Amsterdam, The Netherlands Genealogy

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The Amsterdam City Archives
All indexes and images are free of charge. All of the records of the archives are indexed with images available.
 * Link to the indexes of the Amsterdam City Archives.
 * [[Media:Handout_for_Amsterdam_Indexes_presentation.pdf|Instructions]]
 * See also, Stadsarchief Amsterdam.

Reading the Records
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 * Records are most commonly written in Dutch or Latin. You do not have to be fluent these languages to read your documents! Genealogical records usually contain a limited vocabulary. Use this Dutch Genealogical Word List to translate the important points in the document. Also see Latin Word List


 * Also, the handwriting can be slightly different, so you will want to watch these lessons, as needed, depending on the pre-dominant language in the region your ancestors lived:


 * [[Media:1-NL_Civil_Registration_Birth_Records-Instruction.pdf|Reading Dutch Birth Records]]
 * [[Media:1-NL_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Reading Dutch Marriage Records]]
 * [[Media:1-NL_Civil_Registration_Death_Records-Instruction.pdf|Reading Dutch Death Records]]

Tips for Finding Your Ancestor in the Records

 * Effective use of civil registration and church records includes the following strategies:
 * 1) Identify your ancestor by finding his birth or christening record.
 * 2) When you find an ancestor’s birth or baptismal record, search for the births of siblings.
 * 3) Search for the parents’ marriage record. Typically, the marriage took place one or two years before the oldest child was born.
 * 4) Search for the parents' birth records. On the average, people married in their early 20s, so subtact 25 or so years from the marriage date for a starting year to search for the parents' birth records.
 * 5) Search the death registers for all family members.
 * 6) If you do not find earlier generations in the parish registers, search neighboring parishes.


 * Marriages were usually performed and recorded where the bride lived.
 * Do not overlook the importance of death records. Death records are especially helpful because they may provide important information about a person’s birth, spouse, and parents. Civil death records often exist for individuals for whom there are no birth or marriage records.