Death in Johannesburg

[elsinore]

Angelina Ellen BENNETT b. 1867 Dunglow, Donegal, Ireland.

This is my great aunt who went missing after the 1901 Census, where she was apparently a cook in the service of an auctioneer in Wanstead, Essex. I have all information for her up to that point.

I recently learned from a relative that AEB was thought to have died suddenly in Johannesburg on 14th May, 1910, at the age of 43. This info comes from a family bible.

After searching NAAIRS online database, I got a result:

Depot: TAB
Source: MHG
Type: LEER
Volume No: 0
System: 01
Reference: 15734
Part: 1
Description: BENNETT ELLEN
Starting: 19100000
Ending: 19100000

As she seldom, if ever, used the name Angelina, I think this might be her.

This is my first foray into South African BMDs and I don't know where to go from here! I've looked at the stickys at the top of this forum but it seems that Johannesburg doesn't figure much. I really would appreciate some help.

Is it possible to obtain any further information and, in particular, a copy of the death certificate?

Peter

[Sue Mackay]

If you go to www.eggsa.org you will see Document Ordering Service on the home page. Click on FAQ and follow instructions for getting a photograph of the Transvaal Archives document you have found. The cost is minimal, you can pay by PayPal, and the photographed pages are e-mailed to you.

[wimsey]

her "Death Notice" is on FamilySearch - images 663/664 in "South Africa, Transvaal, Probate Records from the Master of the Supreme Court, 1869-1958". Its definitely her, it even has the name Angelina pencilled in as an afterthought. On page 664 are the names and dates of siblings.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLQ7-TR8Z

[Sue Mackay]

her "Death Notice" is on FamilySearch - images 663/664 in "South Africa, Transvaal, Probate Records from the Master of the Supreme Court, 1869-1958". Its definitely her, it even has the name Angelina pencilled in as an afterthought. On page 664 are the names and dates of siblings.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLQ7-TR8Z

Thankyou wimsey, I was looking for that last night but didn't find it, probably because I was on the iPad. This death notice you have found is the same document Peter found on NAAIRS so you have saved him some time and money!

[elsinore]

Brilliant result Sue and wimsey! Thanks you both for providing the answer and, as Sue says, saving me time and money.

In passing, I noticed that 1910 was the year that the Union of South Africa came into being, so significant in more ways than one!

Peter

[elsinore]

Ellen died 'suddenly' in her early forties and the death notice is signed by a police sergeant. We would like to know the cause of death.

Is it possible to obtain a copy death certificate?

Peter

[Sue Mackay]

Ellen died 'suddenly' in her early forties and the death notice is signed by a police sergeant. We would like to know the cause of death.

Is it possible to obtain a copy death certificate?

Peter

My South African ancestry is all 19c, and so I have never tried to access a death certificate. For most genealogical purposes the death notices, concerned as they were with identifying next of kin, were much more useful. Death certificates came in very late in SA - in the case of the Transvaal not until 1901. You can apply for them, but it is not something I have any experience of doing. See this page (http://home.global.co.za/~mercon/sources.htm) for more information.

[Sue Mackay]

Good News! I have access to the World Newspaper Archive and have found a notice in the Rand Daily Mail dated Monday 16 May 1910, which reads as follows:

DIED IN HER SLEEP
A Mr. Ramage of 122 Marshall Street made a terrible discovery at 3:40 on Saturday morning. The previous night his wife and Miss Ellen Bennett had retired to bed together, whilst he had gone to sleep in the same room on a chair. Feeling cold he awoke, and in order to obtain more coverings he was in the act of awaking his wife when he saw that his wife's bed-fellow was dead.
He at once aroused Mr. Walker, a neighbour. The police were summoned, and Sgt. McCready found no signs of foul play. Dr. Horwood pronounced life to be extinct, and the body was removed to the mortuary.
Miss Bennett was an English woman and she was forty years of age. She was very well known on the mines, where she had served as a housekeeper and a nurse. Miss Bennett died in her sleep. Death was due to heart failure.

[elsinore]

Well, I just logged on to thank you Sue for your #7 and found your #8!

What can I say, except thank you for completely solving the riddle! That's a great find.

For me, sadness in discovering that a young woman should pass in such a way, far from home.

Peter