Reader Freddy Walhof asked me about the practice of military passports in the 1800s. In the military service record of an enlisted man, the column for end of service said "gepasporteerd" which means "passported." Freddy wondered if an actual passport was issued or if this was an administrative term only. At the end of service, enlisted men were issued a military passport. This contained an extract of their service record, including that they had fulfilled their military duties. Since these … [Read more...]
Quick tip – Did he serve after all?
20 July 2022 by 1 Comment
Sometimes, the marriage supplements will include a National Militia certificate that says the groom fulfilled his military service because he did not have to serve. It could be that his lot number was too high, or that he was exempted because a brother had served, for example. It is always a good idea to check the local enlistment records anyway, because sometimes they did not have to serve, but did so anyway. I recently had a case like this for a client. I saw the ancestor did not have to … [Read more...]
Level 4 Checklist – Property ownership, military service, religion, criminal activity
21 May 2021 by 4 Comments
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...]
How to find out if your ancestor served in the Dutch army
14 April 2017 by 8 Comments
Finding soldiers after 1811 If your male ancestor married between 1811 and 1932, the marriage supplements should have a declaration that he fulfilled his military duties. This declaration should show if the ancestor served or got an exemption. If you are lucky, the declaration will name the regiment. Another way to find out if your ancestor served is by consulting the militieregisters [militia registers], which recorded all men that were called up in a municipality in a given year. Some of … [Read more...]
Dutch Genealogy Webinar – Questions about Records
17 September 2015 by 15 Comments
During the webinar "Researching Your Dutch Ancestors," the viewers had the most interesting questions. I got to address some of them during the webinar, but thought they all deserve a reply so I'm dedicating this post to answer some more. There were so many great questions that I will have inspiration for several follow-up articles, so please stay tuned and follow this blog or newsletter to read them all. In this first article, I will answer the questions about records in the … [Read more...]
Physical descriptions in military records
10 July 2009 by Leave a Comment
As part of the appendices to a marriage record, the groom had to submit proof that he had fulfilled his military duties. This certificate of the National Militia often contains a physical description. In some cases, the physical description is left blank, for example if the man did not have to serve because he had brothers in the army already. This article will give an overview of the most frequent Dutch terms and their translations. … [Read more...]
