Welcome!
Please read this page to its conclusion before proceeding to browse or search this project.
📌 Important Reminders
- Contact: An email link is at the bottom of every page – click to launch a correctly addressed email.
- Before contacting: Please read the Important Information page first.
- Navigation: Links appear as Bold/Underlined and lead to relevant individuals, articles, or pages.
- Place links: Click on bold underlined places to view Google Maps.
- Search Engine: Use our powerful search at Search Page.
- Daily Calendar: Visit the Calendar of Events for anniversaries of individuals in the project.
Don't forget the list: First People, Slaves, Exiles, Convicts and their families. This list highlights first people, slaves, political exiles, mixed unions and their descendants — often underestimated in genealogical records.
📜 Background and goal of this project
This project began as a private endeavour to answer questions about early Cape of Good Hope ancestry and ensure sound genealogical foundations. Over time it grew to help other researchers avoid common errors.
First goal: Enter data from all available records for the first fifty years of the VOC settlement (1652–early 1700s), including full transcriptions and images as exhibits where possible.
Second goal: Generate discussion, correct errors, and shed light on enduring mysteries. Please contribute corrections with documentation.
Join the discussion on the project Facebook page (co-managed by Mansell Upham and Delia Robertson).
Contact via email: Delia Robertson (link at footer).
✨ Highlighted Pages
FFY is delighted to bring you Remarkable Writing — articles of high merit about individuals, families, records, and practices of the early Cape.
- Many thanks to generous contributors — see Hall of Fame.
- Visit the Update Page for recent changes.
- Explore the Knowledge Centre for laws, customs, and practices of the period.
- Use the Map Centre for geographical context.
