RootsChat.Com
Research in Other Countries => South Africa => Topic started by: aj57 on Friday 01 July 05 00:59 BST (UK)
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I'm looking for any information on Thomas Muir.
He arrived in Capetown 20th may 1892. Ship was the Spartan.
Would love to find out if all family members travelled with him.
In 1892 he was given the post of Superintendent-General of Education in the colony.
In 1915 he was knighted & when he died he was residing in a place called 'Elmcote' off Sandown Rd Rondebosch.
Any feedback would be welcomed.
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You might find this thread interesting.
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,62599.0.html
If you find the number of pages daunting this thread has the summaries for the topic. If you find a connection there then maybe you can sift through the main thread for anything you want.
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,62822.0.html
Mary
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I am confused what am I looking at when I go to the threads you suggested. I am not that experienced at Rootschat so could you please direct me, i can't see the connection for South Africa.
Thanks
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I'm sorry if you find the information a bit of a jumble, the reason is because it was a challenge to find out as much as possible about the "hero's" family in the space of one month and so many different people from all over the world contributed details. The reason I pointed you to the summaries is that Manchester Rambler spent a lot of time trying to make sense of the many and varied postings which often appeared to be unrelated, but in fact made sense if you were following along the family.
There are a number of mentions of Africa, but more to the point was that many of the details mentioned were relative to the Muir family. As your Thomas went to South Africa in 1892 I wondered whether his earlier life had been spent in England or Scotland and whether he had any connection with the families detailed in that thread. If he was then there would be a treasure trove of information and family detail plus an enormous family tree there for the taking.
Mary
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There was a problem as every time on clicked on your suggested thread I kept getting the main page but today I retried it and got the right page.( that's why I got confused I didn't know what I was supposed to be looking at)
You said to browse thru 1-81 ( had a quick look)but then looked at the next thread (summaries),that family wasn't mine as mine were from Scotland.
Did you find South Africa mentioned in pages 1-81? Were there different Muir's mentioned beside the summaries?(England family)
Thanks so much for the info :D
Anne
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Muir College, Uitenhage was named after him. It is the oldest school in SA.
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I don't believe there was specific mention of any in SOUTH Africa, my thoughts were that your man didn't go there until 1892 but I wasn't aware where he would have been before that.
Now I know it was Scotland those we listed may well have been English, I just know that there were a lot of marriages between various families both English and Scottish.
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Thanks heaps for the info just a disappointment it was the wrong family.
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Hi there,
may i make a suggestion? Post the query to the south africa immigrants rootsweb mailing list, and I am sure you will get heaps of info.
Also if you check the RSA archives there are many references to him.
http://www.national.archsrch.gov.za/sm300cv/smws/sm300gi?2005071212425746BA6F61%26DB%3DRSAE
Good luck
ruth
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Do you have family details eg marriage and death notice info at all? Are you needing the historical sort of data or family?
Thanks
Ruth
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Thanks for the info I have looked on the RSA achives site but I got confused .
Do I have to pay for each page to be viewed? I wasn't sure what to do with the results found can you explain it to me?
Also how do I post a query on a mailing list?
I have most of his details concerning his position in South Africa & his death obituaries & his knighthood etc.
The main questions were : he had 4 children 2 boys & 2 girls I can find the girls family details as they were in South Africa with him as of 1892 (when they moved there from Scotland)
2 boys were mentioned as living abroad 1 of them is my Grandfather (whose death certificate for 1966 says he was in Australia for 75 years died aged 81). So trying to work out why they weren't with their parents & how did they get to Australia?
Maybe yor advice of South Africa Mailing list can answer the questions I have concerning his residence( is it still there)
& info on the cemetery details (Maitland Cemetery).
Thanks heaps
Anne
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Thanks to your ggrandfather I had a fine education :) The NAAIRS (SA Archives website) is "free". However it is only assists in establishing if there are indeed records for i.e. Thomas Muir, and provides the reference numbers. You would have to go to SA (Cape Town in this case) to view the records. The SA Archives are an amazing resource, and one of the best organized in the world. You could also try searching for a professional genealogist in SA (try the SA Genealogical Society) and pay a fee? The Aussie currency is strong against the ZARand. At this stage there is no genealogical look-up service through the SA archives. As you have probably already found, Thomas Muir bought a great deal of property, over 100 entries are registrations of mortgages, and apart from reference to a dinner party organized for him, there doesn't appear to be much more of interest that would assist you with his birth date in Cape Town. A search of all public records in SA (the various data bases are listed) might yield more (i.e. his appointment as Superintendant of Education). I didn't look for his children. Good luck.