help needed please

[Justjan]

hi
on finding a bible with a death notice cut out on a George H Stewart died in Kimberly ,
sorry i have managed to read more the cuttings are poor and have been glued onto the page so its hard to read ,
i can now make out , he went to Kimberly as a young man in 1896 , worked as an printer till 1946 when he retired , so brings the date up a bit , still dont know when he died only that he was 83 years old , and had 2 daughters Mrs W Franklin and a Mrs J Hiles , and a Son George H Stewart , sadly the year has been cut off the cutting but died 9th Feb ,
any ideas on where to start ? the Diamond Fields advertiser ?
Jannette

[Currie]

Hello Jannette,

According to the passenger lists at http://www.ancestorsonboard.com/ there were quite a few male Stewarts born 1870+/- 10 who left for South Africa in 1896. There aren’t any George’s, there are two with initials G H, five with initial G, and four with no initial. If he went to South Africa as a young man he probably married there and his children were probably born and married there.

If he spent most of his life in South Africa and most of his important life events happened there then it is probable that the death notice was published only in a South African newspaper. If he had living relatives etc in the UK when he died it is possible that something appeared in a UK newspaper. However if he was a young man in 1896 and retired in 1946 and died at age 83 his death year could easily have been after 1950 when, for example, the Scotsman archives ends.

If it was in the Diamond Fields Advertiser you would probably need it to be online and searchable and I don’t think it is. Otherwise it would be a very long job of scrolling through maybe ten years of microfilm (assuming there is such a thing) looking for something that may not be there.

Researching South Africa events won’t be easy. Cyndi’s List has a page of information here http://www.cyndislist.com/soafrica.htm You can also search the various SA National Archives databases here and something may turn up such as a deceased estate or whatever. http://southafricanfamilyhistory.wordpr ... s-service/ There’s also this Ancestry24 site but I’ve no idea how useful it is http://beta.ancestry24.com/

See if you can type exactly word for word how the notice is worded as sometimes this can help. It doesn’t by any chance mention the day of the week he died? If so you should be able to pin down the year fairly reliably.

Hope that’s useful,
Alan

[Justjan]

hi Alan
all we can make out is Feb 9th , no year there is a story about his life in Kimberly , he seems to have been maybe a writer at one time for the paper as says he wrote the story about King Edward 7th death played an acting role in writing affairs until 1910 then moved to CapeTown returned 18 months later , retired in 1946 with a pension ,
i would assume he has died befor my Grandfather in 1958 , i got a GH Stewart on 1891 census ,
Name: George H Stewart
Age: 23
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1868
Relationship: Head
Gender: Male
Where born: Lanarkshire, Glasgow
Registration Number: 644/6
Registration district: St Rollox
Civil parish: Glasgow Barony
County: Lanarkshire
Address: 41 Stanhope St
Occupation: Printer Compositor
ED: 28
Household schedule number: 114
Line: 18
Roll: CSSCT1891_263
Household Members: Name Age
George H Stewart 23

only other was a 1871 census found a GH Stewart age 3 in City Poorhouse , so hope thats not him , as wont help me in what i was hoping to find ,
mmm says he passed away at the home of his Daughter Mrs W Franklin , no mention of a wife ,
will look these sites over in a bit once i get some stuff done
thanks for the help ,

[Justjan]

getting no where most of these sites just hang on me ,
and only the one guy fitting what i have , and no parents names
a waste of time i think

[Justjan]

i would actually think this was the right person ,

[keltyk]

Hi Justjan,

I think this is the reference from the South African Death Notice Index for your George H Stewart:-

DEPOT KAB
SOURCE MOK
TYPE LEER
VOLUME_NO 1/1/1163
SYSTEM 01
REFERENCE 5050
PART 1
DESCRIPTION STEWART, GEORGE HARRIS. ESTATE PAPERS.
STARTING 19500000
ENDING 19500000

Extracted from http://www.national.archsrch.gov.za/sm3 ... 26FUNC%3DN - The National Archives of South Africa - Archive Search Facility.

I will check a number of other sources for you, but I think this is your man, as the SOURCE: MOK refers to Kimberley Master of the Supreme Court records.

Will let you know if I find anything further for you.

Regards
Karen

[Currie]

Hello Karen,

Jan doesn’t appear to have visited TalkingScot for over two years. She may not see this unless her profile was set to be notified of replies. Hopefully she will. Looking at her last post it sounds like she found something, but what?

I just had a Google and this came up on Ancestry24. I’ll post the details in case it ever disappears. http://ancestry24.com/search-item/?id=C2149454792

Name: Stewart, George Harris
Place Of Birth: Glasgow Scotland
Age Of Deceased: 83 years
Place Of Residence: 3 Bechuanaland Road Kimberley
Date Of Death: 09 February 1950
Occupation: Compositor
Place Of Death: 3 Bechuanaland Road Kimberley
Surname Of Father: Stewart
First Name Of Father Of Deceased: James
Details Of Father Of Deceased: Deceased
Mother Name: Stewart, Mary
Details Of Mother: Deceased
Marital Status Of Deceased: Widower
Place Of Marriage: Glasgow Scotland
Deceased Previous Spouse Surname: Stewart
Previous Spouse First Names: Jessie Gillies
Previous Spouse Maiden Name: Tanner
Previous Spouse 1 Date Of Death: died 10 November 1946
Previous Spouse 1 Death Details: 10 November 1946
Child 1 Name: Franklin, Magdalene Jamieson
Child 1 Maiden Name: Stewart
Child 2 Name: Stewart, Henry George Harries
Child 2 Age: Major
Child 3 Name: Hiles, Mavis Mary
Child 3 Maiden Name: Stewart
Left Will: yes
Propertytype: Movable
Dated On: February 1850
Signed At: Kimberley
Death Notice Signed By: M J T Franklin
Signed Capacity: Daughter of deceased present at time of death
Source: MOK
Volume Number: 1/1/1163
Reference Number: 5050
Filed On: n/s
Source Location: Cape Town Archives
Collection Name: Death Notices Records

All the best,
Alan