Readers' questions: Find a professional genealogist

Bob asked me:

Can you recommend a person or service that would assist me (for a fee) in tracing our Dutch roots ? I have a family 'bible' from the 1700s written in old Dutch (German?)

And David asked:

I read some Dutch, and often can do a good job translating to English. But sometimes it would be helpful to have a native Dutch speaker check my translations. Do you know of any genealogists or translators who would be willing, for a fee, to take a look at a Dutch document and my translation? Do you have any other suggestions?

Most provincial archives have a list of professional genealogists working in their region. You can find addresses and websites of the archives in the regional genealogy section on Trace your Dutch roots.

The Central Bureau for Genealogy (CBG) also maintains a list of professional genealogists. You can find it here (PDF, you will need Adobe Acrobat or a similar program to read it). Researchers marked with an asterisk * do research in (post-1811) BMD records, researchers marked with two asterisks ** do research in all relevant archives. Region or specialty of researchers is usually listed. Bob will need a researcher marked with two asterisks, for David it depends on the type of documents that need to be translated.

A third option is to find someone on Genealogy Freelancers, but I don't know if they have any freelancers specialized in Dutch genealogy. I have no experience with this organization.

I would advise Bob to find out whether the text in the bible is Dutch or German before hiring a (paid) genealogist. Post a scan on the internet (for example on flickr) and ask people to look at it - ask at internet forums (see the regional genealogy section and the Getting help chapter on Trace your Dutch roots online for addresses; I recommend soc.genealogy.benelux), or ask the readers of this blog (leave a comment below).

David can also look for Dutch translators in his local yellow pages, or for English translators in the Dutch yellow pages. There used to be several free translation services on the internet (like e-transcriptum.net and Translate-Free.com), but they seem to have disappeared. Maybe a Google search will turn up similar services. If David does not have too many translations, he can also try internet forums like soc.genealogy.benelux.

UPDATE: Deborah Irwin, CEO of Genealogy Freelancers, informed me that they do indeed have Dutch researchers: "We do have researchers in the Netherlands so I hope we can be of service to your readers [...]."

Do you also have a question about Dutch genealogy that you want me to discuss? Leave your question in the comments below this post, or use the contact form.

Dutch traditions: 4 and 5 May

As I told you before, 2009 is the Year of the Traditions here in The Netherlands. Number 13 in the top 100 of Dutch traditions is: 4 & 5 mei vieren, celebrating 4 and 5 May.

So what are we celebrating on 4 and 5 May? Actually, "celebrating" is a misnomer: 4 May is for commemoration, and only 5 May is for celebrations.

4 May is dodenherdenking, remembrance of the dead. Traditionally, it was the day we commemorated those who perished in World War II - soldiers, resistance members and civilians. Nowadays, for most people it is still the remembrance of World War II victims, but officially we commemorate "all, civilians and members of the armed forces, who have died in the Kingdom of the Netherlands or anywhere in the world, since the outbreak of World War II, in war situations or peace keeping missions". That includes, for example, Dutch soldiers who recently lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The flags hang half-staff on 4 May. Around 8 p.m., many towns have some kind of commemoration, often at a local monument. The main commemoration event is at the National Monument in Amsterdam. A few minutes before 8 p.m., the Queen will lay down a wreath at the National Monument. This is followed at 8 p.m. sharp by two minutes of silence in honour of those we commemorate. After the two minutes silence and the national anthem, members of the cabinet, representatives of the military, veterans, resistance movements and other groups will lay wreaths or flowers. Later, members of the public can do the same.

The two minutes silence at 8 p.m. is observed nationwide. Public transport stops, television and radio stations are silent, shops are closed this evening, many restaurants and bars are either closed or don't serve for two minutes.

4 May is followed by 5 May, Bevrijdingsdag (Liberation Day). On this day we celebrate the liberation from the occupation by Nazi Germany (1940-1945). It is celebrated every year, but a national holiday only once every five years. As Bevrijdingsdag is not a holiday, but is a school holiday, there are many events aimed at children on this day. Another popular bevrijdingsdag outing is a visit to one of the many music festivals that are held this day.

For more information, see the official website 4 en 5 mei (4 and 5 May, website is in Dutch).

Dutch archive news roundup: April 2009

• Genlias added birth and marriage acts from Friesland, and birth, marriage and death acts from Utrecht.
• The Dutch National Archive published new images on flickr The Commons, including a set of images related to New York.
• The archives in Groningen opened a new image database: Beeldbank Groningen.
• Drenlias, the database of BMD acts from Drenthe, added scans of death acts of the period 1943-1952. This includes the death act of the concentration camp in Westerbork, but also many death acts of Jews who died in e.g. Auschwitz or Sobibor. Death acts for these people were usually made up after the war in their last place of residence. These death acts often have supplements, scans of these documents are also online.
• Last year, I wrote about the Archiefbank (Archives Database) of the Amsterdam City Archive. The Archiefbank recently became available in English. The Archiefbank was one of the winners of Best Archives Website, awarded by ArchivesNext.

Photo: Queen Wilhelmina visits New York and is welcomed by Mayor La Guardia. Dutch National Archive, on flickr The Commons.