Need Help with your Dutch Roots, then have a quick read. It helped me understand alot about how woman used her maiden name and husbands name through her lifetime.
| Starting Genealogy in the Netherlands |
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Introduction
This document is not about learning genealogy, but intended for genealogists starting research in the Netherlands. It explains the administrative system, and what can be found in it.
Registration
In the Netherlands, particular events in a person's live are officially recorded. The typical events are just what genealogists are looking for: birth, marriage and death. The current administrative system is called the Burgerlijke Stand (civil registration, abbreviated ‘BS’). And there are the Volkstellingen (census) which were held every 10 years, but abandoned in the 1970's.
Before the introduction of the Burgerlijke Stand in 1811 there was a comparable but less extensive system in Church Records.
Before the introduction of the Burgerlijke Stand in 1811 there was a comparable but less extensive system in Church Records.
Note: In the Dutch system, a woman keeps her maiden name after marriage (certainly in the ‘Burgerlijke Stand’, but it was common before that). She may use her husbands surname in front of her surname, separated by a hyphen. E.g. when a Sylvia de Boer married a Klaas Jansen, she may call herself Sylvia Jansen-de Boer. In every day's life she may be known as Sylvia Jansen, but for any official administration she remains Sylvia de Boer (married to…).
Children will get the surname of the father. Modern legislation allows more flexibility, in particular for children, but that is of no consequence for genealogists researching the past.
Children will get the surname of the father. Modern legislation allows more flexibility, in particular for children, but that is of no consequence for genealogists researching the past.
Note: Dutch surnames often have a preposition ('van', 'van der', 'de', 'ter', …); such prepositions are part of the surname but not used in alphabetic ordering or in a search. E.g. you will find 'van Diemen' indicated and sorted as 'Diemen, van'. For a search you can often specify the prepositions in a special entry called 'tussenvoegsel'. See Spelling for more on prepositions, spelling and ordering of Dutch names.
Akte:
The official record of an event is called an Akte (record, deed, certificate). They were written in books which are now in an archive (Dutch: ‘archief’). Each municipality has its own archive, but the civil registration sections which are now public are concentrated in the Provincial Archives and the archives of major towns (like Amsterdam and Rotterdam). People (which includes genealogists ;-) can visit those archives and view the books (commonly via micro fiche).
Note: that the dates are recorded in 'European' format: dd-mm-yyyy or dd month year.
Digitisation:
Genealogy is a very popular hobby in the Netherlands, and many genealogists are doing volunteer work in transcribing old registrations. Most ‘Akten’ have now been digitised and made accessible via the internet, so you don’t have to travel at all and can research the records from the comfort of your home. Regarding civil registrations, the Netherlands is one of the most digitised country in the world (with Iceland as first ?). There are various forms of digitisation:For the rest please travel right on over to: http://www.van-diemen-de-jel.nl/Genea/GeneaEN.html
