Dutch archive news roundup: January 2008

News from the Dutch archives.

• The provinces Zeeland and Zuid-Holland have added records to Genlias. This includes for the first time records of The Hague.
• The National Archive announced several documents from its collection will be on display in New York next year, in an exhibition celebrating the 400th birthday of Henry Hudson's voyage on what is now the Hudson river. One of the documents on display will be the famous 1626 letter describing the purchase of Manhattan for 60 guilders (24 dollars). This letter is also on permanent display on the website of the National Archive
• The Groningen archive announced a new website with records from the province Groningen: Alle Groningers. We will soon have a look at this website in the series Online records.

Online records: Zeeuwen gezocht

The website

Zeeuwen gezocht is a genealogical research database maintained by the Zeeland Archives. See also my earlier post on Zeeuwen gezocht.

What do they have?

The website contains over five and a half million records from various sources, many of them not available on Genlias: Tax returns, emigration records, bankruptcies, criminal records, population registers, coats of arms, and many more.

Among the sources used for this database are lists of emigrants to the new world. If your ancestors emigrated from Zeeland between 1839 and 1920, you may find more information on their emigration. Take Abraham Jansen, for example. He left Oostburg in Zeeland for North America in 1846. The reason: He was sentenced to imprisonment, and emigrated to avoid his punishment.

Is there an English interface?

Yes. On the introduction page, the left side is in Dutch, the right side in English. If you use the links in the English text, the interface will be in English. The data you will find will be in Dutch, but there is a list of translations of commonly encountered words.

How do I use it?

Go to the search page, fill in the fields, press search. For uncommon names, it is usually sufficient to fill in the first and last name, or only the last name. If you get too many results, you may want to narrow it down by filling in city/town and date as well. In the date field, you can fill in a date (of the form dd mm yyyy: 11 01 1908 for 11 January 1908), a year, or a period (in the form yyyy/yyyy: 1901/1908 for 1901 to 1908 inclusive), among other options (click the help-link for a complete list of options).

How much does it cost?

Searching and browsing is free, there are only charges for ordering copies.

Future plans

New data will be added at least twice per year.

Conclusion

Zeeuwen gezocht is the main resource for Zeeland genealogy: If your ancestors are from Zeeland, you will probably find them on this website. But even if your ancestors are not from Zeeland you may find them on Zeeuwen gezocht: One of the sources is a collection of guest lists from the seaside resort at Domburg.

Dutch archives news roundup - July 2007

News from the Dutch archives.

• The provinces Overijssel, Limburg and Zeeland have added new acts to Genlias.
• The Utrecht Archive opened a new online database: Stadsbestuurders Utrecht (City administrators Utrecht), with data on all mayors, aldermen and council members from 1813 to 2006. Administrators from before 1813 will follow later.
• The search interface of the Rotterdam Digital Family Tree is now available in English.
• The City Archive of The Hague published the council accounts of the The Hague city archive (1855-2005) on their website.

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 - April 2007

April was a quiet month at the Dutch archives - I found only two news items worth mentioning.

• The Gelderland Archive announced the publication of the sixth part of the Biografisch Woordenboek Gelderland (Biographical Dictionary Gelderland), published by Verloren.
• The Zeeland Archive added many new sources to the Zeeuwen Gezocht database, including Emigrants to America from the westpart of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, Emigrants to the United States of America from Walcheren, and Emigrants to the United States of America from the middel part of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. See also my recent post on Zeeuwen Gezocht.

Zeeuwen gezocht

From the April issue of the Trace your Dutch roots newsletter:

Zeeuwen gezocht (also known as Zeeuws Archief ISIS) is a genealogical research database maintained by the Zeeland Archives. It contains over five million records from various sources, many of them not available on Genlias: Tax returns, emigration records, criminal records, population registers, and many more. Even if your ancestors are not from Zeeland you may find them on Zeeuwen gezocht: One of the sources is a collection of guest lists from the seaside resort at Domburg.

Zeeuwen gezocht means something like Zeeuwen wanted, or looking for Zeeuwen (Zeeuw, plural Zeeuwen, is the Dutch word for an inhabitant of the province Zeeland). If you are looking for Zeeuwen, then Zeeuwen gezocht is the place you will find them.