The next time you find a birth, marriage and death record that all agree about the name of the person and his date of birth or age, ask yourself: are these documents independent? An extract of the birth record would have been submitted in order to get married. The details from the marriage record may have been copied into the marriage booklet, which in turn may have been used by the informant of the death record. Understanding how these documents are created will help you analyze their value as … [Read more...]
Quick tip: Database laws may protect Dutch family trees
12 February 2014 by 3 Comments
Most countries have copyright laws to protect the creative work of authors and artists. Under copyright law, a fact cannot be copyrighted since it doesn't meet the requirement of creativity. In many countries that means that the names, dates and places in a genealogical database are not protected by copyright and may be copied without asking permission. But in the Netherlands, in addition to copyright laws we have database laws that may protect family trees. Many European countries have these … [Read more...]
Quick tip: New Worldwide Genealogy Blog
5 February 2014 by Leave a Comment
Worldwide Genealogy is a blog where genealogists from around the world tell about their adventures. I am honored to be a part of this group. My first blog post appeared today, as I will be blogging on the 5th of every month. Enjoy! … [Read more...]
Quick tip: WieWasWie now available in English
29 January 2014 by 3 Comments
WieWasWie (WhoWasWho) is the most comprehensive genealogical database in the Netherlands. Archives in all the provinces participate in this website to publish indexes and sometimes even scans of their records. Up until now, WieWasWie was only available in Dutch but an English version is now available. >>Go to the English version of WieWasWie<< When using the English version, keep in mind that the actual contents of the database are not translated. For example, occupations will … [Read more...]
Quick tip: Dutch is not the language of Denmark
22 January 2014 by Leave a Comment
If you're familiar with Dutch genealogy, today's tip will not come as a surprise: Dutch is the language and adjective of the Netherlands, not Denmark. But you would be surprised how many people end up on this site if they find out they have ancestors from Denmark! I must admit that the combination Dutch-Denmark sounds a lot more logical than Dutch-Netherlands, but that does not make it correct. Just as a quick reminder, here's some things that the Dutch do different than the … [Read more...]
Quick tip: US Dutch Reformed Church Records Online
15 January 2014 by 34 Comments
Ancestry.com has just published a new record set: "U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records from Selected States, 1660-1926". This record set was created by the Holland Society and currently contains records of Dutch Reformed churches in New York and New Jersey. Records from Dutch Reformed churches in other states will be added in the future. The record set consists of an index and images. Beware that the images are not of the original church records, but of later transcriptions, some done by hand … [Read more...]
Quick tip – test the new Brabant archives website
8 January 2014 by Leave a Comment
Christian van der Ven, archivist at the Brabant Historical Information Center, just commented on this week's column. He revealed that they are working on a new website, which is now available as a beta. The new website already contains more genealogical sources than the old, so it's well worth a test drive. Check the 'Mijn stamboom' [my family tree] section for the genealogical data. Be sure to send your feedback using the Feedback button! I can already anticipate one question: will there be … [Read more...]
Quick tip: resolutions for 2014
1 January 2014 by Leave a Comment
Happy 2014 everybody! Here are some suggestions for resolutions for this year that will help you with your Dutch research. Come visit the Netherlands and see where your ancestors lived Learn Dutch and understand the records. The Dutch Terms section of this site has some basic terms to get you started. Learn to use Dutch websites like WieWasWie Read The island of the center of the world by Russell Shorto to get some idea of what New York was like when it was Dutch (review) Hire me to … [Read more...]
Quick tip: Beware that you don’t translate names
25 December 2013 by 1 Comment
Many genealogists who don't speak Dutch use Google Translate or Chrome to translate Dutch websites into English. But sometimes, these programs translate more than you want. A person named Van der Molen might become From the Mill or a Dhr. Timmerman becomes Mr. Carpenter. The same could happen with geographical names: a village called De Rijp might become The Ripe and a street address Haven 5 might become Harbor 5. Next time you see an English name in a translated text, check the original … [Read more...]
Quick tip: mind the suffixes of the name
18 December 2013 by Leave a Comment
Did you know that different types of names were particular to different areas of the Netherlands? For example, names with an -ink suffix like Hoitink are typical for the eastern part of the Netherlands while names with a -stra suffix are typical for the north. Read more about suffixes in surnames. … [Read more...]
