Quick tip: Use Zoekakten.nl to find Dutch records on Familysearch

11 June 2014 by 1 Comment

UPDATE: Zoekakten no longer works. See Free alternatives for Zoekakten.

Zoekakten.nl is a new website that took over from the popular service Genver.nl. Zoekakten (literally: search records) provides you direct links to record sets of Dutch sources in Familysearch, such as birth, marriage and death records of the civil registration, population registers and baptismal, marriage and burial records from churches before 1811.

To find a record, follow these steps:

  1. Select the two-letter code for the province you’re looking for
  2. Select the town/municipality you are looking for.
  3. For larger towns, you may have to select the type of source first. Dopen = baptisms, trouwen = marriages, begraven = burials, geboorte = birth, huwelijk = marriage, overlijden = death, bevolkingsregister = population register
  4. You will now get a list of records that meet your criteria. Click the link to go to the first image of that set in Familysearch.

Be careful: these are images of records and most of them are unindexed. You may need to use other sources to find the dates you are looking for. See the top ten Dutch genealogy websites for some tips.

Like Genver, Zoekakten is an initiative by a fellow genealogist, free for all to use. The volunteer behind Genver announced earlier this year that keeping the information updated was too time-consuming for him. Luckily, another volunteer was willing to pick up the torch and continue this great service.

Zoekakten.nl home screen

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About Yvette Hoitink

Yvette Hoitink, MLitt, CG®, QG™ is a professional genealogist, writer, and lecturer in the Netherlands. She has a Master of Letters in Family and Local History from the University of Dundee, and holds the Certification of Genealogist and Qualified Genealogist credentials. Yvette served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Professional Genealogists and won excellence awards for her articles in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly and the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly. Yvette has been doing genealogy for over 30 years. She helps people from across the world find their ancestors from the Netherlands and its former colonies, including New Netherland. Read about Yvette's professional genealogy services.

Comments

  1. Darcel Ross says
    16 June 2014 at 2:08 am

    Hi yevett my name is Darcel I am looking for my grandmothers origion of family and any family members. She come on the boat Rotterdam in 1920/1921 ellis island passanger list has surname noted as:( Van Woerkom ) Richard & Gretrude Van Woerkom her parents they had three girls (Greta, Johanna, Betty Van Woerkom) I found records here in the us but I am unable to locate her birth records or mothers last name. I was told thery were born in Utrecht but I cant find anything. I do have dates that I found on a census and I no we have a family crest that my aunt has. but other than that the surnames are difficult to understand. if there is anything I need to know about researching the Netherlands please could you let me know. I want to know there life.

    us. names:
    RICHARD VAN WOERKOM FATHER born 1882-1885
    GRETRUDE VAN WOERKOM MOTHER 1891
    GRETA VAN WOERKOM CHILD 1 GIRL 1916
    JOHANNA C VAN WOERKOM CHILD 2 GIRL 1917
    (((((BETTY WHILIMINA VAN WOERKOM
    (DE WITT) IS HER MARRIED NAME CHILD 3 GIRL BORN 1918 ))))))

    thank you
    Darcel Ross

    Reply

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