Research

I started researching family history when I was approximately twelve years old. It came after a visit to my grandfather when he gave me an fairly old Remington typewriter as a present. Something about this old machine had fascinated me for as long as I had known it. Now that it was mine, however, I found that I couldn't really think of a particularly intelligent use for it. A few letters to friends and family followed, but I soon felt that there should be something more important that one could do with a typewriter.

One afternoon a distant cousin of my deceased Labuschagne grandfather, and his friend, came to visit. Uncle Martiens Klopper and Uncle Willie had been boyhood friends of my grandfather, and I was soon enthralled by the many stories and anecdotes they told about the old days. That afternoon I knew what I could do with my typewriter. I could record those old stories. I started writing that very day. Years later when I finally looked through my many files again, I re-discovered these half-forgotten reports, and that was when I realized something profoundly important: It suddenly struck me that I had virtually completely forgotten most of the stories I had recorded as a twelve-year old. In fact, I was amazed to see how much detail had been eroded from not only my memory, but everyone who had formed part of the conversation that day. I suddenly realized that from my old Remington, a few priceless family stories had been preserved against the rust of time. Everybody who had been connected to those stories were dead by that time, and there was nobody else that could be asked about them anymore. I was holding the last memories and I knew that if I hadn't recorded them that day, they would have been lost forever. I knew then that the preservation of family history is an extremely important task that cannot simply be left to others.

People from very important families usually have several chroniclers who are interested in their history, and who will record the details about their lives and their past from several different angles. That means that even if one generation should be uninterested in its roots and history, the next could always just open a few books and research the history. From the reasonably good archival sources in South Africa, future generations could also always go back and research their lineage, at least as far as it pertains to the sterile facts of mere names, dates, and the occasional last will and testaments that people leave behind.

Unfortunately most families are not so important that scores of strangers will spend their time recording that family's history. Grandfathers and grandmothers pass away, and their stories are only half-remembered by their children, who pass on a small hand full of them to their children, by which time the facts are already distorted and uncertain. It is rare for detailed history to be passed on for more than two or three generations. Especially in today's age where family members drift apart quickly, and soon lose contact--perhaps forever.

Over the years that followed, I kept asking my surviving family members about our past. The more stories they told, the more I became drawn in. Fascinated by the adventures, glories and disappointments of those who had gone before me. I always tried to find answers to questions that would explain who we were, why we were here, and where we could likely end up one day, based upon the genetic legacy of our ancestors. Everywhere I kept hearing people say: "It is such a pity. We always wanted to record grandpa/grandma/our great uncle's stories on tape, but we never did. And now it is too late. Resolving not to make the same mistake, I set out to start tape recording and video recording the stories of the older generation, and writing down whatever I could.

The Computer Solution

Unfortunately my research went a bit slowly while it all still had to be done on the Remington typewriter. By the time that computers came into general use, the Remington had served me faithfully throughout school and university, but it soon began to dawn on me that the day of the typewriter was drawing to a close. The early computer years consisted of primitive DOS programs, monochrome monitors and painfully slow dot matrix printers. The programs were difficult to use, but the operating systems were brilliantly stable. Eventually, however, the conversation came to Windows-based systems, and with it, I purchased my first genealogy software. It was a surprisingly adequate piece of software called "IMSI Family Heritage Deluxe."

Family Heritage proved to be the opening of a door which led to a new universe in family history research. For the first time I was able to neatly and accurately organize years of accumulated data. It was now possible to re-arrange information, correct errors, add detail and archive information in a way which would never have been possible with the old Remington.

Since then, literally thousands of hours have gone into my family history research, which now covers most of my non-Labuschagne branches as well. Over the years, the recorded Labuschagne tree has grown into what now appears to be the largest Labuschagne database in the world. More data is added almost on a weekly basis, making it ever larger. Of course, with such a large family, it soon becomes apparent that what initially seemed like it would be a task of a few years, will ultimately become a lifelong mission. There are still many, many branches that are completely missing from the family tree, and thousands of individuals which have never been found or still wait to be placed on the tree.

There are many family researchers who work on only one or two or three main branches of their families. And they often tend to specialize in their particular lines only. This is good in so far as it means that a more detailed personal history usually results. Many amateur and semi-professional family history researchers don't go far beyond these efforts, though. It does mean, however, that there are always people needed who would be more interested in trying to build the big picture by adding the different branches and leaves so that it would materialize into an entire family tree.

The most important work in this regard was done by professor FJ Labuschagne, whose well-known book Die Labuschagnes... Waarvandaan en waar het hulle meetsnoere geval? proved to be absolutely invaluable ground-breaking work. He, in turn, built upon the foundations of the incredibly valuable work of researchers such as De Villiers, Pama and others. With the death of professor Labuschagne, however, it appeared that there was now no other single co-ordinator of the broad family tree left over.

The Internet Age

With the arrival of internet technology I soon began to find out how valuable it is to work together with other researchers who spent more time researching individual branches in greater detail. I began to understand that most people are very willing to share their individual research, if doing so was going to help someone else in putting together the bigger picture for them. In the world of online genealogy relations, one quickly learns that genealogy is a lot like love. The more you share, the more you receive. And that it is very hard to bankrupt oneself by giving away too much.

Soon I had made friends among family scattered around the world, who all helped and contributed to make the family tree larger, more accurate, more interesting and more comprehensive. More than anything else, I learnt that genealogy is all about teamwork. No single researcher in the world has the time and researchers to do a proper job of researching an entire family tree as large as the Labuschagne family. But if we can advance on the investment of knowledge laid down for us by previous pioneers such as De Villiers, Pama, professor FJ Labuschagne and dozens or hundres of smaller individual researchers, we could make exponentially faster progress. I am reminded in this regard of the timeless words of Sir Isaac Newton who once observed, "if I have been able to see further than most, it is because I have stood on the shoulder of giants."

Today I am, as far as I know, the most comprehensive Labuschagne family researcher. I collect any data about any Labuschagnes I can find with a view of expanding the family tree. But it is not my effort which has made it possible. In stead, I have to a large extent only played the role of a co-ordinator. A central point for collecting, storing, safeguarding, organizing and distributing data. Certainly, I have made my contribution by researching particular branches, comparing facts, correcting errors and adding detail or historical background in many places, but ultimately when one looks at the broad perspective of what is being done, that is just one more link in a much bigger chain.

Accordingly, the work behind this website should not be seen as that of one single person. In stead, it is like a large termite mound, which is the combined result of the labours of many people around the country and around the world. No termite mound stands to the credit of the queen who holds the nest together. Rather, it is always credited to the labours of the entire termite population collectively. That is the way I like to think about our family tree.

Methods of Research and Collecting Data

The growth and development of our family tree is very heavily dependant on the contributions of other people. Submissions of other researches and interested people are gratefully received and gladly acknowledged. The results of my research is also freely shared with the world, because sharing that information becomes an investment which always yields great dividends.

Submissions do not have to be fully edited, exhaustively cross-referenced, particularly complete, or checked and professional in appearance. Any data is better than none at all. I collect, catalogue and store any information relating to our family history, including documents, diaries, letters and photographs. Of the Labuschagne photographs I have a rather extensive digital photo database, which is also always expanding.

It is important that contributors should understand that my principle is to share anything that is submitted publicly, unless the submitter specifically requests that the information should be kept private. In this case, the information is added to the database, but it is marked as private, so that it will never appear in public sources. My general principle is: "Freely received, freely given."

Many people ask me whether I intend to publish a book about our research one day. That certainly is a project that I would enjoy very much. However, there is still a great deal of work to be done before a new publication would be justified. Probably several more years of research. One thing most published genealogists would tell you is that publishing family histories is very seldom anything but a considerable financial loss for the author. Also, writing a book is one thing, but editing it, checking facts and preparing the document for publication is an enormously time-consuming project. Only those who have gone this route before will understand what a huge amount of time is involved.

Still, with the many stories and new material available to us today, there would undoubtedly be scope for a very interesting publication one day. I am always documenting bits and pieces, and it is conceivable that one day I would be able to tie everything together in a publication. In my particular case I am involved in a very intensive career which leaves very little free time, and especially very little free time for research. It just means that one has to be a little more patient than usual.

I look forward to hearing from any of you who may have contributions or information to share. Questions are also gladly received, or simply a "hello" message is also welcome. The Labuschagnes I know have always been warm and friendly. It is my sincere wish that we should continue in this tradition.

Herman Labuschagne

Data on this site is managed using Legacy genealogical software.

Legacy 5.0 is a full-featured professional genealogy program that helps you track, organize, print, and share your family history. Includes source documentation, dozens of beautiful reports, expert merging capabilities, To Do list, pictures, videos, Web page creation, spell checking, Internet searching, relationship calculation, name tag printing and more. The program imports and exports standard GEDCOM files as well as directly reads PAF files.

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