Marriage records are a part of the civil registration. Marriage records contain the following information:

• Name, age, profession and place of birth and residence of the bride and groom
• Names of their parents, and if they are still alive their professions and place of residence
• If any: names of previous spouses (either divorced or deceased)
• Name, age, profession and place of residence for 4 witnesses

Marriage records are written on the day of the marriage. Since the introduction of the civil registration, church marriages were not legally binding. Religious people typically married twice: once for the church and once for the law. This doesn't even have to be on the same day, some people marry for the church months are years after they get married for the law. The only legal marriage is the one before the civil registration.

Marriage appendices

Before a couple can get married, they had to turn over many different documents:

• Birth certificates for bride and groom
• Death certificates for any deceased parents. In the early days of the civil registration death certificates of the grandparents were required as well if both parents were dead.
• Death certificates for deceased previous spouses.
• If parents were absent: Document of their consent.
• Certificate to proove the groom fulfilled his military duties. This document often includes a physical description.
• In case of poor people: a declaration of poverty, which meant they didn't have to pay the legal fees.

These documents were stored as well. They are called 'marriage appendices' (huwelijksbijlagen).

Example

Example of a marriage record

Where to find

Marriage records and the appendices are public after 75 years. The marriage records can be found at both the provincial archives and local archives. The appendices are not duplicated and can only be found at the provincial archives.

All of the provincial archives are working on making their public marriage records available online in the website Genlias.

Last week, my friend Mary Risseeuw from Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin and I gave a presentation at the International Congress for genealogical and heraldic Sciences in Maastricht. The title was "We're all fresh and healthy. Emigration from the Netherlands to the United States in the 19th century. The slides are now available online.

I've just added a Dutch genealogy store to the site. In this store, visitors can buy books, DVDs and prints about Dutch genealogy, history and culture. I've selected publications that I think would benefit somebody researching his Dutch roots. The store is powered by Amazon. This website receives a commission for all sales, enabling this website to remain free.

Different regions in the Netherlands have different customs. This applies to Dutch surnames as well as to many other traditions. Some areas use suffixes that are typical of that region.

Knowing about the suffixes in Dutch family names can help you in trying to find out in which province to look for your ancestors. More information about regional customs can also be found in the articles about the different provinces in the Geography section.

Personal information cards were used from 1938 to keep track of who lived where. It is a part of the population registration.

Personal index cards are a great source of information for recent research because they cover the period from 1938 onwards. Copies of personal index cards of deceased people can be ordered for a fee.

Groningen is a province in the North-East of the Netherlands. On the east it borders on Germany, on the west on Friesland, on the south on Drenthe and on the north on the North Sea.

The capital of Groningen is also called Groningen, sometimes called Groningen stad (Groningen city) to make the distinction clear.

The largest towns in Groningen are:

• Groningen
• Hoogezand-Sappemeer
• Veendam
• Winschoten
• Delfzijl

The first larger emigration wave from the Netherlands took place in the seventeenth century. A new colony was established in the Americas, which was called the New Netherlands. After a rough start, this colony attracted emigrants from all over Europe.