For a long time, the rules regarding surnames in the Netherlands were not too complex. Children from a legal marriage were given the father’s surname. Children born to unmarried mothers were given the mother’s surname. But a new law has changed this from 1 January 2024. Napoleon Let us go back in time… Until 1811, Read more…
On this day exactly 400 years ago – 22 March 1621 – a man fled from his imprisonment in Loevestein Castle. His name was Hugo de Groot or Hugo Grotius, one of the greatest legal scholars of all time. His escape became world famous: he hid in a book chest and was smuggled out of Read more…
Civil records are one of the most reliable sources. That is what we teach beginning genealogists in the Netherlands. In general, that statement is correct. Nevertheless, civil registrars were and are human beings and we all make mistakes. What if a name in a birth record was wrong? Translation The original record shows the birth Read more…