Posted on February 14, 2011

The Church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints which houses the Durban Family History Centre. Picture by Musa Hlatshwayo
The Durban Family History Centre was established in 1984 and has been open for the past 27 years to assist the public and members of the Church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints in finding their ancestors and sharing their histories. It is a free and open facility where people can get assistance in searching for their family histories. The centre provides the community free of charge with information on how to start their research, assistance and guidance in the process as well as access to some of their resources. The centre is housed at the back of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Musgrave.

When I spoke to the Director of the Centre, Bonita Bricknell, on the 3rd of February 2011, this is what she had to say:

"The purpose of the Family History Centre is to prevent the loss of knowledge of our ancestors by compiling and preserving family history records. As we compile our histories, we develop a greater understanding of who we are as individuals and even as a nation. The Durban Family History Centre is one of many throughout the world. It is an arm of Salt Lake City, Utah's Family History Library, which is the largest genealogical research facility in the world."

Apart from the facilities which are provided, the centre equips the public with family history research skills and guidance so that they can learn to conduct the research themselves. This, in many ways, fosters the individual's personal journey of "self" and "historical family discovery". According to Bricknell, "it is such discoveries that then bring about spiritual awakening in the process."

While some of the centre's archives are still manually-accessed files or documents, the church has done an incredible job on digitising and bringing information to and through the internet via their website, www.familysearch.org. The website makes the information and the records not only accessible throughout South Africa but throughout the world.

The Durban Family History Centre keeps the following records collection: Death Indexes from all provinces up to 1950; Marriage Indexes for Natal: 1860-1940; microfilms and microfiche of family trees, newspaper clippings, and certificates of birth and death; and a library of books and other recorded material on the subject of family history. It also provides access to www.familysearch.org. The centre can also order church christening certificates on request from the department of home affairs, other Family History Centres globally and any other available archiving facility accessible to them. One of the biggest initiatives currently handled by the centre is a partnership with the department of Home Affairs. The role of the centre in this partnership is digitising the marriage records for the period between 1860-1940 from the province of KwaZulu-Natal provided by the Home Affairs Department. To date they have covered about 400 000 names on record. This project has been going for the past 2 years and is due to finish in March this year. For some members of the church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints, who believe families can be together forever, family history research is a way to bring saving ordinances to every member of their family and unite them eternally.

An Invitation to the Public and Organisations

The centre's future plans involve creative partnerships with museum societies. The aim of this partnership is to celebrate and promote museum days as a opportunity to encourage the transmission of oral histories as a means of transferring family history between generations. The centre has also planned to visit a small number of local schools to do creative presentations on family history during Heritage Month. This will be in preparation for the Family History Fair, which will be hosted on the 24th of September 2011 at the Durban Family History Centre. Museums, family history societies and organisations are invited to participate in this Fair so that the public can also learn more about these organisations. Those invited to participate also include writers who are writing and publishing on the subject of family history, academics who are doing research on the subject, the media and the general public. " I also like to extend a special invitation mostly to that person who doesn't know much about their family, a person who maybe has lost relatives, parents or grandparents so that they can try and develop a link with their ancestry," said Bricknell. Mr Elder Heninger, a missionary from the West of Canada who is in the center's public affairs department on a voluntary basis with his wife, attested to this statement:

"We think family histories are very important to us. Our parents and grandparents all had histories. They all learned things from their past. We believe that unless we learn from them we are doomed to repeat mistakes. As we learn about them and how they lived we can become better and that is very important to us."

Patrons can access family search services and resources free on line at www.familysearch.org. They may visit the Family History Centre on 144 Silverton Road at the Church of Christ Latter-Day Saints (entrance is in Montgomery Lane), Musgrave, Durban on Wednesdays and Thursdays beginning at 9.00am. For more information you may call the Family History Director Bonita Bricknell at 074-174-7222.

"This very well could be the best kept secret in the land and it is an incredible resource," concluded Mr Heninger.

Next month we follow the steps taken by someone who has made use of the Durban Family History Centre, 69-year-old Ntombizodwa Albertina Sithole.

Musa Hlatshwayo is a performing artist and choreographer based in Durban. He holds a BA (Hons) in Performance Studies from UKZN.