| Genlias contains records from the
civil registration, church records and death duties files. See
'What is in Genlias' for a description of these sources.
Besides these sources, there are numerous other sources that can
be consulted at the beginning of genealogy research: marriage
supplements,
census records, personal
index cards and name taking records. These
sources are not available in Genlias and need to be consulted in
other ways, for example by visiting an archive.
Marriage supplements
The majority of records in Genlias are marriage records. However,
each marriage record also contains supplements. These marriage
supplements ("huwelijksbijlagen") contain the documents that the
couple had to present as evidence in order
to
get married.
For example, the couple had to hand in copies of their birth certificates,
a document certifying that the groom had fulfilled his military
duties and, in the case of a widow or widower, a copy of the death
certificate
of the former spouse. The marriage supplements may also contain
a variety of other documents: notary documents of parental consent,
declarations of poverty which meant the couple did not have to
pay the marriage
fees, or death certificates of
the parents to prove their consent was not possible.
In the early days of civil registration, the marriage supplements
sometimes contain the death certificates of the grandparents in
case both parents were deceased. This makes the marriage supplements
a rich source of genealogical information.
The marriage supplements can be found in larger municipal archives
or in the provincial archives of that particular province. In most
archives they can be consulted in self service. The supplements
are ordered by municipality, by year and then by record number
of the marriage record.You can find the municipality, year and
marriage record number in Genlias, which gives you all the information
you need to find the marriage supplements.
Census records
The records in Genlias are all snapshots of the lives of people
relating to their birth, marriage or death. On the other hand,
the census records ("bevolkingsregister")
form a continuous source that records who was living at a particular
address for a certain period.
Whole
families
can be found together in these records and they also show the changing
family composition over time because of births, deaths and moves.
The census records also tell you about the conditions in which
your ancestors lived: did they live in an urban area or in the
countryside?
In most municipalities, the census records start around 1850 and
continue until 1938. The census records can be consulted in the
local archives, usually in the municipal or regional archives for
that municipality. See Archivenet for an overview of websites of
archives in the Netherlands.
Personal index cards
In 1938, the census records were replaced by a personal registration:
the personal index card ("persoonskaart").
Every person got his own index card that accompanied him throughout
his life. After the
death
of
the
person,
the statistical data from the card was processed and the card was
sent to the Central Bureau for Genealogy. The personal index card
became obsolete when the Municipal Basic administration was introduced
but the personal information of deceased individuals is still sent
to the Central Bureau for Genealogy in the form of personal lists.
Because personal index cards cover the period after 1938, they
are an important source for recent research. Other sources like
the civil registration records are limitedly accessible to the
public which can make research in the twentieth century more difficult.
The personal index cards can help to bridge that period.
For personal use, extracts of the personal index cards of deceased
persons can be ordered for a fee. Please refer to the Central
Bureau for
Genealogyfor more information about personal index cards and
ordering.
Name taking records
When the civil registration was introduced in 1811, everyone was
required to take a fixed family name. Whosoever did not have a
family name, was required to choose one and have that recorded.
This record
is called a name taking record ("register
van naamsaanneming").
A record often contains the data of the entire family: the name
of the head of the household, the names and ages of the children,
the old name (if applicable) and the new name.
The procedure to record the information differs from one region
to another. In some regions the names of all the inhabitants were
registered. Other regions chose only to register the names of those
people who did not have a family name already.
The name taking records of many municipalities still exist and
can be consulted at the provincial archives. The records of Friesland and Overijssel can also be consulted online.
Further possibilities
There are several other sources that can be consulted. Think
about judicial archives for example, or church archives and tax
archives. These archives will allow you to get to know more about
the lives of your ancestors. Did they perhaps witness a crime,
or appear before the church council because they
were habitually drunk or have to pay tax for a chimney
in their house?
Most of these sources can only be found in the archives and not
on the internet. |
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