Dutch term – wijlen

Grave of Gerrit Jan Droppers (1845-1925)

Grave of Gerrit Jan Droppers (1845-1925)

The term wijlen means ‘the late,’ or ‘deceased.’ You will often encounter the term in marriage records or death records, where one or both parents are deceased. The record might say “zoon van wijlen…” [son of the late…] or “dochter van wijlen…” [daughter of the late…].

Sometimes, the word is abbreviated to ‘w’ and you will see svw or zvw [soon/zoon van wijlen: son of the late] or dvw [dochter van wijlen: daughter of the late]. These abbreviations are most commonly found in church records.

About Yvette Hoitink

Yvette Hoitink, CG®, QG™ is a professional genealogist in the Netherlands. She holds the Certified Genealogist credential from the Board for Certification of Genealogists and has a post-graduate diploma in Family and Local History from the University of Dundee. She has been doing genealogy for over 30 years and helps people from across the world find their ancestors in the Netherlands. Read about Yvette's professional genealogy services.

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