5 Alternatives for Non-Public Birth, Marriage, or Death Records

In the Netherlands, vital records do not immediately become public but remain closed for a certain period:

• Birth records: 100 years
• Marriage records: 75 years
• Death records: 50 years.

The records become public on 1 January of the year following the embargo period. As I described in a previous post, it may be possible to obtain copies of non-pubic records with permission of the person involved or with proof of their death. In this post, I will describe some alternative sources for dates and places of birth, marriage, and death if the records are not public yet.

Personal record cards

Everybody who lived in the Netherlands after 1939 had a personal record card which lists their vital information including names of spouses and parents. If the person died in the Netherlands, this card or its digital successor (introduced in 1994) is processed and forwarded to CBG|Centre for Family History, where copies can be ordered. See the blog post about personal record cards for details.

Personal record card of Johan Cruijff

Civil registration announcements in newspapers

When a birth, marriage, or death was recorded in the civil registration, the municipality published a short message in the local newspaper. These announcements will usually have little information but can confirm a date and place of birth found in other sources. Many newspapers can be found via Delpher. For births, it may only indicate the name of the mother and ‘z’ for zoon [son] or ‘d’ for dochter [daughter]. For marriages, be careful whether the listing is for the ondertrouw [marriage banns] or trouw/huwelijk [marriage]. The announcement may not list the exact date but published all events since the previous publication, which could be up to a week.

Announcement of the birth of my uncle Dinant, son of H Hoitink and G W Woordes in the Tubantia of 30 April 1955. Source: Delpher

Family announcements

When a birth, marriage, or death occurred, family members sometimes placed an announcement in the newspaper. You may be able to find those via Delpher. See the article about family announcements for more details. These are more common for deaths than for births or marriages, and more common for richer families rather than poorer families.

Death announcement of Willemina Berendina Kastein, in Nieuwe Winterswijksche Courant, 15 April 1916 (Delpher (public domain)

Family papers

It may be possible to find reliable information about births, marriages, and deaths in the family. Possible artefacts to look for include:

• Family bibles
• Marriage booklets
• Birth announcement cards
• Prayer cards

Prayer card of Johanna Buis

Graves

Graves will typically include the dates of birth and death. Graves are routinely cleared in the Netherlands after a couple of decades, but that varies widely from one region to the next, depending on how much land there is available. The article about online cemeteries gives links to several websites that provide information about surviving graves.

Graves of my grandparents Henk and Mien Hoitink and their son Dinant