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Looking for your ancestors from the Netherlands? Yvette Hoitink is a professional genealogist in the Netherlands who does research throughout the country. Read about our services, fees, and example projects or read testimonials by clients like you.

If you want to learn more about researching Dutch ancestors, make sure to read the blog.

Featured article

Map of the Week – Children not in School, 1887

This week we are looking at a thematic map from 1887. It shows the percentage of children between the ages of 6 and 12 who were not in primary school. The statistics were shown per municipality. The darkest blue color represents areas where more than 30% of children did not go to school.  A zoomable […]

Featured article

surveyor measuring land

How to Convert Old Dutch Weights and Measures

In the Netherlands, the metric system was introduced in 1816. Before that time, different areas used different weights and measures. Not only did they use different terms, but the amount indicated by the term could differ from one place to the next. The Meertens Instituut website has an overview of all the different measures in […]

Map of the Week – Roermond after city fire, 1671

This week’s map is a drawing of the city of Roermond in 1671. It shows the effects of the city fire of 31 May 1665. The houses with the blue roofs were spared, the ones with the red roofs had been destroyed and rebuilt. Fires were a constant threat to our ancestors. In the seventeenth […]

Featured article

Map of Overijssel

Map of the Week – Overijssel, 1659

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 his map of Overijssel. It shows the IJssel river on the west, which connected the to the North Sea […]

Dutch Genealogy News for July 2024

Here is an overview of the new sources, projects, and other news announced in the past month. Sources The Staten van Oorlog [War Rosters] 1595-1795 are now available via the Brabants Historisch Informatie Centrum. These rosters include information about various people who held important positions in the Dutch army, such as officers who led companies, […]

Tip of the week

two boys showing blackboards with their names

Quick tip – Identity is more than a name

Identity is more than a name. Just because two records show the same name, does not mean they are for the same person. The reverse is true too. Just because two records show a different name, does not mean they are for different persons. People could use different names throughout their lifetime. Some examples: Some […]

Term of the week

Dutch term – Gaarder

A gaarder is a collector, typically of taxes or tariffs. You may come across the term doing research in the province of Holland between 1695 and 1806, when a special tax (“impost”) was levied on marriages and burials. The duties that had to be paid depended on the economic circumstances of the bridal couple or […]