, who was also a councilor. I was lucky enough to spend time in December with Isse Kramer who now lives in Israel. Issie was on the Council of Boksburg for thirty years and he was able to list some of the Jewish names in his omgewing. Myers Street is named for Emilie Myers, a Mayor of Boksburg and a councilor there for 15 years. Melman Street in Jansen Park in the North of Boksburg is named for B Melman, the Mayor of Boksburg in 1920. A.J. Saretsky was the Mayor in 1932 and 1934 and has his road. Issie Kramer was Mayor from 1972 to 1974 and has a road and a park named after him. Talking about parks I must say proudly that there a MJ Plen Park in Nigel, named after my grandfather. When he died in 1955, Nigel was in such a recession that you could not give away land, and my grandfather had left several pieces of land to my dad and his uncles. They gave one piece to the Nigel Council for use as a park. For interest sake, the land was valued in those bad times at two pounds to four pounds per erf. While we are in Nigel, there is a David Wolf Street, in Jansen Park. David Wolf was a Nigel businessman and a councilor for many years.

Nestadt Industrial Town on the west side of Benoni is named for a remarkable man who realized that the gold mines would cease being a major source of revenue and that industry was needed. Before than any other town on the Rand, Nestadt had gone out and solicited industry. He was a developer and he made money from this but also he made Benoni. His wife Cecelia Nestadt had a road named after her in Rynfield.

I was chatting about my pet subject to another visitor last year. Asher Brand was a Germiston businessman who now lives in Sydney. He said, ”Show me the map and I’ll show you the road named after me…” A developer called Riley Schachat (yes there is a Jew with the name Riley, somehow) built up an area called Dinwiddie near Wadeville in the North of Germiston. He named streets after the various co-directors of his and one was named Riley for himself and Asher Brand got a road named Asher after him because they were close friends. Massel Road in Harmelia was named for another Boksburg developer and councillor.

In Witfield in Boksburg there is a Mendelsohn Road named after a councillor in Boksburg, not to be confused with Mendelsohnn Road in Roosevelt Park Johannesburg. That Mendelsohnn was a mining magnate, also Jewish. Actually I was quite surprised that Anna Smith said that he was a mining magnate because Roosevelt Park is full of names like Amshewitz and other artistic type people so I though that the Mendelsohnn that it was named after was the composer, but she said not.

While we are in Roosevelt Park, Amshewitz was a British artist who lived in South Africa until 1942. He was a cartoonist on the Rand Daily Mail, after having been quite a well know painter and artist in Britain.

Germiston has a street named Baker Street, for Councillor Mannie Baker. In Mindalore Township in Krugersdorp, there are streets named Geffin, Ruben and Saul Jacobs but without Anna Smith being there to guide me about the areas outside of Johannesburg, I was unable to find out more. In fact I nearly made a very silly mistake. Looking through the map, and having spotted Geffin and Rubin, I saw Diamant. I know there are Jewish Diamants and I was going to include that in my list to research when I noticed that bordering on Diamant are Goud, Kool , Perel and Beril.

The main road of Roodepoort is Goldman Street after a gold miner and a councillor. Schlapo Road is named after a Mayor of the town.

In Roseacres in the South of Johannesburg there is an Aschman Street.

Written and Contributed by Colin Plen

Ancestry24’s  volunteers and “Friends of the Crypt” are going to photograph Muizenberg Cemetery on 22 January. If anybody is looking for a breeding ground for Olympic size moles – this is the place to come to. This cemetery especially the Jewish section has been severely vandalised and Vandals have stripped the Tahara hall at the Muizenberg cemetery virtually bare – even making off with the burglar bars installed to protect it.
Sigmund Saffer, president of the Muizenberg Hebrew congregation, said anything that could be removed, had been stolen.
He said some people had even used the two ceremonial basins to clean their fish.
“They were beautiful carved basins with copper spigots which were used to gut fish. There would be scales everywhere.”
Now mourners have to bring their own 20 litre barrels of water to wash their hands during burial ceremonies.
Saffer said the Tahara hall, was built in the early 1920s. “In those days bodies were brought here to be prepared for burial.”
But now, the bodies were prepared elsewhere and only the coffin was brought to the temple which used to be able to accommodate between 30 and 40 people.

Saffer said the thieves broke in and stole the copper piping and 3m high teak doors.
“People started camping on the verandah around the temple so we put in a trellis door to try to stop that, but they stole that as well.”
Saffer said the only thing that could not be stolen was the concrete dome roof.
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“It was beyond a joke. The insurers were laughing and so were the cops.”
He said that fixing the temple became too expensive so it was decided to demolish the structure.
The new plan is to build a concrete platform with a vandal-proof roof for mourners to use when they bury their loved ones.

But, until then, mourners just have to make do.  View the cemetery Gallery
Become involved in our Cemetery recording project.

Muizenberg is a residential suburb within the municipal area of Cape Town, situated about 25 km south of Cape Town on False Bay, in the magisterial district of Simonstown, This old summer holiday has with extensive sandy beaches and excellent bathing and surfing; the water temperature is usually 6°C higher than in Table Bay, owing to a warm current circulating in False Bay.

Originally a cattle post in 1673, it was transformed into an important military outpost when Simon’s Bay became the official winter anchorage for the Dutch East India Company in 1743. The town, previously Steenberghoek, derives its name from Wynand Willem Muijs (Muijs zijn berg = Muijs’s mountain), the sergeant in charge of the post in 1744, and later commander of the garrison. In 1’744 the outpost was referred to as Muijzenburg, but in 1788 the name was written as Muizenberg.When the British arrived in 1’795 and took Simons Bay, the Dutch forces fortified Muizenberg. They attempted to hold the narrow strip of beach between the mountain and the sea, along which the road ran, but were driven from their positions by the fire of the British fleet which anchored off Muizenberg in shallow water and gave artillery support to the advancing British troops.

Muizenberg became the halfway house to Simonstown, and Farmer Peck’s Hotel,opened in 1825, was the favourite stopping-place. It was connected to Cape Town by a good road, and in1883 the suburban railway line reached Muizenberg. During the Second Anglo-Boer War Muizenberg became the favourite convalescent centre and resort for thousands of Imperial troops.

During the First World War Muizenberg’s popularity increased, and a  pavilion was built. This was later replaced by a larger pavilion, since demolished, and promenade. Plans for the construction of a large marina, the first in South Africa, were well advanced by 1972. But sadly by the mid 1980’s Muizenberg’s hey day was over and the decline and deterioration of this once rich and famous holiday resort had died.