How do I add more than just the basics to my Dutch profiles?

Question

My half-sibling is half-Dutch and I've just entered part of her ancestry, going back a few generations.

I've never worked with Dutch records before and the quality, detail and comprehensiveness of the primary sources is wonderful, as is how available these sources are.

But there's something lacking in my profiles. I have found virtually nothing beyond birth, marriage and death.

Normally I would trawl through the newspaper record, look at wills, random stuff that turns up in the archives, land transactions, prison records and the like.

So where should I be looking to find information to flesh these profiles out?

Answer 1

A good start is Delpher. It is the digital newspaper archive developed and managed by the Royal Dutch Library.

Google also might serve you well. Type names including dates and you could stumble across pdf's that mention old deeds reg. land ownership or wills etc.

Another useful site www.hogenda.nl

Have fun !

Comments

Thanks Remko!

Answer 2

Hi Mark, below are some links where you can find Dutch sources

* Archieven.nl

* WieWasWie.nl

* Familysearch catalog 

* Openarch

and here is a link on how to fill in the name fields for Dutch profiles. Dutch/Flemish Names and Name fields

And finally a link to the Project Netherlands.  Those who are interested in Dutch ancestors can become a member of the Project Netherlands/Dutch Roots Project, you're welcome! 

Comments

Thanks Joop!

Answer 3

The Marriage record and census records (Bevolkingsregister) will mention professions. You will find more and more notary deeds like house sales at big websites like wiewaswie.nl

The bevolkingsregister records will also give you an exact address. With that, you can look for old maps at the archives and describe the living area. For all the rest, just ask the Dutch_Roots members; it really depends on the ancestry what else can be found.

Comments

I knew about the Bevolkingsregisters* and thought they would be more useful, but over half the people I can't even find in the registers. Then when I do find them, I can't see a lot of extra info beyond what the birth or marriage records have. Am I missing something?

* My previous experience of Dutch research involved tracing one very distant German cousin who became a nun and moved to the Netherlands

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Well, you got a link?

There should be the address, familymembers, profession, relationships and possibly other notes. It depends a bit on the region though.

Answer 4

always look at the "huwelijksbijlagen" those are the papers bride and groom had to show at the wedding: about the military service of the groom, death certificates parents and last month I found an insanity declaration from a doctor. Familysearch has them online.

"Memories van Successie" are a good source for finding possessions like land or houses. For everyone who died and had possessions the taxes wanted to know what they owned and how valuable it was. Not all the provincial archives have them online.

Look at the sites of the provincial and regional archives. and local and regional historical/genealogical societies. It depends on the part of the land her ancestors came from how many sources you can find online.

Comments

Thanks Eef!

Answer 5

A lot depends on which province and town the people you're looking for come from.  Allefriezen.nl, records from Friesland, includes the largest number of records besides vital records, for instance notaries after 1811, some tax records on land in 1698, and even some other borrowing and lending records from the 1600's.  Several other provinces and areas within provinces also have databases that include more records like these.  Of course, it always helps if you can read Dutch.  I've sometimes asked for help reading these documents in G2G.  Sometimes church membership records are also very helpful in discovering what area of a town or city they lived in.  There are also many scattered documents.  Many of these can be found gathered at https://www.geneaknowhow.net/digi/bronnen.html.

Answer 6

Here you will find a lot of dutch archives:

Nederlandse Archieven (wikitree.com)

Answer 7

Besides all the Dutch sources mentioned above, which will help you find your ancestors, look for general articles in English which will help you to envision what their lives were like. I like to start by Googling the name of their town. Where is it? What is it like now, and what what was it like back then? What did people do for a living?