Find Ancestors

I am going to Cape Town for 3 weeks at the end of November 2012 so would be grateful for any help with regards to looking in the archives there for further information.
Many thanks,
Rosy

Sadly our trip to Cape Town has been postponed until next summer as our daughter has badly fractured her ankle and can't put her weight on it for 3 months. We will definitely get there though and I am still researching my South African connections... any help will be gratefully received.
Thanks,
Rosy

Hi Rosemary,

The Cape area would have some really old schools, still in use and records I am sure records would have been kept.

Google - schools in Capetown. I would say most if not all would be on the WWW.

Enjoy your visit - a beautiful city

Mary Patrick (b 1868) and her 3 children Eileen, Francis and Albert definitely sailed to Cape Town from Southampton on Oct 4th 1902 on the ship 'Galician'. They sailed back from Port Elizabeth to Southampton on Sept 14th 1904 on the ship 'Tintagel Castle'. So they spent nearly 2 years in South Africa. I know that the two oldest children attended school there - does anyone know if there would be any school records existing for these years?
Thanks,
Rosy Cartwright

Thanks again for all your efforts. James is also living in Birmingham in the 1911 census so I am coming to the conclusion that it looks unlikely that James went to S.Africa at all - or if he did it was just for a short time. I have looked in passenger lists but it's very difficult to verify. I will research printing companies employee records in Birmingham across these years to see whether I can confirm this.

Family folklore is so like 'chinese whispers'. James was supposed to have had a daughter called Ruby who married an Afrikaaner. According to an older relative she definitely sent flowers or crystallised fruit back to Mary (Francis' wife) every xmas until 1939. I have a photograph of Ruby dated 1938 in 'Bains Kloof' which is in the Western Cape (she's very elegant) and also a photo of her house called 'Squirrels Rest'. It's possible she is not James' daughter (as James' wife Emily was 51 at the 1911 census and they had no children then). If not, then I'm wondering who she could be? She is certainly an adult in the photo but could be anything between 18 and 30. Assuming her maiden name is Patrick, is there a way of looking up South African birth records to see if I can trace her?

(I am travelling to Cape Town in August for a fortnight so could visit record centres in person if necessary)

Thanks for all your help,
Rosy

1911

PATRICK JAMES 1860 51 Kings Norton Worcestershire
PATRICK EMILY CHARLOTTE 1861 50


so at least you know that searching for him in SA won't help find Francis ...

This appears to be brother james in 1891

Name: James Patrick
Age: 31
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1860
Relation: Head
Spouse's Name: Emily E Patrick (I read it as Emily C)
Where born: Birmingham
Occupation: Printer

Civil parish: Edgbaston

James Patrick 31
Emily E Patrick 31
Louisa J Kimberley 32
Amelia Morris 18


and in 1901 in the same place

James Patrick 41
-- Managing Director of Printing Works - Litho & Letter Press
Emily C Patrick 40
Louisa J Kimberley 42 - sister (presumably of wife), teacher
Sarah Chilton 23


So it doesn't look as if he went to SA, at least not before 1901.

http://www.national.archives.gov.za/index.htm

Couldn't find any records in SA archives. (I did find something there myself in a similar situation -- a 1907 letter from someone to the colonial authorities, enquiring about the whereabouts of someone else ... exactly what I was doing 100 years later ;) )


This is the household in 1871 in Aston, per Ancestry:

James Patrick 35
Susanah Patrick 34
Susanah Patrick 13
James Patrick 11
Jane Patrick 8
Rosena Patrick 5
> Frances Patrick 3
Charles Patrick 5 Months

It would be well worth correcting the name at Ancestry to "Francis" -- a search for Francis didn't find that, I had to anticipate the common problem and search for Fran*.

That way, if he has descendants in SA and one day they search for him in that database, they'll find you.

For that reason it's a good idea to include an email address in your correction notes at Ancestry (as well as saying what your relationship is) -- a permanent anonymous one like at Gmail works very well for that purpose. You can use a free 14-day trial subscription to add name variants and notes to all the records you can find. I've been contacted by several very interesting distant relations that way!

Also, put "postems" on records at FreeBMD -- for example, stick postems on the two names in the marriage record to say they married each other. Don't forget to include an email address there, because it's the only way for someone to contact you.

???

Frederick Patrick
England and Wales Census, 1891

birth: Cape Of Good Hope
residence: 1891 —England
census: 1891 —England

record title: England and Wales Census, 1891
name: Frederick Patrick
event: Census
event date: 1891
gender: Male
age: 14
birthplace: Cape Of Good Hope
record type: Institution
registration district: Woolwich
sub-district: Charlton
ecclesiastical parish: St Lukes Charlton
civil parish: Charlton Next Woolwich
county: London, Middlesex

Thanks so much for posting these replies - this is definitely the right Francis - I am trying to find out what happened to him after he arrived in South Africa as we have no idea.
Rosy

1901
Name: Francis Patrick
Age: 33
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1868
Relation: Head
Spouse's Name: Mary Patrick
Gender: Male
Where born: Birmingham, Warwickshire, England

Civil parish: Pokesdown
Ecclesiastical parish: Pokesdown St James
County/Island: Hampshire
Country: England

Street Address:

Occupation:

Condition as to marriage:

Education:

Employment status: View image

Registration district: Christchurch
Sub-registration district: Christchurch
ED, institution, or vessel: 14
Neighbors: View others on page
Household schedule number: 279
Piece: 1037
Folio: 135
Page Number: 43
Household Members: Name Age
Francis Patrick 33
Mary Patrick 33
Elieen M Patrick 6
Francis E J Patrick 4
Albert Patrick 1
Edward Godber 62

Surname First name(s) District Vol Page

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marriages Jun 1893 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Godber Mary Christchurch 2b 1273
Patrick Francis Christchurch 2b 1273

Francis Patrick
England and Wales Census, 1901

birth: 1868 —Birmingham, Warwickshire
residence: 31 Mar 1901 —Pokesdown, Hampshire, England
census: 31 Mar 1901 —Pokesdown, Hampshire, England

record title: England and Wales Census, 1901
name: Francis Patrick
event: Census
event date: 31 Mar 1901
gender: Male
age: 33
relationship to head of household: Head
birthplace: Birmingham, Warwickshire
record type: Household
registration district: Christchurch
sub-district: Christchurch
ecclesiastical parish: St James Pokesdown
civil parish: Pokesdown
county: Christchurch, Christchurch, Pokesdown, Hampshire

Where was he born

PATRICK surname
I am searching for Francis Patrick (b.1868) who sailed to Cape Town from Southampton on Aug 17th 1901 on the 'Arundel Castle'. I don't know what happened to him. He left his wife (Mary nee Godber b.1868) and 3 young children (Eileen, Francis and Albert) in the UK.

Mary and the children sailed to Cape Town from Southampton on Oct 4th 1902 to try and find him. They never did. They returned to the UK (living in Bournemouth) sometime before Sept 1904.

It's believed his older brother James sailed to Cape Town before him, though I can't verify this. They were both printers by trade.

Can anyone help?
Thanks,
Rosy Cartwright