Methodology Spotlight

Census entry for Jacob Hooggeboren

Today, we are looking at the entry of Jacob Hooggeboren and his family in the 1830 census from Rotterdam.

entry of the Hooggeboren family in the 1830 census from Rotterdam
Civil registration (Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands), volkstelling [census] 1830, page 86, house 196, family of Jacob Hooggeboren; “Netherlands Census and Population Registers, 1574-1940,” images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org : viewed 19 May 2020), digital film 005719965, image 90 of 769.

Translation

Note: The image shows only the left page of the register. This translation contains the text on both pages.

Number of the house: 196
Families per house: 1
Residents per house: 7

  • Jacob Hooggeboren, 52 years, born in Rotterdam, married, merchant, protestant
  • Margereta Lauwisa Heusges, 50 years, born in Rotterdam, married, protestant
  • Joan Jacob Hooggeboren, 20 years, born in Rotterdam, single, office help, protestant
  • Pieter Hooggeboren, 16 years, born in Rotterdam, single, protestant
  • Adriana Hooggeboren, 19 years, born in Rotterdam, single, protestant
  • Catharina Adriana Hooggeboren, 17 years, born in Roterdam, single, protestant
  • Elizabeth Bruijn, 30 years, born in Rotterdam, single, maidservant, protestant
view of the river Maas and Leuvehaven in Rotterdam
View of the river Maas and Leuvehaven (on the left) in Rotterdam, Fred Romero, 2015 (photo credits: Wikimedia Commons, user Fred Romero)

Comments

We see Jacob Hooggeboren, his wife and four children. Note that the children are in order of their age. Boys come before girls. Jacob was a merchant and he was rich enough to employ a maid.

If we want to know more about the Hooggeboren family, we can simply use Google or another search engine. One of the results says that Jacob owned 1/18th part of the ship Diana, in 1818 and 1821. (Maritiem-Historische Databank) In the Naamwijzer der stad Rotterdam voor het jaar 1822, a city directory, we find Jacob Hooggeboren again. He then lives at Leuvehaven and is one of the trustees of the diaconia schools. (Google Books) Hence, it becomes clear that the Hooggeboren family were prominent residents of Rotterdam.

This page of the census register does not mention a full address, only a house number. If we take a look at the previous page, we find out that this house was situated at Leuvehaven. Or more precise: between the corner of Scheepmakershaven and the brewery ‘De Twee Leeuwen’ (The Two Lions).

Census or Population Register?

We often get the question: is a population register the same as a census? The answer to this question is: no. A census is usually a snap-shot: who lived where at a specific moment. A population register on the other hand shows an ongoing registration of events in a household. Population registers were in use for several years, some even for 30 years! Because of this habit, the population registers give a good idea of what happened within a household. Census registers provide less information. Nevertheless, they are still very valuable for genealogy research. Not only do we find names, dates and occupations. We also learn where the family lived.

Census registers are useful when we want to reconstruct an area. Many list the houses and families in order of house number. This way, we get a good idea about who lived where and which houses were close to each other. Together with for example the cadastral maps and registers, we can find a – more or less – exact location.

Nation wide censuses are available for the years 1830 (1829) and 1840 (1839). In many places a similar overview of residents was made in 1810. Together with the population registers and civil records the censuses provide us a lot of information about our Dutch ancestors in the 19th century.

In a previous article we talked about a population register.

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