The Staatscourant [National Gazette] is the official newspaper of the Dutch government. Established in 1814, the gazette publishes all laws, regulations, and other official announcements of the Netherlands.
Genealogical information in the Staatscourant
Some announcements deal with individuals. A few examples of genealogical information you can find in the gazette:
- Appointments, transfers, promotions, or pensions of civil servants, including public school teachers, police officers, etc.
- Promotions and transfers of military officers or people in the diplomatic corps.
- Announcements of people elevated to orders such as the Military William Order, the Order of the Netherlands Lion, or the Order of Orange-Nassau.
- Lists of people whose land is seized by the government as part of eminent domain, for example for major infrastructural works. Some of my ancestors around Breda had their land seized for the railroad.
- Foundations of firms. I found out that several relatives of mine were among the founders of a dairy cooperation in Winterswijk. The announcement in the gazette includes all the shareholders and the bylaws of the cooperation.
- Naturalizations of people who obtained Dutch citizenship. This includes my ancestor Arend Kastein, who was born in Prussia and naturalized in order to become a police constable.
- Advertisements placed as part of a court procedure, for example to call up a husband who had been absent and presumed dead.
- Convictions of World War II collaborators by the Court of Special Jurisdiction after the war.
First page of the Staatscourant of 28 March 1882.
In many cases, the gazette will allow you to do further research into the event mentioned there. Often, there are more government records regarding the evevnt. For example, the gazette will often refer to a Royal Decree, which can be looked up at the National Archives as described in the blog post about Royal Decrees. The Staatscourant of 28 March 1882 shown above refers to the Royal Decrees of 14 and 15 March 1882, which includes the award of a pension of 261 per year to A. Kastein, my ancestor.
And sometimes you come across bizarre information, like the time when police constable Arend Kastein fired his gun when a dike broke, to warn people of flodding. That dike was on the Dutch-Prussian border and the Prussians thought he was shooting at them. This international incident went all the way up the diplomatic ladder, resulting in a lengthy article of the Staatscourant of 27 December 1843 describing the incident, with the official reassurance by the Dutch government that no breach of Prussian sovereignty was intended.
Coverage
The Staatscourant started in 1814 and continues to be published to this day. This makes it one of the few public sources for research into people born less than 100 years ago.
Unfortunately, you will not find every ancestor in the gazette. The following people tend to be over-represented:
- Civil servants.
- Officers in the military.
- Large land owners.
- Business owners, including of inns where auctions were held.
Since most of the gazettes are full-text searchable, it is worth searching for your ancestors to see what pops up.
Where to find the Staatscourant
The Staatscourant 1814-1950 can be found at Delpher, where the digitized gazettes can be searched.
Select “Kranten” [newspapers] as the collection. Click Uitgebreid zoeken [advanced search]. For Krantentitel [newspaper title] type “staatscourant” and then click the + before “Nederlandsche Staatscourant.” You can also use this direct link to search the Staatscourant.
Official announcements since 1995 can be found at Officiële Bekendmakingen [Official Announcements], a website by the Dutch government. This includes information from the Staatscourant.
As far as I am aware, official announcements between 1950 and 1995 cannot be found online. They can be consulted in hardcopy at the Royal Library of the Netherlands in The Hague and several other libraries and archives in the Netherlands. Unless you know a specific date, this is cumbersome research.
About Yvette Hoitink
