Find your ancestors from the Netherlands
This week we are looking at one map from an atlas of properties in the county of Bergh in Gelderland from 1727. The whole atlas is available at the website of the Erfgoedcentrum Achterhoek en Liemers. Such atlases often show the plots, which can help us locate our ancestor s properties. Sometimes, the names of the Continue reading
Openbaarheidsbeperking means a limitation on the public availability; an access restriction. You may come across the term in finding aids or archival descriptions. Under the Archiefwet [Archive Law] of 1995, records created by the government are public, and access can only be restricted on three grounds: Privacy of living people, The interests of the real Continue reading
This week we are looking at a map showing the border between Rijnland, Utrecht, and Amstelland in 1567. It was a copy from The map is oriented with the north toward the left. Most of the map shows the border between Rijnland (in green) and the Sticht Utrecht (in yellow). These areas all had their Continue reading
A slop is a slum, a neighborhood with low quality housing. In some cities, like The Hague, the word slop was used for a particular little type of slum, a small alley in between main streets, lined with cheap housing. During the 1800s, many cities grew dramatically. Factories offered jobs, and drew many people from Continue reading
This week we are looking at a map planning the railroad from Arnhem to Zwolle in 1857. The map shows the planned trajectory and stations. This map can be found in record group 4.WCA at the National Archives, which holds the records for the Department of Public Works and its predecessors 1814-1940. The record group Continue reading
Here is an overview of the new online sources, projects, and other news of the past month. Sources The notarial records of Haarlem and surrounding municipalities 1570-1810 are now full-text searchable. The records have been transcribed using handwritten text recognition, a type of artificial intelligence trained to read Dutch manuscripts. The Westfries Archief is now Continue reading
This is the twenty-ninth post in a series about my possible line of descent from Eleanor of Aquitaine. In the first post, I explained how I discovered the possible line, and how I am going to verify it one generation at a time. In the last post, I proved that my twenty-fourth great-grandmother Marie of Champagne, Continue reading
Thermidor was the twelfth month in the French Republican calendar, the second month of summer. It started on 18 August (1795-1799) or 19 August (1800-1805). The French Republican calendar was in use in the Netherlands between 1795 and 1813. You may come across the French names of the months in governement records in this period, Continue reading
Several people have asked me what the difference is between a Huguenot and Walloon. Huguenots Huguenots were protestants from France in the 1500s and 1600s. Protestants were persecuted in France from the start of the Reformation in the early 1500s to 1598, when the Edict of Nantes promised them religious freedom, and again after 1685, Continue reading
I have used handwritten text recognition to automatically transcribe a series of legal records of New Amsterdam, the former name of New York City while under Dutch rule. The records are now full-text searchable via New Netherland Sources. The following records are available: Burgomasters Schepens, Volume 1: Powers of attorney, acknowledgements, indentures, inventories, deeds Continue reading