The first step into official South African records is often through the National Archives of South Africa index, NAAIRS

This was the original building of the National Archives in Queen Victoria Street. This magnificent building still stands today and is occupied by the "Centre for the Book".

 

What is NAAIRS and how can it help you trace your family history?

This on-line index is only a finding aid to identify and locate archival material. It does not contain the actual documents on-line.

Having identified relevant material, one must visit the repository concerned to consult the documents, or use the services of a researcher. Although one can contact the relevant repository, staff members do not provide in-depth research and in most cases only offer limited retrieval services if they have the time or manpower. A professional researcher can transcribe or provide photocopies or digital photographs, as well as doing in-depth research using sources other than NAAIRS.

NAAIRS contains mostly public records in the custody of the national and provincial archives. However, it also incorporates non-public records (private papers) in the custody of a large number of repositories throughout South Africa.

The index was started in 1974 and was known as STAIRS, after the IBM software that was originally used. The web-enabled NAAIRS was publicly launched on 14 May 2001. There are over seven million record references on-line, with on-going additions at a rate of about 250,000 annually. The on-line index is only a partial one, making it a small part of the total holdings found on-site at the various archives. The on-line referenced records occupy over 140 kilometres of shelving space.

Most of the earlier records are in Dutch, English or Afrikaans. Not finding a reference on NAAIRS does not necessarily mean that there are no records in the archives. NAAIRS does not include civil birth, marriage or death registration records, as these are kept by the Department of Home Affairs. Generally public records in the custody of the National Archives and provincial archives services are over 20 years old. There are currently some records in NAAIRS up to the 1987.

Which NAAIRS records are most useful?

Not all records in NAAIRS are of genealogical use. It must be remembered that NAAIRS is not a purely genealogical database, but the general national archival database which contains all types of public records.

The most commonly used records are estate files, divorce records, mortgage bonds, records of conduct and service, and immigration records, amongst others.

Estate Files

Estate papers usually contain a death notice, a will, and the liquidation & distribution accounts. More recent estate files can also contain tax returns, a copy of the death certificate and a copy of the South African identity book. The liquidation & distribution accounts list heirs, creditors and debtors. It also contains the newspaper cutting informing creditors of the death. The deceased's banking and investment details are given. The funeral undertakers are usually listed, which can help in tracing place of burial.

In the Cape archives, the earlier death notices and wills were filed in one file, and the distribution account in another file. The other provincial archives file in one file. Cape estates were handled by the Master's Office and Orphan Chamber (MOOC), which was established in 1673 by the Dutch East India Company. The MOOC ceased handling estates in 1833 when the Master of the Supreme Court took over this duty.

Not everyone has an estate file. Death notices were introduced in 1834. If there is no estate file, the deceased could've died outside South Africa or had minimal assets. Recent estates are kept at the relevant Master of the Supreme Court, and do not show up in NAAIRS until they are archived by the relevant archives. Generally, estate files are sent to the archives 25 years after the date of finalization by the Master's office.

Deceased insolvent estate files can also provide some information such as next of kin details and an inventory of the deceased's possessions.

Go to our Learning Centre has articles with further information about estate files.

Divorce Records

Once a divorce case has been settled by the courts, and sent to the archives, the file is often referenced in NAAIRS. These files provide the following information on both parties – addresses, occupations and financial circumstances. The background for the granting of divorce is also given. Where there are minor children involved, their ages are given. Major children's names are often listed. Custody arrangements can also be found in many cases. If adultery was the basis for divorce, the other party is often mentioned and this could provide further clues if re-marriage occurred.

The term illiquid case is often used in reference to divorce, as well as of the dissolution of business partnerships. Divorce records fall under the relevant Supreme Court of each province. The source code for Cape divorces is CSC, WLD for the Transvaal, RSC for Natal and HG for the Free State.

Mortgage Bonds

These files are not usually useful for genealogical purposes. The most useful information found is the address and the amount of the bond, which can help build a social history of the person concerned. Sometimes a spouse is also listed if the couple was married in Community of Property. The address, especially a farm name, can be used for searching Deeds Office records.

Records of Conduct and Service

If your ancestor was a policeman, his personnel file may be in the archives. The most common files are those for the South African Constabulary (SAC), the Free State police (FSP) and the Natal Mounted Police (NMP). These files usually include a description of the person (colour of eyes and hair, weight, height), date and place of birth, marital status, name and address of next of kin, dates and places of enlistment and discharge. If medals were awarded they would also be mentioned. Often a summary of the person's character and behaviour is also given. If there was any misconduct it would be noted here.

The SAC was a semi-military force established in 1900. Many of its members were British or Canadian soldiers who had served in the Anglo-Boer War.

Immigration Records

The records of the Principal Immigration Officer (PIO) can be found in Cape Town. These cover the period 1904-1967. Passengers entering a South African port had to complete a declaration form. These forms give full names, ages, place of birth, nationality, occupation, marital status, children and spouse names, reason for entering the country, as well as the port of embarkation and the ship's name.

Natal has the European Immigration records (EI). The index can be checked at the archives in Pietermaritzburg before consulting the registers.

Naturalization Records

Letters of Naturalization and applications can be found in the Colonial Office (CO) archives in Cape Town. These records list year of naturalization, full names, place of origin, age, date of birth, how many years in the country prior to naturalization, occupation and current residence.

In the Transvaal, naturalization records are in the Chief Immigration Officer (CIO) archives. This office issued passports, residential permits and certificates of naturalization.

Other Records

Some records may not sound useful but on inspection can prove full of clues. Natal has the Natal Harbour Department (NHD) archives which list ships in ports. This can be useful for finding possible ship names of immigrants. The Public Works Department (PWD) archives often contain letters that give personal information. If your ancestor was in the civil service, the Colonial Secretary's Office (CSO) archives may yield clues with which you can search civil service lists. Ancestors who were veterinarians may have records in the Principal Veterinary Surgeon (PVS) archives. These archives are also useful if you have ancestors in the circus, as travelling circuses had to apply to this department for permits to transport circus animals across provincial borders.

Private collections are also found in NAAIRS. These are usually known as accessions and many contain family trees, unpublished manuscripts, photographs, maps, personal letters or diaries.

Doing a Search

Before using NAAIRS for the first time, it is recommended that you read the NAAIRS Help page.
To do a search, start at http://www.national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm and click on Search.

This takes you to a listing of the databases where you can select one.

I have chosen the RSA database for this example.

The RSA database is the full on-line NAAIRS index, while the KAB, NAB and TAB databases are provincial databases only. The TBD, TBE and TBK databases are regional databases.

The search engine provides five lines for entering search terms, as well as the operators And, Or, Not, Adjacent and Near. The operators help with targeted searching. One can also choose date parameters and display results in ascending or descending format.

I have used the search terms lehmkuhl and frederick with the And operator, for this example.

Once you have entered your search terms, click the Search button. You are now presented with a search results page showing that your query was located in a number of documents and has been saved as a query number. If there are no results, this will be shown at this stage. To see a successful search, click on Result Summary.

My example search has shown 13 documents.

If needed, you can now filter these results by clicking on Refine Query. This is useful for refining by date parameters. If you have done this, you would again click on Result Summary to see the refined search result.

For my example I have not used Refine Query. This is what I get when I click on Result Summary:

By clicking each specific result, you can see reference numbers and a brief description of the document.

This example is from clicking on the second record in my example:

To see more references on one page, after clicking on Result Summary, click Select Page. This causes tick marks to appear in the boxes under Select.

Now click on Multiple Documents which will open a window showing a maximum of 20 references.

You can now copy and paste this to a word processing or text programme.
Once done, click on the Back button on your browser's menu toolbar at the very top of your screen to return to the Result Summary.

Now click on Clear Multiple Document List and once the tick marks are cleared, you click on Next for the next 20 references. Repeat this process until you have all your references.

Understanding the Results

The reference format is standard and the following fields are necessary for accessing the file on-site: Depot, Source, Volume No. and Reference.

The Depot field indicates the archives repository at which the document is housed. See http://www.national.archives.gov.za/reposit.htm

The Source field indicates the office that created or received the record. See http://www.national.archives.gov.za/sourcesindex.htm

The Type field indicates what type of record it is – file, manuscript, etc. See http://www.national.archives.gov.za/archtypes.htm

The Volume No. and reference enables the location of the item on-site.

The System field is used to show cases where more than one classification system was used by the creating office.

The Part No. field is used in cases where there is more than one file with the same reference number. This often happens where a file becomes full before the event is finalized. Sometimes the files are archived in different volumes.

The Description field gives a brief description of contents of the document.

The Starting and Ending fields are the dates when the file was originally opened and last closed.

The Remarks field is used for any other information, such as cross-references to a related file. A deceased spouse's estate file is usually noted here.

Search Tips

How you enter your search terms will affect the results.

John Smith will only show documents with John Smith in that order. This will not exclude results for William John Smith or John Smith Davies, for example. Smith John will also have similar results.

John and Smith on two separate lines with the And operator will list all the results for John and Smith anywhere in the references.

John and Smith on two separate lines with the Adjacent operator will list only those references with the two names next to each other, such as John Smith or Smith John . It will not list John Daniel Smith.

Smith and Smit on two separate lines with the Or operator will list all references that have either spelling.

Be aware of variations in spellings, as the index shows the spelling as reflected in the original document. Many names are often miss-spelt.