South Africa, Transvaal, Civil Death - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
This collection includes death records that cover the years 1869-1954.

Death certificates are arranged chronologically and alphabetically by place and include full name, parent's name if under the age of ten, mother's residence, age, sex, birthplace, marital status, occupation, whether pensioner or pensioner's dependent, place and date of death, residence, place of burial, cause and duration of death, and background of informant. For the years 1899-1902, records are arranged separately by internment camp and district where death occurred.

The Department of Home Affairs maintains the records of births, marriages, and deaths, but the physical records are not accessible to the public for research purposes. To access information, you must apply in writing to the Department of Home Affairs and give exact information about the event.

General Information about Transvaal Province

The Union of South Africa was established in 1910 by combining four British colonies into four original provinces of the Union: Cape Province, Transvaal Province, Natal Province and Orange Free State Province. In 1994 all of these provinces were dissolved and the current nine new provinces were established. The Transvaal Province was broken up into four smaller provinces: the North West, Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. Parts of the Cape Province were also absorbed into the North West Province.

Reading These Records
These records are in Afrikaans and English. For help reading these records see the following guides:
 * Afrikaans Word List
 * Netherlands Language and Languages
 * South Africa Language and Languages

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Death
 * Full name
 * Parent's name if under the age of ten
 * Mother's residence
 * Age
 * Sex
 * Birthplace
 * Marital status


 * Occupation
 * Whether pensioner or pensioner's dependent
 * Place and date of death
 * Residence
 * Place of burial
 * Cause and duration of death
 * Background of informant.

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before using this collection it is helpful to know:


 * Name of the person you are looking for
 * Approximate year of death

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

What Do I Do Next?
Civil registration gives important information about an individual, including personal details that may also help in finding other ancestors of the same family. If you have found the record of your ancestor, the following information can aid you in your research:

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth to find or verify their birth records and parents' names
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth to find the family in census records
 * Use the residence and names of the parents (if the deceased is a child) to locate church and land records
 * Use the parents' birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking For, What Now?

 * Switch to a different record collection. Depending on the time period, Church Records may be more useful
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images. Pay special attention to how the name should have been pronounced and try variations on the pronunciation
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names
 * Check for a different index. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities

Record Finder
The following article will help you in your research for your family in South Africa
 * South Africa Record Finder

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.