When
looking for information about your
family, or just history in general, it
is important to remember that up to the
mid to late 1980's, the world was not as
"connected" as it is now, and computers
were not as readily available either.
Birth-, Marriage- and Death Certificates
were handwritten and captured onto a
computer system later. Sometimes
mistakes crept in during the capture
process. Obviously, earlier records were
only handwritten and whilst there is a
process to digitise and put into
electronic format, on the go, not
everything is necessarily available.
There are still thousands of files and
microfilm (and books) in various
archives, that one would need to
consult.
There
is no such thing as the "correct"
spelling of a name, particularly in
genealogy. Variations abound, and they
change with time. Indeed, there is often
not a "correct" name for a particular
person. As examples, in South Africa,
the surname Venter was recorded as "Venters"
and "Fenter" amongst other variations.
Even our relatives, the Viljoens, have
this. Their surname was spelt "Villion",
"Viljon", "Signon" (See marriage
register of Francois and Cornelia,
parents of Hendrik's second wife Anna -
Church Register, Cape Town Congregation,
Cape Archives, VC603, VC604, VC605,
VC644, marriages, page 81, 1676).
Therefore,
particularly when searching "old"
records, you should search for
variations of names and surnames,
including "sounds like". Ideally, you
should somewhat understand the concept
of linguistics. Also, widen the date
ranges of your search to a tolerance of
about 10% either way. The dates you have
in mind, may not be the dates at all!
I
recommend you read
"Introduction to the Resolutions of the
Council of Policy of Cape of Good Hope"
by Dr. Helena Liebenberg.
The
web sites listed here, are particularly
for South Africans. |