Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie

The website

The Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie (Central Bureau for Genealogy, CBG) is a documentation and information centre for Dutch family history and heraldry. They are funded partly by the government, partly by contributors. The CBG administer the persoonskaarten of deceased people and several private genealogical collections. They also collect just about everything related to genealogy themselves.

Part of their collection is indexed on their website, and for some collections scans are available online.

What do they have?

An index to parts of their collection, and scans of their collection Familieadvertenties (newspaper ads announcing births, deaths, marriages or other family events) until 1970, some bidprentjes (mortuary cards that are commonly handed out on funerals in the Catholic church), and the Algemeen Politieblad 1852-1883 (General Police periodical, a periodical for Dutch policemen containing among others information on promotions and transfers of police personnel, wanted criminals, victims of crime, and deported aliens).

We will have a closer look at some of these sources in future posts.

Is there an English interface?

Partly. Click English in the top right. Much, but not all, of the website is translated. The search interface is almost entirely in Dutch.

How do I use it?

Enter a surname or place name in the search box on the top right of the home page and press the zoeken button. For surnames with an infix, type a comma behind the name and then the infix: kampen, van.

On the result page we see a large number of buttons: One button for each indexed collection. The gray buttons are for collections without results, green buttons for collections that do have results. A small icon on the button means there are scans available. In the example (click image to enlarge) I searched for Kampen, van, and I found three gray and 15 green buttons, three of them with scans.

Click on a button for details about the collection. In most cases, all you get is a call number, and you have to travel to the study room of the CBG in The Hague to find out more, but there are a few cases where you can find out more online.

Especially interesting is the Fotocollectie (photo collection). Click the button to see a list of people whose photo portrait is in the CBG collection, and then click the small details button to see the photo. Many of the photos are cuttings from newspapers or magazines.

The Biografische index (biographical index) is an index to several biographical reference works. All the reference works are available in the study room in The Hague, but some of the books can be consulted on Google Books or are available in shops like Amazon.

When you click the bidprentjes or algemeen politieblad button, you will get a list of names, with an afbeelding button that will take you to the scan. For Familieadvertenties there is only one afbeelding button, and you will have to browse through all scans on your surname - Familieadvertenties are only indexed on surname.

I clicked on Bidprentjes and found the results displayed below (click image to enlarge).

There are 100 bidprentjes on the name van Kampen, and they are available in the study room in The Hague on microfiches 2798 and 2799. Two of them are scanned and online. I want to see the bidprentje of Dirk van Kampen, so I click on the Afbeelding button behind his name. I had to log in (if you don't have an account yet you will have to register first), and had a look at the preview image.

To see the entire image, you have to click the checkbox with the text Om het beeld volledig te kunnen bekijken ga ik akkoord met het afschrijven van eenheden (To view the image I agree with taking units out of my account), and then on the link Volledige beeld bekijken (View full image). After clicking this link, my account is charged and the image displayed.

How much does it cost?

Searching the index is free. Viewing and downloading the portraits is also free. There are charges for viewing and downloading scans. You need to buy a number of units, and you will be charged units when you view scans - from 4 units per page for familieadvertenties to 20 units per scan for bidprentjes. Price per unit depends on how many units you buy and whether you pay contribution. Contributors pay €4.50 per 100 units, €8.10 per 200 units, or €18.00 per 500 units. Contributors also get 500 units per year free. Contribution is currently €52.50 per year (outside The Netherlands). Non-contributors pay €5.00 per 100 units, €9.00 per 200 units, or €20.00 per 500 units. Unused units are valid for one year. Paid scans can also be consulted for one year.

Paid scans are for private use only. For publication you need to obtain permission from the CBG.

Future plans

The CBG plans to make more scanned collections available online.

Conclusion

The study room of the CBG has always been a goldmine for people in search of their Dutch ancestors. A lot of their information is not available elsewhere. It is great to see some of that information available online. I hope the CBG will soon start making their other collections available on their website.

The English search interface and the search instructions should be improved, to make the collections accessible to people outside The Netherlands. Registration is also not possible in English.

The fee structure is confusing, and this will get worse if other collections are added, each with their own pricing. The CBG should really revise their pricing strategy.

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.

Online records: Beeldbank Amsterdam

The website

When we discussed the archiefbank from the Amsterdam city archive I promised we would look at their image database in a separate post. So, today we will take a look at the beeldbank (image database) of the Amsterdam city archive.

What do they have?

Images. The database contains currently 237,298 images, most of them of Amsterdam: 180,000 photos, 12,000 prints, almost 11,000 drawings, 30,000 designs of buildings, and a few other objects. The online collection is growing all the time, so by the time you read this the numbers may already be higher.

Is there an English interface?

No, the interface is only available in Dutch.

How do I use it?

Fill in your search phrase in the search box on the top, and optionally a period (the fields van jaar, from year, and tot jaar, until year, will become visible when you start typing in the search box) and press the red zoek button. To refine your search, check zoek in resultaat (search within result) before entering another search phrase. Check nieuwe zoekopdracht (new search) again to start a new search.

Click on an image in the search results to enlarge.In the larger image there are buttons to the left of the picture to zoom in and out. Click the cross (on the right of the red bar above the image) to close the image and go back to the search results.

How much does it cost?

Browsing the collection is free, but there are charges for downloading (currently €16.30 per image), ordering prints, and publication (€75 for publication on a website). See the price list for details.

Future plans

New images are added all the time.

Conclusion

If your ancestors were from Amsterdam, or if you want to see what the Dutch capital looked like in the past, the beeldbank is a site you should visit.

Where most image databases offer the option to download low resolution scans for personal use for free, this beeldbank charges a hefty €16.30 per image (for high resolution scans). Free download of low-res scans would be a great enhancement. Another welcome addition would be an English interface.

Online records: Virtuele studiezaal Den Haag

In our online records series we are looking at the websites of the city archives of the three largest Dutch cities.

We have visited the the city archives of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and today we will go to The Hague.

The website

The Virtuele studiezaal (virtual study room), also known as Burgerlijke stand online (civil register online), is the online database of the city archive of The Hague.

What do they have?

The BMD records of the civil register of The Hague.

Is there an English interface?

No.

How do I use it?

The city archive has scanned, but not indexed, the civil register of The Hague, so it is not possible to search the register, at least not in the way you can search other online databases. Users of the database can index the records they find, and by now many records are indexed, but there are also many unindexed records.

Search the index

To search the indexed records, click the button labelled Zoeken in beschreven documenten (search in described documents), on the right.

Fill in Achternaam (surname), and, if necessary, voornamen (given names), tussenvoegsel (infix), or datum document (date of document, in the order day-month-year). Click the Zoeken button to start your search. Click on a name to view the scan.

Search in the contemporary index

Searching records that are not indexed yet is more complicated. If you have searched for Dutch BMD acts in a Dutch archive or in a FHC before, The search procedure will be familiar to you, otherwise the search can be quite confusing.

First you have to find the act in a contemporary index. Click on the Zoeken via toegang button on the left. Fill in Naam (zonder voorvoegsel) (name, without infix), and periode in jaren (year from/to). You can limit your search to tafel geboorten (birth index), tafel huwelijk en echtscheiding (marriage and divorce index), or tafel overlijden (death index). Select alle bronnen to search all the indexes at once. Warning: The Hague marriage acts from 1853 are only indexed on the grooms' names!

In the example below (click images to enlarge) I searched for the wedding of Theodorus Pardoen and Sara Catharina Springveld that took place in the 1850s. Please join me in my search

Fill in the form and click the Zoeken button to search.

We find five results. Acts are usually indexed per ten years, but The Hague marriage acts have a single index for the years 1811-1852. The first result is the index to marriage acts for names starting with P-Q. The second result looks similar, but is actually the index to divorces 1811-1852. The third and fourth result are for Loosduinen, a former independent town that is now part of The Hague. The fifth result is the marriage index 1853-1862 for names in the range mage-raimo. We need either the first result, or the fifth. Let's try the first result: Click on p - q.

We now have a page of numbered buttons, Afb.1 to Afb.33. The buttons lead to images of the index: From names starting with Paa on the first image, to names starting with Qui on the last. Browse through the images until you find Pardoen (see below how to view and browse through the images). The third image is the one we need: It lists Pardoen, Theodorus; Springvelt, Sara Catharina; 22.9.1852; nr. 482. 22.9.1852 is the date of the act. For marriages, the date of the act will normally be the date of the wedding (there are exceptions), for births and deaths the act is often created a few days later. 482 is the act number. We need the date and act number to find the act itself.

On the top of the page there is a search form to find the act we are after. Fill in the date of the act (in this case, 22 september 1852) and click the button Document zoeken.

We get a screen full of numbered buttons again. Each button leads to scans of 1852 marriage acts, from 15 September on the first to 10 November on the last button. Browse through the scans until you find the marriage act (in this case, image 8).

Viewing and browsing scans

When you have clicked one of the numbered buttons to get to the scans, you probably have to browse a few pages to find the scan you were looking for. You can use the browser's back button and click another numbered button, but there are also previous and next buttons. The previous button is labelled Vorige, the next button Volgende. You find these just above the scan. On the top left of the page you find a miniature of the numbered buttons (but without the numbers), you can also use these to navigate.

On the top of the scan you find a few small buttons. The two zoom buttons are obvious. The button to the right of the zoom buttons is probably the most important button: It opens the scan in a new window, where you can see more of the scan (by default, you only see a small fragment of the scan.

Use the double arrow buttons to the right of the scan to scroll up and down, and the double arrow buttons below the scan to scroll left and right.

How much does it cost?

It's free.

Future plans

There are plans to scan the population register in the near future. I could not find a public statement about long term plans.

Conclusion

Where Rotterdam has no scans available online, and Amsterdam charges for scans, The Hague has offered scans of the complete civil register online for free. The site, however, is hard to use. The user interface is clumsy, navigation is hard, browsing and viewing scans is not intuitive, there is no proper index, there is no English user interface. The scans are there, but not everyone will manage to find them. The site has two names (Burgerlijke Stand Online and Virtuele Studiezaal) and a URL that is impossible to remember. My impression is that the scans were just dumped onto the internet without much thought about how people might use them. The scans are available, but the city archive really should rewrite their user interface to make the scans accessible.

Online records: Rotterdam city archive

In our online records series we are looking at the websites of the city archives of the three largest Dutch cities.

Monday we visited the website of the city archive of Amsterdam, later we will go to The Hague. Today we will look at the website of the Rotterdam city archive.

The website

We will only look at a few sections of the website of the Rotterdam city archive today, but the website has more to offer. Some of the information is available in English, but a lot of it is only available in Dutch.

One section that I want to mention but will not discuss any further in this post is Vluchtroute New York (Escape New York), about emigration to the U.S. in the early 20th century. The website is aimed at children, and is a tie-in with a book with the same name. Vluchtroute New York is entirely in Dutch.

What do they have?

The most interesting part for us is the Digitale Stamboom (Digital Family Tree), with Rotterdam church books and birth and marriage acts of the civil register. Indexing of the death acts is started but not yet completed. For marriages between 1812 and 1852, there are also scans of the marriage supplements.

There are also church books or civil register acts of a few neighbouring towns, and of former towns annexed by Rotterdam.

There are many other collections on the website, look under Archives and collections in the navigation menu on the left. The most interesting of these is the Notarial deeds section, with Rotterdam notarial deeds from 1585 to (currently) 1714, and deeds from neighbouring or annexed towns, e.g. Ridderkerk 1645-1911 (with gaps), or Overschie 1612-1811.

Is there an English interface?

Yes, there is an English navigation menu (click english at the top right), the search interface to the Digital Family Tree is in English, and many pages are translated into English. However, if you browse the website you will discover that a lot of pages are only available in Dutch, and the search interface to most collections is also in Dutch.

How do I use it?

That depends on the database you want to search. We will look at the Digitale Stamboom and the database of notarial deeds in more detail.

It is possible to search multiple databases at once (click search at the top of the page, or go directly to the search form), but the search form is only available in Dutch.

Digitale Stamboom

Click genealogy in the menu at the top of the page, or go directly to the Digital Family Tree. On this page, you can read an overview of what is currently available, and what they are working on now. Click the search button to go to the search form. The search form is easy to use. Select which records you want to search: Baptisms, marriages or funeral records of the church books, or birth, marriage, divorce, or death records of the civil register (here called Registry Office). Do not forget to select one or more record types, otherwise you will not find anything! Fill in family name, and if you want, infix, first name, period, or town/city. If you need more search options, like place of origin, click the Advanced search button. Click the search button to start searching. You can click the help button to get more search tips (in English).

In the list of search results, click on a name to see the details of the record. When scans of marriage supplements are available, you can click View the scan to view the scan. You can also order copies directly from the result page: Choose between papier and digitale scan per e-mail and press the Order copy button. Unfortunately, the check-out pages are in Dutch.

Notarial deeds

From the navigation menu on the left, select Archives and collections, then Notarial deeds (or go directly to the Notarial Deeds page). The introduction is terse but in English, but the search interface (click the search button to get there) is in Dutch. Fill in between one and five search terms (zoekwoord), and optionally fill in the other fields, like deed type (aktesoort, e.g. schuldbekentenis (bond) or testament), jaar (year) or periode (year from/to). Click the Zoeken button to start searching. In the list of search results, click on the little pictogram on the left to view a summary of the deed.

How much does it cost?

Searching the index is free. Scans of marriage supplements, when available, are also free. Prices for ordering copies seems to be €1.50 per copy or scan, plus postage and a handling fee.

Future plans

For the digital family tree, the current priority is indexing death acts from Rotterdam. I could not find a public statement about long-term plans, or plans for other parts of the website.

Conclusion

Where Amsterdam has scanned a lot and indexed a little, Rotterdam has indexed a lot and scanned a little. If your ancestors are from Rotterdam, this is an excellent site to help you build your family tree.

For most people, the digitale stamboom is the only section they will ever need. The digital family tree is easy to use, and has a lot of information. In the other databases there is room for improvement - an English interface and a better help system would be a good start.

Online records: Archiefbank Amsterdam

Next in our online records series are the websites of the city archives of the three largest Dutch cities: Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. Amsterdam and Rotterdam do not have any records in Genlias, and The Hague only a few, so the websites of the city archives are the main online sources for these cities.

Today we will look at the website of the Amsterdam city archive, Rotterdam and The Hague will follow in the next few days.

The website

The part the of the website of the Amsterdam city archive where you can search for records is called Archiefbank (archive database), this is the part of the website we will look at today. The website has more to offer, but that's currently all in Dutch. We will look at the image database in a later post.

What do they have?

In this post, we will look at Doopregisters (baptisms), 1564 - 1811, and Gezinskaarten (family cards, part of the population register), 1893 - 1939. There are several other databases on the sites, and many scanned but not indexed collections.

Is there an English interface?

No.

How do I use it?

The website is not easy to navigate, especially if you don't speak Dutch. I will discuss the doopregisters and gezinskaarten databases and give you direct links to the search pages. If you want to search the other databases, the best place to start is here.

Doopregisters

Let's start with the doopregisters (baptism registers) from the Amsterdam church books. On the search form you can fill in two names, one in the left column, one in the right column. If you want to search for a single name, just fill in the left column. There are fields for given name (voor), infix (tussen), and surname (achter). Check the Fuzzy box if you also want to find similar names. If you want you can select a time frame (periode), fill in the first and last day/month/year (in this order!) of the time frame you want.

Look at the example below to see how I filled in the form, looking for children of the couple Adrianus Koopman and Johanna van Grol baptized between 1770 and 1790 (click on the image to enlarge).

When you have filled in the form, click the Zoek button (the black arrow on the right). With the search form filled in as in the example, I found three search results. Hovering over the results shows the details. On the image below, you see the baptism record of dochter (daughter) Johanna. To the right of the record is a small image of the scan of this record, with the text klik op de thumbnail om scan te openen (click on the thumbnail to open the scan). If you click it you will be asked to logon: You need to be a registered user to download scans, and you need to pay for them!

I have an account, so I logged in, paid, and downloaded the image. Once you have paid for a scan, you can come back later, log in again, and view it again, you will not be charged again for the same image (but your account will be closed if you don't use it for a year).

Usually, the scan will not have more information than is already available from the index.

Gezinskaarten

The search form for gezinskaarten is quite simple. You can only search for the head of a family, and there are only four search fields: Voorletters (initials), Tussenvoegsel (infix), Achternaam (surname) and Geboortedatum (date of birth). Press the pink Zoek button to search.

In the baptism records we just looked at, all the information available in the original records is also available in the index. Unfortunately, this is not the case for the gezinskaarten index: The search results have very little information, not even the full name! If you want to know more, you will have to pay for the scans.

How much does it cost?

Searching and browsing the index is free. Prices for viewing and downloading scans vary from €0.50 for a single scan to €0.25 per scan for orders over 1,000, plus a transaction fee between €2.50 and €7.50 (depending on payment method). Paid but unused scans will be credited to your account, credits are valid for one year. If you need multiple scans, make sure you pay for all your scans at once, to avoid multiple transaction fees.

On the login window, you can select Ik wil mij nu registreren (I want to register now) to register. Registration and payment pages are also in Dutch.

Future plans

The databases we discussed are part of a larger scanning project. Many of the collections that are kept by the Amsterdam city archive are already scanned, and customers can ask for scanning of collections that are not scanned yet. When you browse the inventory of the archive, you can see in the last column if a collection is scanned, and if so, how many scans there are. You can browse the collections of the Amsterdam city archive, buy scans that are already available, or order scans when they are not available yet. Eventually, a large part of the collections will be scanned and made available online, but not indexed, and thus not searchable.

Conclusion

The user interface is clumsy: The site is hard to navigate, there is no English interface, search interfaces are inconsistent (on one search form you have to click a black arrow to start searching, on another a pink button). There is a lot of room for improvement here.

It would be nice if the gezinskaarten index contained more information, especially since the scans are often difficult to read. It is, however, a miracle that there are scans of the cards at all, as most of them were lost or heavily damaged in 1943! Fortunately for us, the cards were microfilmed in 1939. The films do show some wear and tear, after decades of use.

It is interesting that while many archives are busy indexing their collections online, the Amsterdam city archive focuses on scanning instead. It is good to see so much information available online. On the other hand, the goal should be to make information more accessible, and an easy to navigate website, preferably multilingual, would help to achieve this.

Amsterdam records are not in Genlias (but behind the screens a lot of people are working on indexing Amsterdam marriages for Genlias), and the main sources for online genealogy in Amsterdam are the pre-1811 baptism books, and the post-1893 gezinskaarten, leaving most of the 19th century unindexed.

This website is not aimed at casual ancestry searchers. If you are new to Dutch genealogy I advise you to wait for Genlias, but for an experienced researcher that knows some Dutch the archiefbank can be an extremely valuable resource.

Online records: Alle Groningers

The website

Alle Groningers is a database maintained by the archives of the province Groningen.

What do they have?

Church books and BMD acts of the province Groningen. In a few cases, there are also scans (currently, about 800,000 acts and only 8,000 scans).

Is there an English interface?

No.

How do I use it?

The easiest way is to fill in achternaam, and maybe tussenvoegsel (infix) or voornaam (given name), and press Start zoeken (start searching), on the left of the page.

You can click Toon uitgebreide zoekopties (show advanced search options) for options like searching on two people, plaats (place), voor (before) or na (after) 1811, or periode (year to/from). If you use periode, you also need to select voor or na 1811, and at least one of geboorte (birth), huwelijk (marriage), overlijden, doop (baptism), or trouw (marriage) - otherwise you will not find anything.

In the list of search results, click on the name to see the details of the act. If the text Akte inzien (view act) is not gray, you can click it to view a scan.

How much does it cost?

The site is currently free, and I expect that will remain so, at least for searching in acts. There is no public statement about future charges for downloading scans.

Future plans

A Groninger is someone from Groningen, so alle Groningers means everyone from Groningen. The website aims to show data about alle Groningers, from the 17th to the mid-20th century.

Data entry of church books and DTB records will be finished in 2009, scanning of these records in 2010. After that, Alle Groningers wants to add portraits, film and sound fragments, notarial acts, and much more.

Conclusion

Alle Groningers is still a new site, and does not have a lot of info yet that is not also available on Genlias. But that should change soon, as more and more scans will be made available. If the site lives up to its promises, Alle Groningers will be an exciting project for everyone with Groningen roots.

An English interface would be a very welcome addition to this site.

Online records: Nationaal Archief

The website

Next in our series of online records is the website of het Nationaal Archief, the Dutch National Archive in The Hague.

What do they have?

The website has everything you can expect from a national archive: Practical information about the archive, summaries of their collections, research guides, etc. They also publish several databases, including:

• Emigrants to Australia 1946-1991
• Freed slaves in Curaçao and Surinam
• Surinam Dutch Reformed church books 1688-1792
• VOC employees leaving for the East Indies 1700-1794
• Image database, with a million photos

Is there an English interface?

Parts of the website are available in English, German, French and Spanish. The Emigrants to Australia database has an English interface, all other databases we look at today are only available in Dutch. Click English at the top of the page for an English interface (where available).

How do I use it?

That depends on the database.

Emigrants to Australia 1946-1991

The easiest way is to enter a surname in the Quick Search field at the top, followed by the Enter key on your keyboard. There is also an advanced search option. When you have a list of search results, click on the name you are interested in. You will need to agree to a disclaimer, stating you will only use the data for historical research.

You can order copies of the original cards, but only if you can prove the person on the card is deceased, or if you have permission from that person.

An example: I searched for Pardoen and found three results, including:

Pardoen, B., born on 01 april 1917, made the journey on ship Skaubryn, arrival in Australia on februari 1952, emigration card in card-tray Brisbane

Freed slaves in Curaçao

Curaçao is one of the Netherlands Antilles, once a Dutch colony and still part of the Kingdom of The Netherlands. Click on Raadplegen van database (Consult database). Fill in your search terms in the box on the left, choose your search options on the right (Alle Woorden, all words, Eén Van De Woorden, any word, or Exacte Zin, exact phrase) and click Zoek. An example of what you may find:

Negerin Anna op 23 augustus 1782 door Joseph Obediente jr voor 200 peso, betaald door de neger Mattheeuw de Vries. Met kwitantie in termijnen, waarvan laatste datum 16 september 1785.

Search results are in Dutch. A translation of the example: Negress Anna on 23 August 1782 by Joseph Obediente Jr for 200 pesos, paid by the negro Mattheeuw de Vries, with quittance in instalments, the last on 16 September 1785.

Freed slaves in Surinam

Freed slaves in former Dutch colony Surinam really consists of two databases. First you have to choose between Surinaamse manumissies 1832-1863, the database of slaves that became free between 1832 and 1863, and Emancipatie 1863, slaves that were freed when slavery was abolished by The Netherlands in 1863. Click Raadplegen database on the top of the page. Searching works the same as in the Curaçao database, but you have extra options: You can search for Naam Vrijgelatene (name of the freed slave), Naam Eigenaar (name of the owner), Naam Borgen (name of the sureties), or Aanmerkingen (remarks) for the first database, Slaven en eigenaren (slaves and owners), Slaven (slaves only), Eigenaren (owners only) or Opmerkingen (remarks) for the second.

Surinam Dutch Reformed church books 1688-1792

Fill in a search term, check if you want to search Memotekst (memo text) and Datum (date) fields, choose between Geboorten/dopen (births and baptisms), Lidmaten (church membership lists), Kerkgerechtigheden (church taxes) or (Onder)trouw (marriage and marriage registration), and press Zoek. In the list of search results, click detail.

An example: A baptism on 20 January 1704. The text is in Dutch again.

gedoopt het kint waar van vader was Pieter de Jonge en moeder een indiaaninne genaamt Catharina. Getuijge M: de Jonge d' oude. [transl. baptized the child of which the father was Pieter de Jonge and mother an indian named Catharina. Witness M. de Jonge the elder]

VOC employees leaving for the East Indies 1700-1794

The database of the VOC (Dutch East Indies company) is a large, ongoing project. It lists employees of the VOC sailing to the East. They are taken from the scheepssoldijboeken (ship payrolls), part of the VOC's salary administration. These payrolls are amazingly complete and consistent.

The easiest way to search is to enter a surname in the Snel zoeken (quick search) field at the top, and press the enter key. There is also an advanced search option (Uitgebreid zoeken, in the navigation menu on the left). Fields in the advanced search include Achternaam (surname), Voornaam (first name), Herkomstplaats (place of origin), and Schip (Ship). Fill in the fields and press Zoek.

When you get the list of search results, click on a name for details. On the detail page you will find gegevens (data) about the person you selected, and about his journey. Data include Datum indiensttreding (date of start of employment), Datum uit dienst (date of end of employment), Reden uit dienst (reason for ending the employment, often overleden, deceased), Schip (name of ship), Vertrek (departure), and Aankomst (arrival).

Image database

Enter your search phrase in the zoek (search) field on the left and press enter. There is also an advanced search option (Uitgebreid zoeken), with fields like Beschrijving (description), Dag/Maand/Jaar (day/month/year), Periode vanaf/tot en met (year from/to), Trefwoord (keyword), and Fotograaf (photographer).

Search all databases at once

There is also a single search interface for all databases. Fill in a search phrase (most likely, a surname) at Zoekwoorden (search terms), make sure Alles (everything) is checked, and click Zoek. The result page is in Dutch, search for (and click) Toon resultaten in de thema databases (show search results in the themed databases), next click on a database name, and then click on a search result.

How much does it cost?

Use of the databases is free. There are (often hefty) fees for ordering copies.

You may make prints of the images in the image database for personal use, for any other use there will be charges (source: Auteursrechten). Please contact the national archive for details.

Future plans

Some of the databases are finished projects, others are far from complete. The VOC database, for instance, will probably be complete in 2012 (data entry started in 2000). I expect that new projects will be added from time to time.

Conclusion

The databases featured above are only the tip of the iceberg. The website of the Dutch National Archive hosts many exciting projects and databases. Navigating the website can be a challenge, though. It is a pity that so few databases are available in English.

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: Muster rolls from the Northern Maritime Museum

The website

Today we will have a look at a brand new database: The muster rolls of the Northern Maritime Museum in Groningen, a database launched on the 8th of this month.

The Northern Maritime Museum shows the history of shipbuilding and shipping in the northern parts of the Netherlands from the Middle Ages until the present day. The museum has an informative website, and since last week a database with online Dutch records.

What do they have?

Muster rolls (monsterrollen in Dutch) of the northern provinces, from the period 1806-1937, listing almost 20,000 sailors. The data is collected by dr. Jurjen Richard Leinenga from several archives in the northern provinces. You can find information on wages (in guilders per month), rank, and ships. Johannes Fransens (or Franssens) from Appingedam, for example, was listed as lichtmatroos (ordinary seaman) on the Celeritas in 1869, with a wage of 14 guilders. In 1873, he was matroos (sailor) on the Geessien Schreuder and earned 30 guilders, and in 1874, he was matroos on the Sincerite and earned 40 guilders. There are several other records on him.

Is there an English interface?

Yes, but it's a bit quirky. The link to the database is only available on the Dutch homepage, not on the English homepage, and not in the (Dutch or English) navigation menu. I expect that will change soon. If you click on the English flag on the left hand side, the right hand side is still in Dutch and v.v., you have to change the language on both the left and the right hand side.

How do I use it?

On the Dutch home page, click on the text Zoek in de database (Search the database), in the middle of the page. Or follow this direct link and click on both English flags. Use the links in the navigation menu on the left for background information. To search by name, click Search by family name in the navigation menu on the left, enter a name, and click Search!. If your search is successful, you will get basic information on the sailors found: Name, hometown, age, rank, salary. Click on the number in the first column to find the entire crew. Click on Search in the last column to find out more about the ship.

The search interface and the information pages are available in English, but the data in the database is partly in Dutch. This is mainly an issue for the rank. The most important words to know are kapitein (captain), stuurman (steersman), matroos (sailor), lichtmatroos (ordinary seaman), scheepsjongen (cabin-boy) and kok (cook).

How much does it cost?

Use of the database is free.

Future plans

I could not find any statement about future plans, but I assume the database is a completed project.

Conclusion

If your ancestors are listed on these muster rolls, you can find some interesting tidbits about them that are not easily available elsewhere, like their monthly wage, or the names of their colleagues. I missed only one thing: Images of the muster rolls would be a great addition to this website.

Online records: Het Utrechts archief

The website

Het Utrechts Archief is the website of the provincial archive of Utrecht.

What do they have?

Unlike the provincial websites we looked at so far, Het Utrechts Archief does not have BMD records - these are available in Genlias, and the Utrecht archive does not duplicate them on their own website. They do have several other databases with records and images from Utrecht.

The most interesting database is the notarial archive, with summaries and scans of notarial acts from the city of Utrecht made between 1560-1811. Other databases include an image database with images from (mostly) Utrecht city, an image database with images from the Dutch railway company NS (whose head office is in Utrecht), and a database of films related to the province Utrecht.

Is there an English interface?

There is an English summary (click on English in the navigation menu on the left), but the rest of the website, including the search interfaces, is only available in Dutch.

How do I use it?

Select Zoeken in the navigation menu, followed by the database of your choice. Alternatively, follow the direct links to the databases in this blog post. Fill in the fields, and click Zoeken.

For the notarial archive, fields include Achternaam (surname), Voornaam (first name), Beroep (occupation), Woonplaats (residence), Periode (year from/to), and Naam onroerend goed (name of a house or estate).

For the image databases, Trefwoord(en) (Keywords) is the most important field to fill in. For images you may also want to fill in Datering (estimated year from/to) and Soort beeldmateriaal (image kind): Alle soorten (all kinds), Bewegend beeld (moving images), Cartografische documenten (cartographic documents), Fotografische documenten (photographic documents), Technische tekeningen (technical drawings), or Tekeningen en prenten (drawings and prints). For films, options include Locatie (Location), Jaar (Year from/to), and Videofragment - choose alleen met (only with) to search for films with online footage.

How much does it cost?

There is no charge for using the databases, but there is for publication of images or film fragments (also on a website). Contact the Utrecht archive for details.

Future plans

The Utrecht archive is working on a new website that will go live soon.

The notarial archive, the image database Utrecht and the film database are not completed - records, images and films are added regularly. Most of the images in the image database are from Utrecht City, in the future images from other places in the province Utrecht are also expected.

Conclusion

The focus of most databases is on the city of Utrecht, information on the rest of the province Utrecht is scarce. It's a pity that the website is not available in English, I hope that will change when the new website launches. A single search interface would be a welcome improvement.

The notarial archive is the core of the website. If your pre-1800 ancestors were from Utrecht City or the surrounding area, and did not belong to the labouring classes, you can probably find some gems in this archive - it contains wills, property deeds, marriage contracts, and property inventories, among others. The website will be less useful for you if your Utrecht ancestors were labourers.

Online records: HCO

The website

Today we will look at the website of the Historisch Centrum Overijssel (HCO), the provincial archive of the province Overijssel.

What do they have?

Several small databases with records from Overijssel, each with their own search interface. The most interesting databases are the census records from the 1748 census, emigration records (1847-1908) and the image library.

Is there an English interface?

There is a summary page in English (click on English in the top right corner), but the website is not translated yet. The search interfaces are only available in Dutch. The English summary states that more pages will become available in English, starting at the end of June 2007 - apparently they are behind schedule.

How do I use it?

There is a search box on the left of the page, but that is for searching the website itself, and not the databases. On the English page, there is a list of databases, you have to choose one of these first (note that some links, like Death certificates, redirect to Genlias). Fill in all or some of the search fields and press Zoeken (Search). Different databases have different search fields, the most important fields are achternaam (surname), voornaam (first name), plaats (place), periode (year from/to), gemeente (municipality), vrije tekst (text for full text search). The default search method is is gelijk aan (exact match), other options are begint met (starts with), bevat (contains), and klinkt als (sounds like).

Census records and farm protocols are not databases but documents. You will need Adobe Acrobat reader to read them. The main website search (search box on the left of the page) will also search these documents. You can also download them to your computer and use the built-in search of Adobe Acrobat reader.

The index of the image library contains many items that are not on the website. For some reason, these are shown first, so you may have to browse past lots of Klik hier voor details (Click for details) messages to find the photos. Be specific in your search terms, when you search for e.g. Hengelo the first 500 items are without an image, and only 500 results are displayed, so you will not find any images.

Contact the HCO if you want to use the images for anything but personal use.

How much does it cost?

All information is currently available free of charge.

Future plans

HCO is working on a single search interface for all databases. HCO also announced a part of the website will be available in English, but they seem to be behind schedule. I could not find any recent announcements about their future plans for the online databases.

Conclusion

There is useful information in the databases, and if your ancestors lived in Overijssel you will want to use this site.

However, it seems ease of use was not a high priority when creating this website. The site is hard to navigate, and it is difficult to find the information you are looking for. Search interfaces are inconsistent. In image searches, you often find only items that are not on the website, and images that are on the website are hard to find. There is only one page in English, and that page is incomplete (the paragraphs at the bottom have a header, but are yet to be written) and outdated. There is a lot of room for improvement here.

Online records: Emigrants from Drenthe

The website

A database of genealogical information on emigrants from Drenthe, compiled by Arend Everts. The database is on the Drenlias website that we looked at yesterday, but it's completely separate from the rest of the website, there is not even a link to it on the Drenlias homepage.

What do they have?

Emigrants from Drenthe, between 1840 and 1930. The database is compiled from Dutch population registers and archives from Pella, Iowa, and Holland and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Records list the date of emigration and the destination, and some biographical information, like name, date of birth, names of parents, spouse and children, and occupations.

Is there an English interface?

Yes, the search interface and all of the information pages are available in English, except for a page with a biography of the researcher and a short motivation for his quest. Click on English on the top right of the page.

How do I use it?

You can browse the list of surnames or the list of destinations, or you can search the database, by choosing the appropriate options at the top of the page. When you browse you can click through to the individual emigrants. The search interface is simple, fill in the fields and press the search button.

How much does it cost?

It's free.

Future plans

There is no public statement about future plans, but I expect the project is completed.

Conclusion

If your ancestors emigrated from Drenthe between 1840 and 1930, Emigrants from Drenthe is a useful site. The database has information on emigrants and their families, and nothing else, so if emigrants from Drenthe is what you're looking for, this website is where you should go.

Online records: Drenlias

The website

Drenlias is the database of the provincial archive of Drenthe.

What do they have?

BMD records (from 1811), church books (until 1811, funeral books are missing for most places), notarial archives (from 1810), inheritance tax registrations (from 1806).

Is there an English interface?

There is currently no English interface.

How do I use it?

In the navigation menu at the top, choose Zoeken 1600-1811 (Search between 1600 and 1811) to search the church books, or Zoeken na 1811 (Search after 1811) for the other databases. Select a database to search: Burgerlijke Stand (civil register), Notariële akten (notarial deeds), Successiememories (inheritance tax registers), Alle bestanden (all databases), or Kerkregisters (church registers). Fill in achternaam (surname) and voornaam (first name) and press zoeken (search).

If searching by name gives too many results, you can narrow it down by clicking Meer zoekmogelijkheden (more search options). You can search on two names, on place (gemeente), or on date range (van, tot is from, until), among others.

How much does it cost?

There is no charge for searching and browsing the information in the database.

Future plans

Indexing the funeral books (before 1811), the inheritance tax registrations, and the notarial archives is still in progress, these will be added to Drenlias on a future date.

Conclusion

The church books and notarial archives are not available on Genlias (yet), so Drenlias is a useful resource if your ancestors lived in Drenthe. They do have less information then the other provincial databases we looked at so far, though. It's a pity the website is not available in English.

Trace your Ellis Island ancestors into The Netherlands

With the information you find on an Ellis Island passenger list, it is usually possible to trace Dutch immigrants in The Netherlands - in many cases using online sources.

Let's have a look at Franciscus and Geertruida van Valkenburg. They arrived on Ellis Island on 18 April 1911, on the S.S. Rijndam, with their 3 years old son Franciscus. According to the passenger list (which you can find on the website of the Ellis Island foundation), Franciscus was 31 and born in Oss, his wife Geertruida was 33 and born in Mill, and their son Franciscus was 3 years old and born in Berchem. Their last residence was Berchem. Their contact address in The Netherlands was Geertruida's mother, Mrs Wagemakers, who lived in Oss. They were on their way to Geertruida's brother, G. Wagemakers, in New York.

I started by searching Genlias for a Valkenburg - Wagemakers marriage (watch out for the "van" prefix in Dutch names - see my common pitfalls article). I had no problems finding what I was looking for: Franciscus van Valkenburg, born Mill en Sint Hubert, and Geertruda Johanna Wagemakers, born Oss, married 1 May 1906 in Oss. Their parents are Johannes van Valkenburg and Johanna Gommers, and Justinus Wagemakers and Geertruida de Groot.

Mill and Oss are in the province Noord-Brabant, so I also searched the main database at BHIC, where I found the birth of Franciscus: Franciscus van Valkenburg, born 9 July 1879 in Mill, son of Johannes van Valkenburg and Johanna Gommers.

Note that the Ellis Island passenger list has the birth places of Franciscus and Geertruida reversed.

For the marriage of Johannes van Valkenburg and Johanna Gommers I searched Genlias again, and I found: Johannes van Valkenburg, born 10 October 1839 in Oss, and Johanna Gommers, born 9 March 1848 in Sambeek, married on 3 May 1878 in Oss. Their parents are Francis van Valkenburg and Hestriena van Rosmalen, and Antoon Gommers and Catharina Lemmens.

There is more information on Johannes and Johanna on Genlias and BHIC, but let's continue with Johannes' parents. Their marriage is also on Genlias (and BHIC), but it took me a bit longer to find it, because the bride's name was spelled differently: Francis van Valkenburg, born 26 November 1812 in Oss, and Henrica van Roosmalen, born 9 March 1810 in Heesch, married 28 June 1834 in Oss. Parents are Johannes van Valkenburg and Maria van Straalen, and Antonie Petrus van Roosmalen and Maria van Grunsven.

We're getting close to 1811, the year the civil register was introduced. Online Dutch genealogy before 1811 is a lot harder than after 1811 (though certainly not impossible). The marriage of Johannes van Valkenburg and Maria van Straalen (taken from the church books) is on BHIC, but the parents are not listed anymore: Joannes Johannes van Valkenburg and Maria Francisci van Straales married on 5 April 1790 in Oss. Witnesses were Gijsbertus Ruijs and Joanna Gijsberta Ruijs. Johannes and Francisci were probably patronymics, which means their fathers were probably Johannes van Valkenburg and Franciscus van Straales (or Straalen?). That gives us a clue when we want to find the next generation, but I will not do that for this article.

So, starting with a listing on an Ellis Island passenger list, we were able to add three generations in the main line (Johannes, Francis and Johannes), and well over a century, all with freely accessible online resources!

There is a lot more information on Genlias and BHIC (and possibly other sites), also on siblings and, of course, other lines, but I leave that as an exercise for the reader.

There are more examples on tracing Dutch Ellis Island immigrants into The Netherlands in my article Trace your Ellis Island ancestors into The Netherlands and in the latest Trace your Dutch roots newsletter.

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.