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The search form offers a range of choices. By combining these, you can search Genlias quickly and efficiently. Once you have defined your search query, click on "Search" to submit it.
Surname
Enter the surnames of the people you are looking for, without
prefixes like 'van' or 'de'.
Patronymic
Before the introduction of the Civil Register, many people in the Netherlands
used their father's name instead of a surname. This is known as a patronymic.
So a child called Harm whose father's name was Jan would often be known simply
as Harm Jans. Even after the civil registration was introduced, it still happens
that a person has both a family name and a patronymic. In cases of doubt, the
data has been entered
as
a
surname.
First name
The first name or names of the people you are looking for.
Prefix
Some Dutch names have a prefix. Examples of names with prefixes
are 'de Jong', 'van der Bilt', 'ter Veer', etc. In the Netherlands,
prefixes have a special role in the surname. This is reflected
in the alphabetical order where the name 'de Jong' is alphabetized
as 'J', not 'D'.
If you are researching the 'van Veen' family, you
fill in 'Veen' as surname and 'van' as prefix. This will only
find persons with
the name 'van Veen', not the 'van der Veen's or other variants.
If you leave the prefix blank, both 'Veen', 'van Veen' and 'van
der Veen' matches will be displayed. You
can check the 'Without' checkbox to indicate that you are only
interested in people with names without prefixes. In the previous
example, only people with the name 'Veen' will be found.
Role
A record in the Civil Register usually mentions several
names. In a marriage record, both the bride and the groom are of
course named. But their
parents' names may also be included. A birth record will give the name of the
child and those of its father and mother. Here you choose the role played in
a record by the person you are looking for. The options available are: father,
mother, child, bridegroom, bride, father of the bridegroom, father of the bride,
mother of the bridegroom, mother of the bride, deceased, spouse, witness and
relative. You can also leave all options open ("All roles").
Beware: the parents in a marriage records have the roles of 'father
groom', 'mother groom', 'father bride' or 'mother bride'. You will
not find marriage records if you search for the the role 'father'
or 'mother'.
Search parameter
If you are not sure precisely how either a surname or a first name was spelt,
you can broaden the search by entering just the first few letters and selecting
'Begins with'. If you are certain of
the spelling, select 'Exact'.
Beware: this search parameter applies to
surnames, patronymics and first names. If you fill in 'Jan' as
a first name, people with the first name 'Jan Hendrik' will only
be found if you select the 'Begins with' search parameter.
Province
To
search all provinces, select "All provinces". To search
in one particular province, select its name. To search in several
provinces, select their names whilst holding down the <CTRL>-key.
Place
Here you enter the name of the municipality or local authority area
in which you wish to search. In case of data from the Netherlands Antilles, enter
the name of the island here. A
list
of
place names helps you with selection and spellings. The place names used are
those
in effect
at
the
time
the record
was
made.
Only municipalities for which data is present in Genlias can be
found in the list of place names. If you cannot find the place
you are looking for, please check the Actual content section to
find out if data of this place has been entered yet.
Source
To
search all sources included in Genlias, select "All
sources". To search in one particular source, select its description
for example, "Civil Register, births" or "Parish records, funerals".
To search in several sources, select their descriptions whilst
holding down the <CTRL>-key.
Period
If you wish to confine your search to a specific period
(for example, 1811-1830) then you can specify the years here. If
you
enter only one year, the
search will be confined specifically to that year.
To protect the privacy of living persons, recent records are not
publicly available and hence not present in Genlias. See What is
in Genlias to learn more about limits on public availability. 
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Tips for effective searches:
Search data - To begin with, enter as
little data as possible. Every piece of information provided
will narrow the scope of the search. The more data is entered,
the fewer matches will be found. Start with information
you're certain of, or use the 'Begins with' search parameter.
Surname - This is absolutely essential.
Often just filling in the surnames of two spouses is enough
to find the record. If necessary, you can narrow the search
by selecting specific provinces, sources, roles, places or
periods.
Narrowing a query - There is little point in entering a common Dutch surname like "Huizing" without narrowing the search. This query on its own will generate so many matches that it will not help you at all. But if you also select the province name "Groningen", all the Huizings in the rest of the country will be disregarded. If you are looking for the marriage record of your ancestor called Huizing, also select "Civil Register, marriages". This query will ignore birth and death records for Huizings in Groningen. And if you know that the marriage took place in Veendam, say, you can enter that location under "Place".
Name of spouse - If the record you are
looking for is not found, try searching again using the name
of the person's spouse. Sometimes a person whose name has
been spelled or read wrongly can be traced through another
person that is mentioned in the record.
Second person - If you know the names
of two people mentioned in a record, enter the other one under
"Second person". This is likely to narrow the search considerably.
Overseas data - In the case of overseas
data, some specific search tips may apply:
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