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If you want to learn more about researching Dutch ancestors, make sure to read the blog.
Five Ways to Identify Old Places Names in the Netherlands
When you come across a place of origin in a records, you may not be able to find that town on a modern map. Spellings and names changed. Here are five strategies to find out what place is meant. 1: Check contemporary maps You can look at a map from the period, like in the world […]
Level up challenge – 2023 progress report
Two years ago, I issued my level-up challenge. I wanted to take my research to a higher level by gathering more complete information and documentation about my ancestors. See the original blog post for an overview of the levels. In this blog post, I will reflect on my progress in the past year. My goal for […]
Dutch Genealogy News for December 2022
Here is an overview of the new sources, websites, and projects that were announced last month. Sources Scans and indexes of population registers of Bolsward, Hemelumer Oldeferd en Noordwolde, IJlst, Sneek, Stavoren, Wymbritseradeel, Wonseradeel, and Workum in Friesland 1850-1922 have been added to AlleFriezen. This adds over 750,000 names to the database. More than 350 […]
Records that became public in 2023
Happy New Year everybody! Many records become public after 20, 25, 50, 75, or 100 years. Here is an overview of some of the records that became public as of 1 January 2023. Exceptions may exist for records that involve people that could still be alive. Just because records are public does not mean they […]
URGENT: Help prevent the destruction of data about biological parents of donor-conceived children
Archives with data about the biological parents of donor-conceived children are being transferred to the National Archives of the Netherlands. These records contain information about the donors who contributed genetic material for conception. A proposed selection list is now open for review until 11 January 2023. The proposal wants to destroy data about donors 110 […]
Quick tip – Search finding aids as well as indexes
Archives have different types of information on their website. The genealogical indexes are often found in a different section than the finding aids with the archival descriptions or catalogs. These descripts are often quite generic and describe whole series, like minutes of court records, incoming correspondence, or tax records. If you are lucky, the archival […]
Dutch term – Begijn
A begijn is a beguine. Beguines were single women who lived in communities together. The beguine movement started in the 1100s and spread across Western Europe. Initially, beguines lived in houses together, but over time, they often lived in individual houses around a courtyard. Beguines were deeply religious women who often dedicated their lives to […]
