Belgium Research Tips and Strategies

This page gives an overview for beginners of how to do genealogical research in Belgium.

How to identify a person
The first name and surname is not sufficient to identify a person, but what is?

Matching information
To verify if two records describe the same person, consider the data points that describe the person (name, age, name of parents, ...). The more information the two record have in common, the more certain you can be that they describe the same person. Unfortunately it is impossible to have absolute certainty. However, having four independent data points, such as first name, surname, year or place of birth or death, rarely creates errors without being to restrictive. Although, some common sense is advised. For example:
 * If the name is common and the place is a large city, then you should have an additional data point to be certain.
 * Similarly, if you know that the name is very particular, then three data points might suffice.
 * Obviously, the family name of the father is not a new data point, since it is always the same as the family name of the child. (Women often kept their maiden name.)
 * Knowing the sex does not count as a data point.
 * It is not uncommon for the birthplace and death place to be the same. Having these two match between records does not contain as an entire data point, but it does help.
 * If you have an exact date (either for the birth or death), that can be considered as two data points instead of one.
 * Having a birth date within the correct age range of 20 year does not count. Rather, not having it within that range is conflicting information.

Conflicting information
Even with the above standard, it is still possible to make mistakes. These can be spotted by conflicting information. However, most conflicting information does not make a match impossible. People can change their name, the age might be wrong by a couple of years, ... Although, conflicting information should not be ignored.

Research for the 20th century
The documents dated after 1920 are not publicly available, due to privacy concerns and documents dated between 1900 and 1920 are often unavailable as well. To cover this period, it should suffice to ask your family members.

Tip: If you can not find the documents in the catalogues, you might find it in on the website of the national archive.

Research for the 19th century
Most information for this period can be found in the civil register. For more elaborate research, you might need to look at other records. To know which one, take a look at the Record Finder. The civil register contains three types of records: birth-, marriage- and death certificates. To find your ancestors who are born in the late 19th century, it might suffice to use the birth certificates. However, you will need all three to go back further.

Birth certificates
The birth certificate contains the name of the child, but also contains information about the parents, such as the name and age. If you are lucky it also contains the town of origin, which makes it possible to find their birth certificate. The older records might not contain the town of origin or even the age. To find their birth certificate, you might have to look at either their death certificate or marriage certificate.

To find the birth certificate of a migrant from Belgium, it is important to find the town of origin. Consider the article Finding Towns of Origin.

Marriage certificates
The marriage certificate contains information about the bride and groom, their name, age and town of origin. It also contains information about the parents. Most importantly, it either gives their residence or locates their death. Tips: If a parent is still alive, they are likely to die in the following decade. Hence, you can often use this information to find the death certificate. A couple often married in the town where the wife was living. If you know where she was born, check there.

If you are lucky, the parents married in the same village as their child was born. The marriage certificate contains information about the bride and groom, but also about their parents. Most importantly, it locates their death or, if they are still alive, it gives the residence. In the later case, they are likely do die within the following decade in that village. Either way, you can easily find their death certificate. The death certificate contains the age, town of origin and the name of the parents, which makes it possible to find the birth certificate.

A more secure approach is to search for the marriage certificate of the ancestors for whom you already have the birth certificate. They likely married in the birth town of the wife. The marriage certificate helps to locate the death certificate of the parents, which helps to locate their birth certificate. It is also possible to search for the death certificate directly, but then you might have to search through multiple decades.

You can also search for the birth certificates of the sibling. This can help estimate the marriage and death dates of the parents.

Belgium Research Strategies

 * Record Finder
 * Finding Towns of Origin

Belgium Research Tips

 * A Strategy to Identify your Ancestors