This week we are looking at a rare type of map, showing the graves in the churchyard of Wons in 1831. Wons is a small village in the west of the province of Friesland. This map was probably created as a result of the 1829 law forbidding burials in churches or the built-up area of a town. The law required each town with a population over 1000 to designate a cemetery outside the town proper. The map shows the locations of the graves around the church, and gives a list of names of owners of … [Read more...]
About this website
Creating a website like this is a fun activity. There are so many options, so many choices. What do visitors want? What do I want? In this blog I will describe some of the things I encounter in developing and maintaining this website.
12 ways to use tax records to prove relationships
18 April 2025 by Leave a Comment
If people needed it or enjoyed it, there probably was a tax on it. Here are twelve ways I have used tax records to prove relationships between people. 1. Time of death Some taxes were registered every year. I have used real estate tax records that list when the previous owner died. In places without burial registers, this can help to rule that person in or out as a prospective parent. For example, if a marriage record mentioned that the parents were deceased, but the tax records show a … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Shooting of Tonis Willinck, circa 1590
7 April 2025 by Leave a Comment
This week we are looking at a map that is directly related to my own family tree. It depicts the shooting of my ancestor Tonis Willinck at the border between Winterswijk and Münster. The map dates from around 1590-1595. This is one of several maps in the collection of the Landesarchiv Nordrhein Westfalen, Germany, just across the border from Winterswijk, that depict the border between Gelderland and Münster. The border ran through a swampy area and was not well-defined in the Middle Ages. … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Famous Events in the Netherlands
1 April 2025 by Leave a Comment
For April Fools' Day, let's look at a whimsical map. This map of the Netherlands, created in 1930, shows various historical and (then) current events. Highlights include: The light bulb factory in Eindhoven, representing Philips. The reclamation of land in the Zuiderzee. The prison in Veenhuizen. Jan van Schaffelaar jumping from the tower in Barneveld. The fruit orchards in the Betuwe. The invention of herring preservation. Coal mines in southern Limburg. … [Read more...]
Dutch Genealogy News for March 2025
28 March 2025 by Leave a Comment
This is an overview of the new sources, websites, and other news of the past month. Sources Birth, marriage, and deaath records of Avereest and birth records of Bathmen have been digitized and indexed. They are available via Open Archieven. Notarial records of Haarlem and the regions Kennemerland and Amstel- en Meerlanden in North Holland for 1811-1925 have been automatically transcribed. They are now full-text searchable. The orphanage registers of Bolsward 1660-1925 have been … [Read more...]
Quick Tip – Video about New Amsterdam
19 March 2025 by Leave a Comment
The YouTube channel Defragged History just published the first episode of a series about Uncovering the Fascinating History of New Amsterdam: New York's Origin Story. The video, which is 70 minutes long, gives the historical context, including about the West India Company, Eighty Years' War, the Dutch Reformed Church, the Pilgrims, and many other topics that are relevant to understanding New Netherland history. I am impressed by the depth of the analysis, the beautiful images, and the humorous … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Groningen, 1895
17 March 2025 by 1 Comment
This week, we are looking at a map of the city of Groningen from 1895. The map shows the streets in the center, the cemetery outside the wawlls, and the surrounding countryside. An inset map displays the changes between 1863 and 1888, when the city walls were demolished and new streets created on the southside of the city. Groningen was one of many places in the Netherlands where the old fortifications and town walls were demolished in the second half of the nineteenth century. Improvements … [Read more...]
New Additions To My Library
14 March 2025 by Leave a Comment
A large library gives a genealogist or historian strategic depth. It is where we can retreat to increase our understanding and sharpen our arguments. I have been doing genealogy since 1991 and have collected a large library, spread across the four floors of our house. Some items are directly related to genealogy, such as genealogical journals and publications, or research guides. I also have many books about history, including local history of places in the Netherlands and Dutch colonies or … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Limburg, 1659
10 March 2025 by Leave a Comment
In 1659, the famous mapmaker Joan Blaeu published his world atlas Tooneel des Aardrycks [Display of the Realm of Earth]. The archives in Leiden have made their atlas available online. This week we are looking at Blaeu's map of the Duchy of Limburg. In the east, we can see the river Meuse [Maas in Dutch, "Mosa Fluvius" on the map] connecting the cities of Maastricht ("Maestricht") and Luik ("Luyck vel Liege"). Limburg is in the higher part of the Netherlands, so we see more woods and hills, … [Read more...]
New Netherland Ancestors Seminar
7 March 2025 by Leave a Comment
The New York Genealogical & Biographical Society is hosting a one-day virtual seminar about New Netherland ancestors on 2 May 2025. John Blythe Dobson will share how to discover New Netherland settlers in published sources, and how we are developing sketches fo rthe New Netherland Settlers project. I will be giving presentations about tracing New Netherland Ancestors in the Netherlands and researching enslaved and native people in and around New Netherland. For details, fees, and … [Read more...]
