In the third quarter of the nineteenth century, municipal authorities began to hand out "trouwboekjes" [marriage booklets] to the bride and groom at the time of their marriage. This booklet would contain the names of the spouses, date and place of their marriage, and had room for the names, birth places and birth dates of any children born to this couple. These booklets can be hard to find, as they are personal documents rather than government documents. The place to find them is in your family, … [Read more...]
Marriage booklets: why they are important even if you can’t find them
27 September 2013 by 9 Comments
Quick tip: Use Genver to find Dutch records on Familysearch
25 September 2013 by 2 Comments
UPDATE 11 June 2014: The website Genver.nl has been discontinued, the service to find records is now available at Geneal-IX. Familysearch.org has a tremendous amount of digitized records from the Netherlands: Church records Civil registration records (births, marriages, deaths) Census records and population registers Not all records are available for all towns and finding out exactly what is available can be cumbersome if you just use the Familysearch website. … [Read more...]
Marriage supplements: gateway to more information about your ancestors
23 August 2013 by 4 Comments
Since the introduction of the civil registration in 1811, a bride and groom had to submit several documents to prove they were eligible to get married. Not only do these records tell you when your ancestors were born, but they may also provide information about their physical appearance, death dates of parents and previous spouses or even of their grandparents. These documents are known as the 'Huwelijksbijlagen' and most of them still exist and can be found online. … [Read more...]
Dutch term: ondertrouw
5 August 2013 by 2 Comments
"Ondertrouw" is the event when the banns for a marriage are published. Following the ondertrouw, the marriage is announced three times, at least a week apart (usually on 3 consecutive Sundays). If nobody objects, the marriage is usually performed shortly after the third publication of the banns. Banns were published in the place where the bride and groom lived. If they only lived there shorter than 6 months, they also needed to be published in their previous place of residence. It is not … [Read more...]
Marriage record
25 April 2005 by 6 Comments
Marriage records are a part of the civil registration, introduced in 1811 or slightly earlier in Limburg and Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. Marriage records contain the following information: Name, age, profession and place of birth and residence of the bride and groom Names of their parents, and if they are still alive their professions and place of residence If any: names of previous spouses (either divorced or deceased) Name, age, profession and place of residence for 4 witnesses … [Read more...]
