Limburg

The province of Limburg is situated in the south-east of the Netherlands. The province borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, Belgium and Noord-Brabant to the east and Noord-Brabant to the north.

The capital city of Limburg is Maastricht. Other larger towns are:

• Heerlen
• Sittard
• Venlo
• Geleen

Genealogy in Limburg

Many people in Limburg used fixed family names long before the introduction of the civil registration which makes research easier. Most Limburg records are kept by the Limburg regional historical center. Unfortunately, the website is available in Dutch only.

Many marriage records from Limburg can be found in WieWasWie.

Emigration from Limburg

In the middle of the nineteenth century, Limburg was a poor region. People moved to urban areas or left the country to work in nearby Belgium or Germany or even to emigrate to the United States. Because of the American Homestead act of 1862, the peak of the Limburg emigration was in 1863. The people of Limburg were predominantly catholic and settled mainly in catholic regions of Minnesota. For more information about emigration from Limburg, see the Limburg emigrant page.

Online images

Images of Limburg can be found in several online resources:

• Image database of Limburg. This collection contains drawings, etchings, photographs, glass negatives, etc. Type the name of the person you’re looking for in the textbox and press ‘Zoek’ (search).
• Limburg provincial atlas 1865-1870. This atlas contains both a map of the entire province as maps of the municipalities.