The YouTube channel Defragged History just published the first episode of a series about Uncovering the Fascinating History of New Amsterdam: New York's Origin Story. The video, which is 70 minutes long, gives the historical context, including about the West India Company, Eighty Years' War, the Dutch Reformed Church, the Pilgrims, and many other topics that are relevant to understanding New Netherland history. I am impressed by the depth of the analysis, the beautiful images, and the humorous … [Read more...]
Quick Tip- The Best Of Times, The Worst Of Times
When researching ancestors we did not know personally, we rarely see them on an average day. We may see them at the best of times: when they get married, when they have a child, or when they receive a medal. Or we may see them at the worst of times: when they lose a child, when they go bankrupt, or are prosecuted for a crime. Average days typically do not create many records. If we are lucky, we might find a witness statement where they were going about their normal work when something … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Look at laws and ordinances
Looking at laws and local ordinances can help us understand the information in records we find. These can typically be found in the series of town records in the local or regional archives. For example, when the hospital bill of my ancestor Cornelia Platschart was sent to the police, I initially thought she was incarcerated. It was not until I looked at the local ordinances that I realized that the police oversaw prostitutes and sent women who were ill to the hospital. See Using Hospital … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Popular First Names Per Location
The Corpus of Given Names in the Netherlands is a website by the Meertens Institute for research and documentation of the Dutch language and culture. It has a database of almost half a million Dutch first names, taken from civil registration records. The website has Lists of Popular Names. For each municipality or province, you can see the most popular first names from 1880 to the present. I like using these lists to see whether my ancestors gave their children popular names or not. If not, … [Read more...]
Quick Tip – Legacy Family Tree Webinar Sale
Legacy Family Tree Webinars is having a sale this week, through to Friday the 6th of December. You can now get a year-long subscription with 50% off, for $24.98. This gives you access to 2,311 webinars including the following webinars I presented: Researching Your Dutch Ancestors Lesser Used Records for Research in the Netherlands Using MyHeritage to Find Ancestors From the Netherlands Dear Me - Writing Research Reports to Yourself If you use one of these links to purchase a … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Cultural bias
I recently took Dr. Sophie's Pharos Course Critical Thinking Approaches for Genealogy. One of the things that she encouraged us to do is identify our biases, so we can find ways to address those and minimize the impact on our research. That led me to thinking about the cultural biases I may have as a Dutch researcher. I grew up with the idea that the Netherlands is a tolerant country. We were the first country in the world to legally allow same-sex marriages, for example. In school, we are … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Beware of Silver Badminton Medals
When I was a child, I played badminton for a couple of years. I liked playing but was never any good and did not play in competitions. However, like all members, I did participate in the annual badminton club championships. There were different categories, based on gender, age, and whether or not you played competitively. One year, I was one of only two girls in my category. We played a match, I lost. And then I got the silver medal for coming second in my category. I sometimes think … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Access Restrictions For People Born More Than 100 Years Ago
In the Netherlands, privacy laws restrict access to records of people who may still be alive. But this often affects records of people who were born (much) earlier too. A few examples: Death records are only public after 50 years. My great-grandmother was born in 1893 but her death record only became public this year because she was 80 years old when she died. Notarial records become public after 75 years. If a person born in 1880 makes a will in 1970, their will only becomes public … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Look for Employees and Officials
Records often mention two groups of people: the people who the records are about, and the people who work for the organization that created the records. As genealogists, we often only think about the first category. But we can learn a lot from the records about the employees or officials too. A few examples: Record About Employees or officials Civil registration people who are born, married, or died mayor, aldermen, clerks witnessing records Police … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Identity is more than a name
Identity is more than a name. Just because two records show the same name, does not mean they are for the same person. The reverse is true too. Just because two records show a different name, does not mean they are for different persons. People could use different names throughout their lifetime. Some examples: Some people used patronymics and later adopted a surname. They might be listed under their patronymic in one record, and under their surname in another. Some people … [Read more...]