A ploeg (plural: ploegen) is a plow. Ploegen is also the verb "to plow." Plowing was typically done in the spring. You may come across the noun in estate inventories of farmers. … [Read more...]
Map of the Week: Brielle circa 1566
1 April 2024 by 3 Comments
Around 1566, Jacobus van Deventer was charged by the King of Spain and ruler of the Habsburg empire that included the Netherlands to create maps of all the major cities in the country. This was shortly before the outbreak of the Eighty Years War, which started when several noblemen abjured the King as their overlord to form the independent Republic of the United Netherlands. Maps of Jacobus van Deventer can be found in collections of different archives in the Netherlands and Spain. Among the … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Who was your ancestor the guardian for?
27 March 2024 by Leave a Comment
I have written before about using guardianship records for genealogical research. Most often, we use these records to find out who became the guardian over minor children after our ancestors died. Less often, we will check those records to see for whom our ancestors were guardians. Since guardians were often close relatives, this can be a clue about the ancestor's family. If guardianships are indexed, that is usually by the (deceaded) parents only, not by guardian, so this may require turning … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Municipality Nederweert, 1866
25 March 2024 by 1 Comment
Between 1865-1868, Jacob Kuyper published a series of atlases with municipal maps. These show the location of all the hamlets, villages, and larger towns in the municipality, as well as the main roads and railroads. The Kuyper maps are often available at the websites of archives or via Wikimedia Commons. Here is an example of such a map, showing Nederweert in the province of Limburg in 1866. You can see the village itself was small, and crossed by two canals. The railroad ran through the … [Read more...]
Was Eleanor of Aquitaine my Ancestor? Generation 27 – Marie of Champagne
22 March 2024 by 3 Comments
This is the twenty-eighth post in a series about my possible line of descent from Eleanor of Aquitaine. In the first post, I explained how I discovered the possible line, and how I am going to verify it one generation at a time. In the last post, I proved that my twenty-third great-grandmother Margaret, countess of Flanders, was the daughter of Marie of Champagne, countess of Flanders. Biography Marie of Champagne was born in the spring of 1171 as the second daughter of Henry, count of … [Read more...]
Map of the Week: Gouda in 1649
18 March 2024 by Leave a Comment
In 1649, one of the most famous mapmakers in the Netherlands, Joan Blaeu published his atlas Tooneel der Steden [approx: Display of Cities]. This map shows Gouda, famous for its cheese market. The entire atlas is online at the Universiteit Utrecht. … [Read more...]
Dutch term – Belending
13 March 2024 by Leave a Comment
Belending means abutting or adjoining. You may come across the term in notarial or court records involving properties. The belendende percelen are the abutting properties, that share a property boundary with the property that is being discussed. Many Dutch land records before the introduction of the Cadaster in 1832 identify the location of properties in terms of its neighbors, sometimes with cardinal directions, but often just in terms of "in between the houses of so-and-so." Sometimes, the … [Read more...]
Map of the Week: Minute Map of Bredevoort, 1832
11 March 2024 by 1 Comment
When the cadastral administration was introduced in 1832, maps were made of the entire country. Each municipality was divided into sections. All the plots in a section were mapped in one or more sheets. The map we see today is for Bredevoort, a fortified town in Gelderland. You can find the minute maps for the whole country at the Cultural Heritage Service website or you can read more about cadastral overview maps and minute maps. … [Read more...]
Dutch Genealogy News for March 2024
8 March 2024 by Leave a Comment
Here are the new sources, websites, projects and other news announced in the past month. Sources Many of the court records of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen 1447-1796 have been scanned and can be consulted via the finding aid. Many Zeeland church records 1527-1810 have been scanned and can be consulted via the finding aid. The recess books (general series) of the court of Wijmbritseradeel (1591-1594, 1604-1608) have been added to Alle Friezen. Abstracts of court and notarial records of … [Read more...]
Map of the Week: Friesland in 1718
4 March 2024 by Leave a Comment
This week, we are looking at a map of Friesland from 1718. In 1682, Bernardus Schotanus à Sterringa was hired to create maps of all the municipalities in Friesland. A second improved version of this series was compiled by François Halma. He added an overview map that showed all the municipalities, shown below. You can consult the maps of individual municipalities on the website Friesland op de Kaart. … [Read more...]
