A wijk is a part of town: a district or neighborhood. Before the introduction of modern addresses, many houses were identified using their Wijk and housenumber only. You will see that your ancestor died in Wijk B number 298, for example. Maps from that period may show you where the Wijken were, but they will rarely show you the location of individual houses. … [Read more...]
The next battleground for commercial genealogy: The Netherlands?
15 November 2014 by 4 Comments
[Dutch translation below / Zie onderaan voor Nederlandse vertaling] My Heritage just announced a strategic partnership with two major players in the Dutch Genealogy community: Aldfaer and Coret Genealogie. Aldfaer is Windows software to manage your family tree that is available as freeware. Coret Genealogie provides several online services dedicated to Dutch genealogy including Stamboom Forum [Genealogy Forum] and Genealogie Online [Genealogy Online] for online publication of trees. … [Read more...]
First Dutch Director of Association of Professional Genealogists
14 November 2014 by 11 Comments
I am so honored to announce that I have been elected as a Director of the Association of Professional Genealogists. I will join the Board of Directors in January and will serve a two-year term. It is quite astonishing to think how many people voted for me, since I only joined APG two years ago. I have since had the pleasure of meeting several other members in London and Glasgow, when I attended Who Do You Think You Are? Live! and have been active in the mailing list. I have also consulted … [Read more...]
Quick tip – List of Newspaper Archives
12 November 2014 by 2 Comments
Eric Hennekam has compiled a list of online archives of Dutch newspapers. The list and most of the website he refers to are in Dutch, and so are the newspapers themselves, but this will give you some idea of the range of information out there. The European Library is also working on a portal to provide central access to Europe's historical newspapers. A preview is available now. This website has an English interface, although the underlying newspapers will still be in Dutch. … [Read more...]
Dutch term – Kwartierverlies
10 November 2014 by 2 Comments
The term kwartierverlies literally means 'loss of quarters,' where 'quarters' refer to a person's ancestors. The usual English translation is 'pedigree collapse.' Kwartierverlies occurs when the parents of a child are related to each other, so the same ancestors occur in multiple places in the child's pedigree chart. An example of pedigree collapse is the Roerdink family from Winterswijk, where first cousin marriages happened multiple times. Read more about the Roerdink example of pedigree … [Read more...]
Time machine – I think we can do it!
7 November 2014 by 2 Comments
I've wanted to use a time machine ever since I read Thea Beckman's Crusade in Jeans when I was ten. In the book, a modern boy is sent back to the Middle Ages and ends up in the children's crusade where he uses his knowledge of modern medicine, science and geography to help them. Like Dolf in the book, I would love to travel through time and see how my ancestors lived. I think I've found a way to do it without tearing the space-time continuum. Unlike most plans for time travel, my idea doesn't … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Dutch immigrants kept great records
5 November 2014 by Leave a Comment
The other day, my friend Mary and I were talking about Dutch immigrants to Wisconsin. She explained that in Wisconsin, registration of births, marriages and deaths wasn't mandated until 1907. Dutch immigrants had been used to civil registration since 1811. Unlike many of their new neighbors, they were used to having their vital events recorded and continued to do so after emigration. It is not uncommon to find a marriage record for a Dutch couple in Wisconsin in the 1850s or 1860s, fifty years … [Read more...]
Dutch term – Slachtmaand
3 November 2014 by Leave a Comment
Slachtmaand literally means "slaughter month" and is the old word for November. … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Don’t trust the archivist! (at least: not blindly)
31 October 2014 by Leave a Comment
Earlier this year, I emailed an archivist in Germany to ask about the sources that might be available for my 18th century ancestor. The archive is 2.5 hours from where I live, so I didn't want to drive there for nothing. Unfortunately, the archivist informed me that the town hall had been bombed in World War II, destroying all the old records. For the village and period I was searching, no records were left. I was sorry to hear that as I am writing an article about these people and want to … [Read more...]
My Great-Aunt’s Polish Lover
29 October 2014 by 1 Comment
Seventy years ago today, on 29 October 1944, the city of Breda in the Netherlands was liberated by the Polish Panzer Division. For the people of Breda, World War II had come to an end. Everybody was celebrating and girls flocked around the tanks to thank the brave men who had freed them from the Nazis. One of them was my great-aunt, Riet Flooren. Riet was a 21-year-old fun-loving girl who was always the life of the party. She fell head over heels in love with a Polish soldier named Jan … [Read more...]
