In 1659, the famous mapmaker Joan Blaeu published his world atlas Tooneel des Aardrycks [Display of the Realm of Earth]. The archives in Leiden have made their atlas available online. This map shows the Duchy of Brabant. It is oriented with the north toward the right. You can see that various places that are now part of the province of North Brabant, such as the area around Willemstad and Heusden, were then part of the province of Holland (outlined in pink). The former Duchy of Brabant is now … [Read more...]
24-hour Chat Marathon by Brabant Archives
14 February 2020 by Leave a Comment
Ten years ago, the Brabant Historisch Informatie Centrum and Regionaal Archief Tilburg started a chat service to help their online visitors. The archives have joined forces and now staff the chat service together. The service is very popular and has answered over 30,000 questions about the archival collections, searching for ancestors from Noord-Brabant, and other research questions. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of this wonderful service, the archives are holding a 24-hour chat … [Read more...]
New Archive and Website in West-Brabant
8 July 2016 by Leave a Comment
Important news for those of us with ancestors from the western part of Noord-Brabant: a new regional archive, the West-Brabants Archief, will now house the records of the following municipalities: Bergen op Zoom Etten-Leur Halderberge Moerdijk Roosendaal Rucphen Steenbergen Woensdrecht Zundert Merger The West-Brabants Archief is the result of a merger of the archives department of Markiezenhof, the municipal archives of Bergen op Zoom; the municipal archives of … [Read more...]
The Bosch’ Protocol Crowdsourcing Project
27 May 2016 by 1 Comment
442 years of records, spanning the period of 1367 to 1809. One of the most complete series of court records anywhere in the country. More than half of them in Latin. The Bosch' Protocols, the voluntary court records of the jurisdiction of 's-Hertogenbosch in Brabant, are a treasure trove of information. It has wills. It has deeds. It has prenups. It has stories about families from the entire region, since the jurisdiction of the city encompassed a large part of the former province of … [Read more...]
News from the Netherlands – June 2014
4 July 2014 by 3 Comments
'News from the Netherlands' is a new monthly series on this blog to inform you about the best new websites, projects and books that help you find and understand your Dutch ancestors. New websites The Brabants Historical Information Center has a new website (Dutch only). The 'Stamboom' [Family Tree] page has several indexes, some with scans attached. They are considering making that page available in English. [Source: BHIC] The Historical Center of Leeuwarden has a new website (Dutch … [Read more...]
Quick tip – test the new Brabant archives website
8 January 2014 by Leave a Comment
Christian van der Ven, archivist at the Brabant Historical Information Center, just commented on this week's column. He revealed that they are working on a new website, which is now available as a beta. The new website already contains more genealogical sources than the old, so it's well worth a test drive. Check the 'Mijn stamboom' [my family tree] section for the genealogical data. Be sure to send your feedback using the Feedback button! I can already anticipate one question: will there be … [Read more...]
Was your ancestor born in Reusel-De Mierden, Noord-Brabant? Guess again!
22 November 2013 by 66 Comments
When I look at online trees, especially on Ancestry.com, I often see "Reusel, Reusel-de Mierden, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands" listed as the place of birth. At first I was puzzled how all these people with names that are typical for Friesland, Groningen or Gelderland would have children in a village on the other side of the country. There was obviously something wrong there. But then I started using FamilyTreeMaker and tried to resolve some place names. Guess what? "Holland" resolves to "Reusel, … [Read more...]
Case study: subtle clues in population registers
2 July 2013 by 13 Comments
On the very first day I started doing genealogy, I found a birth record saying that my grandfather’s grandmother was born as an illegitimate child, father unknown. Three years later, her mother married and the groom acknowledged the child as his. The three-year-gap made me dismiss him as her biological father. In the 23 years since then, I’ve collected all documents I could find about this family but never found any viable candidates. Inspired by Dr. Thomas Jones' and Elizabeth Shown Mills' … [Read more...]
Noord-Brabant
11 May 2005 by 20 Comments
The province of Noord-Brabant lies in the south of the Netherlands. It borders on Limburg to the east, the country of Belgium to the south, the province of Zeeland to the west and the provinces of Zuid-Holland, Utrecht and Gelderland to the north. The capital city of Noord-Brabant is Den Bosch, also known as 's-Hertogenbosch. Other larger towns are: Breda Eindhoven Tilburg Roosendaal Oss … [Read more...]
