Netherlands Emigration and Immigration

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The FamilySearch moderator for The Netherlands is Daniel Jones.

Netherlands

Emigration and Immigration

Online Records

• 1600-2000 Netherlands, Archival Indexes, Miscellaneous Records at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1633-1795 Netherlands, Dutch East India Company Crew Index, 1633-1795 at Ancestry; index only ($)
• 1839-1920 Emigrants from Zeeland (1826) 1839-1920 (1950)
• 1846-1856 Dutch and German passenger lists, 1846-1856 at FamilySearch Catalog; images only
• 1860-1913 Netherlands, Limburg Province, Certificates of Nationality, 1860-1913 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only
• 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 at FindMyPast; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Netherlands
• 1900-1974 Netherlands Passenger Lists Holland-America Line, 1900-1974 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only
• 1904-1914 Germany, Bremen Passenger Departure Lists, 1904-1914 at MyHeritage; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Netherlands
• 1914-1919 Netherlands, Tilburg Emigration Records, 1914 - 1919 at MyHeritge; index & images ($)
• Bridging the gap in Dutch-Indonesian Genealogy (theindoproject.org)
• Emigrants from Texel, Noord-Holland
• Limburgse Landverhuizers (Limburgs Emigrants)
• Passenger lists
• Stamboomgids emigratie

Emigration and immigration sources list the names of people leaving (emigrating) or arriving (immigrating) in the Netherlands. These sources may be passenger lists, permissions to emigrate, or records of passports issued. The information in these records may include the emigrants’ names, ages, occupations, destinations, and places of origin or birthplaces. Sometimes they also show family groups.

If you cannot find your ancestor, you may be able to find emigration information on your ancestor’s neighbors. People who lived near each other in the Netherlands often settled together in the country they emigrated to.

Records were created when individuals emigrated from the Netherlands. Other records document their arrival in the destination country. This section discusses the following subjects:

• Finding the emigrant’s town of origin.
• Emigration from the Netherlands, including the historical background of Dutch emigration.
• Records of Dutch emigrants in their destination countries.

Emigration from the Netherlands

Significant numbers of Dutch emigrants can be found on every continent and in many countries around the world. Hundreds of thousands of people left the Netherlands in several waves of migration. Most emigrants left during the following periods:

1614 to 1820. Emigrants left the Netherlands and migrated to North America, South America, Africa, India, Indonesia, and the West Indies. This included the New Netherland Colony which claimed the shore from Cape Cod to Virginia in North America. This colony lasted from 1614 to 1664 when it was taken over by the English at the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

1820 to 1940. More than 250,000 emigrants left the Netherlands and migrated to North America, Indonesia, Africa, and the West Indies. Many of these emigrants were from the provinces of Friesland and Gelderland. Most settled in Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

1940 to 1970. Thousands of people left after World War II and settled in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States.

A good website to search about Dutch emigration is: National Archives

The Dutch emigrated for several reasons:

• Hunger
• Suppression by religious and government leaders
• The search for new land
• Emigration agents’ glowing accounts
• Letters of encouragement from relatives and friends who had gone before

Emigrants from the Netherlands left records documenting their migration in the country they left as well as in the country they moved to.

Other Records

For the period before 1812, look at notarial records of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and other harbor towns such as Dordrecht. There are comprehensive indexes for most of these places. Immigrants often obtained notarized documents before leaving the country. For more information, see the "Notarial Records" section.

The collection Noord-Amerika Chronologie (North America Chronology) contains 5,000 cards abstracted from Amsterdam notarial records. It covers 1598 to 1750 and gives places of origin of immigrants to New Netherland (modern day New York, New Jersey, and Delaware). The collection is available on microfilm at The New York State Library. The address is:

The New York State Library
Cultural Education Center
Empire State Plaza
Albany, NY 12230
Telephone: 1-518-474-5355
E-mail: circ@mail.nysed.gov 
Internet: www.nysl.nysed.gov

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