Eastern Cape Province, South Africa Genealogy

Guide to Province of Eastern Cape family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

History
The Eastern Cape as a South African Province came into existence in 1994 and incorporated areas from the former Xhosa homelands of the Transkei and Ciskei, together with what was previously part of the Cape Province. The province is also the home of the Mpondo clan, which primitively descended from the Xhosa clan. Mpondo people are more closely related to Xhosa, as they use Xhosa as their main home language. 

Localities
List of cities and towns in the Eastern Cape

Cemeteries
Adelaide Main Cemetery

South Africa-Eastern Cape Cemeteries

records for Eastern Cape, South Africa

Dutch Reformed Church (NGK)
The following list contains the names of the parishes located in the Eastern Cape through 1900, and includes the names of the mother parish.

Dutch Reformed Church (NHK)

 * 1660-1970: at FamilySearch — index & images
 * 1690-2011 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Others

 * 1801-2004 - at FamilySearch - index & images

Civil Registration
Births, marriages, and deaths began to be registered in 1895.

A wiki article describing an online collection is found South Africa, Cape Province, Civil Deaths - FamilySearch Historical Records

Genealogy
Fysh, JPG and AVGA. Goodbye, Norfolk, I Must Leave You. A basic family tree of Thomas Fysh of Cockley Cley and Ann ? Howes. The family move around to Kings Lynn, London, South Africa - Capetown, Canada - Ontario, Brantford, and Australia, with 2 Fysh going to Tasmania, and one to the mainland, Australia. Sir William Hudson Fysh was the ancestor who founded the airline, Qantas, Sir Philip Oakley Fysh was Prime Minister of Tasmania. Article dates from 1742-1930, and is found in The Norfolk Ancestor, old series, vol.3 pt.7, page 94-96, Family History Library Ref. 942.61 B2j vol.3,pt7

Newspapers
The Cory Library at Rhodes University in Grahamstown has original and microfilm copies of many newspapers, including the Grahamstown Journal (1831-1920) and Grocott's Mail (1872-current). Their website can be accessed href="http://www.ru.ac.za/corylibrary/"

Probate Records
See South Africa Cape Province Probate Records for a description of what probates are and where they are located.

Online Records
 * 1834-1989 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1871-1937 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Slave Records

 * 1762-1838 - at FamilySearch — index

Vital Records

 * 1895-1972 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1955-1966 - at FamilySearch — index and images