Family Beard (Catholics, South Africa 1900s)
Hello everyone
Hoping I might meet ancestors and relatives or researchers, find answers or suggestions.
My grandfather Edward Albert Beard, was born 1930 to Edward Beard (GK7C-D1Q) and Irene May Fox (GQWJ-QWN) who married 1929.
As was the custom I suppose, their ages were written as “full” which could be anything from 21 years old and upwards (I presume), putting their birthdates anywhere between 1899-1903 at least. Middle of the second Anglo-Boer war.
No parental permission was given and none were signed witnesses. This could be that he was a lone immigrant, a soldier or trader, making his background harder to coalesce.
According to the marriage certificate they were married by a Catholic priest ( J Cahill) in Woodstock, Cape Province, and both resided in Salt River, Cape Province at the time.
Irene was (I believe) wealthy, and her lineage is fairly straightforward to pin down. Her death certificate 1956 gives her birthdate as 1 April 1901, and that she was still “married” (as opposed to “widowed”). Edward’s lineage is practically impossible, and I’ve yet to find a viable record of his death in South African databases.
Catholicism in SA was near-illegal for many decades; SA archives are notoriously hard-to-reach and Catholic records more so….if anyone has some to share from their own research I’d appreciate access to it.
He was a motor driver - I’ve searched on the assumption they mean a RAILWAY motor, but this doesn’t seem right; the word would surely be ENGINE driver in that case. What else could this refer to, if you were to hazard a guess? Although, not immediately helpful as there are currently no routes to search by profession/occupation that I know of …?
Also, cars were starting to become available around 1900; so it is possible they mean a CAR MOTOR driver, but in what sense would this be put as occupation on a marriage license? Any ideas welcome.
The son, E A Beard (GK18-6S5), my paternal grandfather, was a printer. But that’s not helpful at this time either. Neither him nor his two sisters, his wife Yvonne (GK18-CPG) or his children are found within currently available records. Possibly because it is too close to their living years; but that still surprises (and frustrates!) me, as the maternal side can be located, albeit piecemeal and not everyone on the tree. And they too were Catholic…
So I’m in a real rock/hard place position and feel completely at a loss for what to do next.
Thank you for reading and supporting my research :)
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Dear KJUSTB:
HI!! I can certainly relate to having dead-ends. I searched 40 years for my grandmother's biological father before find him. And everyone lived in the United States. Do you have an Ancestry account? I found information o
n your grandfather's and grandmother's side by searching "Public Member Trees" on Ancestry. I believe you said you were especially stuck on you grandmother's side. You can search Ancestry for free at our FamilySearch Centers, which can be found by clicking the Map Symbol on the main FamilySearch page, and then click "Find Center". Please let me know if any other assistance is wanted. PaulaAnn
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Hi KJUSTB,
Interesting to see the occupation of Edward Beard. My great grandfather, Johannes Edward Simon, was also classified as a 'motor driver' on his marriage certificate. According to my family and records I found on him, it sounded like he was a chauffeur. He was born in 1900 in Steytlerville and he worked in the army for the coloured forces during the second world war. According to family he drove trucks from Port Elizabeth to North Africa. When he was older he was a "taxi owner", which I guess he also drove in.
So to give you more insight: With 'motor driver' they most likely meant a vehicle motor driver.
Also I recommend searching in the catalogue search in FamilySearch. Takes more time, but I found loads of info using this!!
Hope this helps you forward your research!
Regards Mark
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You can find the Africa research links at the top of the Africa Group . Here is the link to the Africa Wiki https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/African_American_Genealogy PaulaAnn
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