One question that pops up regularly in conversations is how far back we can trace our Dutch ancestors. Here's a rough overview that will apply to most people. Research in the 1900s and 2000s is difficult because of privacy restrictions. You will need permission or proof of death to access records of people born less than 100 years ago. Since 1811, the entire population has been recorded in the civil registration. Anybody who died in the Netherlands after 1811 should be in it. Using the civil … [Read more...]
Dutch term – Zondag
4 November 2018 by Leave a Comment
Zondag is the Dutch word for Sunday. During the oil crisis in 1973, there were autoloze zondagen [carless Sundays] where no cars were allowed to drive to conserve energy. … [Read more...]
Dutch Genealogy News for October 2018
2 November 2018 by Leave a Comment
Here is an overview of the new sources, projects, and news about archives that were announced last month. Online sources Scans of the aldermen's court of Gilze and Rijen in Noord-Brabant (1602-1811) are available online at the Regionaal Archief Tilburg website. The records of Willem Kolff, the inventor of the artificial kidney, have been scanned by the Kampen City Archives, where the records are kept. The collection can be consulted via Archieven.nl. Several transcriptions of tax and … [Read more...]
Quick Tip – Names are Different in Latin
31 October 2018 by 1 Comment
If your family was Roman Catholic, their church records will be in Latin. These records used the Latin version of names. Since Dutch search engines only find exact matches, you will need to search for these Latin names or use wildcards. For example, my ancestor Jan Smulders appeared in Catholic records as Joannes. His father Hendrik is called Henricus in Latin. Searching for "Jan Smulders" would not have found his baptismal record, but J* Smulders would have. Even initials can change though; … [Read more...]
Quick tip : Upload your DNA to MyHeritage. Now!
24 October 2018 by Leave a Comment
MyHeritage allows you to upload your autosomal DNA results from other companies. This is a currently a free service, but after 1 December 2018, advanced features will be paid. If you upload now, these services will remain free. Upload your DNA now! If you upload after 1 December 2018, you will still see your matches but you won't be able to use the chromosome browser or see ethnicity predictions. The chromosome browser is particularly useful since you can then see if multiple people match … [Read more...]
Dutch term – Concordans
22 October 2018 by 1 Comment
A concordans is a translation table that gives you a mapping of a former numbering system to a newer numbering system. For example, a concordans may exist to show how old addresses translate to new addresses. I used such a table in my research into my great-grandmother Cornelia Francisca van den Heuvel to show that address C 453 in Breda was the same as Leuvenaarstraat 158. It is rare to find such translation tables for addresses, so I got lucky. Concordansen are sometimes provided in … [Read more...]
Was Eleanor of Aquitaine my Ancestor? Generation 11 – Jenneken Laureijs Denis Peeters
19 October 2018 by 2 Comments
This is the twelfth 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 seventh great-grandmother Petronella van Vlijmen was the daughter of Hugo Dirck Huijgen and Jenneken Laureijs Denis Peeters. Jenneken Laureijs Denis Peeters, daughter of Laureijs Denis Peeters The research to prove the parents of Petronella … [Read more...]
Dutch term – Chirurgijn
15 October 2018 by Leave a Comment
A chirurgijn is a barber or surgeon. In most towns most of the minor ailments were treated by a chirurgijn rather than a doctor with an academic educations. Chirurgijns learned their trade as apprentices. Larger cities had chirurgijnsgildes or surgeon guilds, that regulated entry to the trade and oversaw apprenticeships and master exams. Treatments provided by chirurgijns included blood letting, treatments of sores and skin conditions, and setting broken bones. They were also barbers who … [Read more...]
Ask Yvette – Where Can I Find Records For St. Eustatius?
12 October 2018 by 5 Comments
Over the past months, two readers have asked me where to find records for St. Eustatius, an island in the Caribbean. Since more people may have the same question, I thought I'd turn it into an article. St. Eustatius is a special municipality in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The former Dutch colony is part of the Netherlands Antilles. If you have ancestors from St. Eustatius, here is an overview of the available records. An index to the civil registration birth, marriage, and death … [Read more...]
Quick Tip – Unexpected Nicknames
10 October 2018 by 11 Comments
My grandmother's official name was Catharina Flooren, but she was known as "Toos." That's a common derivative of Catharina, which came about via Catharina > Cato > Toos. Other examples of nicknames that might seem surprising are Mees for Bartholomeus, Elen for Aleida, and Nel for Petronella or Cornelia. Especially before the introduction of the civil registration, you can find people in records under different variations of their names. To find out other forms of a name, you can … [Read more...]
