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Hello - Please Introduce yourself here

Started by Sharon Doubell on Monday, November 28, 2022
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Continuing from this Discussion: https://www.geni.com/discussions/160522?msg=1107045

Private User said: Hello - I am a volunteer curator, My focus is on South Africa. To read more about the curator program see the Geni Community Wiki: Curators -- and how YOU can help

My day job is Industrial Design and have worked in the product development field since 1989- first at various design consultancies and currently as a independent consultant.

My interest in ancestry began after my first daughter was born in December 1998. I bought some software and began building my family tree from a typewritten document my mother had received from one of her cousins. That interest has grown to the point that it has become a hobby that consumes more of my spare time than any of my other interests, which include: Politics, History, Art, Motor racing, and Sailing- (yachts and models).

I joined Geni in May 2008. I believe Geni is the best platform for my genealogical research because I enjoy collaborating with like minded people in order to discover our common ancestors and roots. Without that collaboration no tree can grow to its full potential.
This to me is what Geni is all about, and I love working on a shared or “big tree” and having a platform to share my discoveries with my extended family and other genealogical researchers. They are the only ones who can imagine the passion, the determination and the great exultation that we experience when achieving a breakthrough.
I love the fact that genealogical research brings history alive. It is the link between us living now with all that has happened in the past.

I moved to Port Elizabeth from Johannesburg in December 2011 to escape the rat race and have joined The East Cape branch of Genealogical Society of South Africa.

My main genealogical research interests are far reaching. I am interested in the early arrivals in the Cape including researching aspects of the Slave trade especially the history those originating from Madagascar. I am interested in the Anglo Boer war, especially the research of the prisoner of war camps overseas particularly in St Helena and Ceylon. I am interested in the early pioneers in Kimberley and Johannesburg. I am interested in researching the Gold rush to Pilgrims Rest and particularly the minting of the Veldpond during the Anglo Boer war.

The names I am researching are:
Paternal: PENALUNA from Cornwall, England, with ancestors in Redruth, Crowan and surrounding area. GRAHAM from Nova Scotia, Canada and Warrenton, South Africa. VAN DER KEMP from Cape Town and Uitenhage, South Africa
Maternal: WALSH from Bloemhof and before that Astley Moss, Lancashire, England. MEYER from Bloemhof, South Africa. QUIN from Ireland and Port Elizabeth, South Africa. KOTZE from Colesburg, South Africa

Some of my other skills are Graphic design, Web design, Photo editing, Cartooning.

Patricia Ann Blacklaws said Hello all - my name is Patricia Blacklaws and I live in the gorgeous little town of Montagu. I am a mom of 3 teenage boys Dylan (18), Nathan (16) and Joshua (13). Much like Donavan, my interest in genealogy also started with the birth of my eldest child.
We had decided that we didn't want to name him after any of the grandparents, that way we wouldn't offend anyone - and so he came to be called Dylan, but little did I know that when I would write up just his grandparents on both sides in his little "My Baby Book" we would notice how many William's there were on both sides of the family and so it came to pass that his brother, got to be Nathan William and because I liked the sound of Joshua Thomas (my mother-in-law's maiden name) - another "continuation" of a name. I do hope that Dylan won't, one day, be cross with me for not giving him a family name!!
In the meantime I have gone back generations on both sides of my and my husband's family - I've been fortunate enough to meet (until recently unknown) 2nd cousins and even my late granddad's sister-in-law (she is the ripe old age of 89!!!!) - I have made incredible friends who share the passion for those gone before us!! I look forward to smashing my brick wall - the challenge is on!!!
Long may this journey continue.
I am having nothing but fun, fun, fun.
Thanks for the invite!!
Warm regards Patricia

Some of the names I am researching. NUTT, LINEKER, BUTLER, WEEBER (on "my" side) and BLACKLAWS, THOMAS, BROWNING (on my husband's side)

Private User said Hi guys,

My name is Anastassia-Valeska van Gavin. My name was chosen by my mother from a Russian dictionary. My father didn't object, at all, as his mother's name was Anna.

My surname is a "double-barrel" creation. My maiden surname is van Zyl and my ex-wife's surname was Gavin, so we combined the two.

I only joined Geni.com the other day when I realised that technology could actually answer the thousands of questions that I have regarding my family. I never knew my grandparents on my father's side and my dad passed when I was very young.

Now, I fear I may be hooked on the tons of information that I can actually absorb from simply doing my own research on genealogy. I've always had an extreme interest in history and this is probably the best thing since the invention of Wikipedia.

I have lived in The Free State, Limpopo, Gauteng and Kwazulu-Natal. I used to be in advertising in Johannesburg but decided that the occupation takes up too much of my life and that it has pulled the fun out of art. Now, I am beyond happy with my life as I have more free time, I get to see the ocean every day and I can pursue my other hobbies and interests - which include art, history, theatre, ballet and now genealogical research.

I am currently researching general VAN ZYL, IMMELMAN, CLOETE and ELLIS. I am interested in Concentration Camps from the Anglo Boer War as well as Concentration Camps throughout WWII. I am also interested in The South African Border War.

Hello, I'm the oldest SA Curator on Geni - as in the longest-running :-) - I was nominated soon after Geni started - well over 10 years ago now. So, I suppose you could say that Geni is a significant part of my life. By profession, I'm a Psychologist (lucrative, but boring), and the head of the English Dept at a Jhb boys' high school. (Lots of fun for peanuts money :-)).

My ancestor tree is pretty extensive: covering French, Dutch, English, German, many slaves brought to SA, and a Khoisan woman too. I'm fascintated by the use of DNA in genealogy, and it was really exciting to see this all appear in my father and mother's DNA tests. So you'll see me wandering all over our SA tree and beyond. On the SA tree, I work on the French Huguenots, and try to help Private User maintain the 1820 Settlers. I watch over the SA World War I and II projects too, amongst many others, like the Famous South Africans project - one of the most popular on our tree. I've made a start on the amaXhosa, amaZulu and Swazi trees - in the hope of getting them built out beyond just the great men of oral traditions, and to include the ordinary South African people too.

I also work extensively on the Geni Medieval Tree, trying to make sure it represents documented genealogical facts, and because History is one of my study areas and an enduring passion. Like Private User I love genealogy because it makes History into the personal stories of real people. One of Geni's most unique features is the capacity to cluster profiles into projects that make these stories - and I encourage everyone to collaborate on our Project Index, and make projects in areas that interest you too.

I believe that some of us in every generation are called to be the record keepers of our clan's stories, and I'm one of those people. I love the Geni one world tree crowd-sourced collaborative model. I see it as a way to make our circles bigger, and hold hands across the ocean - remembering for future generations, information that belongs to us all, and will now be easily accessible to our children's children forever and ever.

I'm artistic, intellectual (I keep doing post-grad degrees for the fun of it :-), 'ornery' and I love books and water. The shipping and shipwreck projects tend to be my babies too.

My beloved husband Tony Leach died just over a year ago, of an aggressive melanoma cancer that killed him at 59 in under six months. The journey to find reasons and impetus to go on without him hasn't been easy, and a lot of the time I'm still not sure it's worth it. But I'm trying for our children and grandchildren.

Hi All, My name is Beverley Rhona Benjamin (adoptive) / Low (birth) and I got into doing Geni to get my family tree together especially in order to find out more about my family that I never got to know as a child as my parents were divorced before I turned 2 and I never got to see my father from the age of 2.

When I eventually got hold of my father, I got to know that my one aunt had done some research on the family tree and my uncle gave me photos of the family as we knew it. So I got to know that a lot of my family from my great grandmother's side was mainly South African and that her family had been here since 1756 when my 7th great grandfather arrived in Cape Town.

Getting connected with the family tree via Geni about a year ago, I was able to actually trace my tree back from her side right back to my 7th Great Grandfather, I found out that he came from Denmark (and not Norway as my uncle led me to believe) and that he was the first baker in Cape Town but died a pauper. Also that one of his descendants was a slave. (I can't remember which one but he was a Wiid).

At present, I am trying to piece together my known family side but this is proving to be far more difficult since there are so many secrets in that side of the family, that I got my grandmother's parents wrong and her name was rather confusing as her second name is a surname as well. It wasn't until I got a message from a cousin of mine who started his family tree on heritage.com where I started one years ago as well and saw mine on there.

It has been an exciting time learning all about my heritage and uncovering some truths as well. It has also led me to get an e-mail through an uncle on my mom's side and get connected with a second cousin who has had her family tree done privately by a friend where I got some interesting information about my grandfather from my mom's side and some lovely history but I cannot share the information as my cousin has requested that I not make it public.

It's good to know that the previous person who introduced herself but didn't give us her name just that her husband's name was Tony Leach in interested in shipping and shipwrecks because I suspect that my great grandfather, Robert Low, ended up shipwrecked off the shore of Port Elizabeth where he met my great grandmother, Hilda Maud Wiid, and married her when she was only 14 years old. After that the whole family moved to Johannesburg and she and Robert moved onto Southern Rhodesia after the birth of at least one of their children - one of which was my grand father, Ronald Low. I am having problems locating information about his first wife, my grand mother Eileen Ann Low (born Hamilton) although I did find information about her parents and that her father died sometime during WW1 - his name was John Gourley Hamilton.

This has been an exciting journey for me and it continues to give me pleasant surprises.

:-)

Morning Sharon, I have a few pieces of memorabilia pertaining to the rand pioneers. George Kent is a family member and I also intend following up on Hull (no relation) another highly active rand pioneer.

Hello Graham. :-)

Hi

I'm Megan van der Hoeven. I'm in Sydney, Australia, but my family are from Cape Town (also Kimberley). So my research is South African-based.

My family names are:
Parental:
van der Hoeven
Brunton
Orien/O'Ryan
Quine
Lotter

Maternal
Clarke
Schilder
Groenemeyer
Van Schoor
Norris
Thompson

I've researched for over 15 years, but I still have a lot to learn.

Megan

Hello Megan. So pleased to have you here on the SA corner of the world tree. Have fun!!

@ Good Morning Sharon, My name is Chris le Roux. I started to build my family tree one day after I got some information from a very old family bible. There were the names of my grandparents and some more information. That started my investigation and I got as far as the le Roux's in Frace in 1669. But there is so much more that I want to discover.

Hello Chris - welcome - and hopefully you discover it here :-)

Hello all,

I am Howard Donaldson, living in Hermanus and I am researching my father's family names - Donaldson/Barron, originally from Edinburgh, Scotland - and my mother's family names - Firbank/Denny, originally from Durham and Newcastle in north-east England. I am currently trying to find a link between an Alice Denny, who appears to have played football in the Middlesbrough area of the UK during World War One and later when women's football was banned by the government and my maternal grandmother Frances Firbank (nee Denny) who immigrated to South Africa in 1911. I feel like I am "going around in circles" and making no progress at the moment so any assistance and guidance would be much appreciated.
Thank you,
Howard Donaldson.

Hello cousin - your first step would be to put your family tree on.

Hi all.

My name is Jaco but my full names is Jacobus Lodewickus van Zyl.
I saw "Anastassia-Valeska van Gavin" message and red that she actually are busy with the van Zyl family history as well. I have also back tracked some of my grand parent's history as well and found that my father's mother was Terblanche and that her forefathers was one of the " French Hugenotes" which arrived in the late 1600 in South Africa. As follow is my Terblanche forefather info " Louis Terreblanque
Born 1647 in Francemap
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of Catherine (Miessonnier) Terreblanche — married [date unknown] [location unknown]
DESCENDANTS descendants
Father of Estienne (Terreblanche) Terblanche and Anne Terreblanque
Died 1701 in de Caep de Goede Hoop, Dutch Cape Colony map
So my father's father was van Zyl and were a sheep farmer in Welbedagt just outside of Hartenbos. And from my mother's side, her father was a Potgieter and mother was a Viviers, so we have French, Dutch and German origins in our side of the families. Much appreciation for those who can share any information.

wow, what a unique country portal!! i love south africans, you guys are the best 💪❤️👍😊

Jaco what a great intro. Sorry I missed it.Welcome cuzzin.

Thank you Ahmad. The compliment is so lovely.

Welcome my 23rd cuz!

Hello

My name is Petrus Gerhardus du Plessis, Son of Dorina du Plessis (Bothma), and her father was Petrus Gerhardus (Rieken) Bothma, my grandfather.

Sharon Doubell I see that I'm your 8th cousin. I am from Somerset West, Cape Town and already made some interesting discoveries on my Mother's side, but am having difficulties in completing my Father's side (I don't have contact with any relatives anymore due to personal reasons), but would like assistance and guidance on how to explore avenues to add to my Father's side.

I love exploring the tress and it's nice to see how people I didn't even know are related to me in certain ways.

welcome cousin. Glad you're making enjoyable discoveries. Good luck with your Dad's side. I'll keep an eye out.

Hello

My Name is Julie Smith (nee Vogt)
I am a descendant of the 1820 Clark Family on my mother's side, and I am first generation in SA on the Vogt side from Germany.
Married to a Smith, who is first generation South African, his parents were born in UK.
I spent so many hours on the family tree during Covid and then soon after that it is like Geni blossomed and all the trees linked and now I have quite a comprehensive family tree.

Welcome cousin :-)

Hey everyone/almal, I'm Tracy Danton (now) but was born Nicolette Dettman on 20 March 1967 in East London (SA) and adopted by the most wonderful family - the Saunders. I only found out I was adopted at age 16 and it was not an issue at all. I had a great childhood and happy life. My mom gave me my adoption paper at some stage, and I looked at it and never really did anything about it - until now :) In January 2025, I got hold of my birth mother's name. It didn't line up with the "story" I was told with respect to WHY I was adopted, but hey-ho, it was still cool. By complete chance (and it's a long story) I happened to stumble across the details of my biological father too! How's that for luck?! They have both passed away, but I am in touch with some sisters, half-sister, cousins and second cousins.

The crazy thing is, my bio-Mother and bio-Father are first cousins, once removed. YUP! Anyhoo, moving along hahahahhaah

So, I am working on the WHITFIELD family tree. My biological mother was Mavis Jean Whitfield and my biological father, Roderick Clement Whitfield. My birth name was registered as Nicolette Dettman, as Mavis Jean had been married to Ferdinand Dettman originally, thus it was her legal name at the time of my birth. PS Her and Roderick had been having a long-standing affair.

Seems there are a lot of English relatives (some Irish thrown in and a dash of Scottish too.) Super keen to sponge up any information - more recent and far back. I didn't think this was "my thing" but I'm loving all the research and discoveries. A bit addictive, or what?!

Nice to meet everyone and thanks for listening.
Tracy

Dale Thompson Liebenberg
Hi, my name is Dale Liebenberg.
I am a descendent of one of the survivors of the Matebele massacre.
I am particulary interested in any documentation of that event.
Barend Gotlieb Liebenberg, my ancestor, was 20 when the event occured.

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