South Africa—Dutch Reformed Church Registers, 1660–1970 [Part D][M3FK-F5P]

Dennis Yarrington

Image Name008147560_00189 Batch IDM3FK-F5P

I'm reviewing the indexing of a membership register and have a question on which is the maiden or birth surname. I've seen situations where the birthname is in parenthesis, and also where the word geb or gebore (meaning birth name) has been included.

However in the examples (lines 52-58 below), "Mevr" is written before a surname....which is "Mrs" in English, I believe. So... do I assume the Mrs surname ( for line 52, that would be Swart) is a previous married name and put it behind the initial name (again for line 5 that would be Du Toit)? this is my inclination. However, the indexer put it in front of Du Toit, as if it said gebore instead of Mevr. Which is correct?

Here is a screenshot:

gary_noble

The first surname is their maiden name, the name in brackets is their married surname (Mrs ...) see their marriages here https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS29-N3ND-W?cc=2821281 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSK6-838Z-V?cc=1478678 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS27-MTXX?cc=2821281

CopeBarbaraNan1

I usually find that the name in parenthesis is a maiden name or a previous name from marriage and so I index the name in parenthesis before the present surname. I have been indexing South African records for several years and still can find the instructions very confusing at times.

CopeBarbaraNan1

I am currently indexing many Dutch Reform Church membership records and finding many blank spaces in the wanneer column. One batch had nothing in this column. The field help states if it is not there, make it blank. So, I looked under the General Guideline under indexing dates. It stated, if a batch had a date range, we were to use the latest date - example- 1 Julie 1941 to 30 Junie 1942 and index 30 Junie 1942. I do wish they were more explicit in the instructions since the field help instructions are different.

Hester Korff Wolmarans

CopeBarbaraNan1

Here are two cases to look out for.

1. If there is nothing in the 'Wanneer Aangekom' column, then you take the 'Wanneer Voorgestel' column.
2. In the case of the second person's line Aletta Christina Pretorius, where both these columns have dates in it means:

She came from the N H Church Hartzwater on 17 Aug 1961, but she became a member of this church Delportshoop commune on 24 April 1948. So you usually take the latest date in this case. It's as if they tell you WHERE (Hartzwater) she/he/they came from to become members of the current Church (Delportshoop)

Go through the other lines to learn which date to use

Hester

maryellenstevensbarnes1

@CopeBarbaraNan1 If you have questions, its best to give the batch code [XXXX-XXX] with your question or comment then hold the batch in your queue until someone can respond Happy indexing!😎

Hester Korff Wolmarans

Hi @CopeBarbaraNan1

I am referring to your query above regarding the church membership records. You didn't give a batch code, so I just responded by giving you an example of how to read the columns of:

'Wanneer Aangeneem (when was she adopted into the church of Delportshoop (24 March 1948)';

Wanneer Voorgestel (when was she legally a member of the church 24 April 1948) ;

'Aangekom, Wanneer' on the opposite page (when she came back ('Van Waar') to Delportshoop (from Hartzwater) on 17 Aug 1961.

We don't know where she was in between those dates, so we use the latest date, because she is back in Delportshoop.

The columns are usually used in this standard format, written or typed.