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From: Sonia van Heerden <>
Subject: Introductions
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 1997 16:50:54 -0400 (EDT)


Since we are all telling you how we became interested in South African
genealogy, I guess I can add to the story.

My husband took one of those Castle Line cruises from South Africa to
England for a visit in the 1960s and ended up in the Earlscourt part of
London where all
the colonials lived. I took a trip to continental Europe from Canada,
travelled around for about 1 year by car and ended up in Earlscourt for
the winter to work. We met at the Overseas Visitor's Club.

He still had to see Canada and Australia before he went back home to
South Africa, but somehow he was convinced to immigrate to Canada and
stay here. We still have not seen Australia. We now spend 3-4 months of
our winters in Florida, so you will not hear from me from the end of
December until about April.

I decided to trace my family history when my grandmother died in 1980 in
her 90s, but it is so difficult to trace Eastern European genealogy,
especially Polish, Ukrainian and Russian, that I decided to give the
South African genealogy a try to give my sons some idea of their family
background. Well, I sat at the Reference Library in Toronto and just kept
photocopying pages of the deVilliers/Pama series of Old South African
Genealogies on my husband's family.

Since I am Periodical Chair of the Ontario Genealogical Society, I get to
review all periodicals that come into our office, so I also have an edge
there in noticing anything new in genealogy. I think I have also
purchased all the back copies of Familia of the Genealogical Society of
South Africa, and you correspondents have been wonderful through the
year. There are also the Mormon Church with its research facilities and
books on South African history which have helped me learn about your
country. Also a few trips to South African Archives in the past have been
full of acquired information.

Keep up the good work.

Sonia van Heerden

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