If you are looking at a civil registration record, the last part will identify who signed the record. If any of the people were illiterate or had other reasons not to sign, it would say so. Example: Biggelaar-Rens marriage record On 1 May 1858, my ancestors Hubertus van den Biggelaar and Anna Maria Rens were married in Terheijden. The bottom of their marriage record described who signed the record. It was signed (translation) "with the father of the bride and the witnesses, while the parties … [Read more...]
About this website
Creating a website like this is a fun activity. There are so many options, so many choices. What do visitors want? What do I want? In this blog I will describe some of the things I encounter in developing and maintaining this website.
How Adriaan Marijnissen died
12 August 2022 by 4 Comments
In May, I wrote about my ancestor Johanna van Groezen, who became a wife, mother of two children, and a widow; all in 1864. Her husband Adriaan Marijnissen died in Strijen on 29 October 1864 at the age of twenty-six.1 I had been unable to find out how Adriaan Marijnissen came to die in Strijen, away from his residence in Made, or how he died, since Dutch death records do not include the cause of death and I was unable to find anything in newspapers. After publishing the article, I decided to … [Read more...]
Dutch Genealogy News for July 2022
5 August 2022 by Leave a Comment
Here is an overview of all the new sources, websites, and projects that were announced last month. Sources Over a million scans of notarial records of Overijssel (1811-1925) have been added to the finding aid. Almost 60,000 of these scans have been automatically transcribed. These transcriptions are available via Zoek in transcripties. Church membership records of Steenwijk (1721-1882) have been scanned and indexed and can be searched via the Steenwijkerland municipal archives … [Read more...]
Thank You for your Donations
30 July 2022 by Leave a Comment
Three months ago, I added a donation option to my free newsletter. The newsletter has continued to grow over the past years and outgrew the free service I was using. To my surprise and delight, more than a dozen people used the opportunity to donate. Thank you very much. I will use the donations for the mailing list provider and the hosting of the website. If you want to support the free information on this website and newsletter, here are some options to contribute: Donate via … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Snap shot or Video?
27 July 2022 by 1 Comment
When you are looking at a record, ask yourself: was this record created all in one sitting? Or was this amended and updated over time? There are different types of records that were changed and updated over a longer period of time. In population registers, people who moved out or died were crossed out, and people who moved in or were born were added. In some types of tax or tithe records, owners of real estate would be updated if the property changed hands. In cadastral ledgers, plots that … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Did he serve after all?
20 July 2022 by 1 Comment
Sometimes, the marriage supplements will include a National Militia certificate that says the groom fulfilled his military service because he did not have to serve. It could be that his lot number was too high, or that he was exempted because a brother had served, for example. It is always a good idea to check the local enlistment records anyway, because sometimes they did not have to serve, but did so anyway. I recently had a case like this for a client. I saw the ancestor did not have to … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Witnesses are often not indexed
13 July 2022 by Leave a Comment
If you are using indexes of genealogical records, please keep in mind that the witnesses were often not indexed; only the main parties were. You can consult the original record to find the rest of the information. Knowing the witnesses is helpful since they may hold the vital clue to solving your brick walls. … [Read more...]
Dutch term – Groot verlof
11 July 2022 by Leave a Comment
Groot verlof means "grand leave." It is a term you may see in military records. Conscripts spent part of their military service in training and the rest on grand leave. Men on grand leave were still formally in the army though, and if they emigrated before they were discharged, they would be considered deserters. … [Read more...]
Dutch Genealogy News for June 2022
8 July 2022 by Leave a Comment
Here is an overview of all the sources, projects, and websites that were announced last month. Sources Almost 28,000 books have been digitized and added to Delpher. Most of the books are in the public domain and can be accessed online. More recent books can be consulted in the Royal Library reading room. Medieval manuscripts have been added to the online collections of the Athenaeum library of Deventer. Several civil registration records of Loon op Zand from the 1900s have been added … [Read more...]
Ask Yvette – Where to Find Dutch Church Records After 1811?
1 July 2022 by Leave a Comment
TL read the tip that you should check church records after 1811 and wants to know where these records are kept, particularly for the province of Groningen. When the civil registration was introduced in 1811 (or slightly earlier in some parts of the Netherlands), churches were required to turn over their registers of baptisms, marriages, and burial to the government. There is no such requirement for later church records. Although churches are free to determine where to keep their records, … [Read more...]
