How are you doing oh my goodness you look great what every good thank you
Santa Barbara I'm hoping that you can shed some light on my heritage from my
father's side I do remember my grandma and don't remember too much about my
grandfather well this is your grandma and grandfather Nelly and George rich oh
my goodness he looks like my dad your grandfather was a very very hard-working
man he really was it was a stoker and with Stoker's they have to shovel coal
okay it's got any other photographs of him yes a house one when he was in the
room maybe oh the Royal Navy yes HMS oh and it was a boxer it was a boxer a
boxer I should imagine bare knuckles my father taught me to be a first poor he
did he taught me how to box Santa Barbara
do you know anything about his father my great grandfather yes additionally this
is your great-grandfather and his name was George rich another George and he
was born in South Africa he came over and married Elizabeth rich which was my
grandma and your great-grandma I dapper looking man wasn't saying luck with them
bowler hat yeah I think any idea where in South Africa okay room as it was Cape
Town and he was born in 1866 do you think that with the roots being in South
Africa I wondered if you know if we had any black ancestry and our family no I
don't really you don't know don't know and maybe on
do a little research so if I type in George I go along here be rich and date
of birth was 1866 South Africa so this is a census from 1901 in England some
was a George rich that was married to an Elizabeth rich birth 1866 Cape Town
South Africa and but he resided in Birkenhead in Cheshire in 1901
so auntie Barbara your information that you've given me is correct so you've got
that though you've got that but it's not telling us much more here so I think
this next part at the journey now is I might just have to go to South Africa
okay Shirley's discovered that her great-grandfather George rich was born
in Cape Town in 1866
to find out more shirley is traveling over 6,000 miles to the southern tip of
Africa
my first day in Cape Town I've been wandering around all the streets I've
been looking all the buildings there's a mix of all sorts of people here and I'm
really trying to get that feel for where my ancestors once walked these streets
Shirley's comes in the National Library of South Africa in the centre of Cape
Town to meet genealogist Heather McAllister so what can you tell me about
your family well this is the only known photograph that we have of my great
grandfather George born in Cape Town South Africa in 1866
he looks he's dead lechero standing shop he does and also in our family with
always whispers that perhaps I was a black dissent you know and I'm really
quite excited to find out my roots I have a document that you might be
interested in also George Francis my great-grandfather born on August 19
1866 - John and Mary Elizabeth surname rich so now we know who his parents are
maybe you could help me a little with this and this baptism was solemnized in
the parish of st. John the Evangelist it is an endlich on church here in Cape
Town
when Shirley's great-grandfather was born in 1866 Cape Town was a British
colony and he was baptized into the Anglican Church
the city had been founded by Dutch traders in the 1650s but the British had
seized control in 1806 I have another document that might be of interest to
you this is another baptism of Caroline ELISA and the parents John and Mary
Elizabeth so this must be a George's sister because the same parent see him
huh so he had a sister mm-hmm it's a death certificate of caroline.browne
formally rich so this is the Georges sister and she died at 58
but the race says mixed race could you explain that a little bit more to me
well it would mean that one of her parents was white and the other one was
not white so that means that my great-grandfather George was it mixed
race yes I'm intrigued I'm absolutely intrigued but I'm just a
little bit curious now where does the mixed race come from do you have any
other information about John rich and Mary Elizabeth so this is a marriage
certificate mm-hmm st. George's Cathedral he is still in
Cape Town and the air is 1858 John Henry rich the carpenter and Mary Elizabeth
Otto in the presence of jazz Paige Chippendale mm-hmm and Esther DeCosta so
could they be friends or do you think they are related in any way well we have
found another document so this is the last will and testament of Isaac DeCosta
and his wife so now I've got an Esther decosta on this marriage certificate as
a witness and I've got a will of an Isaac the
Casta can you help tie those two things together for me Esther is Isaac's
daughter okay so this is the last will and testament of Isaac de Costa our will
and desire to be that a sum of 600 pound sterling shall be paid over to Caroline
Otto for the support and maintenance of herself and six children and that the
said capital sum shall upon the demise of the said Caroline autumn be divided
between her children named Mary Oh Liam Abraham Rachel Joanna and Caroline and a
certain small house situate in this table Valley in Church Street shall be
and remain for a dwelling for the said Caroline Otto so in Isaac's well here
he's naming six children of which I'm recognizing the name Mary so I'm
assuming this must be Mary Elizabeth here this lady has a surname of Otto so
I could Caroline Otto be Mary's mother yes so would that make Caroline Otto my
great-great-great grandmother Wow Shirley has traced back to further
generations to her three-times great-grandmother Caroline Otto
you
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