Quick tip: Use Zoekakten.nl to find Dutch records on Familysearch

UPDATE: Zoekakten no longer works. See Free alternatives for Zoekakten. Zoekakten.nl is a new website that took over from the popular service Genver.nl. Zoekakten (literally: search records) provides you direct links to record sets of Dutch sources in Familysearch, such as birth, marriage and death records of the civil registration, population registers and baptismal, marriage and burial records from churches before 1811. To find a record, follow these steps: Select the two-letter … [Read more...]

Looking for census records in the Netherlands?

In many countries, census records are a popular source for genealogical research. In the Netherlands, we use population registers or civil registration records instead. After the census of 1849, the government decided to keep the information up to date. These records are called population registers and show where a family lived in a certain period. Because the registers cover a longer period (usually 10 years), you can see who moved in or out, or who was born or died, which makes them much … [Read more...]

Ask Yvette: how to find my grandparents’ birth records

In response to an article about different types of archives, Larry Joosse wrote: Looking for birth records for Anthonie de Wijze born March 2, 1886 in Zand, and Catharina Johanna vanKeulen born on July 16, 1888. they are my mother’s parents. I thought I would respond in the form of a blog post and show you all the different steps that I take to find the answer. The methods I use to answer this question may also be helpful in finding your own ancestors. Step 1: assess the information Whenever … [Read more...]

Quick tip: Use Genver to find Dutch records on Familysearch

UPDATE 11 June 2014: The website Genver.nl has been discontinued, the service to find records is now available at Geneal-IX.  Familysearch.org has a tremendous amount of digitized records from the Netherlands: Church records Civil registration records (births, marriages, deaths) Census records and population registers Not all records are available for all towns and finding out exactly what is available can be cumbersome if you just use the Familysearch website. … [Read more...]