RootsChat.Com
Research in Other Countries => South Africa => Topic started by: PinkFairy7 on Monday 21 July 14 09:04 BST (UK)
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Hi, just wondering if anyone has recently sent a request for archived documents at Cape Town and know what their payment methods are?
I just received the application form for purchase it says it's 80cents per Page which is much less than I was expecting but doesn't indicate what payment methods are if there are none that suit me I don't want to waste their time adding up the 15 odd documents I'm after and who knows how many pages.
Thanks :)
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If you use eGGSA for your research they prefer payment by Paypal in US $ (the site does the conversion automatically), and can turn a request round in three to four weeks. I've used them twice and find them pretty efficient
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Oh I thought I read that for records held in Cape Town which mine all are you had to request them directly through Cape Town due to the condition of some of the records only they will handle them and decide if they can be copied? Or have things Changed?
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Pink Fairy: You have to instruct a researcher in South Africa, who attends the archives and photographs the pages. Once you pay the researcher,copies of the photographs can be sent to you electronically, usually within 24 hours of payment.
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Oh ok I see. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good researcher?
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As I said, eGGSA.org are quick, cheap and reliable. I've used them twice and their communication is very clear. Their e-mails explain the whole process.
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I am in a similar position in that I only need Capetown documents but eGGSA will not accept the order.
This is from the eGGSA site
NB. The Cape Town Archives Repository has banned mechanical copying by any means of documents in their care. We understand they will offer a copying service themselves. We cannot, therefore, accept any orders for KAB documents.
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what a pain :( just our luck the records just have to be in Cape Town :(
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I have ordered directly from the archives in Cape Town with no problems at all. They quoted me R0-80 per page and then charged a nominal amount for postage. Unfortunately they post the documents and do not email them.
The turnaround time was pretty good - about three weeks in total, but we had a number of public holidays as well as voting day, so I would think it would normally be around two weeks. Payment was made directly into their bank account.
Hope this helps.
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Hello Everybody, There is so much mis-information regarding the achives in Cape Town I feel it is time to put the record straight. Having spent some time researching there earlier in the year and phoning the head of dept. a few weeks ago for confirmation that nothing has changed, I can confidently state that research has to be done in person and copies requested by filling in forms, The copies are done by their own staff and then posted. No electronics, no e-mail. Eggsa does not work with the Cape Town archives. Many of the documents are very fragile and some may not be copied at all.
I will be in Cape Town again at the end of the year and happy to search for you then. Professional researchers are available but expensive. In the meantime I have managed to persuade a family member to go to the archives for just his expenses. Please pm me if interested.
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The system at Capetown Archives seems to work. After reading this thread I decided to give the official records system a go. I went through the digitised records found some important ones and sent the record information off to the Archives. After a few days I got a reply with a form to sign and informing me that a quotation for the records I asked for would arrive within 10 days, which it did.
At R-80 a page it fairly quickly added up to what looked like a fairly hefty bill, But not at all as hefty as most countries, until I figured in the Exchange rate to Australian Dollars and found it was going to cost me a couple of Aus Dollars. Wow, great value, so then I went and collected all the records I could find, may as well get everything at the one time, Emailed that list off and duly received a quote. The money to be paid by a bank draught on a South African bank, after a medium amount of anxst we finally got the cheque and it is in an envelope ready to be posted to the good people at the Archives.
So all in all the system is a bit clunky but it does work, and the people at the Archives are very obliging so I am happy.
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Yoohoo it finally arrived after nearly four months.
The quality of the records are great as far as information goes but gee it would be nice if things could happen quicker.
So for anyone contemplating using the Western Cape archives go for it. It cost us far more to get a bank cheque drawn on a South African Bank than it did for a stack of records. Really the cost is peanuts but they really need to have a look at modernising how they do things. We found it quite strange not being able to do a direct transfer of funds and needing to resort to a bank cheque. (Who writes cheques these days)
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We have had a postal strike for over three months now which is why it took so long. >:(
Normally it should get to you a lot quicker!
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Thanks Nookie
I wasn't actually expecting it at all because of the strike, I guess international mail is still moving but slowly.
The records are really good, strange though to get Victoria Australia Death Certs via South Africa, another oddity is they were transcribed to South African documentation by the "South African Association" and every time they did this they changed the name from Rourke to O'Rourke, this possibly means we have missed some O,Rourkes that may be ours. Three deaths over twenty years and each time the name Rourke on the Victoria Australia DC was mistranscribed to O'Rourke.
It seems our people still had property in South Africa and were probably still citizens of SA so probably why Death Certs were required in both places.
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Hi All, just an update on my experience.
i paid for my documents by EFT Electronic Funds Transfer. I started doing it via online banking but unfortunately the minimum transfer is $100 Australian dollars and mine was well under this. So i went to the bank to do the EFT. Emailed a copy of the paper work to the lovely Henry (he is such a lovely person). I went to the bank on the 30.09.14 and Henry posted the documents on the 27.10.14 and i very excitedly received them yesterday 25.11.2014!!! so a little less than 2 months!!! i thought i wouldnt get it until next year with the strike.
I was just wondering if anyone could advise, when i sent the request for documents there was a mix of Estate papers, death notices and a mortgage bond but when i got the documents they were all only death notices. but i did notice at the very bottom of the notice it asks questions about movable/ unmovable property and estate over 300.00 is this all the information that you get that relates to estate the person had left? i was just expecting estate documents and 1 mortgage bond aswell as death notices as per what i found on the archives site?
and just one more question, im guessing some of the information on the death notice especially regarding parents of the deceased / partner and children is only as accurate as the informant knows?
thanks a million :)
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If you ordered copies of all the documents from each file you should have been sent them all. However if you only asked for the death notices that is what you would receive. Perhaps you should query Hendrick. The estate file should contain the will as well, together with the liquidation and distribution account.
If the informant on the death notices was not a relative then often there is 'missing' information i.e. a child not listed or full names listed incorrectly. Mind you that also has happened on notices that I received when a relative was the informant. As the notice was filled out by a clerk sometimes the spelling leaves something to be desired as well.
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what a bummer :( yeah i double checked my list and i did ask for a mix of death notices and estate files and the 1 mortgage bond. and all i got was death notices.
well thats handy to know some of the death notices have next to nothing but the deceased name and their address.
thanks for your advise :)