It all started with a search for her own family’s history, then the bug bit and today Heather MacAlister is in the genealogy business. It all started when MacAlister, following a family story, went in search of her ancestry all the way to England.
There she was bitten by the genealogy bug as she sifted through death notices, marriage certificates, registers and other documents for any clues that could confirm she was related to an Earl of Desborough who had lived in Northampton.
She finally found she was not related to the earl, but by then she was hooked and researching genealogy soon became a hobby which inspired her to set up a website.
It offered people the resources needed to find information about their ancestors in order to construct their own family trees. The website was soon spotted by Media24 who bought the rights to it, making it a subsidiary of Learning on Line.
With MacAlister at the head, the division FamilyTree.co.za went live last September and allows registered members to explore the virtual world of looking up family members. In addition, it offers the service of private family research, charging by the hour. “It is difficult to put a price on research,” said MacAlister, who encourages searchers to do their homework and involve themselves, because then “it is more rewarding”.
The website provides all the tools necessary to put up notices and look up records which MacAlister and her team have electronically captured. Full-time staff members and approximately 100 volunteers electronically capture handwritten archive documents dating back to the early 1800s.
FamilyTree.co.za has 27 online genealogy books which are no longer published and a “who’s who books of the 1900s” with loads of names. It also has an image library of 2 000 pictures.
MacAlister said many of those looking for loved ones were usually older than 45. She said parents who had given their children up for adoption and couples who had adopted children also contacted FamilyTree.co.za.
However, she advised them to rather “go through counselling, go through the right channels” because such searches often led to skeletons being let out of family closets, sometimes with very emotional results.
She said going back in time allowed one to read how, in the South African context, European masters, Eastern slaves and indigenous tribesmen married and had children.
In her research, she also found that “months of the year, ownership and respect towards one’s master were key in naming slaves”. MacAlister still enjoys her work and said every day is a highlight as she discovers something new and “brings families together”.
However, she explained that archive research is difficult as most of the records are handwritten and many had been destroyed by the elements.
But her division now digitally photographs the ageing material and makes it available on its website, a far cry from the days before this technology when MacAlister would visit the archives, manually capture information and then transfer it to computer.
She has no regrets about the path her business life has taken, and is thrilled that she has had the opportunity to have most, if not all, of her family’s archive information electronically captured for her grandchildren to read one day. – Staff Reporter. Fouzia van der Fort Acknowlegement Cape Argus 08 August 2005
