If your ancestors left the Netherlands to move to a different country, you may be wondering when they left. Here are eight strategies and sources to find out their emigration date. 1. Passenger lists Perhaps the passenger list that documented their journey has survived. These can typically be found in the place of arrival. An example are the New York Passenger Lists at Castle Garden, 1820-1891 (FamilySearch). 2. Passage fees records Sometimes, the shipping company kept a separate set of … [Read more...]
About this website
Creating a website like this is a fun activity. There are so many options, so many choices. What do visitors want? What do I want? In this blog I will describe some of the things I encounter in developing and maintaining this website.
Map of the week – Vlissingen, 1750
12 May 2025 by Leave a Comment
This week we are looking at a map of Vlissingen (Flushing) in Zeeland in 1750. The map is part of a series of topographical maps created by Anthonie and David Willem Coutry Hattinga. The Austrian War of Succession (1740-1748), during which the French invaded the southern Netherlands, created a demand for accurate maps of the border area. The Hattinga brothers received a commission to survey the province of Zeeland. The map shows the fortified harbor town of Vlissingen on the island of … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Doetinchem Destruction in World War II
5 May 2025 by Leave a Comment
This week we are looking at a map of Doetinchem, created between 1946 and 1961. It shows the damage to buildings during World War II. The map was created to inform the plans to rebuild the town center. Red: destroyed Blue: heavy damage Yellow: light damage. Doetinchem was one of several towns in the Netherlands that was bombed during the war. Doetinchem was targeted by allied bombs three times: on 19, 21, and 23 March 1945. 120 buildings in the center were destroyed, and 170 … [Read more...]
Dutch Genealogy News for April 2025
30 April 2025 by Leave a Comment
Here is an overview of all the new sources, websites, and news from archives that came out in the past month. Sources Death Duties Files of Brabant 1903-1927 have been digitized and indexed and can be searched at the Brabants Historisch Informatie Centrum website. Catholic baptisms, marriages, and burials, and marriage duties registers of Hoorn have been indexed and are now available via the West-Fries Archief. Leiden police reports from World War II (1940-1945) can now be consulted … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Eminent Domain for The Hague, 1913
28 April 2025 by Leave a Comment
This map shows the plans for a new railroad connection for the municipal slaughterhouse in The Hague in 1913. To build the new railroad, several pieces of land had to be acquired by the government via eminent domain. The land in question is marked in brown, future developments of the area in salmon pink, the existing waterways are in light green, and the new waterways in teal. If your ancestors owned land and were dispossessed by the government, this could have left interesting records. You … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Graves in Wons, 1831
21 April 2025 by 1 Comment
This week we are looking at a rare type of map, showing the graves in the churchyard of Wons in 1831. Wons is a small village in the west of the province of Friesland. This map was probably created as a result of the 1829 law forbidding burials in churches or the built-up area of a town. The law required each town with a population over 1000 to designate a cemetery outside the town proper. The map shows the locations of the graves around the church, and gives a list of names of owners of … [Read more...]
12 ways to use tax records to prove relationships
18 April 2025 by Leave a Comment
If people needed it or enjoyed it, there probably was a tax on it. Here are twelve ways I have used tax records to prove relationships between people. 1. Time of death Some taxes were registered every year. I have used real estate tax records that list when the previous owner died. In places without burial registers, this can help to rule that person in or out as a prospective parent. For example, if a marriage record mentioned that the parents were deceased, but the tax records show a … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Shooting of Tonis Willinck, circa 1590
7 April 2025 by Leave a Comment
This week we are looking at a map that is directly related to my own family tree. It depicts the shooting of my ancestor Tonis Willinck at the border between Winterswijk and Münster. The map dates from around 1590-1595. This is one of several maps in the collection of the Landesarchiv Nordrhein Westfalen, Germany, just across the border from Winterswijk, that depict the border between Gelderland and Münster. The border ran through a swampy area and was not well-defined in the Middle Ages. … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Famous Events in the Netherlands
1 April 2025 by Leave a Comment
For April Fools' Day, let's look at a whimsical map. This map of the Netherlands, created in 1930, shows various historical and (then) current events. Highlights include: The light bulb factory in Eindhoven, representing Philips. The reclamation of land in the Zuiderzee. The prison in Veenhuizen. Jan van Schaffelaar jumping from the tower in Barneveld. The fruit orchards in the Betuwe. The invention of herring preservation. Coal mines in southern Limburg. … [Read more...]
Dutch Genealogy News for March 2025
28 March 2025 by Leave a Comment
This is an overview of the new sources, websites, and other news of the past month. Sources Birth, marriage, and deaath records of Avereest and birth records of Bathmen have been digitized and indexed. They are available via Open Archieven. Notarial records of Haarlem and the regions Kennemerland and Amstel- en Meerlanden in North Holland for 1811-1925 have been automatically transcribed. They are now full-text searchable. The orphanage registers of Bolsward 1660-1925 have been … [Read more...]
