A few months ago, I issued my Level-Up Challenge, challenging you to assess how complete your research is. By level 2, we know the names of our ancestors and where and when they were born, married and died and by level 3, we also have to know their occupations, places of residence, and their children and spouses. To reach level 4, we also need to know what property they owned, if they served in the military, what religion they were, and if they were involved in any criminal activities. In … [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.
Level 4 Checklist – Property ownership, military service, religion, criminal activity
21 May 2021 by 4 Comments
FAQ About my Eleanor of Aquitaine Project
14 May 2021 by 5 Comments
If you're a regular reading of this blog, you will have seen my series about verifying my possible line back to Eleanor of Aquitaine. I have proven 28 out of 29 generations so far. Many people have contacted me or left comments saying they love the series and seeing all the different records. Thank you for doing that; it's a great encouragement for me. Some questions come up repeatedly, so I thought I'd write a blog post with answers to the Frequently Asked Questions about the project. How … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Use “PROX” in Delpher
12 May 2021 by 1 Comment
Delpher is the website where you can find newspapers, magazines, and books published in the Netherlands. Because of the huge amount of sources on this website, you will often get many results. You can do a more specific search by searching for two terms that must appear near each other with the PROX parameter. Examples: Hoitink PROX Nijkerken (combining the last names of an ancestral couple) Hoitink PROX Winterswijk (last name + place of residence) Hoitink PROX Berkstraat (last … [Read more...]
Dutch Genealogy News for April 2021
7 May 2021 by 2 Comments
This article gives an overview of the new sources, websites, and other archives news that was announced last month. Sources The National Archives of the Netherlands published 1.9 million scans relating to slavery. The image collection of the municipality of Haaren is now available at the website of the Regionaal Archief Tilburg. The West-Fries Archief now made the family cards 1919-1939 available online again. You can search via the Personen [persons] page. These scans were taken … [Read more...]
Was Eleanor of Aquitaine my Ancestor? Generation 26 – Margaret countess of Flanders
27 April 2021 by 3 Comments
This is the twenty-seventh post in a series about my possible line of descent from Eleanor of Aquitaine. In the first post, I explained how I discovered the possible line, and how I am going to verify it one generation at a time. In the last post, I proved that my twenty-second great-grandfather Guy of Dampierre, Count of Flanders, was the son of Margaret, countess of Flanders, and William of Dampierre. Biography Margaret of Flanders was born in June 1202 as the second child of Baldwin IX, … [Read more...]
Sources about Slavery – 1.9 Million Records Online
24 April 2021 by Leave a Comment
Important archives about slavery, including the role of the Dutch in the slave trade and enslaved people in Dutch colonies, have been digitized over the past years. 1.9 million scans have now become available from institutions in the Netherlands, England, Guyana, and Suriname. The sources can be accessed from a new page at the website of the National Archives of the Netherlands. The National Archives has digitized the following record groups relating to slavery: Dutch Series … [Read more...]
The Genealogy Show 2021 Line-up
21 April 2021 by Leave a Comment
Exciting news! I will be speaking at The Genealogy Show, a wonderful genealogy event in the UK that will be virtual this year. My presentation is Dear Me! Writing Research Reports to Yourself. I will be using an example of a Dutch family who emigrated to the United States to show you how you can take your research to a higher level by writing a report for yourself. The presentation will be on the 25th of June at 7.20 PM (GMT, UK time) John Boeren will be giving a presentation on Where … [Read more...]
DNA Painter adds Level-Up Challenge as Dimension!
17 April 2021 by Leave a Comment
DNA Painter, the website with all sorts of cool tools for people interested in genetic genealogy, added the level-up challenge I wrote about in January as a dimension to their family trees. You can import your tree or build it from scratch, and then add a dimension to your tree to manually indicate the research level for each ancestor. See Jonny Perl's blog post about the new dimensions feature for detailed instructions and examples of other dimensions you can now add to your … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Are you Searching for the Right Name?
14 April 2021 by 3 Comments
There can be different reasons why you can't find the person you're looking for. Perhaps they were from a different town, or the record you need doesn't survive. But they could be hiding under a different name. Before the introduction of the civil registration (1811 in most parts of the Netherlands), there was no requirement for a hereditary surname. People could be using different surnames in different records: They could use a patronymic, named after their father's first name. The … [Read more...]
Symposium Sources of Slavery and Slave Trade
13 April 2021 by Leave a Comment
Do you want to learn more about researching enslaved ancestors or the slave trade? A free symposium on 23 April 2021 with various lectures will discuss the research possibilities in archives and practices for museums. A panel will reflect on increased accessibility and possible uses of sources relating to slavery. The symposium is organized by the Rijksmuseum, National Archives, and Royal Library of the Netherlands and will be in English. Where: Online (link provided an hour before the … [Read more...]
