Trying to find a source for marriage in Cape Town 1875

Question

Hi,

I'm trying to verify some unsourced information on Familysearch pertaining to my great great grandparents, Helena Thomlinson nee Turner and Frederick Gee. The suggestion is that they were married in Cape Town, South Africa in 1875, but I don't know where to look for an actual record of this. I'd also love to know how Helena got to be in South Africa - Passenger list or something? - because the last record I have of her prior to this marriage is her marriage in 1871 (in the GRO Index) to Harry Thomlinson in Stoke Damerel, Devon. I can't even find her in the UK Census for 1871, either as Helena Turner or as Helena Thomlinson...

I actually have a LOT of questions about both Helena and Frederick!

Any help very gratefully received!

Ailsa

Answer 1

Ancestry has an index to some marriages in S Africa. This records one half of the marriage

Name:         Helena Thomlinson

Gender:         Female

Record Type:         Marriage

Marriage Date:         May 1875

Marriage Place:         South Africa

Spouse:         

Notes:         Widow

Collection:         Simon's Town: St Francis Marriages, 1813-1877

Archive Name:         St. Francis Church Simons Town

Entry Number:         p.59

extremely vague citation

Ancestry.com. South Africa, Marriage Index, 1807-2007 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.

Original data: Various sources from across South Africa.

I knew that Family Search had images for South African Anglican Marriages but they are unindexed.

I looked at what should be the right page but didn't find it

"South Africa, Church of the Province of South Africa, Parish Registers, 1801-2004," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GTW5-XS4?cc=1468076&wc=SFVC-GPK%3A44975801%2C44975802%2C47802001%2C47837101 : 21 May 2014), South Africa > Cape of Good Hope > Cape Town, Simon's Town, St Francis of Assisi > Marriages 1849-1955 > image 32 of 266; William Cullen Library, Wits University, Johannesburg

But this church also has its own index book that has also been filmed

These two images record the marriage  (more probably banns as per last edit)

Index St Francis of Assisi Simon's Town, Cape Town, South Africa

"South Africa, Church of the Province of South Africa, Parish Registers, 1801-2004," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TW5-CWY?cc=1468076&wc=SFVC-YWG%3A44975801%2C44975802%2C47802001%2C47824601 : 21 May 2014), South Africa > Cape of Good Hope > Cape Town, Simon's Town, St Francis of Assisi > Baptisms with index, 1814-1932, marriages with index, 1813-1819 > image 85 of 109; William Cullen Library, Wits University, Johannesburg

"South Africa, Church of the Province of South Africa, Parish Registers, 1801-2004," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TW5-CHW?cc=1468076&wc=SFVC-YWG%3A44975801%2C44975802%2C47802001%2C47824601 : 21 May 2014), South Africa > Cape of Good Hope > Cape Town, Simon's Town, St Francis of Assisi > Baptisms with index, 1814-1932, marriages with index, 1813-1819 > image 103 of 109; William Cullen Library, Wits University, Johannesburg

  Edit:

looking earlier in the index suggests that this entry, together with others that have a page number but no marriage entry, might come from a banns book but as there is no marriage in the register then the marriage itself took place in another church. (or not at all!) That would explain why there is only a month and not an exact date.  Unfortunately there are a large number of Anglican Church registers to search  These are from the Cape

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GTW5-XS4?owc=SFV7-C6J%3A44975801%2C44975802%3Fcc%3D1468076&wc=SFVC-GPK%3A44975801%2C44975802%2C47802001%2C47837101&cc=1468076

Comments

Thank you! That's definitely them. And that is better than no source at all.

I can understand how Frederick Gee might be in Cape Town, as a marine engineer. But I'd love to know how, why and when my great great grandmother was there! She seems to have packed a lot into her 54 years...

Answer 2

I found this if it helps 

(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLY4-82PL : 16 March 2018)

But it doesn’t help about Cape Town, couldn’t find that.

Comments

Thanks Marion, that's the family. When you start digging in this one, it gets very complicated! Helena was married 3 times, and so far I've found her in Greenwich, Woolwich, Devonport, Cape Town, Southampton, Woolwich (again) and Plumstead. Frederick was married twice, and I'm pretty certain was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia (although his death certificate in France says he was born in Halifax England). I keep having to put it to one side as I untangle it - I also think Helena's 3rd husband was related to her brother-in-law - and it all makes my head ache!

Answer 3

Using Cornel Viljoen's webpage http://southafrica.mypeoplepuzzle.net/NGK_Cape.html with detailed links to the civil registrations (which includes all Cape marriages, whether in a church or not), a year is good enough, but the month May provided by Helen makes it even easier.

This one is here: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSVF-L9TJ-M?i=464&cat=1108558

Thus the marriage was #1586 on 24 May.

Again using Cornel's page, the certificate itself is found here: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSK8-G94H-7?i=60&cat=244034

Comments

Crikey! I really can't believe how quickly you've sorted this one out for me. Thank you so much! I'm wondering if the witnesses names are Turner and therefore are Helena's relatives?

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Thank you Dirk. I'm still puzzling how to get from the first link to the last. I'll try later on.a computer rather than a phone.

Its interesting that the banns were called in an Anglican church but the marriage in a Weslyan one. You've saved what could  days of fruitless search in Anglican churches.

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Could have been brother and sister-in-law.

Edwin and Sarah Ann (born Ray), husband and wife. He died in 1912 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSQF-QS87-X?i=1892&cc=2517051&cat=331262, she in 1925. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BB-M9TD-7?i=239&cc=2517051&cat=331262.

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I'm pretty certain that's Helena's brother and sister in law. There's an Edwin Turner listed in the 1861 census in Woolwich, born in Shropshire at 1839.