GSSA - GN PRESENTATIONS

Gauteng North Branch - Monthly Presentations 2024

One of the benefits of GSSA membership is the opportunity to attend a monthly talk by a knowledgeable speaker. The Gauteng North Branch is renowned for the quality, professionalism, and relevance of its presentations on a myriad of genealogy related topics. Navigate to the presentation video, text or slide set. Each presentation is in the language of the topic. For a summary of each presentation, see below.

Click on the ✔ to open
DATE	SPEAKER	TOPIC	LANG	VIDEO	TEXT	SLIDES	CV
2024-11-09		Allegaartjie
	Annemarie Dreyer	Om die wêreld in ses maande—Die soektog na Brenda se ouers	AFR	✔	✘	✔	✔
	Wilhelm Bernhardt	Die soektog na my stamvader se Duitse wortels: wanneer is ‘genoeg’ genoeg	AFR		✘	✔
	Pieter Aucamp	Slaggate in die pad van Genealogie	AFR		✘	✔
2024-10-12	Wilhelm Bernhardt	Boekbespreking: Vyand van die Staat	AFR	✔	✘	✔	✔
2024-09-14	Maggi Loubser	Tangible Heritage Conservation	ENG	✔	✘	✘	✔
2024-08-10	Neels Coertse	Life changing experience in the Vatican Library	ENG	✔	✘	✘	✔
2024-07-13	Francois Tredoux	The Battle of Vegkop	ENG	✔	✘	✘	✔
2024-06-08	Sakkie du Plooy	'n Kinderheld in die ABO	AFR	✔	✘	✔	✔
2024-05-11	Keith Meintjes	Forty years of South African Genealogy — Reflections on the Past and the Future	ENG	✔	✘	✔	✔
2024-04-15	Aletta Penning	Handgemaakte kant van Toeka tot Nou — Demonstrasie van 3 kantsoorte	AFR	✔	✘	✔	✔
2024-03-09		Program Spesifieke Opleiding en Algemene Lesings	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘
2024-02-10	André Buys	Die Diep Afkoms van ‘n Afrikaner My voorouers van die hede tot die oorsprong van die mensdom	AFR	✔	✘	✔	✔
PRESENTATIONS OF PREVIOUS YEARS
2025	Northern Transvaal Branch / Gauteng North Branch - Monthly Presentations
2024	Northern Transvaal Branch / Gauteng North Branch - Monthly Presentations
2023	Northern Transvaal Branch / Gauteng North Branch - Monthly Presentations
2022	Northern Transvaal Branch - Monthly Presentations
2021	Northern Transvaal Branch - Monthly Presentations
2020	Northern Transvaal Branch - Monthly Presentations

Allegaartjie November 2024

The Origin of Progenitor Wilhelm Bernhardt: When is Genealogical Information Enough, and Good Enough?: Wilhelm Bernhardt

In my research over the past 20 years, I have managed to find seven primary sources that potentially shed light on the birth, life in Germany, and death in South Africa of progenitor Wilhelm Bernhardt.

These sources contradict one another on certain points and complement one another on others. To confuse matters more, at least three of these sources cannot beyond all doubt be connected to the progenitor, although it is probably he who is being referred to. However, each of the records contributes a critical piece to the still unfinished puzzle of progenitor Wilhelm Bernhardt's origins.

The question I therefore ask with this presentation is simple: When is genealogical information enough, and good enough to be accepted as probably correct? Or maybe out of desperation I see answers, because I want to see them?

Around the world in six months: A search for Brenda's parents, and the uncomfortable information revealed in the process: Annemarie Dreyer

My search for Brenda's parents, with only her DNA results to work with, took me on a virtual trip around the world.

Brenda was born in Johannesburg and now lives in France. It was established that her biological mother died in Zimbabwe, where her one brother still lives. The other brother, and some nieces, reside in England. With the help of DNA we found her paternal half-sister in Canada. During the search,

I built a research tree of hundreds of people, viewed dozens of documents and tested several other family members' DNA. The conclusion was that Brenda's mother, her aunt and uncle each had a different father. All these fathers are still unknown.

Pitfalls in the Path of Genealogy: Pieter Aucamp

After retirement, Pieter had more time for research to start looking for correct information about his Aucamp family.

This is where the potholes in the road occurred. In his presentation he focused on three types of pitfall in the path of genealogy: Those that sometimes stem from official sources, farm cemeteries, and in misleading sources abroad (churches).

Enemy of the State – The Zulu Kingdom and the death of Piet Retief

Wilhelm Bernhardt, 12 October, 2024

In this presentation, Wilhelm Bernhardt talked about his book Enemy of the State.

In this book, he uses his experience in the field of national security to analyse and reconstruct in a unique way the events of February 6, 1838, when the Boer leader Piet Retief died at the hands of the Zulu king, Dingane kaSenzagakone.

Tangible Heritage Conservation

Maggi Loubser, 14 September, 2024

Maggi Loubser is currently the programme manager of and senior lecturer in the Tangible Heritage Conservation (THC) programme at the University of Pretoria.

The programme was developed in 2016 and is based in the School of Arts, Faculty of Humanities. The dean of the faculty explained the concept of Tangible Heritage as “That which is concrete and can be touched, felt or heard.

It is as much about art, language and literature, as it is about archival manuscripts, ancient artefacts, oral histories, the built environment, the land, the marine environment … all of this has something to tell us about the diversity of our entangled heritage. This diversity is what makes us human”.

My life changing experience in the Vatican Library

Neels Coertse, 10 August, 2024

Neels gave the following background regarding his presentation:

My wife and I were in Rome in April 2016 and visited the Vatican Library. It is not a public library and is used exclusively by the pope. My interest was if possible, to read the works of Flavius Josephus (35 AD – 100 AD, a period of severe slavery).

I was not successful in this, but I did find 600 year-old summaries of his works,

handwritten by six different priests/monks, to read. It was still a very special experience. I also have a great interest in furniture and furniture making – the Vatican is filled to the brim with the most beautiful furniture.

The Battle of Vegkop

Francois Tredoux, 13 July, 2024

Francois’ interest has always been in general military history of the world and in particular that of South Africa. The history and military conflicts of the South African pioneers (Voortrekkers) are of special interest to him.

Francois' captivating description of how the battle at Vegkop unfolded is not only a compelling narrative, but makes the listener feel as if he/she is witnessing the battle and experiencing it intensely.

A child hero in the ABO

CLOSE Stan Photo 2023 10 14 Sakkie du Plooy, 08 June, 2024

The theme of Sakkie’ presentation was the perseverance of Afrikaner women and children during the Anglo-Boer War. The emphasis was on the experience of children during this traumatic period.

The heroic deeds of our children must not be forgotten and oblige us to share them with our descendants.

Forty years of South African Genealogy

Keith Meintjes, 11 May, 2024

Dr Keith Meintjes holds a BSc and MSc (Engineering) from the University of the Witwatersrand, and a MA and PhD from Princeton University.

In his 40 years of research he republished the Meintjes family history and researched the Wahl, Watney and several others families in South Africa. He has published numerous articles in Familia, Capensis and Genesis.

He was a co-founder of the eGGSA virtual branch and elected a Fellow of the GSSA in 2019. This is a singular honour that has been bestowed only 21 times in the previous 50 years.

Over four decades Keith collected genealogy publications and built a fine library of South African material. In 2015 he donated more than 350 physical publications and many digital items to the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA. It is certainly, the best collection on South African genealogy outside of South Africa.

Keith has been involved in other projects relevant to South African genealogy, including funding for digitising two sets of voters’ rolls, the Olifant and Renoster projects. He has supported students in Stellenbosch to catalogue the collection of about 400 old Bibles at the DRC archives. Current projects include digitising and cataloguing the oldest photographs in the DRC Archives. Furthermore, he supports studies at Stellenbosch University on the economic forces that affected settlers and slaves in the old Dutch Cape Colony.

Handmade Lace from yesteryear to present

CLOSE Stan Photo 2023 10 14 Aletta Penning, 13 April 2024

If the reader is familiar with terms like Carrickmacross, Koppies lace, Reticella and with the art of Pierre Fouche, then the world of lace needs no introduction.

For the rest of us at the GSSA Northern Branch, this world opened up with Aletta Penning's talk on April 13th. Lacework flourished during the opulent era of King Louis XIV as a sought-after commodity throughout old Europe. Before his time, it was practised in Italy and Flanders only.

Quality lacework was highly valued and even smuggled. Design techniques were kept secret, and styles developed geographically. For a long time it was reserved for the rich only. From baptism gowns to wedding dresses, undergarments, boothose and flamboyant collars, lace dictated the world of fashion.

Aletta is the chairperson of the Pretoria Lace Guild, a member of the Witwatersrand Guild, and has been a member of the international lace organisation OIDFA, for decades. She was indeed the perfect person to tell us more about lace, and the many photos in her presentation illustrated it beautifully.

The story of lace in South Africa is just as interesting and literally and figuratively woven into the country's history. Emily Hobhouse's role in this story is pivotal. Take a look at the recording and learn more about this craft practised with such dedication.

The deep lineage of an Afrikaner - André Buys

CLOSE Stan Photo 2023 10 14 André Buys, 10 February 2024

The recital deals with André's recent ancestors from the present to the origin of mankind. Deep ancestry research is a multidisciplinary genealogical research methodology and contains disciplines such as research in archives, history, population dynamics, genetics and memetics.

A slide of a population dynamics model was shown and it shows the world population of the present back to and including the memetic Adam (the Adam of the Bible) and further back to the genetic Adam, the first human.

Afrikaners are lucky that there are comprehensive records from the landing of Jan van Riebeeck at the Cape. European ancestors can be traced back to the fifteenth century, before which the sources dry up. Before 1500 up to and including 400 there are only records of royalty and the aristocracy as they had to prove inheritance rights. Before 400 there are legendary records; some of the facts are actual facts and other "facts" are legendary.

The genealogy in the Bible is accurate because the Jews had to prove their Jewishness. The date of the memetic Adam is about 1890 BC and the date of the genetic Adam 245 760 BC.

The speaker has drawn up a table of his ancestors on an Excel spreadsheet, divided into: South Africa, Europe, Nobility (0 AD to 1400 AD) and Legendary, 5 000 AD to 0 AD.

He has 8264 progenitors in his list. He highlighted some of his ancestors, persons of the nobility as well as a proconsul at the time of Paul's missionary journeys (Acts 13:6-12), Sergius Paulus.

These days DNA tests are of great help. The Afrikaner's genes are e.g. Homo sapiens sapiens 97.7%. Homo sapiens neanderthalensis 1.7% and Homo sapiens Denisova 0.4%.