I often receive requests by people who need to obtain official certificates of Dutch birth, marriage or death records for legal purposes. Obtaining certified copies is not a service I provide, so I will give you the instructions on how to do this yourself. Reasons for needing a certified copy There may be several reasons why you need an official extract of a birth, marriage or death record in the Netherlands, for example: You were born in the Netherlands and need proof of your birth in … [Read more...]
How to obtain certified copies of birth, marriage or death records from the Netherlands
31 July 2015 by 12 Comments
Dutch term: geboorteakte
9 December 2013 by Leave a Comment
A geboorteakte is a birth record. Births have been recorded by the government since 1811 (or 1794-1795 in parts of Limburg and Zeeland). Birth records of people born more than 100 years ago are public. Read more about using birth records to find your Dutch ancestors. … [Read more...]
Ask Yvette: how to find my grandparents’ birth records
11 October 2013 by 11 Comments
In response to an article about different types of archives, Larry Joosse wrote: Looking for birth records for Anthonie de Wijze born March 2, 1886 in Zand, and Catharina Johanna vanKeulen born on July 16, 1888. they are my mother’s parents. I thought I would respond in the form of a blog post and show you all the different steps that I take to find the answer. The methods I use to answer this question may also be helpful in finding your own ancestors. Step 1: assess the information Whenever … [Read more...]
Quick tip: Use Genver to find Dutch records on Familysearch
25 September 2013 by 2 Comments
UPDATE 11 June 2014: The website Genver.nl has been discontinued, the service to find records is now available at Geneal-IX. Familysearch.org has a tremendous amount of digitized records from the Netherlands: Church records Civil registration records (births, marriages, deaths) Census records and population registers Not all records are available for all towns and finding out exactly what is available can be cumbersome if you just use the Familysearch website. … [Read more...]
Quick tip: Look in the margins of birth records
18 September 2013 by Leave a Comment
The margins of birth records sometimes contain interesting information. For example, if the child was born out of wedlock, and the mother later married and the husband recognized the child as his, this will be recorded in the margin of the birth record. So don't rely on an index, but always check the original document to see what information may be found there. … [Read more...]
How to order my own birth certificate from the Netherlands?
9 August 2013 by 97 Comments
Almost every week, I get a question by someone who needs help obtaining his birth certificate from the Netherlands. Often, these are people who were born in the Netherlands but moved away and now need a birth certificate to get married or apply for citizenship. Since this is not a service I provide, I thought I'd explain how you can order your birth certificate yourself. Birth records for people born less than 100 years ago are not public. Birth records younger than 100 years are kept by the … [Read more...]
Using birth records (geboorteaktes) to find your Dutch ancestors
25 April 2005 by 44 Comments
Birth records (Dutch: geboorteakte) are a part of the civil registration and were kept since 1811 (or slightly earlier for some parts of the Netherlands). A birth record lists the following data: Place, date and time of birth Names of parents Name, profession and age of the one registering the birth (often the father) Names, profession and age of the witnesses Often: address where the birth took place … [Read more...]
