FamilySearch features a helpful video where Fritz Juengling explains how to use the website WieWasWie (Who Was Who) for researching your ancestors in the Netherlands. Go to the video … [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.
Quick tip – Compare to the neighbors
11 August 2021 by Leave a Comment
To understand your ancestors, you need to study them in their context. One way to do that is to compare your ancestors to their neighbors to get some idea of their place in the community. Here are some research questions that may help you get to know your ancestors: Did your ancestors own their home? Did most people in the community rent or own? How much did your ancestors pay in taxes? How much did other people in the neighborhood pay? How old were your ancestors when they … [Read more...]
Dutch Genealogy News for July 2021
6 August 2021 by Leave a Comment
Here is an overview of all the new online sources, projects, and other news that was announced last month. Sources German marriage records of Dutch people are now available via WieWasWie. About 40% of these abstracts date from World War II, the rest are older. The Netherlands Institute for Military History published a database with 22,500 personal files of Dutch prisoners of War during World War II. Some of them include photos. The residence cards of Buren, Beusichem and Soelen have … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Open Journals
4 August 2021 by Leave a Comment
If you are interested in reading about Dutch history, check out the website Open Journals. It provides open access to several journals, including: BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review Early Modern Low Countries Historical Life Course Studies The Rijksmuseum Bulletin TSEG - The Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History Articles in these journals are in various languages, many in English. … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Check the finding aid or catalog for scans
28 July 2021 by 2 Comments
When you are searching for your ancestors, it's tempting to stick to searching for their name in an online index. But only a small fraction of records have been indexed. A larger part is available online as images that have not been indexed yet. These images are often available via the catalog or finding aids on the website of archives. Look for terms like inventarissen or archieven. In some cases, the records have not been scanned yet, but the catalog or finding aid has a button to order … [Read more...]
Seven ways to find sources on FamilySearch
23 July 2021 by 2 Comments
FamilySearch is a vast website with genealogical information, including many sources for research in the Netherlands. FamilySearch is a free genealogy website, and requires a free registration. Many people are familiar with the website, but don't realize all the different ways you can find information there. Here are my seven favorite ways to find sources on FamilySearch. Search records You can search records by name. This will find records that have been indexed, which includes many … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Beware of chapter 1
14 July 2021 by 1 Comment
If you're lucky, your literature research may reveal a book published about your family done by genealogists in the past. Writing such books was popular in the nineteenth century, especially for prominent families, or descendants of early settlers of a colony, for example. Several such books exist for New Netherland settlers. In many of these early books, chapter 1 is where the author tries to sketch the early history of the family. This is where you find claims of royal descent, of … [Read more...]
Dutch Genealogy News for June 2021
9 July 2021 by Leave a Comment
This is an overview of new sources, projects, and other news that was announced last month. Sources Village records from Berkel, Enschot and Heukelom (1579-1813), Hilvarenbeek (1392-1810) and Oisterwijk (1390-1814) have been digitized. Scans can be found in the finding aids at the Regionaal Archief Tilburg website (links in blogpost). Cadastral records from Limburg since 1842 are available via Aezel. Scans of manumission records from Curacao are now available via the finding aid of … [Read more...]
Best Websites for Old Maps of the Netherlands
2 July 2021 by 2 Comments
I love old maps. They give a snapshot of what the area looked like where my ancestor lived and are great illustrations for publications about my ancestors. Here are some of my favorite places to find old maps. City Atlas of Braun and Hogenberg, 1572 The City Atlas of Braun and Hogenberg covers cities in all of Europe. The 1572 atlas is available via the Utrecht University Library website. Blaeu atlas 1649 The Blaeu atlas from 1649 has maps of each region in the … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Use & in Open Archives
23 June 2021 by Leave a Comment
If you are using Open Archives for your research, try searching for two persons at once by using the & operator. Example: Hendrik Hoitink and Johanna Piek Let's say I am looking for my ancestors Hendrik Hoitink and Johanna Piek. Searching for Hendrik Hoitink gives me 404 results. Searching for Johanna Piek gives me 1,456 results. That's a lot of results to wade through! Most of them will be irrelevant. However, if I search for Hendrik Hoitink & Johanna Piek, I get just 49 … [Read more...]
