The Netherlands Genealogy

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Getting started with research in the Netherlands
Welcome to the Dutch page!

FamilySearch Wiki is a community website dedicated to helping people throughout the world learn how to find their ancestors.

When you have Dutch ancestors you are one lucky person as many records have been put on web-sites which are available to all without cost. For more information please look below in: Research Tools

Did you know?
Willem I, Prince of Orange (April 24, 1533—July 10, 1584), also widely known as 'Willem de Zwijger' (William the Silent), or simply Willem van Oranje (William of Orange), as well as 'Vader des Vaderlands' (Father of the Fatherland), was born in the House of Nassau as a count of Nassau-Dillenburg. He became Prince of Orange in 1544 and is thereby the founder of the branch House of Orange-Nassau. He was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. He was assassinated by Balthasar Gérard (also written as 'Gerardts') in his own home, de Prinsenhof in Delft.



The Dutch fought an Eighty Years long war, from 1568—1648, to gain indepence and religious freedom and so became one of the countries where people of all religions and cultures could find refuge.

Michiel de Ruyter was one of the great admirals at that time. A Dutch fleet, with De Ruyter as third in command, beat back a Spanish-Dunkirker fleet in an action of Cape St Vincent 4 November 1641.

Did you know that in the Netherlands they have yearly "4-day-bike-tours" in different parts of the country? For more information see: | 4-day-bike-tours

International Four Day Marches around Nijmegen, Gelderland, have taken place since 1916. The very first Four Day March was held in 1909. This is very much an international event. Participants have to walk 30, 40 or 50 kilometers (respectively 18.6, 24.8 or 31.0 miles) each day for 4 days. For more information see: | Four Days Marches around Nijmegen

Jurisdictions


The capital city of the Netherlands is Amsterdam, but the goverment buildings are located in 's-Gravenhage (The Hague) where the Huis ten Bosch, residence of the reigning Queen Beatrix, is also located.

Provinces

The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces, the last one - Flevoland - was created from part of the former Zuider Zee/IJsselmeer on 1 January 1986.


 * Drenthe
 * Flevoland
 * Fryslân or Friesland
 * Gelderland
 * Groningen
 * Limburg
 * Noord-Brabant
 * Noord-Holland
 * Overijssel
 * Utrecht
 * Zeeland
 * Zuid-Holland

Research Tools
Some sources in determining place of origin


 * Living relatives
 * Old letters
 * Photo album
 * Newspaper obituaries
 * Journals
 * Family and bible records
 * Census records
 * Tombstone inscriptions
 * Probate records
 * Marriage and/or death records

Some great research tools

One of the first things I would suggest is searching the many Dutch genealogical web-sites.


 * For ancestors records after 1811, go to web-site GenLias. If you prefer to do it in Dutch, just click on the botton that says 'Nederlands'.

This web-site contains records of the Burgelijke Stand (Civil Registration) from 1811 till the time period the 'Right of Privacy Act' begins, which is: 100 years for birth records 75 years for marriage records 50 years for death records

This web-site started with marriage and death records as they hold the most information about a person. Few birth records are yet available and many records still need to be entered from Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland.


 * For ancestors before 1811, go to web-site Digital Resources of the Netherlands and Belgium.

This web-site has options to click (on the left side of the screen) the name of a province, which then brigs up links to provincial and regional web-sites and when you scroll down on that pages, you will also find links to city and village records. You will have a wide choice of records available here and often these records have been extracted from the original books and indexedfor easy search options.

If you cannot find the town you are looking for on these sites, you can also try archive network and hold you curser over the country of interest where it will give you the choice to click on 'town' or 'province'. Again, if you want to read any of these web-sites in Dutch, just click on the word 'Nederlands'

Other Websites


 * Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie
 * Digital Resources
 * Genealogie Online
 * Geneanet
 * Genlias

Encyclopedias may provide information on all branches of knowledge or treat specific topics comprehensively, usually in alphabetically arranged articles. They often contain information of great interest for genealogical research, including articles about towns and places, prominent people, minorities, and religions. They can give information about diverse subjects, such as record-keeping practices, laws, customs, commerce, costumes, occupations, and archaic terminology.

The Family History Library has general-knowledge encyclopedias from the Netherlands (in Dutch) along with Dutch-English and English-Dutch dictionaries. The encyclopedias and dictionaries are listed in the Family History Library Catalog under THE NETHERLANDS - ENCYCLOPEDIAS AND DICTIONARIES.

The following is a good Dutch dictionary:

Title Cassell's English-Dutch, Dutch-English dictionary = Engels-Nederlands, Nederlands-Engels woordenboek Kramer, Jacob, 1802-1869. Kramers' Engels Woordenboek Call Number 439.31321 Ca272 Publication London : Cassell, 1982 New York, New York : Macmillan Publishers Limited Physical xiv, 602, vii, 729 p. ; 19 cm. ISBN/ISSN 0025229400 Title Also Known As Cassell's Dutch dictionary Engels-Nederlands, Nederlands-Engels woordenboek English-Dutch, Dutch-English dictionary Kramers' Engels woordenboek

Dutch-English online dictionary

Research Strategies

Introduction to the Netherlands Search Strategies

Record Selection Table


 * (helpful tools and resources, gazetteers)
 * (language dictionary, handwriting guide or tutorial, etc.)

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