Sri Lanka, Colombo District Dutch Reformed Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Collection Time Period
This collection contains records from 1677 to 1990.

Record Description
The earliest records are handwritten in Dutch. They are badly water damaged. From the 19th century on the records are recorded in English. The later records (mid 19th century on) are on printed forms filled in by the record keeper. After the 20th century the records are on printed forms in English and Tamil.

Record Content
Baptism Records usually contain:


 * Date of baptism
 * Name of the child
 * Names of the parents
 * Names of the godparents

Marriage Records usually contain:


 * Names of Bride and Groom
 * Ages of Bride and Groom
 * Profession and Race of Bride and Groom
 * Bride and Groom's Father's full name.
 * Name and division of registrar who Issued Certificate
 * Location of Marriage Solemnization

Baptism Records
Begin your search by finding your ancestors in the index. Use the locator information in the index (such as page, entry, or certificate number) to locate your ancestors in the birth records. Compare the information in the baptism record to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination. Be aware that as with any index, transcription errors may occur.

When you have located your ancestor’s baptism record, carefully evaluate each piece of information about them. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. For example:


 * Use the birth date along with the place of birth to find the family in census records.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate other church and land records.
 * The father’s occupation can lead you to employment records or other types of records such as military records.
 * The parent’s birth places can tell you former residences and can help to establish a migration pattern for the family.

It is often helpful to extract the information on all children with the same parents. If the surname is unusual, you may want to compile baptism entries for every person of the same surname and sort them into families based on the names of the parents. Continue to search the baptism records to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who were born in the same county or nearby.

Keep in mind:


 * The information in baptism records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1800s.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from record to record.

Marriage Records
Begin your search by finding your ancestors in the index. Name indexes to marriages make it possible to access a specific marriage record quickly. Remember that these indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

When searching the index it is helpful to know the following:


 * The county where the marriage occurred.
 * The name of the person at the time of marriage.
 * The approximate marriage date.
 * The marriage place.
 * The name of the intended spouse.

Use the locator information found in the index (such as page, entry, or certificate number) to locate your ancestors in the marriage records. Compare the information in the marriage record to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination.

When you have located your ancestor’s marriage record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family. For example: • Use the marriage date and place as the basis for compiling a new family group or for verifying existing information. • Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth of each partner to find a couple's birth records and parents' names. • Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth to find the family in census records. • Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records. • Occupations listed can lead you to employment records or other types of records such as military records. • Use the parent’s birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family. • The name of the officiator is a clue to their religion or area of residence in the county. However, ministers may have reported marriages performed in other counties. • Compile the marriage entries for every person who has the same surname as the bride or groom, this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual. • Continue to search the marriage records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives of the bride and groom who may have married in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify. • Use the marriage number to identify previous marriages. • When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

Keep in mind: • The information in marriage records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant. • Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1900. • There is also some variation in the information given from one marriage record to another record.

If you are unable to find the ancestors you are looking for, try the following: • Check for variant spellings of the surnames. • Search for the marriage record of the marriage partner if known. • Check for a different index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. • Search the indexes and records of nearby counties.

Record Reliability
Dutch Reformed Church records are a reliable source for doing genealogical research in Sri Lanka.

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