If you have ancestors from Friesland, you want to check out the website of Hessel de Walle: Memorabilia uit Friesland [Memorabilia from Friesland]. Hessel collects references to Frisian memorabilia with people's names on them, like mourning boards in churches, inscribed silverware, grave monuments, etc., and generously made his database available online. You can search the database in different ways: Gemeente - Municipality Plaats - Town Typen - Types Achternaam - Last name … [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.
5 Ways to Assess Online Trees and Other Publications
24 July 2020 by 3 Comments
Many of my research projects start with a survey of published literature: journals, books, and online trees. Here are five ways I assess the quality and reliability of these publications. Sources The first thing I look for are the sources: If the publication has no sources, there is no way to evaluate the quality of the underlying research. If the publication only lists other trees or published genealogies as sources, that implies the compiler did not do original research. If the … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Magazines and Journals at Delpher
22 July 2020 by Leave a Comment
The website Delpher is famous for its newspapers, but also has a large collection of magazines and journals. This includes many trade and professional journals that have information about people in these occupations, such as teachers and farmers. The majority of the periodicals dates from the 1850s to 1950s. … [Read more...]
Quick tip – 98% of Dutch People have Immigrant Ancestors
15 July 2020 by 1 Comment
Did you know that an estimated 98% of people in the Netherlands have an immigrant ancestor somewhere in their trees in the past 500 years? They could be descendants of German laborers, French Huguenots, Swiss or Scottish mercenary soldiers, people from former Dutch colonies like Suriname, the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), or the Netherlands Antilles, or more recent immigrants like guest workers from Morocco or Turkey, or refugees from Iraq or Syria. … [Read more...]
Dutch Genealogical Abbreviations
10 July 2020 by 2 Comments
Here is a list of abbreviations you may come across during your research in the Netherlands. Abbreviation Full version English translation A.R.A. algemeen rijksarchief national archives (outdated term) aktenr. aktenummer record number B.R. Bevolkingsregister Population register B.S. burgerlijke stand civil registration B.S. Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten Domestic Armed Forces (resistance organization in World War … [Read more...]
Quick Tip – Unusual Name or Transcription Error?
8 July 2020 by 1 Comment
In my tree, I had one set of triplets: Gemma, Aeltjen, and Stijntjen, daughter of Jan Mengers. They were baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church of Winterswijk on 14 March 1702. I first learned about them in the transcribed records that I bought as a teenager and was excited about the special find. I descend from Aeltjen. I haven't been researching this line for a while, but the other day there was a social media post about twins, triplets, and other multiple births, and I shared my triplet … [Read more...]
Dutch Genealogy News for June 2020
3 July 2020 by Leave a Comment
Here is an overview of the new sources, projects, and news about archives that were announced last month. Sources The National Archives launched a beta version of their new presentation of archives, which includes millions of new scans. See the blog post for more information and instructions on how to participate. The Rotterdam City Archives added almost 400,000 scans and indexes of birth, marriage, and death records from the 1800s and early 1900s from Rotterdam and the surrounding … [Read more...]
National Archive Launched New Presentation (Beta)
1 July 2020 by Leave a Comment
The National Archives just launched the beta version of its new catalog to search and view their records. This happens to be a project I have been working on myself, in the one day per week I do IT projects for archives. I have been managing the migration of 14 million scans from the new system to the old, and consulting on building the new presentation which will have 30 million scans by the official launch. The beta already provides access to millions of new scans. Try the new … [Read more...]
Quick tip – It’s All About the Dash
24 June 2020 by Leave a Comment
When we research our ancestors, it's easy to focus on the vital events. When was a person born, when did they marry, when did they die? If we're not careful, this reduces our ancestors to names and dates. Take my ancestor Johannes Marijnissen (1806–1844), for example. That dash between his birth and death date represents a full, though short, life. A life in which he went to school long enough to be able to write, married, lost his mother, had children, lost a child, lost his wife, married … [Read more...]
Accessing Records that are Not Public Yet
19 June 2020 by Leave a Comment
Dutch privacy laws are strict and restrict access to recent records. Sometimes, it may be necessary to consult these records because you are researching a person who was born less than 100 years ago, or because you need your own or your families' records for legal purposes. I have written an article on how to obtain certified copies of birth, marriage, and death records. This article will focus on accessing non-public records in a reading room. Why are records restricted? There can be … [Read more...]
