Netherlands Finding Town of Origin: Difference between revisions

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| link1=[[Netherlands Genealogy|Netherlands]]  

In order to research your family in Netherlands, it is essential that you have identified the place where they came from.  You must know the city, town, or parish that they came from.  it will be difficult to identify the place of origin by going directly to Dutch sources. Therefore, you will need to search in United States (or other country of arrival)  sources first.

 

Before you can begin to search in the records of Netherlands you must find that one record that gives the name of his or her hometown. You must also know enough about the ancestor to positively identify him in the records. Dates (even if they are approximate), places, and familial connections are key to helping you decide if a person you find, who has the same name as your ancestor, really is your ancestor.  

*Do you know the names of any children born in Netherlands?

Often the document you need to pinpoint the place of origin of your ancestor from Netherlands is already found at home. These might include the following:  

# What do you know about our first ancestor to come from Netherlands? (open-ended)

#  Have you ever heard mention of towns in Netherlands where the family lived?

#  Do you have contact with any relatives in Netherlands?

#.  When _____________ came from Netherlands, did he travel with other family members?

#  Did_______________ever mention their parents in Netherlands?

#  Were they Catholic?

#  Do you have any old letters or postcards from your Netherlands family?

#  Do you have any pictures of family members in Netherlands?

 

==Records of Netherlands==

There may be many types of indexed records that cover parts, even large parts of Netherlands. Searching those indexes by name only can turn up several entries of the same name. '''Never jump to an immediate conclusion that you have found an entry that matches your ancestor'''. Study the information for other clues that verify the match.

*Make sure the person you found in Dutch records '''left Netherlands'''. Look for them in marriage and death records of the same vicinity. See whether they have children a generation later in the vicinity. These things prove they remained in Netherlands and would rule them out as your ancestor.

*Match '''any other relationships'''.  If you already know the parents' names, spouse's name, and/or siblings' names, make sure they match the parents' names, spouse's name, and/or siblings' names of the person you are considering in the Dutch records. The parents and grandparents will usually be listed in birth records found in '''church records''' or '''civil records'''. Search for siblings' birth records and any marriage before leaving Netherlands in the same index.

*Consider the '''coverage of the database''' you are using. Does it cover all of Netherlands? Or could there be many other records not covered that could hold your ancestor's record.  

'''Use these indexes.  But first locate all the detail you can in other records about the family. Expect a high level of matching before trusting your connection to an entry:  exact matching dates, matching parents, matching siblings, matching spouses, matching children. Verify that the person you choose did not die in Netherlands.'''<br>

Websites such as [https://www.findagrave.com/ '''FindAGrave'''] and [https://billiongraves.com/ '''Billion Graves'''] are making it easier to get information from headstones, which frequently give birth dates, and occasionally give birth places. Each state has additional collections of cemetery records. See [[Online Genealogy Records by Location#U.S. Online Genealogy Records by State|'''U.S. Online Genealogy Records by State''']] for links to other online cemetery records. Every state also has a Cemetery topic page you can search, for example,  [[California Cemeteries]], [[Washington Cemeteries]]. etc.

'''Example:  Although this obituary gives only the province and not the town of birth in Netherlands, it does give complete information on the marriage.  Using that information, we can locate the original marriage record, which will state the birthplace and enable us to find the original birth record. '''

Draft records for World War I and II ask for birth place, which can be listed as just Netherlands or in greater detail.

*[https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1002 U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942], ($), index and images

*[https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2498 U.S., Alien Draft Registrations, Selected States, 1940-1946],($),  index and images.

# Check the [[United States Immigration Online Genealogy Records#Partner Sites Indexing Multiple Databases|'''partner website indexes,''']] as these cover many, many databases at once. The FamilySearch Historical Records databases is free to search with a free registered account. The other websites are subscription-based but can be searched for free at a [[Family History Center|''' Family History Center''']] near you.  Try to search each partner site because their search engines can often bring up slightly different results.

'''Example: This first page of passenger list gives several clues that can lead to records in Netherlands.'''

'''Example:  The second page of a passenger list gives the birthplace in Netherlands.  It can also state information on other relatives.'''

*[https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1174 U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925], ($), index and images