Dutch archive news roundup: April 2008

News from the Dutch archives:

• Several archives, museums, and other institutions cooperated to created the Image Bank WW2, with thousands of photographs from the second world war.
• The Central Bureau for Genealogy published scans of parts of their collection online. This is a paid service. We will soon look at the online collection in our online records series.
• Tresoar added 1750 photos of Jewish graves from Friesland to their website.
• New records on the website of the Amsterdam city archive: archiefkaarten. These cards were copies of persoonskaarten that were made when the city of Amsterdam had to hand over the persoonskaart to another authority, usually because the subject of the card died or moved to another city. One million cards, created between 1939 and 1960, are now online.

Divorce ends after 98 years

A remarkable news item came from Tresoar last week. Sjoerd Douwes van der Heide and Sijke Eetzes Oostenbrug married on 5 May 1900 in Tietjerksteradeel (you can find their marriage on Genlias or Tresoar). Ten years later, they divorced - until last week.

In The Netherlands, a divorce is passed by court, and then entered in the margin of the original act in the marriage register. The divorce only takes effect once it is entered in the margin.

On 29 December 1910, a note was added in the margin of the Van der Heide - Oostenbrug marriage act, stating their divorce by order of the court of Leeuwarden, on 14 April 1910.

Recently, a book about the history of the village Molenend (where the couple lived) mentioned their divorce. Their grandchildren were shocked about that: They never knew anything about their grandparents' divorce.

The youngest grandchild started an investigation. First on the Tresoar website, where the divorce was indeed mentioned. Then in the Friesland archive in Leeuwarden, where she saw the marriage act with the divorce written in the margin. Finally, she searched for the court order of 14 April 1910. There was none.

Further investigation showed the registrar had made a mistake. It was a different marriage that had to be annulled. Sjoerd and Sijke have been divorced since December 1910, but they probably never knew about it. Their granddaughter asked for the mistake to be corrected. The archivist asked and received permission from the court to do so, and on 27 February 2008 he updated the margin, ending the almost century-old divorce.

You can see the updated marriage act here. The divorce is still mentioned with the marriage act on Tresoar, but I expect that will also be corrected soon.

On the photo: Deputy archivist Lourens Oldersma updates the marriage register. Photo by Tresoar.

Dutch archive news roundup: February 2008

News from the Dutch archives:

• Genlias added birth records from Groningen and Zuid-Holland, marriage records from Groningen, Utrecht and Zuid-Holland, and death records from Groningen, Utrecht and Zuid-Holland.
• The Central Bureau for Genealogy announced that publication of part of their collection online is currently in testing phase, and will finally be available to the public some time in March.
• The Friesland Archive published its 1811 register of surnames online on Tresoar. (Surnames became compulsory in 1811. Until then, many families in Friesland did not have a surname. Many families chose a surname in 1811 and registered it, and these registrations are now available online.)
• The Utrecht Archive announced a new website that will replace their current website. The new website will be launched in March.

Online records: Noordhollandse Huwelijken

The website

So far, we have only looked at the websites of archives and museums in the Online records series. Today we will look at a private initiative: The website Noordhollandse Huwelijken (Marriages of Noord-Holland), maintained by Gertie van Lienen-Visser and Ineke Smit.

What do they have?

Reconstructions of families from several towns in the province Noord-Holland, originally based on marriage records that were entered in Genlias, later supplemented with other records found in the Noord-Holland archives (and occasionally records found elsewhere).

The towns you will find on Noordhollandse Huwelijken are Barsingerhorn, Beemster, Beverwijk, Broek op Langedijk, Harenkarspel, Hensbroek, Huizen, Katwoude, Muiden, Muiderberg, Nieuwe Niedorp, Oterleek, Oude Niedorp, Oudkarspel, Petten, De Rijp, Schagen, Sint Maarten, Sint Pancras, Twisk, Ursem, Veenhuizen, Velsen, Venhuizen, Warmenhuizen, Wieringen, Wieringerwaard, Wimmenum, Winkel, Zandvoort, Zeevang, and Zijpe.

Family reconstructions is the main focus of this website, but there is also a list of emigrants to North America, mostly from Sint Maarten, Schoorl, Zijpe and Warmenhuizen, and from the province Friesland.

Is there an English interface?

No. There is an English summary (click the British flag in the top left), but it's rather outdated. At the bottom of the English page is a small list of Dutch words (with translations) that you may need to understand the data on the website.

How do I use it?

Click on the name of the town you are interested in. On the next page, you have to click a letter to get a list of surnames starting with the selected letter. Click on a name to go to the family reconstruction.

For a few towns the site works differently. The link for Venhuizen, for instance, opens an index to the church books of Venhuizen.

If you want to consult the list of emigrants, click Emigranten on the homepage, or go directly to this page. Choose an initial at the bottom of the page to get a list of names, and click on a name.

How much does it cost?

Use of the website is free.

Future plans

New data is added regularly.

Conclusion

A useful website if your ancestors are from one of the featured towns. You will often find complete families on this site, and you can usually click through to the siblings' families, or to the parents' families. Note, though, that unmarried children are often missing, as the main source for this website is marriage acts.

An update of the English summary is long overdue. It would also be nice if the webmasters could do something about the popup ads.

Online records: Tresoar

The website

Tresoar is the website of the Frisian Historical and Literary Centre, a merger of the provincial archive of Friesland, the Frisian literary museum, and the provincial library.

What do they have?

Lots of sources from Friesland. There are two main databases: After 1811, with birth, marriage and death (BMD) records, and Before 1811, with church books. Other databases include tax registers, pension records, court records, Jewish communities, license plates, emigrants, an index to the notarial archives, Frisian soldiers in Napoleon's army, and databases with background information like maps, occupations, and thesauruses of Frisian names and place names.

There are also databases of Frisian literature, but I won't discuss these on this blog.

An example of the data we can find in the databases on Tresoar: Hendrik Jan Geerts, from Oostermeer, is in 1749 vrijgesel (bachelor), and he bestaat redelijk wel (lives quite well). Tax assessment: 13 guilders and 5 stuivers. Source: Quotisatiekohieren (tax assessments) 1749.

Is there an English interface?

For most of the site, there is an English interface: Click the British flag on the top right. Not all parts are translated yet: Woningkaarten (house cards), for instance, is still in Dutch. As always, the contents of the databases is in Dutch, and that makes some of the databases (e.g. the occupations database) very hard to use if you don't know Dutch.

How do I use it?

Use the navigation menu on the left. Click Genealogy and then Search before/after 1811 to go to the main databases. Select if you want to search birth/baptisms, marriages or deaths. You will not find anything if you leave this blank! Select a region (or search all regions if you don't know the region), fill in a name, and click Search.

Most genealogy databases can be reached by clicking Genealogy, then Genealogy (the top item in the new menu), and select a database on the right hand side. Background information can be found under Genealogy and then Resources.

Some of the databases can also be reached by clicking Directly to > > > and selecting from the list.

For more information use the Help option on the top of the screen.

How much does it cost?

All information on the site is currently free. There are of course charges for ordering copies.

Future plans

I could not find a public statement, but data is still added regularly. Currently, scans of the BMD records of one town (IJlst) can be viewed at the website, hopefully more scans will be added in the future.

Conclusion

Most of the BMD records in the after 1811 database are also in Genlias. The main value of Tresoar is in the other databases: Primary data from the church books in the before 1811 database, and lots of interesting facts in the other databases. An essential site if your ancestors are from Friesland.

Dutch archive news roundup: Q4 2007

• Genlias has added new acts from the Netherlands Antilles (Aruba, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Maarten) and from the Dutch provinces Overijssel, Noord-Brabant and Limburg.
• The National Archives published a guide to the sources relating to Ghana in the Dutch archives: Sources for the Mutual History of Ghana and the Netherlands.
• Tresoar and Internationaal Menno Simons Centrum (IMSC, a baptist research institute) announced a joint project to digitize their baptist sources.
• The Central Bureau for Genealogy revamped their website and announced the publication of parts of their collection on their website, starting mid to late January (charges will apply).
• Several archives announced new opening times for 2008.

Dutch archives news roundup - May 2007

News from the Dutch archives.

• The National Archives opened the archives of Ordedienst and Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten, Dutch resistance movements sponsored by the Dutch government in exile during the second world war. These can be consulted on site in The Hague.
• The National Archives have a vacancy for a new Director, as their current Director will retire at the end of this year.
• Over half of the car license plate registrations for Friesland from the period 1906-1950 are now available online. The rest will follow this year.
• The Amsterdam Archive opened a new and improved image bank.
• All birth acts from Rotterdam (1811-1902) are now available in their online database. Death acts will be next.
• The provinces Groningen, Noord-Brabant, Noord-Holland, Limburg and Zeeland have added new acts to Genlias.

Dutch archives news roundup - March 2007

• The National Archive announced the addition of records from the Netherlands antilles to the Genlias project. See my earlier post on this topic.
• The Amsterdam City Archive closed its doors on 30 March. They will spend the next few months moving to a new location. The new location will open to the public on 7 August.
• A researcher discovered a hand-written letter by Voltaire in the Friesland archive. It is the only known Voltaire letter that is written in Dutch.
• The Gelderland Archive discovered a 16th century album amoricum in a private collection that they have currently on loan. The album dates from before 1556 and is the oldest known Dutch album amoricum.
• The Noord-Holland archive completed their refurbishment and reopened on a new location.