South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Records (Stellenbosch Archive) - FamilySearch Historical Records

South Africa

What is in the Collection?
The collection of records covers the years 1660 to 2011.

The records include images of baptisms, confirmations, marriages, deaths, and memberships of the Dutch Reformed Church (Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk In Afrika) housed at the Genealogical Institute of South Africa (Genealogiese Instituut van Suid-Afrika) Archive at Stellenbosch, South Africa. Communities from the entire country of South Africa are represented. Includes records from the current African nations of Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This collection is being published as images become available.

The Dutch Reform Church records have been maintained in good conditions. Records are found in different registration formats, most written in Dutch and others in Afrikaans, and English.

When South Africa was settled by the Dutch in the 16th and 17th centuries, they transplanted their Dutch Reformed theology into the African continent. The Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa was formally established in 1652, and became the only official church in South Africa until 1778, when freedom of public worship was given to other churches. The history of the Dutch Reform Church has been very much bound up with the politics of the Afrikaner community of South Africa. The baptism and marriage records are recorded in bound registers, which are kept at the local churches archive in care of the registrar. Since 1928 the registrar sends the registries to be archived at the Central Archive of the Dutch Reformed Church in Cape Town, South Africa.

Reformed Church in South Africa consists of three separate churches: the Nederduitse Gereformeede Kerk (the largest and usually called the Dutch Reform Church; the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk (largely restricted to the Transvaal); and the Gereformeede Kerk in Suid Afrika (the Doppers). During the 17th and 18th Centuries the Dutch Reform Church (Nederduitse Gereformeede Kerk) was the only officially recognized Church denomination in South Africa and practically all the whites in the Cape belonged to it. In the following Centuries, several other churches denominations were created in Cape, leaving a decline in the membership of the Dutch Reform Church.

For details about the contents of these records, their history, and help using them see the wiki article: South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)

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Search the collection by image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

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 * Use the age in the citizen to find an approximate birth year to begin your search in church or civil records.
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 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, What Now?

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