Here is an overview of the new sources, websites, and projects that were announced last month. Sources Arjan Buikstra is indexing records of crew members who sailed for the Rotterdam Admiralty (1763-1795). The indexed can be searched on his website. The West-Brabants Archief digitized records relating to the madder industry. Madder was a plant root that was used as red dye. See the announcement for links to the finding aids with the images. The Zeeuws Archief digitized the records 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.
Quick tip – Do online research first
1 March 2023 by Leave a Comment
If you are planning a trip to the Netherlands, do not assume you can do on-site research. Many of the most popular genealogical records can now be found online, as explained in this article. Archives typically no longer allow you to consult records that have been put online. … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Handbook of dates
15 February 2023 by 1 Comment
In the course of my Family and Local History studies at the University of Dundee, I purchased a recommended book: C.R. Cheney, ed., A Handbook of Dates for Students of British History, revised (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004). While the title indicates it is meant for students of British history, most of the content is usable in the Netherlands too. Some of the topics I find especially useful for research in the Netherlands are: French Republican calendar, with the names of … [Read more...]
Dutch Genealogy News for January 2023
10 February 2023 by 1 Comment
This is an overview of the new sources, websites, projects and other news that was announced last month. Sources Birth, marriage, and death records of the country of Suriname have been scanned. They can be consulted on the National Archives of Suriname website. The civil registration only includes free people. Slavery was abolished in Suriname in 1863 so from then on, the registration includes the entire population. Notarial records of Delft have been scanned and partially indexed. They … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Search finding aids as well as indexes
1 February 2023 by Leave a Comment
Archives have different types of information on their website. The genealogical indexes are often found in a different section than the finding aids with the archival descriptions or catalogs. These descripts are often quite generic and describe whole series, like minutes of court records, incoming correspondence, or tax records. If you are lucky, the archival descriptions in the finding aids will also include names of people. Some archivists have made the effort to add the names of parties to … [Read more...]
Five Ways to Identify Old Places Names in the Netherlands
27 January 2023 by Leave a Comment
When you come across a place of origin in a records, you may not be able to find that town on a modern map. Spellings and names changed. Here are five strategies to find out what place is meant. 1: Check contemporary maps You can look at a map from the period, like in the world atlas by Blaeu from 1665. This shows you the names the towns had in the 1600s. Many people did not move that far so I start by looking at a map of the area where the record was created that mentioned the town. I widen … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Read between the lines
18 January 2023 by 2 Comments
I am having fun with an 1827 inventory of the assets belonging to an ancestor. I love reading between the lines to see what the items tell us about my ancestor. Here are some things I noticed. He owned multiple plots of land, had different crops in the field, and had several types of grain stored. Agriculture was likely his main source of income. He owned three cows, one calf, no bulls. Three cows is not enough to live off, so they were probably for their personal use and for the manure … [Read more...]
Level up challenge – 2023 progress report
13 January 2023 by 1 Comment
Two years ago, I issued my level-up challenge. I wanted to take my research to a higher level by gathering more complete information and documentation about my ancestors. See the original blog post for an overview of the levels. In this blog post, I will reflect on my progress in the past year. My goal for 2022 was to get my generation 1-6 ancestors to level 3 or higher. Progress Here's my starting point in 2021: Situation in 2022: Situation now in 2023: Some of these … [Read more...]
Quick tip – No courthouse research in the Netherlands
11 January 2023 by Leave a Comment
In the Netherlands, we do not do any of our research in courthouses. If you are an American genealogist, you may be used to visiting the courthouse to get court records. In the Netherlands, such records are transferred to government archives after twenty years. They are typically public after seventy-five years. They are increasingly available online, either as scanned images or via scanning-on-demand. Otherwise, the records can be consulted at the archives in person. Access to court … [Read more...]
Dutch Genealogy News for December 2022
6 January 2023 by Leave a Comment
Here is an overview of the new sources, websites, and projects that were announced last month. Sources Scans and indexes of population registers of Bolsward, Hemelumer Oldeferd en Noordwolde, IJlst, Sneek, Stavoren, Wymbritseradeel, Wonseradeel, and Workum in Friesland 1850-1922 have been added to AlleFriezen. This adds over 750,000 names to the database. More than 350 volunteers helped to index the records. See the article about population registers to read more about this source. … [Read more...]
