South Africa, Cape Province, Probate Records of the Master of the High Court - FamilySearch Historical Records: Difference between revisions

| link5= Cape Province

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{{South Africa HR Infobox

|CID=CID2517051  

| custodian =  Pietermaritzburg Archives (Formerly Natal State Archives), South Africa

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== What is in This Collection? ==  

This collection includes records from 1834-1989. Probate records often include heirs, locations, property transfers, wills, and other important information. The most useful records in the collection are the death notices which give much more information than a death certificate. The probate records are contained in packets with a record cover identified by an assigned file number.  

When a person died, the nearest relative or other connection should have completed a death notice and sent it to the Master of the High Court within 14 days of the death.   

This collection includes several handwritten and typed indexes. You can use these lists to quickly scan for your ancestor’s name and where his or her records are located. The index includes the name of the person who died, the death dates, the name of the spouse, and the probate file number. The death notices and wills included in the probate files are hand-written. The death notices are on a pre-printed form.  

The original probate records from the Master of the High Court in Cape Province, South Africa are located in the Cape Archives Depot, Cape Town.

=== Image Visibility ===

*[[Netherlands Language and Languages]]

*[[South Africa Language and Languages]]

== What Can These Records Tell Me? ==  

The following information may be found in these records:

| page = [[South Africa, Cape Province, Probate Records of the Master of the High Court Digital Folder Number List]]

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== How Do I Search This Collection? ==  

Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:

|CID = 2517051 }}

{{HR Tip|More images are available in the FamilySearch Catalog at [https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/331262 Probate Records, 1834-1989]. Click on camera icon to see images.}}

=== How Do I Analyze the Results? ===

Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a [[Use_Appropriate_Forms#Prepare_a_Research_Log |research log]].

== What Do I Do Next? ==

=== I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now? ===   

*Check for siblings, especially women, to determine if they married                         

*[[South Africa Church Records|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 the Person I'm Looking For, What Now?===                               

*Switch to a different record collection. Depending on the time period, either Civil Registration records or Church Records may be more useful                                   

*Try different ways of searching the collection. For example, fill in just the given name or the surname. This will return a list of everyone with that name so you can browse through options   

*Be aware that there may have been some transcription errors

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