The Netherlands Genealogy

Guide to Netherlands ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, and military records.

Country Information
The Netherlands is a country in Western Europe bordered by Germany and Belgium. The official national language is Dutch.

Getting Started


Finding Your Ancestors' Town in the Netherlands

 * Genealogical records are organized by geographical locality. Civil registration (government birth, marriage, and death records) and church records (christenings/baptisms, marriages, and burials) were kept at the local level. To search these records, you must know the town where your ancestors lived.
 * If you do not know your ancestors' town, follow the advice in the Wiki article, The Netherlands Finding Town of Origin to search a variety of records that might provide that information.

The Netherlands Clickable Map
To visit the page of a province, click either on the province on the map or the name listed in the Provinces section below.

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.

Municipalities
The second tier of jurisdiction and the one most relevant for genealogy, especially after 1811, is the gemeente (municipality). There are currently 393 of them, down from about 1200 in 1811. Links to pages listing municipalities and the towns within them can be found on the page for the relevant province.

FamilySearch Resources
Below are FamilySearch resources that can assist you in researching your family.
 * Facebook Communities - Facebook groups discussing genealogy research
 * Dutch Genealogy - Facebook group specifically discussing Dutch Genealogy (English)
 * Family History Center locator map
 * FamilySearch Historical Records for the Netherlands

Additional Resources

 * Trace Your Dutch Roots

Classes

 * Finding Your Family in the Amsterdam City Archives
 * Dutch Provincial and City Research

Compiled Genealogies

 * Centrum voor Familigeschiedenis Resources include printed genealogies in the CBG library,funeral cards, notices, pictures, and contact information of others researching the surname, among others, “persoonskarten” (police registration cards) and –lists available from 1940 on are housed here.
 * Voorouders.et, compiled family trees and genealogies

Additional Records Links

 * FHS Archival Indexes, Miscellaneous Records
 * FHS Archival Indexes, Public Records
 * Dutch Family Surname Database (Nederlandse Familienamenbank)

Gazetteers

 * Aardrijkskundig woordenboek van Nederland (Gazetteer), online gazetteer
 * Repertorium van Nederlandse Gemeenten vanaf 1812 (Overview of Dutch municipalities since 1812): Gazetteer that shows changes in municipalities over the years, including merges. Skip over the introductory material to where the actual listings begin on page 52. The first line gives the existence dates. "Afgesplitst" means "split off of", "toegevoegd" means "added", "opgegaan in" means "merged"' "ontstaan uit" means "originated from".