Utrecht is a province in the middle of the Netherlands. It borders on Gelderland in the east, Gelderland and Zuid-Holland in the south, Zuid-Holland and Noord-Holland in the west and Noord-Holland and Flevoland in the north.

The capital city of Utrecht is called Utrecht as well. Other larger towns are:

• Amersfoort
• Zeist
• Soest
• Nieuwegein

Genealogy in Utrecht

There were no particular naming traditions in Utrecht that researchers have to take into account. People used regular last names long before the introduction of the civil registration.

Many records of the province of Utrecht are kept by the Utrechts Archief. Most of the marriage records of the civil registration from Utrecht can be found in Genlias.

Emigration from Utrecht

People in Utrecht were relatively well-to-do so the province wasn't particularly struck by any of the big emigration waves. There were quite a few entrepreneurs in the province, so there have been people who emigrated to newly founded colonies or tradeposts all over the world. In the middle of the 19th century, Utrecht members of the seceder church settled in Pella, Iowa.

Online images

There are some online resources for images of Utrecht:

• Image database Utrecht 1600-present. Fill in the name of the town or person you're looking for in 'Trefwoorden' (keywords) and press 'Zoeken' (search).
• Image database Utrecht 1970-present. Type the name of the town you're looking for in 'Plaatsnaam'.
• Utrecht legal documents 1560-1811. Type in the last name of the person you're looking for in 'Achternaam' and/or type the name of the town in 'woonplaats'.
• Utrecht provincial atlas 1865-1870. This atlas contains a map of the entire province as well as maps of all the municipalities.

Map of Utrecht

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.

Have you ever wondered why first names seem to run in Dutch families for generations? In the Netherlands, people used to name their children after family members. This way, first names can stay in the family for centuries.

The best known example of naming children is when a child is named after it's grandparent. But other forms of naming are possible too.

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.

Zuid-Holland is a province in the west of the Netherlands. It borders on Utrecht and Gelderland in the east, Noord-Brabant and Zeeland in the south, the North Sea in the west and Noord-Holland in the north.

The capital city of Zuid-Holland is The Hague (In Dutch Den Haag or 's-Gravenhage). Other large towns are:

• Rotterdam
• Leiden
• Dordrecht
• Gouda
• Delft

After World War II was over, many people wanted to start a new life across the ocean. Five years of war had destroyed the Dutch economy, and it would take years to recover. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, many Dutch people emigrated to Australia, Canada and the United States.