South African gravestones and burials (eGGSA)
A gravestone can give exact dates of birth and death, a maiden name, and sometimes a whole family buried together. In South Africa, volunteers of the Genealogical Society of South Africa (GSSA) have photographed and transcribed hundreds of thousands of graves.
eGGSA Graves
The eGGSA Graves website has free photographs of gravestones sent in by volunteers, arranged by province and cemetery. The search works one province at a time, so if you are not sure where someone was buried, search each likely province.
Many cemeteries are also simply listed as albums: open the town's cemetery and look through it – family members are often buried side by side.
Transcriptions and indexes
Some burial registers and cemetery transcriptions can be searched free in eGGSA's burials database. The GSSA also sells a Gravestone Transcription Index – almost a million names from over 3,000 cemeteries in its 2025 edition – through its web shop.
Tips
- Farm graveyards are common in South Africa: a family may be buried on the farm rather than in town.
- Dates on stones were sometimes added years later – check them against a death notice or register.
- If you visit a cemetery, take photos of the whole row and send them to eGGSA – you may help another family.
Useful links
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