Ask Yvette: Resolving Conflicting Evidence in Early Civil Registration Records

Since the introduction of the civil registration (in 1811 in most part of the Netherlands), everybody was supposed to have a fixed name. Everybody who did not have a surname, was required to take a name and have that recorded. The reality was not always so neat. Especially in regions where many people did not have surnames before 1811, like Friesland, Groningen, Overijssel and Gelderland, the same person may appear in civil registration records under different names. Willem Lucas de Jonge and Willem Lucas Hateboer illustrate this situation.

Is Willem Lucas de Jonge the same person as Willem Lucas Hateboer?

On Twitter, Eric De Young asked:

Do you think Willem Lucas de Jonge and Willem Lucas Hateboer are the same person? [Wiewaswie] [WieWasWie]

This is a very clear research question.

The first link that Eric gave us is the birth record of Nies de Jonge, son of Willem Lucas de Jonge and Epke Meinderts, born in Scheemda, Groningen, on 16 March 1827. Willem Lucas de Jonge was the informant for the birth record, which was created on 19 March 1827.¹ Lucas would be his patronymic, a name derived from his father (Willem son of Lucas).

The second link is the death record of Nies de Jonge, son of Willem Hateboer and Epke Meinderts Viswat, both deceased. Nies died in Nieuwe Pekela, Groningen, on 8 January 1866 at the age of 40, had been born in Scheemda and was married to Hillechien Zwalve. Informants for this death record, that was created on 11 January 1866, were his neighbors in Nieuwe Pekela: Jacob Uitvlugt, 43, sailor, and Aiko Aikens, 36, laborer.²

Houses along the canal, Nieuwe Pekela. Image credits: Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed

Analyze the records

The birth record has all the hallmarks of quality: it is a scan of an original record, created three days after the event, with an informant (the father) who had first-hand knowledge of the birth and the identify of the mother of the child, created by an official whose task it was to make sure the information was recorded accurately.

The death record shares many of these same characteristics: it is a scan of an original record, created three days after the event, with informants who had first-hand knowledge of the death, created by an official whose task it was to make sure the information was recorded accurately.

However, the information about the age, place of birth and parents of Nies de Jonge would have been secondary. Jacob was only three years older than Nies de Jonge and Aiko was four years younger, so they would not have no personal knowledge about his birth. Since they lived in Nieuwe Pekela, and not in Scheemda where Nies was born, it is uncertain whether they knew Nies’ parents. Therefore, the information about Nies de Jonge’s age, place of birth and parents is less reliable than the information about his death.

Compare and contrast

The next step is to compare the information from these two records.

The comparison looks promising: there are several points of overlap. Scheemda was a small town and both Nies and Epke were uncommon names. The chances that there were two men named Nies de Jonge with a mother called Epke Meinderts in the same period are slim.

The difference between the age in the death record and the birth date can be explained because the informants of the death record may not have known when Nies was born. This does not explain why they would have come up with the name ‘Hateboer,’ though. If they were unfamiliar with the family, they would have assumed the father’s name was De Jonge like Nies de Jonge’s own name rather than come up with a different name.

Find more records

It would be nice to find direct evidence, for example a marriage record of Nies de Jonge that says his father Willem Lucas Hateboer was also known as Willem Lucas de Jonge. In most cases, such direct evidence does not exist and we have to build a case from indirect evidence.

Marriage record

The death record of Nies de Jonge mentioned that he was married to Hillechien Zwalve. Since surnames were still somewhat unstable at this time, I search the WieWasWie index for grooms named Nies married to brides named Hill*. This turned up only one result: the marriage record of  Nies de Jonge and Hillechien Zwalve, which gives us the following information (abstract):³

Midwolda, 6 July 1849
Nies de Jonge, single, 22, laborer in Midwolda, born in Nieuw Scheemda in the municipality of Scheemda, son of Willem Lucas de Jonge, laborer, and Epke Meinderts Viswat, deceased, and
Hillechien Zwalve, single, 24, laborer in Midwolda, born and having lived during the last six months in Westerlee, municipality of Scheemda, daughter of Derkje Jans Sualve, laborer in Nieuwolda, were married.

This marriage record is very reliable: it is a scan of an original record, created during the marriage ceremony and signed by the parties after having the marriage record read to them.

Marriage supplements

The marriage supplements for this marriage record were retrieved from Familysearch.org. This packet included the following documents:⁴

• Certificate that Nies de Jonge fulfilled his military duties.
• Extract of the birth register of Scheemda, stating that Nies de Jonge, son of Willem Lucas de Jonge and Epke Meinderts, was born there on 16 March 1827.
• Extract of the birth register of Scheemda, stating that Hillechien, daughter of Derkje Jans Swalve was born there on 18 February 1825.
• Extract of the death register of Scheemda, stating that Epke Meinderts Viswat, wife of Willem Lucas de Jong, died there on 6 May 1832.
• Statement by the civil registration office of Scheemda, that the announcements of the marriage of Nies de Jonge and Hillechien Zwalve took place there without opposition.

Except for the last statement, these are all derivative records; abstracts created by clerks from the original documents.

Compare and contrast some more

Let’s add this information to the comparison table:

The matching name, birth date and names of parents prove that the birth record and the marriage record are for the same person. The matching name, name of the mother and name of the wife prove that the marriage record and the death record are for the same person. The discrepancy in the age can be explained because his neighbors did not know his birth date. Together, they prove that these three records all relate to the same persons.

Willem Lucas de Jonge and Epke Meinderts Viswat

A search for Ep* Me* and Ep* Viswat in the index of vital records at WieWasWie turned up four records for Epke Meinderts (Viswat): the birth, marriage and death record of Nies de Jonge and the death record of Epke Meinderts Viswat. Her death record shows that she died in Nieuw-Scheemda on 6 May 1832. She was 46 years old, the wife of Willem Lucas de Jonge, laborer, and born in Weiwert, the daughter of Meindert Jans Viswat and Trijntje Jans, both deceased. ⁵

A search for Wil* Luc* and Wil* de Jonge in the same index failed to turn up Willem Lucas de Jonge’s death record or the marriage record of his marriage to Epke Meinderts Viswat.

Willem Lucas Hateboer

The question that remains is where the Hateboer name in the death record came from. A search for Willem* Hateboer in the index of vital records at WieWasWie shows that there was in fact a man named Willem Lucas Hateboer in that area in that period.

Willem Lucas Hateboer married Anje Aries Roggema in Termunten on 29 December 1833. The marriage record tells us that Willem Lukas Hateboer, 34, born 7 August 1798, farm hand in Nieuw Scheemda, son of Lukas Berends Hateboer, day laborer in Nieuwe Pekela and the late Niesjen Willems Hateboer married Anje Aries Roggema, 31, born 15 November 1801, living in Wagenborgen, widow of Harm Hendriks Kloppenburg, daughter of the late Aries Derks Roggema and the late Adriaantje Edses.⁶

Willem Lucas Hateboer died in Midwolda on 19 January 1871.⁷ 

Comparing Willem Lucas de Jonge and Willem Lucas Hateboer

Comparing signatures

Signatures of Willem Lucas de Jonge	Signatures of Willem Lucas Hateboer
Birth record of son Nies, 1827: Marriage record of son Nies, 1849:	Marriage record to Anje Roggema, 1833: National Militia record, 1833: Birth record of son Arend, 1841:

The signature of Willem Lucas Hateboer has several distinguishing features:

• He makes a distinctive loop at the start of the W and L.
• The end of the W loops inward.
• The L crosses over itself in the lower left corner.

The signature of Willem Lucas de Jonge has the same characteristics, especially the 1849 signature.

Conclusion: Willem Lucas de Jonge is Willem Lucas Hateboer

By comparing the timelines and signatures of Willem Lucas de Jonge and Willem Lucas Hateboer, it becomes clear that they are the same person:

• Willem Lucas Hateboer is named as the father of Nies de Jonge in Nies’ death record.
• They have many points of correlation: they were of the same age, had the same occupation and lived in the same towns.
• The unusual name Nies for Willem Lucas’ son could be derived from Willem Lucas’ mother’s name: Niesje. That would explain why Willem Lucas Hateboer did not name a child after Niesje: he already had a son named after her.
• No duplicate records were found that would have proven that there were two different persons (baptism, death).
• There were no inconsistencies in the timeline. Willem Lucas de Jonge’s relationship with Epke Meinderts Viswat does not overlap with Willem Lucas Hateboer’s marriage to Anje Roggema; Epke died before his marriage to Anje.
• Their handwriting shares the same characteristics.
• No other records for a Willem, son of Lucas, have been found in this area in this period. There seems to have only been one person by that name.

This means I can now answer Eric De Young’s original question: “Do you think Willem Lucas de Jonge and Willem Lucas Hateboer are the same person?” with a definite “Yes.”

Ask Yvette

Do you have a question about your own research that you would like Yvette to write about? Please leave a comment below. Yvette will select the questions that have the most educational value and answer them in future articles.