Netherlands Occupations

The Netherlands

Burgher rolls (Burgerboeken)
Research use: Sometimes a very useful linkage tool where several generations are listed; town of origin of an ancestor may be given.

Record type: Citizen lists and inhabitants of a given town; lists of persons entitled to the rights, privileges, and protection of a town or community.

Time Period: 1240-1811.

Content: Names, ages, sometimes social and economic status of citizens, occupations, town of origin, dates when citizenship rights in a town were acquired, family relationships, sometimes two or more generations or genealogies are listed.

Location: Provincial, city and municipal archives.

Percentage in Family History Library: 20%.

Population coverage: 20%.

Reliability: Very good.

Guild and apprenticeship records (Gilden registers)
Research use: Names of members and applicants, birth and death dates, parents and sometimes spouses and children are listed.

Record type: Records of merchants, craftsmen, tradesmen, skilled laborers, and persons bound by indenture to serve others for a prescribed period to learn an art or trade. May includes civil, religious, hospital and/or trade guilds.

Time Period: 1240-1850.

Content: Names of skilled laborers, craftsmen and apprentices, birth dates or ages, places of origin and residence, family relationships, occupations, death dates. Some guild records list their members' families with marriage dates of couples and birth dates of their children.

Location: City and municipal archives.

Population coverage: 10%.

Reliability: Very good.