Trace your Dutch roots

6,000 mining photos online

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:23:00 +0000

The coal mines in Limburg are the only coal mines in The Netherlands. They were operational from 1906 until 1973 and exploited by the state. DSM, a chemical company with roots in the Dutch mining industry, and DeMijnen.nl, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to Dutch mining history, published 6,000 photos from the archives of the Dutch state mines today. There are many photos from the mines, but also photos of the miners' houses, shops, churches and social life

The state mines were by far the largest employer of the Southern Limburg region for much of the 20th century. If your ancestors lived in this region in the early or mid 20th century, chances are that they were somehow dependent on the mines, either as a miner or as an employee of the supporting industries.

The Dutch roots of the Alice Austen House

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 06:22:00 +0000

From 12 to 16 November, the Alice Austen House on Staten Island (NY) will go back to its Dutch roots:

"Explore the Dutch roots of the Alice Austen House Museum. During these five days, the Austen House will not be about photography or the Victorian Era but rather about the Dutch farmer that laid its foundation in 1690. Call for reservations: 718.816.4506 x 12"

The Alice Austen House is a museum devoted to the work of the photographer Alice Austen (1866-1952). The building that houses the museum was originally built by a Dutch farmer in 1690, but extensively renovated and expanded later.

The Explore the Dutch roots event is part of the 5 Dutch Days 5 Boroughs event that

"celebrates the continuous influence of Dutch arts and culture in New York City -- from the City's enterprising, multicultural origins as a Dutch colony to the pivotal role of contemporary Dutch artists and designers in today's international cultural scene."

Dutch archive news roundup: News and announcements from Dutch archives, September 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 05:10:00 +0000

News from the Dutch archives:

The annual Landelijke Archievendag (national archives day) will take place on 11 October. Most archives have some activities that day, like lectures and guided tours.
The new three-volume Geschiedenis van Groningen (history of Groningen) will be available on 9 October. On 13 October, several authors and editors of the book will visit the Groningen archive for an evening of presentations and discussions about the book and about Groningen history.
The Historic Centre of Overijssel organizes a one-day seminar on Familiegeschiedenis als literair genre (family history as literary genre), on 11 October.
The Gelderland archive celebrated the tenth anniversary of its participation in Genlias last month. Volunteers indexed almost 1.6 million acts in those ten years.

The use of patronymics in The Netherlands

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:22:00 +0000

Lorine Schulze from Olive Tree Genealogy wrote recently about patronymics in New Netherland. The naming pattern in New Netherland is, of course, based on customs at the time here in The Netherlands. It is not true though that the Dutch only used patronymics: Family names (as we know them now) were already quite common in the early 17th century (when the New Netherland colony was founded), and there were also other naming systems in use. But in many rural regions, especially in the north, patronymics played an important role until well after 1811, when surnames became compulsory.

In this article, we will have a look at patronymics in The Netherlands and the consequences for your Dutch genealogy research when you pass the magic year 1811.

Patronymics

A patronymic is the father's name with a suffix. Patronymics are used instead of surnames, or as a middle name: In the name Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Harmenszoon is the patronymic (Rembrandt's father was Harmen) and van Rijn the surname, while in the name Meints Klaassen, Klaassen is the patronymic (his father's name was Klaas) and there is no separate surname. Different suffixes were in use in different regions, and the suffixes also changed over time, but the most common suffixes in the 18th and 19th century were -s and -sen.

In regions where family names were not common, research before 1811 is difficult. Not only are there no BMD records available anymore, but you don't know for which names you have to search the church books - often you only know the first name of the father.

A big help when searching the church books for an elusive ancestor is the habit of our Dutch ancestors to name their children after family members: The first few children were named after their grandparents, later children after their parents, aunts, uncles or maybe great-grandparents. Another help are the witnesses at baptisms: These are often family members, usually aunts, uncles or grandparents. And if an ancestor died after 1811, there will be a death record which may list his parents.

Let's have a look at a few examples. The first example is from Huizen, an isolated coastal village in the province Noord-Holland, the second example is from the province Friesland.

An example from Huizen, Noord-Holland

On Genlias, you can find the marriage of my ancestor Gijsbert Eppen Veerman, son of Willem Eppen Veerman and Lambertje Mol.

In the archives of the province Noord-Holland in Haarlem I found the following information on father Willem:

His death record: Willem Eppen Veerman, aged 63, husband of Lambertje Mol, son of Ep Eppe and Jannetje Gijsberts Harder, died 5 May 1819 in Huizen.
The marriage of Willem Eppe, widower of Deliaantje Joosten van der Hulst, and Lammertje Hendriks Mol, on 18 May 1794 in Huizen. Note that the name Veerman is not used here, this name is probably adopted in 1811. Deliaantje and Lambertje did have surnames, though, and patronymics (Joosten and Hendriks) as well.
The baptism of two children from this marriage, Hendrik (25 June 1797 in Huizen, witness Jannetje Gijsberts Harder) and my ancestor Gijsbert (20 April 1799 in Huizen, witness Marritje Mol).
The marriage of Willem Ebbe, unmarried, and Deliaantje Joosten van der Hulst, unmarried, on 9 May 1784 in Huizen.
The baptism of three children from Willem's first marriage: Ebbe (13 March 1785, witness Jannetje Gijsb. Harder), Ep (20 May 1787, witness Jannetje Harder), and Deliaantje (10 June 1792, witness Jannetje Gijsb. Harder, the mother died at this birth).

From the death record, we know when Willem was born (more or less) and who his parents were, so it should be easy to find his baptism. But even without the death record we probably have enough information to find the baptism (and thus the parents). The patronymic Eppe(n) or Ebbe and the name of his first two children suggest his father's name must be Ep, Eppe, Ebbe or similar. Jannetje Gijsberts Harder was a witness at several baptisms, so she was probably a family member.

A few other notes:

We know Lambertje Mol's father was probably Hendrik (from the patronymic), and she probably had a sister Marritje (who witnessed the baptism of her son). This information helped me to find Lambertje's baptism and her parents (her father was Hendrik Lucasz Mol, and she did indeed have a sister Marritje).
Willem's daughter Deliaantje is probably not named after a grandmother, as was the custom in these days, but after her mother, who died during her birth. There are exceptions to the naming rules!
Patronymics are often abbreviated in records, especially if there is also a surname: Gijsb instead of Gijsberts. Jannetje Harder's father will have been Gijsbert, and not Gijsb.
A patronymic may become an ordinary name. Gijsbert Eppen Veerman used his father's patronymic Eppen as middle name in some (but not all) records, and many people adopted their patronymic as a surname in 1811. So be careful: Not every name that looks like a patronymic points to the father's name!
Note the use of maiden names for married women: Jannetje Harder, Deliaantje van der Hulst. Women are (almost) always listed under their maiden name in Dutch government and church records!

I had indeed no trouble locating Willem's baptism: Willem, son of Ebbe Jansz and Jannetje Gijsb Harder, baptized 4 January 1756 in Huizen. Witness was Meijnsje Gerr: Teeuwisz, and she will be the clue to finding the parents of Ebbe Jansz (Ebbe was probably baptized on 15 March 1722 as son of Jan Ebben and Meinsje Gerrits, but I still have to verify this).

An example from Friesland

Our second example comes from Friesland. A reader of Trace your Dutch roots asked me to help with a brick wall. His ancestor Wietze Jarigs Veenstra married Trijntje Jakobs Veenstra in 1817 in Smallingerland. You can find their marriage certificate on Genlias or Tresoar.

According to the marriage act, Wietze's parents were Jarig Eeltjes and Antje Pieters, while Trijntje's parents were Jakob Wiegers Veenstra and Antje Libbes. Confusing is that Wietze had the same surname as his father-in-law, but not the same name as his father. Trijntje's grandfather Wieger Jakobs registered the surname Veenstra for himself and his children and grandchildren in 1811 (source: Tresoar, database Family names 1811). Jarig Eeltjes probably passed away before 1811 and never used a surname. I could not find a registration of Wietze's surname.

I searched the pre-1811 database on Tresoar for Veenstra, but (as I expected) without success. After that I searched for names like Wietze, Wytze, Jarig, Jaring, Eeltje, Eeltjes, Eelke etc. (and combinations of these names), and this time I found what I was looking for: The baptism of Wietze and the marriage of his parents. I found:

The death of Wietze Jarings Veenstra, 65, married, son of Jaring Eeltjes en Antje Pieters, died 14 June 1859 in Smallingerland (in the post-1811 database).
Jaring Eeltjes died or was buried on 27 January 1801 in Wartena (Idaarderadeel). I don't know if this was Wietze's father or a namesake - further research is needed to find that out.
Jaring Eelties from Suawoude married Janke Hendriks from Suawoude on 1 July 1798 in Suawoude (Tietjerksteradeel). Jaring may be a namesake, but as he is also from Suawoude I think it is the second marriage of our Jaring.
Born 21 July 1793 in Garijp, baptized 18 August 1793 in "Garijp, Suameer en Eernewoude" (Tietjerksteradeel): The twins Pieter and Wietse, children of Jarich Eeltjes and Antje Pieters.
Jaring Eeltjes from Suawoude and Antje Pyters from Suawoude married 27 June 1784 in Suawoude (Tietjerksteradeel).

A few notes:

In 1807, Wytze Jarigs (from Kollum) and Volkje Tjeerds (from Kollum) married in Kollumerland. This is (almost certainly) another Wytze Jarigs (ours was not from Kollum and too young to marry in 1807). Interestingly, this Wytze also adopted the name Veenstra in 1811 (spelled Feenstra in the database Family names 1811 on Tresoar, but Veenstra in later records).
I did not find any other children of Jaring and Antje. They probably had more children - I expect there eldest son to be named after Jaring's father, with a date of birth around 1785. Maybe I would find him if I tried a few more alternative spellings, or if I went to the Friesland archive in Leeuwarden to study the microfilms of the baptism books.
Tresoar apparently does not list baptism witnesses, and the information we have on Jaring Eeltjes is scarce, so getting further back in time using only Tresoar will be hard and may even be impossible.

Passenger lists: Where do I find them?

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 06:00:00 +0000

There are passenger lists scattered around the internet. Here are some of my favorite sites. They are all free (but registration is required for some of them), and they all have passenger lists of ships from Holland to the new world.

Ellis Island. Registration is required to view scanned passenger lists.
Castle Garden, America's first official immigration centre and Ellis Island's predecessor.
National Archives of Australia record search. Their database includes passenger lists and immigration papers (only for arrivals in Australia, of course). If there is no scan of the record you want, you can order to have it scanned (for a small fee). Once the scan is available, it is freely accessible for everyone.
Passenger lists before 1736 and passenger lists after 1736, an index to passenger lists on Digital Resources Netherlands and Belgium. Here, you will find links to many more passenger lists for ships carrying Dutch emigrants.
Ships Passenger Lists to New Netherland, New York 1624 to 1664, on The Olive Tree Genealogy. While you're there, also check out the Dutch Immigration to USA & Canada section.
The website of the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild (ISTG), an organisation of volunteers transcribing passenger lists. They were founded in September 1998, so their tenth birthday is this month!
Ships' Passenger Lists on On the Trail of Our Ancestors. The Dutch Research Corner on the same website seems to be somewhat outdated.
The many passenger lists in the USGenWeb Archives.
Immigrant Ships, on Macatawa Bay Area History & Heritage - a website about the history of West Michigan. From browsing this site I get the impression that everyone in this area has Dutch roots!
There are several passenger lists on the website of Herman de Wit.

31st Rensselaerswijck Seminar

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:50:00 +0000

The New Netherland Institute will hold their 31st annual Rensselaerswijck Seminar on Saturday 13 September, in the Huxley Theater of the Cultural Education Center at the Empire State Plaza in Albany, NY. The theme of the seminar is Neighbors in the New World: New Netherland and New France:

"Sessions throughout the day will illuminate the relationship between the Dutch and France in 17th-century North America. Major attention will focus on interactions of these European powers and their respective Indian allies."

The program:

José António Brandão, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, An Unreasonable Offer: Iroquois Policy towards their Huron and Mahican Neighbors
James Bradley, ArchLink, Boston, MA, In Between Worlds: New Netherland and New France at Mid Century
Conrad Heidenreich, York University, Ontario, Canada, The Skirmish with the Mohawk on Lake Champlain: was Champlain a 'trigger-happy thug' or 'just following orders'?
Joyce Goodfriend, University of Denver, CO, Introduction and presentation of the Hendricks Manuscript Award
Willem Frijhoff, Free University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Jesuits, Calvinists, and Natives: Attitudes, Agency, and Encounters in the Early Christian Missions in the North.

The seminar will be followed by a cocktail party and the NNI Dinner. The Consul General of the Netherlands in New York City, H. Gajus Schletema, will speak at the dinner. He will talk about the role of the Dutch government in supporting the 2009 Quadricentennial projects of the New Netherland Institute and up and down the Hudson River.

For more information and registration please visit the website of the New Netherland Instititute.

Dutch archive news roundup: Summer 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 11:21:00 +0000

News from the Dutch archives:

Genlias added acts from the provinces Utrecht, Zuid-Holland and Limburg.
The Central Bureau for Genealogy (CBG) is busy digitizing the so-called German acts, BMD acts of Dutch nationals who stayed in Germany during the second world war (except in concentration camps). Acts that can be published under Dutch privacy laws will later be available on their website (for a fee).
Read the English summary of the latest CBG newsletter.
Tresoar, the website of the Friesland archives, offers a new search interface for their (post-1811) BMD records. With a single interface you can now search BMD records, the website itself, the library catalogue, the image database, and more.
Tresoar can now be found on Hyves (the Dutch social networking site) and Youtube.
In the 19th century, many beggars, tramps, and paupers were forced to live and work in armenkolonies (pauper colonies). The archives of these colonies are now online on Drenlias.
The Utrecht archive opened a second location in the Hamburgerstraat in downtown Utrecht. The most commonly used materials for genealogy research (e.g. microfilms of BMD records, the church books and the population registers) can be consulted at the new location, most original documents have to be consulted at the old location in the Alexander Numankade.

Polders, dikes, windmills and tulips 5

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 04:01:00 +0000

Holland is dikes and polders, windmills, and of course tulips. This week, a photo impression of the bulb region, the Beemster polder and the windmills of Kinderdijk. Both Kinderdijk and the Beemsterpolder are Unesco world heritage sites.

Polder landscape. Note the row of poplars on the horizon.

Polders, dikes, windmills and tulips 4

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:58:00 +0000

Polders, dikes, windmills and tulips 3

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:55:00 +0000

Polders, dikes, windmills and tulips 2

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 03:53:00 +0000

The area flooded several times, the last time in 1675. After the 1675 flood the dikes were improved, and they have held ever since. The monument in the picture is placed in 1975 to commemorate 300 years of dry feet.

Bulb region in April

Windmill in the fog. Not in Kinderdijk this time, but near my home.

Polders, dikes, windmills and tulips 1

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 03:48:00 +0000

A dike in the Beemsterpolder. Note that the polder land to the left of the dike is lower than the water to the right of the dike.

Bulb region in April

The windmills of Kinderdijk

Pilgrim fathers 3

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 03:46:00 +0000

During my holiday I will post some photos from my archive. This week: Pilgrim Father sites in Delfshaven and Leiden.

The William Brewster alley, where Brewster had his printing press, seems to be decaying.

Pilgrim fathers 2

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:43:00 +0000

During my holiday I will post some photos from my archive. This week: Pilgrim Father sites in Delfshaven and Leiden.

When I visited Leiden, restoration works were going on in and around the Pieterskerk (St. Peter's Church) in Leiden.

Memorial plaque on the Pieterskerk, commemorating the English puritans who died during their stay in Leiden.

Pilgrim fathers 1

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:41:00 +0000

During my holiday I will post some photos from my archive. This week: Pilgrim Father sites in Delfshaven and Leiden.

Memorial plaque on the "Pilgrim Father church" in Delfshaven

The old harbour of Delfshaven. The pilgrim fathers started there journey here, first to England and then on towards the new world. In the background on the right the "Pilgrim Fathers Church".

Wilhelminakade 2

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:38:00 +0000

During my holiday I will post some photos from my archive. This week: The Wilhelminakade, the quay where the ships of the Holland America Line started their journey towards Ellis Island.

The photos below are of the former headquarters of the Holland America Line (HAL).

Wilhelminakade 1

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:31:00 +0000

During my holiday I will post some photos from my archive. This week: The Wilhelminakade, the quay where the ships of the Holland America Line started their journey towards Ellis Island.

Cruise terminal

Monument for Dutch emigrants. Sculpture Lost Luggage Depot, by Canadian artist Jeff Wall. Detail.

Monument for Dutch emigrants. Sculpture Lost Luggage Depot, by Canadian artist Jeff Wall.

Newsletter: Familieberichten

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 06:56:00 +0000

People often announce important events, like birth, marriage, or death, in print. This can be in the form of newspaper advertisements (deaths are usually announced this way), or printed cards that are sent out to family and friends (wedding invitations and birth and death announcements fall in this category). Many families have a collection of this type of ephemera. They are commonly known as familieberichten (family messages) or familie-annonces (family announcements).

Familieberichten is the topic of the feature article in the next issue of the Trace your Dutch roots newsletter. The newsletter is due early next week. Subscribe now if you want to receive this newsletter by e-mail.

Previous newsletters are still available at the newsletter archive.

Tienjarige tafels

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 04:17:00 +0000

Tienjarige tafels

Tienjarige tafels (ten-yearly tables) are contemporary indexes on the civil register. These tables used to be the only way to access the BMD records of the civil register, but with the large number of modern (usually online) indexes created in the last few years, they have become less important.

Why were they made?

Because it's hard to find a record in the civil register if you don't have an index. At the end of each year, the registrar created an index for that year, usually at the back of the folio with the records. But if the year for an event was not known, it could still be difficult to find the record someone was looking for. Therefore every ten years an index over the previous ten years was created, usually in a separate folio. The first one was created in 1823, covering the years 1813-1822.

Nearly every municipality created tienjarige tafels for its BMD records, but there are exceptions. In The Hague, for example, there is a single table for marriages from 1811-1852 (but births, deaths, and marriages after 1853 are indexed in tienjarige tafels).

What information do they have?

Indexes on birth records usually contain the name of the child and the date the record was created, and often the sequence number of the record. Note that the date in the index is not necessarily the date of birth! The child is indexed under the surname he had at the time of birth. If he was born before the marriage of his parents, that will be the mother's name, even if he received his father's name at the marriage! Therefore, if you can't find a birth in the index, search also for the mother's surname.

Indexes on marriage records will have the names of both spouses, the date the record was created, and often the sequence number of the record. The date listed is usually (but not always) the date of the marriage, as nearly all marriage records were created during the marriage. Usually you can search the index on the name of either spouse, but in some places (e.g. The Hague) the tables are only indexed on the man's name.

The indexes on death records have the name of the deceased, the date the record was created, and often the sequence number of the record. Note that the date in the index is not necessarily the date of death!

The tables are sometimes sorted alphabetically, but more often sorted on the first letter, and per letter sorted on date. On the image above (click to enlarge) the table is sorted on surname, and per surname on date.

Note that the tienjarige tafels are merely an index. Use them to find a record, and never as a source by themselves!

Where can I find them?

At the same place as the BMD records of the civil register. Like the BMD records, the tienjarige tafels were created in duplicate, one copy for the town hall and one copy for the district court. You will find the tables with the registers in the provincial archives, and in local or regional archives. There are microfilmed copies of many tables in the study room of the Central Bureau for Genealogy in The Hague and in the collection of the LDS (usually available for consultation in family history centers worldwide).

Light posting

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 04:44:00 +0000

Due to an unexpectedly busy schedule, I have posted less often recently than I planned. I'll be away for a few days now, and will resume the sources series some time next week.

Sources: Marriage supplements

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 04:37:00 +0000

Huwelijksbijlagen

If two people wanted to marry, they had (and still have) to supply a few documents. These documents, the huwelijksbijlagen (marriage supplements) were kept with the marriage acts of the civil register.

Why were they made?

Before a wedding, the registrar had to verify the couple was indeed allowed to marry. They had to be of a certain age (in the 19th century that was 18 for the groom, 16 for the bride), they should not be married already, if they were under 30 they needed permission from their parents, men must have fulfilled their military obligation. A couple that wanted to marry had to supply the necessary documentary evidence.

What information do they have?

At least birth certificates of the bride and groom (or baptismal certificates, if they were born before 1811). Usually, there is also a document stating the groom has fulfilled his military obligations (which either meant he has completed his military service, or he was not drafted).

If you're lucky, there can be many other documents. If the parents were dead (and the spouses were under 30) you will find the death certificates of the parents (and maybe even of the grandparents, as they had to give permission if the parents were deceased). If the parents could not be present, they could give their permission in an act made up by a notary, this act will be included with the marriage supplements. If the parents refused to give their permission, the couple could apply for a court decision, allowing them to marry without parental permission, and an act drawn up by the court will be part of the marriage supplements. If one of the spouses married before, they had to supply a death act of their previous spouse (or a divorce act).

Other documents are rare. Marriages between certain relatives were only allowed with dispensation from the king, you may find a royal decree granting this permission (this was needed, for example, when Stephanus Johannes Pardoen married his aunt Theodora Margaretha Wilhelmina Pardoen). If no birth or baptism act could be obtained, there may be an acte van bekendheid (act of acquaintance), drawn up by the court and signed by four witnesses, stating that the subject of the act is who he claims to be.

Where can I find them?

Marriage supplements were kept by the district courts, and are now at provincial archives (for the province Zuid-Holland they are kept in the Nationaal Archief in The Hague). You can find the addresses of the provincial archives on the regional pages on the Trace your Dutch roots website. Only in a few cases will you find them elsewhere, e.g. the marriage supplements from Rotterdam for the period 1812-1852 are on the website of the Rotterdam city archive.

In a few cases, the marriage supplements are lost. The archives of the courts of Hoorn and Alkmaar, for example, were lost by fire in 1890. Losses include the marriage supplements of the region. Marriage supplements of the The Hague and Leiden region were lost in March 1945, when the British air force accidentally bombed the Bezuidenhout region in The Hague.

A second look at the population register

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Sun, 25 May 2008 04:39:00 +0000

We looked at the population register (bevolkingsregister) before, but there is a lot more to tell about this register than I could in an introductory blog article.

In this article we will have a look at a few other aspects of the population register:

Population registers list addresses, but not necessarily as street name and house number. We will have a look at the addresses you may find.
The Remarks column may give you some exciting clues for further research.
There are many abbreviations used in the registers, especially in the remarks and religion columns. I will explain some of the most frequently used abbreviations.
Gezinskaarten are sorted alphabetically on name, earlier registers may be sorted differently. We will have a look at how the registers are sorted.
And finally, we will see how the population register was (and is) maintained.

I will assume you already know a few things about the Dutch population register, if not please read my earlier article The population register.

Addresses in the population register

The population register nearly always contains addresses, but not necessarily in a recognizable form. In early registers houses are numbered per district, and an address will often be a letter (for the district) plus a number: A134 is house 134 in district A. Villages and small towns sometimes use numbers only. Sometimes you will also find the street name on the register, but often the district and sequence number is all you have.

The population register often contains a table (usually called concordans, concordance) to find the street and house number from a district and sequence number. The concordance is part of the population register, so you will find it at the same place as the rest of the register.

Later registers contain a street and house number. If a family moved, the address was striked out and a new address was added. Some families, especially from the labouring classes, moved a lot, and the address section on the register can be messy, sometimes indecipherable.

Keep in mind that the addresses in the registers and concordance may have changed: Streets have been renamed or renumbered, and sometimes disappeared. Occasionally, new streets get the same name as a former (or even existing) street.

Remarks column

The remarks column sometimes contains surprising facts about your family, or put you on the trace of a family story you would not have found otherwise. A few things you may find in the remarks column:

Bankruptcy, with the dates the bankruptcy started and ended, and the court that pronounced the bankruptcy.
Emigration, sometimes with destination.
Imprisonment, sometimes with the name and location of the prison, and the court that passed the sentence.
Insanity, maybe with the name and location of an asylum.

Abbreviations

When you study the population register, you will discover there are lots of abbreviations used, especially in the Remarks and Religion columns. We list the most common ones.

Abbr.	Meaning	Translation	Remarks
AK	Aparte kaart	Separate card	Often used on gezinskaarten, when one of the household members left to start his own household.
BD	Buitengewoon dienstplichtig	Extraordinary conscript	Conscript that will not be called up for active service
D	Doopsgezind	Baptist	Found in the Religion column
GD	Gewoon dienstplichtig	Ordinary conscript	Conscript that has been/will be called up for active service
geen		none	Found in the Religion column
H	Hoofd	Head	Sometimes found in the occupation column. It means that someone is his own boss, either self-employed or a business owner.
H	Huwelijk, Gehuwd	Marriage, Married
hv	huisvrouw van	wife of
inw.	inwonend	live-in
IR	Invaliditeitsrente	Disability benefit	Benefit from a (compuslory) disability insurance for employees, introduced in 1919
LS	Landstorm	member of the Landstorm	The Landstorm was an army reserve of volunteers who could be called up in case of mobilization. Existed from 1918 until 1940.
NG	Nederlands Gereformeerd	Dutch Reformed	Found in the Religion column. Found in early registers, later replaced by NH. Note: You may also find Nederduits(ch) Gereformeerd, this is the same church.
NH	Nederlands Hervormd	Dutch Reformed	Found in the Religion column. NH is the same religion as NG. NH is a more modern name.
NI	Nederlands Israelitisch	Dutch Israelite	The religion of most Dutch Jews. Found in the religion column.
O	Ondergeschikte	subordinate	Sometimes found in the occupation column. It means they are an employee.
O	Ongehuwd	Not married
OR	Ouderdomsrente	old age benefit	Benefit from a (compuslory) disability insurance for employees, introduced in 1919. It paid employees who became disabled or reached the age of 70 (later 65) a small allowance.
PK	Persoonskaart		Sometimes found in the remarks column of a gezinskaart. It means a persoonskaart was created for this person.
RC, RK	Rooms Catholiek/Katholiek	Roman Catholic	Found in the Religion column
S	Scheiding, Gescheiden	Divorce, Divorced
vo, vow	vertrokken onbekend (waarheen)	departed unknown (destination)
voc	vertrokken onbekend [waarheen], controle	departed unknown [destination], inspection	an inspector (or census taker) discovered that someone did not live at the registered address anymore, and it is unknown where they are now
VT	Volkstelling	Census	This usually means some information was updated because the census taker discovered it was out of date

Sorting of the register

The first registers are sorted on address (district and sequence number, usually not on street name). You will often find several families listed at the same address (and thus on the same page), either because they shared a house or because they lived there successively. There is usually a contemporary index on family name.

Later registers are sorted on family name, but usually only on the first two or three letters (this varies from town to town), so Smid will sort before Snoek, but not necessarily before Smits.

Gezinskaarten are nearly always sorted alphabetically on family name.

There are often contemporary indexes on people with a different surname than the head of the household (like wifes, stepchildren, live-in parents in law). Usually these indexes are also sorted on the first two or three letters of the surname, sometimes also on the full surname.

If the head of the household is a married or widowed woman, she will usually be sorted under her husband's name, even though her maiden name is listed in the register.

The population register (with the exception of the gezinskaarten) consisted of bound volumes, so it was not always possible to insert a family at the correct place. Sometimes there are supplements to the population register where these families are listed. If you can't find a family in the register while you know they should be there, check the supplements and the indexes.

Maintaining the population register

After my previous article on the population register, Miriam Midkiff asked how the registers were maintained.

In most places, the population register started in 1850 and was based on the 1849 census. To keep the registers up to date, people were (and still are) required to register births, deaths, marriages, and address changes with the municipality. Occasionally, the register was updated after an inspection, which may have taken place because there was a suspicion someone had left. Other institutions would also inform registrars of certain events: information about divorces, bankruptcies, and imprisonments, for example, would come from the courts of justice. National censuses took place roughly every ten years (until 1971). The information was then used to update the population register.

Sources

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Tue, 20 May 2008 03:58:00 +0000

In March, I posted a series of articles discussing the most important sources for Dutch genealogy: The BMD records of the civil register, the population register, persoonskaarten, and church books.

Over the next two weeks, I will post a new, slightly more advanced, series of articles, taking a second look at some of the sources we talked about before, and discussing a few additional sources.

This series will contain the following articles:

A second look at the population register
Marriage supplements
Tienjarige tafels
Notarial archives
Court archives

Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Mon, 12 May 2008 05:55:00 +0000

The website

The Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie (Central Bureau for Genealogy, CBG) is a documentation and information centre for Dutch family history and heraldry. They are funded partly by the government, partly by contributors. The CBG administer the persoonskaarten of deceased people and several private genealogical collections. They also collect just about everything related to genealogy themselves.

Part of their collection is indexed on their website, and for some collections scans are available online.

What do they have?

An index to parts of their collection, and scans of their collection Familieadvertenties (newspaper ads announcing births, deaths, marriages or other family events) until 1970, some bidprentjes (mortuary cards that are commonly handed out on funerals in the Catholic church), and the Algemeen Politieblad 1852-1883 (General Police periodical, a periodical for Dutch policemen containing among others information on promotions and transfers of police personnel, wanted criminals, victims of crime, and deported aliens).

We will have a closer look at some of these sources in future posts.

Is there an English interface?

Partly. Click English in the top right. Much, but not all, of the website is translated. The search interface is almost entirely in Dutch.

How do I use it?

Enter a surname or place name in the search box on the top right of the home page and press the zoeken button. For surnames with an infix, type a comma behind the name and then the infix: kampen, van.

On the result page we see a large number of buttons: One button for each indexed collection. The gray buttons are for collections without results, green buttons for collections that do have results. A small icon on the button means there are scans available. In the example (click image to enlarge) I searched for Kampen, van, and I found three gray and 15 green buttons, three of them with scans.

Click on a button for details about the collection. In most cases, all you get is a call number, and you have to travel to the study room of the CBG in The Hague to find out more, but there are a few cases where you can find out more online.

Especially interesting is the Fotocollectie (photo collection). Click the button to see a list of people whose photo portrait is in the CBG collection, and then click the small details button to see the photo. Many of the photos are cuttings from newspapers or magazines.

The Biografische index (biographical index) is an index to several biographical reference works. All the reference works are available in the study room in The Hague, but some of the books can be consulted on Google Books or are available in shops like Amazon.

When you click the bidprentjes or algemeen politieblad button, you will get a list of names, with an afbeelding button that will take you to the scan. For Familieadvertenties there is only one afbeelding button, and you will have to browse through all scans on your surname - Familieadvertenties are only indexed on surname.

I clicked on Bidprentjes and found the results displayed below (click image to enlarge).

There are 100 bidprentjes on the name van Kampen, and they are available in the study room in The Hague on microfiches 2798 and 2799. Two of them are scanned and online. I want to see the bidprentje of Dirk van Kampen, so I click on the Afbeelding button behind his name. I had to log in (if you don't have an account yet you will have to register first), and had a look at the preview image.

To see the entire image, you have to click the checkbox with the text Om het beeld volledig te kunnen bekijken ga ik akkoord met het afschrijven van eenheden (To view the image I agree with taking units out of my account), and then on the link Volledige beeld bekijken (View full image). After clicking this link, my account is charged and the image displayed.

How much does it cost?

Searching the index is free. Viewing and downloading the portraits is also free. There are charges for viewing and downloading scans. You need to buy a number of units, and you will be charged units when you view scans - from 4 units per page for familieadvertenties to 20 units per scan for bidprentjes. Price per unit depends on how many units you buy and whether you pay contribution. Contributors pay €4.50 per 100 units, €8.10 per 200 units, or €18.00 per 500 units. Contributors also get 500 units per year free. Contribution is currently €52.50 per year (outside The Netherlands). Non-contributors pay €5.00 per 100 units, €9.00 per 200 units, or €20.00 per 500 units. Unused units are valid for one year. Paid scans can also be consulted for one year.

Paid scans are for private use only. For publication you need to obtain permission from the CBG.

Future plans

The CBG plans to make more scanned collections available online.

Conclusion

The study room of the CBG has always been a goldmine for people in search of their Dutch ancestors. A lot of their information is not available elsewhere. It is great to see some of that information available online. I hope the CBG will soon start making their other collections available on their website.

The English search interface and the search instructions should be improved, to make the collections accessible to people outside The Netherlands. Registration is also not possible in English.

The fee structure is confusing, and this will get worse if other collections are added, each with their own pricing. The CBG should really revise their pricing strategy.

Dutch archive news roundup: April 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Henk) — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:22:00 +0000

News from the Dutch archives:

Several archives, museums, and other institutions cooperated to created the Image Bank WW2, with thousands of photographs from the second world war.
The Central Bureau for Genealogy published scans of parts of their collection online. This is a paid service. We will soon look at the online collection in our online records series.
Tresoar added 1750 photos of Jewish graves from Friesland to their website.
New records on the website of the Amsterdam city archive: archiefkaarten. These cards were copies of persoonskaarten that were made when the city of Amsterdam had to hand over the persoonskaart to another authority, usually because the subject of the card died or moved to another city. One million cards, created between 1939 and 1960, are now online.