The Basics: A Guide
Chapter 25
Many more internet sites offer help at home
It has been quite a while since I wrote an article for 'the Windmill' on researching your roots in the Netherlands. I have still been working on searching my own roots and those of several other families. My search has now stretched out to most of the provinces in the Netherlands. Recently I have spent much time in the records of various towns in Gelderland and Noord-Brabant.
It is interesting to note that in Gelderland, patronymics were used in the early 1700's just as in many other areas but there was one major difference. In the mid 1700's the father's name often became the surname. Thus in the early 1700's we would have Jan Gerrits (Jan son of Gerrit), Gerrit Jans (Gerrit son of Jan) and so on, but in the mid 1700's Jans became Jansen and all the children of Gerrit Jans would have the last name of Jansen (e.g. Aart, son of Gerrit Jans, wouldn't be Aart Gerrits, but Aart Jans(en), thereby causing lots of confusion for today's researcher).
In some areas of Gelderland we soon find last names such as Gerritsen, Hendriksen, Jansen, Aartsen, Everts, etc. If you have been working on the internet you have probably seen that there many, many new genealogy websites, personal web pages, commercial websites and archive websites. Here are some of my favourite sites, with my comments.- http://www.nedgen.com
Known as NedGen, it is an excellent site. It is a search engine and you can search on a family name. It lists the available sites in order of importance. For example, search on the name Hofstee and about 10 sites are listed. The first one on the list has the most Hofstee names in it and so on. - http://www.geneanet.org
Known as GeneaNet and a very good site. It can be used for almost every country in the world and accessed in many languages. Once again you can search on one name. It will list all the websites with that name and give you a contact name (website, e-mail, snail-mail). - http://www.genlias.nl/nl/page0.jsp
GenLias is one of the most exciting new sites on the internet. The plan is that by the year 2005 all the civil registration records (birth, marriage, deaths) from all the provinces of the Netherlands will be on the internet. At present there are few records for Zuid-Holland, Noord-Holland, Limburg. If you are searching for someone from 1811 to 1940, check here. - http://www.cbg.nl
The ‘genealogie discussie’ website of the Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie. You can put queries about names that you are researching, about records for which you are looking or just general questions about genealogy. - http://www.humgen.umontreal.ca/en/GenConnect.cfm
Known as GenConnect. You can place general queries about the Netherlands or you can go to the province page and place queries there. It is an excellent site and they will let you know if someone has responded to your query. - http://www.swinx.net
Known as SWINX. Hundreds of links to genealogical websites. - http://www.familysearch.org
Family History site of the Mormon church: An excellent site which gives you leads to where your family came from. Take care to verify all the information that you find on this site. Some researchers are not very careful. - http://www.archief.delft.nl
Digital sources in the Delft area, including Pijnacker, and an excellent site if you have ancestors in the Delft area. - http://www.ryksargyf.org/nl/ryksargyf.asp
Frisian archives. A good site if you are interested in Friesland. - http://home.wxs.nl/~vorm/ijsselm.htm
If your ancestors come from the island of IJsselmonde (Ysselmonde) check in here. - http://people.zeelandnet.nl/hoonsut/genea/geneal.htm
A site with information about Zeeland and Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. - http://geneaknowhow.net/digi/bronnen.html
Digital sources. If you want to know what records are available in the Netherlands or Belgium, then visit this site. It lists all the sources (of records) available on the internet, on disks or CD’s or on the bulletin boards in the Netherlands and Belgium. There is also a very nice question and answer page dealing with questions about genealogy. - http://www.gensdata.nl/
A search engine which goes through the names available through GensData (from the Nederlandsche Genealogische Vereniging) and some bulletin boards. It is very good. - http://www.prometheus-delft.org/
The homepage of the Genealogische Vereniging Promotheus.