januar 17, 2021 by Marissa - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 6 Comments

Pandemonium and Family Reunions: The Best Laid Plans

Planning a family reunion? We’ve created a list of activities for planning the perfect family reunion – whether that’s in-person or virtual!

This has been a crazy and difficult year! Even if work has been stable and consistent, the kids have been out of school a lot more than usual and things at home have been chaotic. But in between the stress and the online homework, there have been happy moments too: reconnecting with those closest to us and finding ways to get together through technology despite geographic and social distance.

And what about that great family reunion you planned a year in advance for summer 2020? It probably changed dramatically or got canceled all together. If you plan your reunions for the winter, or you’re looking for better ideas for “distance” reunions next summer we’ve got some creative ideas for you!

Family Reunion Activities

family reunion activities We all know the drill. You figure out your budget, decide when and where you’re going to have the reunion and what activities and food you’re going to have. Then you delegate the tasks, make the announcements, and get everyone excited for the big day!

Just a couple of in-person activities my family has done over the years include:

Yard games: My family loves our outdoor reunions with simple, but social activities like horseshoes, croquet, a beanbag toss, ladder ball, or other yard games.
Auction: we had an auction one year to help cover the cost of the reunion. It included a handmade quilt from one relative, a Tupperware bowl set (from one who was a Tupperware consultant), a handmade pioneer doll, a wooden egg kaleidoscope that had been in the family for two generations (and now a third since I bought it!), a tire swing (from an autoshop owner relative), and other simple things. It was one of my favorite reunions because of the stories being remembered and the stories being created by this simple sharing of what were, or would become, family treasures.
Tie-dying t-shirts: with all the custom t-shirt sites out there these days, you can easily make a “Family Reunion 2021” white t-shirt, order one for each family member, and tie-dye them when you get together. (You can even put everyone’s names on the back or find some other way of commemorating the identity of those coming together.) We tie-dyed one year and to this day when we wear them, we still talk about the fun we had making them together!

Virtual Family Reunion Ideas

But what if we can’t get together in-person? All hope is not lost – you can still have a great family reunion! Getting together on Facebook (video) chat, Zoom, Skype, FaceTime (for Apple users), HouseParty, or other video platforms for the main event, you can try one of these ideas for your family reunion this year: virtual family reunion activities

Virtual game night: If your family loves trivia, board games, or party games, consider planning a virtual game night. There are tons of online resources like JackBox , Random Trivia Generator, QuizUp, or you can download apps (some of these are free!) for board games with online play options like Monopoly, Risk, Catan, Clue, and many others.
Tell favorite stories: each family member gets 3 minutes to share a crazy / favorite story about themselves (or telling on a family member) – set a timer and let the fun ensue! Give a prize for the craziest story!
Create a family photo book: have each family share a few pictures, organize them into a book (this is easy using an online service like Snapfish or Shutterfly) and having a copy of the book shipped to each family who is participating. Then when you get together (virtually) each family can share a story or two about the photos or about what they have been doing this year.
Family talent show: do you have magicians, musicians, dancers, story tellers, actors, puppeteers, or other talented family members? Of course you do – so showcase them by putting on a virtual family talent show!
Embrace your shared heritage by learning about your family history: pool the money you would have spent getting together in-person (airfare, venue, food, etc.) and:
1. Gather family stories and photographs anyone still has about your known ancestors. Check out our article Ancestor’s Photographs: Worth a Thousand Words for ideas on how to find photographs of your ancestors.
2. Purchase a family history research project to research and extend your known ancestry, with special focus on finding family stories,
3. Have it written up into a biography with copies going to everyone participating, and
4. Consider having the family biography made into a bound book (we recommend Legacy Books!).

My best tip for having a great family reunion? Keep it simple. Make it fun! You are making memories today that will last a lifetime.

The team at Legacy Tree Genealogists would love to help you with your family history, whether you’re interested in building a broad family tree as far back as possible, or delving into the details and stories of your ancestors’ lives. Contact us today to request a free quote!

juli 31, 2020 by Marissa - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 2 Comments

Passenger Lists: A Gateway to Foreign Lands and a Former Life

How do you trace your immigrant ancestors from one country to another? Their travels were likely documented on passenger lists. Learn more!

In the United States, I’ve heard it said that “unless your family is Native American your ancestors immigrated from somewhere.” How do you trace them if your family immigrated from one country to another, particularly crossing an ocean or two in the process? Their travels were likely documented, specifically on a passenger manifest for the ship they sailed on.

New York passenger list example.

Early Immigration Regulation

A common family legend is that “Grandpa came over illegally in the 1840s and so there was no record of his arrival” or that “he stowed away so that’s why he isn’t in the passenger lists at Ellis Island.” While some of these stories may be true, the vast majority are not. The fact is, most immigrants were documented and it is a best practice to begin with the assumption that your ancestor was “the rule” rather than the exception.

However, it is true that until the mid-19^th century very little effort was put into regulating who entered the United States, England, and many other countries. The following two statements attest to the lax situation:

“Although an Alien Act was passed in 1793 and remained in force to some extent or other until 1836, there were no controls between then and 1905 barring a very loosely policed system of registration on entry.” — England

“After certain states passed immigration laws following the Civil War, the Supreme Court in 1875 declared regulation of immigration a federal responsibility. Thus, as the number of immigrants rose in the 1880s and economic conditions in some areas worsened, Congress began to pass immigration legislation.” – United States

While early immigration was not regulated, emigration from a person’s home country was more heavily regulated. For example, in what is now Germany, a potential emigrant needed to register his intention with the local authorities, provide evidence of his identity and those leaving with him (e.g. a wife and children), prove that his debts were paid, that he had fulfilled his mandatory military service, and name a friend or relative who was willing to be responsible for any debts discovered after the emigrant was gone. This process took months and, in some cases, years before an emigrant was granted permission to leave. A whole family packing up and leaving would have been fairly obvious, so they had to follow this legal process. But a single person could sneak out of town fairly easily to avoid the inevitable red-tape. In some cases, a young man doing this might have been trying to avoid military conscription.

S.S. Olympic, White Star Shipping Line, 1911-1934. Image courtesy of Ancestry.com.

The arrival ports in many countries have preserved the records of immigrants arriving at their shores. Initially, this was so they knew approximately how many people were entering the country (for “taxation and representation” purposes) and so they could be somewhat assured these immigrants were not going to become a burden to the local economy. Later, these records were preserved for their historical and genealogical value. Because the departure ports were less concerned with who was leaving, along with record losses from European wars, their records are not as well-preserved. Departure lists from Hamburg, Germany and ports in the UK are the most available for genealogical research. However, if you know another port your ancestor left from make sure to check whether they also have extant records and how to access them.

Name Changes at Ellis Island: Fact or Fiction?

Another common myth is that “they” changed Grandpa’s name at Ellis Island making it impossible to find his passenger list or any other pre-immigration records for your family. This theory has been debunked by many before me. Suffice it to say, the port authorities did not intentionally change names (spelling variations included). Most of the time, immigrants changed their own name to fit in with their American neighbors. They may have shortened it, changed the spelling so an average American could pronounce it correctly, or changed the pronunciation to preserve the original spelling. Some even chose a completely new name, but all of this generally happened after they had been in their new country for a few years. Jewish immigrants were a little more complicated, because they were typically listed on passenger lists by their Hebrew or Yiddish names, but in non-Jewish society they would have used a “Gentile” name—both names would have been used prior to immigrating. In addition, they also often adopted American-sounding names later. To learn more about this, you can read our three-part article on Jewish research.

How to Locate Passenger Lists for Your Ancestors

So, once you have researched your family back to their immigration date using censuses, vital records, church records, newspapers, and other resources, the next step is to find their passenger list. But how do you do that?

First, remember that if your ancestor came alone or provided inconsistent details about when and where they arrived, it may be harder to find the right immigrant in the passenger lists. It is always easier to know you’ve found the right immigrant if they arrived with family members, so keep track of extended family and close friends who may have arrived with them.

Second, remember that having only one correct spelling of your family surname is a modern construct—the census taker, the clerk at the port, and even the parish priest wrote the name phonetically as they heard it. So if your family name was Hungarian and the clerk was from Scotland, what he wrote down might not be what you think the name should have looked like. So make liberal use of wildcard searches (an asterisk * replacing groups of letters), remembering that vowels and unique letter combinations (like cz making the ch-sound) might best be replaced with that asterisk!

1900 census for my ancestor, Peter B. Loewen, with Germanic surname phonetically written “Lavin.”

Finally, remember that other records might help you identify how they may have originally spelled their name:

Church Records

Immigrants often joined a religious community in their new residence. Often this was the nearest ethnically similar church—they might have even changed religions in favor of joining a parish that offered services and recorded events in the immigrant’s native language. So a family baptism, marriage, or burial recorded shortly after they arrived might include a version of the ancestor’s name that more closely matched the way it appeared on the passenger list.

Naturalization Papers

If your ancestor became a citizen after immigrating, their citizenship papers might state their name as: “current name (aka former name).” Naturalizations beginning in the 1920s in the United States also often included a Certificate of Arrival, which included the exact name they appeared under on the passenger list along with the ship name and date of arrival. So, finding their naturalization papers first may make it easier to identify their arrival in passenger lists.

Example of post-immigration name change for Sarah Wand aka Sarah Weinstein.

Emigration Permission Records

If you know where your ancestor came from, find out if there are emigration permission records accessible for that area. You might be able to find details about when and where they intended to sail from their emigration file. This varies widely depending on the country—for example German emigration was regulated civilly, while Swedish emigrants often have a note in the Lutheran household registers that states they were going “to America,” with the year they left.

There are some immigrants who will not be identifiable in passenger lists because they traveled alone, their name was common, or the passenger list did not provide enough identifying information (especially true of passenger lists before the late-1800s). However, remember just because they can’t be found on a passenger list, that doesn’t necessarily mean they stowed away, or were shipwrecked, or something else just as exciting. Plus, there would likely be more evidence pointing to that kind of exceptional situation—such as a note in a naturalization file or a newspaper article. It could be that they simply arrived alone, that you haven’t thought of the right spelling to search, or even that you’re searching the wrong port or the wrong year. If all else fails, there are other ways to trace your immigrant ancestor back to their home country without it, so don’t despair. Your family story is waiting to be told!

Ready to learn more about your immigrant ancestors? Legacy Tree Genealogists can help! Our team of experienced genealogists know how to find the records you need to to extend your family history as far as possible, and uncover the details of your ancestors’ lives in the process. Contact us today to request your free quote!

1. “History of UK immigration control,” Wikipedia, https://wikipedia.org, accessed June 2020.

2. “Early American Immigration Policies,” USCIS, http://uscis.gov, accessed June 2020.

juni 12, 2020 by Marissa - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 2 Comments

Make Hay While the Sun Shines: Farm Names in Your Family History

Today we’re going to discuss another important surname anomaly that commonly appeared in areas using patronymics and sporadically elsewhere: Farm Names. But first, it’s important to understand how surnames have evolved, and the nuances that can create brick walls in our genealogy research if we aren’t aware of them. Let’s dive in!

Lesson in History: The Birth of Modern Surnames

Before different religious factions broke off from the Roman Catholic Church, our ancestors who were not nobility or royalty had little reason to be recorded by name in any official registers. However, beginning in the early 1500s, as religious groups sought to keep track of their members, church records of baptisms, marriages, and burials began cropping up in parishes, eventually being replaced with government civil registration as the primary source for birth, marriage, and death information for our ancestors. Thus, record-keeping for the common people of Europe began.

The Use of Identifiers

While local populations remained relatively small, it was not important to use a family identifier such as a surname—everyone in town knew John (Jan, Johann, Ivan, etc.). But as populations grew, it became increasingly necessary to distinguish between different people with the same name. This began with nobility and wealthy landowners, followed by the bourgeois, and it finally tricked down to tenant farmers, laborers, and other common people. By the late 1600s most people were using some identifier such as a relationship (i.e. John son of x, Mary wife of x, etc.), an occupation (i.e. John the weaver, John the blacksmith), a description or a nickname (i.e. John Small), or a geographic name (i.e. John from x). Initially these identifiers were unique to one person, but within a few generations it became common for the name to be passed from one generation to the next.

The Transition to Patronymics

Some large areas followed a widespread pattern of using patronymics rather than a fixed surname. As explained in a previous blog article, a patronymic name is one that is created when a prefix or suffix is attached to the father’s name. For example, the patronymic surname Johansson can be broken into two parts: Johans’ son. This means that someone with the surname Johansson was the son of Johan. Likewise, a surname of Johansdotter is the patronymic version used for the daughter of someone named Johan. Because of this patronymic naming pattern, a brother and sister may have had similar, but different, surnames from one another.

In Scandinavia, northern Germany, the Netherlands (e.g. Holland), and parts of Eastern Europe they used patronymics for centuries before being legally required to switch to a fixed surname (this generally happened during the 1800s). This large-scale use of a “surname” that changed with every generation poses a unique challenge to their genealogy-inclined descendants.

Farm names: What are they and why are they important?

Farm names were used as an identifier connecting that particular family with land ownership or residence. However, how these names were used and what the name represented varied from region to region.

German Farm Names

In Germany, (particularly the regions of Westfalen, Hannover, Lippe-Detmold, Rheinland, Oldenburg, and Schlesien) the use of a farm name denoted the status of being a land owner, so anyone who owned enough land to be called a “large farm” or an “estate farm” could be found using a farm name. A farm of this size and status might be owned by someone that was a butcher, a blacksmith, a weaver, or similar profession that would allow the farm to be generally self-sufficient; the market and church would typically be found in the nearest village. In addition to the farm name, a surname was often associated with the farm–during the transition into ownership they would use the surname associated with the farm and/or the farm name, add the term gennant or something similar, and then their original surname at the end.

In Germany, only the owner of this farm could be found using a farm name and passing it on to their children according to local inheritance laws. Consequently, land ownership was more important than your identity at birth. When a man inherited a farm he often began using the farm name as a replacement for his birth name, or a combination of the two names with the farm name appearing first followed by “alias,” “vel,” “modo,” “gennant,” or “dit” and the original surname. Farm names were so important that if a woman inherited a farm her husband took her surname and the farm name rather than following the tradition of a woman taking her husband’s surname. For this reason, it is essential to find the ancestor’s marriage record where the farm name first appears to know the ancestor’s original surname and whose family the farm was inherited from to trace these lines back correctly.

German farm names can include, but are not limited to, many names beginning or ending in -kamp or -hof. But there’s a catch! Not all Hof names (e.g. Hoffman) were associated with farms–some were occupational surnames. Examples of some German farm names that became surnames are: Kampmeinert, Ryskamp, Heitkamp, Hogenkamp, Niekamp, Pulskamp, Haberkamp, Moehlenkamp, Neuhof, Brinkerhof, Berkhoff, Eickhoff, Grasshoff, Hasselhoff, Kirchhoff. These are some of the most identifiable farm names, but there are many others that may appear to be normal names, but upon researching the family it comes to light that the name is associated with a farm.

Scandinavian Farm Names

In Norway, Sweden, and Finland farm names were also important, but connected to residence on a farm rather than necessarily denoting ownership. If a person or family moved from one farm to another they ceased using the first farm name and took on the new farm name. Norwegians still kept their patronymic and merely added the farm name as a second unique family identifier. If a family moved from a farm to the city, as many did during the Industrial Revolution of the mid- to late-1800s, they typically continued using their most recently acquired farm name. While it was not always the case, it was also common for Norwegian emigrants to use that farm name as their fixed surname when transitioning to a society not using patronymics. An example of this would be for a man named Lars Olsen Hagelund (Lars, son of Ole, from the farm Hagelund) to immigrate to America and begin calling himself Lars Hagelund. Conversely, this same immigrant might drop the farm name and take his patronymic as his new fixed surname. Although, just to keep things interesting, it was still possible for this same immigrant to appear in United States records as Lars Olsen or Lars Hagelund.

Household examination schedule showing surnames Olsen (patronymic) and Tvieten (farm name). Courtesy of MyHeritage. https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-10180-934075/lars-olsen-tveiten-in-sweden-household-examination-books?s=599167191

In Sweden and Norway, anything that was appended to the person’s name (given name + patronymic + appended name) was a farm name. When a Scandianavian person began using a fixed surname it was typically that person’s patronymic or the last farm name the family was associated with. Most Scandinavian surnames, unless they are a patronymic name, are farm names. Here’s just a few common farm names listed in one parish in Norway:

Algarheim Allergot, Aur, Austad, Åstad

Barnkjenn, Berg, Bjønningstad, Bjørke, Bjørtomt, Bratval, Bråten, Brudalen

Dal, Døli, Døliengen

Ellingsrud, Elstad, Elstaddalen, Elstadmoen

Fjellberg, Fløgstad, Fløtten, Furulund, Furuset

Garder, Gislevoll, Gjestad, Grinden, Grøndalen

Hallingstad, Hannestad, Haug i Hovin, Hauerseter, Havnemoen, Helgebostad, Hög, Hovin, Hveim

Inngjerdingen

Jaeren, Julset, Jødal

Kjos, Klokkeset, Kolby, Kopperud, Korslund, Korsmo, Kråfoss, Kringlemyren, Kværndalen

Langeland, Lauten i Hovin, Låke, Li, Lien, Ljøgot

Majorsæter, Melby, Melby i Mogreina, Mjælaberg, Moen, Mølledalen, Møllerstad

Nordby i Hovin, Nordby i Kisa, Nordli, Nordmyren, Nygård

Onsrud

Risebru, Rotnebu, Rud i Hovin, Rulnes, Røgler

Sand, Sesvoll, Skryta, Stendalen, Stensby, Stokstad, Støvner, Sundby nedre, Sundby øvre, Syverstad, Sætre

Tangen, Taugland, Tranbotn, Trandum, Trøgstad

Vangen, Vekato, Vestengen, Vilberg,

Farm Names in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands (specifically Drenthe, Overijssel and Gelderland provinces) farm names were used similarly to their use in Scandinavian regions, and did not correlate with ownership. A farm name was taken if the person or family resided on that farm and it was abandoned in favor of the new farm name if the family moved.

Researching farm names in the Netherlands can be a little trickier. Many people chose sillu names as their fixed surnames after the decree in 1811 from Napoleon required a fixed surname. Basically, to know if it was a farm name, you have to trace the family back to before 1811. If the name was in use prior to that time (again, appended as a third name, or sometimes used in the place of the patronymic) then it was most likely a farm name. This database of Dutch surnames is a great place to start to determine where your Dutch surname is derived from.

Since the Netherlands also used patronymics prior to the 1811 law mandating fixed surnames, it is essential to prove each generational link, sometimes requiring court records, tax registers, and other local resources to find evidence connecting your family to the farm they lived on.

Netherlands 1743 birth Jan Hendrik te Boske (left side, line no.4). Courtesy of MyHeritage.
https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-10564-4266463/jan-hendrik-te-boske-in-netherlands-church-baptisms

Despite the factors that can influence the use and meaning of farm names, armed with an understanding of such nuances and the availability of digitized records, now when you encounter a farm name in your research, you’ll be able to scale what could otherwise easily become a genealogy “brick wall.” So don’t delay—make hay while the sun shines, and get to work on discovering your family history!

The experts at Legacy Tree Genealogists have the knowledge and experience you need to help navigate the various nuances you may encounter as you explore your heritage. Our network of researchers extends all over the world, meaning we can access records necessary to extend your genealogy as far as possible. Contact us today for a free quote!

januar 30, 2020 by Marissa - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 14 Comments

Windmills, Tulips, and Wooden Shoes: A Guide to Dutch Surnames

Exploring your Dutch ancestry and family history is made easier with an understanding of Dutch surnames and their origins.

Dutch surnames and family history The Netherlands: a small country with enormous cultural and historical impact. Located in the heart of northern Europe, the Netherlands produced some of the most renowned contributors to science, philosophy, and the arts during the Renaissance, and was known as a haven of relative tolerance during historical periods of persecution. A founding member of the EU, today it is known for its hundreds of historic windmills, its sprawling fields of tulips, and its bicycle-friendly cities. It has been ranked among the best countries in the world for raising children.

If you have any ancestral surnames linking your family to this region, you may be wondering what those surnames mean, how they developed, and what they might be able to tell you about your ancestors. In this article, we’ll explore the common origins and meanings of Dutch surnames and the historical and cultural context in which they developed.

Patronymics

A patronymic name was the practice of calling a person “son of” or “daughter of” their father. An example of this would be Jan Dirksen, meaning Jan, son of Dirk. The -sen suffix could also be shortened to sz, z, se, and x (e.g., Dirks, Dirkse, Dirkx, etc.). Likewise, a woman would be called Dirksdochter, meaning daughter of Dirk, but could also use the abbreviated suffixes d, dr, s, se, sen, sens, and x (e.g., Dirks, Dirkse, Dirksdr, etc.). The practice of using patronymic names as a person’s unique identifier is common throughout recorded history. It was effective for identifying which father a person belonged to within a community, but it meant that a family’s “surname” changed each generation depending on the name of the father.

Patronymics were in common usage in the Netherlands until the Napoleonic Wars at the turn of the 19^th Century. During that time the French invaded (1795) and ultimately annexed the Netherlands in 1811. At that time civil authorities began the mandatory practice of recording births, marriages, and deaths and each family was forced to adopt a distinct surname.

The instituting of fixed surnames makes it much less difficult to organize families and prove generational connections today. It was also fortuitous that women’s maiden names were nearly always included in records from the Netherlands after Napoleon’s time. Napoleon never knew what a blessing his recordkeeping expertise would be for future generations of Dutch-descended genealogists.

Dutch Surnames

While Napoleon’s edict was certainly meant to simplify and standardize the naming practices in Europe, it got off to a rocky start. Because each person was at liberty to choose his own surname, even within a single family, each brother might have taken a different surname. Ultimately, a surname could be taken from anywhere. Typical sources included unique and sometimes unflattering nicknames, a person’s patronymic, their father’s patronymic, a place of origin, an occupation, or a position within the community or within their own family.

Name adoption registers (naamsaanneming registers) were created by each municipality and can be helpful in researching families during the transition period between patronymics and fixed surnames. However, not all registers have survived. Other than this time period, surname changes in the Netherlands were extremely rare.

Dutch Surname Prefixes

Dutch surnames based on locations usually include prefixes like de (the), van (from), van de, van der, van den (from the), or te, ter, ten (on). It was often the case that when a Dutch immigrant came to the United States, or other non-Dutch speaking countries, these prefixes would become lumped into the surname. As an example, Van der Hof would become Vanderhof in an English-speaking country. Because these prefixes would not be considered as part of the actual surname to a native Dutch speaker, genealogical databases often ignore prefixes. Thus, it would be important to search a database from the United States for all versions of Vanderhof (including phonetically similar spelling variations), but a database from the Netherlands would only reference this surname as Hof, leaving off the prefixes. A single surname can often be found under many different spellings in different documents.

Location-Specific Surnames

Surnames in the southern part of North Holland province were similar to those found in South Holland and Utrecht. Because Amsterdam was a large city, people from other areas migrated there, particularly with the Industrial Revolution bringing factory work to the cities. Many surnames in this city originated in other areas, including Flanders, Friesland, and Germany. Place names and geographic features were commonly taken as surnames in Utrecht (e.g., van Doorn, van Schaik, van Vliet, and van den Brink). Flemish and Huguenot surnames were common in Zeeland. And lastly, many surnames common in the larger cities of South Holland were the Dutch versions of French and German surnames.

Many of the Dutch provinces were home to surname prefixes or suffixes common only to that area. This can make it easier to locate your ancestor’s province or area of origin. The following table includes these region-specific names.

Province	Surname Prefixes	Surname Suffixes
Groningen		sema, tjer, huis, ker
Friesland		a, ma, sma, stra, inga
Drenthe		ing(h)e, in(e)k
Overijssel	ten, ter	ing(h)(e), in(c)k, huis
Gelderland	Klein, Groot	in(c)k, ing
North Holland		sz, x
South Holland	van, van de(n), van der, ver, de, den
Zeeland	de, d’, ver	sons, aert, g(h)e, se
Utrecht		laar, laer, horst, schot(en)
North Brabant		mans, ers, ens
Limburg		mans, ingen

Some examples of surnames using these prefixes include: ten Bokkel, ten Broek, ter Horst, Klein Rooseboom, Groot Rooseboom, de Groot, van der Meer, and van der Kolk.

Examples of surnames using these suffixes include: Veenhuis, de Bakker, Decker, Rodemaker, Boomsma, Aardsma, Brink, Abbink, van Cruijningen, Jansz, Danielsz, Abelsons, Gerritsen, Gouswaert, ter Horst, Kortschot, and Veneklasen.

Dutch Surname Databases

Several years ago, the Meertens Institute in Amsterdam created a database of about 320,000 Dutch surnames, including information about their meanings and origins. Today this database is maintained (and is still being expanded) by the Central Bureau of Genealogy in The Hague. The database is searchable in Dutch or English. Just type your Dutch surname into the search bar to learn the meaning of your surname.

If you’re ready to dive into exploring your Dutch heritage, there’s no better time than the present. With a solid understanding of Dutch surname origins and naming patterns, you’ll be ready to start pouring through records to find your family story. For more information on researching your Dutch ancestors, check out our previous article, 4 Pro Tips for Finding Dutch Family History Resources. Happy searching!

Our experts have the knowledge and experience you need to help navigate your Dutch ancestry. Our global network of researchers extends deeply into The Netherlands and the Low Countries as a whole, meaning we can access records necessary to extend your family history as far as possible. Contact us today for a free quote!

[1] “Funny Dutch Names and the Story Behind Them,” Expatica, https://www.expatica.com/nl/about/culture-history/funny-dutch-names-and-the-story-behind-them-102043/, accessed December 2019

september 13, 2019 by Marissa - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher Leave a Comment

Seeking Connection: The Importance of Family History

We explore the importance of family history in helping you find belonging, and how records can help you discover the meaningful details of your ancestors’ lives.

importance of family history Family can mean different things to different people. For some, it means to be with people who understand and accept you unconditionally. For others, it is strictly those to whom they have a biological connection. Some of us don’t have ideal families, while others couldn’t imagine their life without family. Most often, though, it’s a mixture of each of these types of relationships.

When I think about my most ideal family relationships, I think of my dad’s Germans-from-Russia Mennonite cousins, double cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents… you get the idea. It’s a big family with lots of endogamous connections—I mean, my grandparents are first cousins once removed, and they didn’t even know each other before they were young adults and started dating. My favorite memories are of huge family reunions at a park with homemade ice cream, more kinds of pies than I could count, and a million and one family stories. I loved the stories and the food!

The Importance of Family History

But what if you don’t have a close, large family? What if you don’t know your family stories? What if you’ve lost the connection you once felt? Family history research can help you learn about your roots, your cultural connections, ethnic identity–and can play an important role in helping you find belonging.

Bringing Family History to Life

While genealogical research requires learning about the births, marriages, and deaths of various ancestors, the most important aspects of these records, created only as a byproduct of our ancestors living their lives, is that every detail on a record tells a piece of a person’s story. Below are some examples of common genealogical records, and the important details that may be gleaned from them:

Physical Description vs. Photograph

Military draft cards, passenger lists, and naturalization papers are three different record types that include a physical description of a person, which is the next best thing to finding an actual photograph. Many passenger lists also include the name of the person’s nearest relation back home and the name of someone they were joining in the United States. Naturalization papers include names of witnesses who could personally attest to how long an ancestor had lived in this country and in a particular town. These relatives and friends were ones with whom people frequently associated. Learning about them would add to the illustration of your ancestor’s life.

Census: More than a Locator Tool

In addition to showing exactly where an ancestor lived, censuses are full of other interesting facts. Depending on the census year, these records might include relationships, details about how many children a couple had versus how many children were living, how long a couple had been married, when a person arrived in the United States and his or her citizenship status, a person’s occupational information, and even whether an individual owned or rented a home. These fascinating details can paint a picture of day-to-day life. Don’t forget to browse the surrounding entries: These people were your ancestors’ neighbors, friends, and in some cases, extended family members.

What Church Did My Ancestors Attend?

First Evangelical Lutheran Church, Racine. Courtesy of FirstRacine.org.

Religion is a sometimes-overlooked piece of this puzzle. Before governments began keeping records of common people, the only records that included everyone were church records—parish registers of infant baptisms, marriages, and burials. These also help fill in some of the blanks in the family story.

Finding Complete Family Groups

Yes, family size played into the dynamics of our ancestors’ lives, but organizing complete family groups is also important because every birth or baptism record created for a child can give details, not just about that child, but also about the age, status, occupation, and residence of the child’s parents. Did they move around a lot? Did they stick to one profession? Did they lie about their ages? Were they married more than once? The answers to each of these questions help fill in the picture of who our ancestors were.

Newspapers

Society columns containing the juiciest of the local gossip; obituaries that shared the exploits or accomplishments of our dear departed; local court cases, some over property line disputes and others much more scandalous—each of these types of articles showed up in your ancestors’ local newspapers. Sometimes they were even the subject of the article. So dig deep if you want to find those family stories! Don’t just search for John Smith’s name—search for his wife, his children, his siblings, anyone whose life choices might have affected his. And remember, if the family lived in a German-speaking community, for example, then the chances are high that the best source of this type of information is going to be the local German-language newspaper. Don’t overlook it just because it’s written in a foreign language. Embrace the cultural and ethnic diversity and get help with the language if you need it!

Town and County Histories

Town and county histories feature biographies of prominent citizens, which might include ancestors if they were founding members or prominent members of the local community. These resources can tell you whether your ancestor was ever involved in local government. But even if your ancestors were “just farmers,” these histories shed light on the community in which they lived Was the town small or large? Were the farmers an afterthought or were they the backbone of the community? What were the local holiday celebrations like? Can you imagine your ancestor attending the Independence Day (Fourth of July) celebration based on a description of the festivities? This type of information puts our ancestors in context of what was going on around them at the time.

Local Historians

Local historians often have access to the collections of records from which the town and county histories were compiled. They often have information and stories about the local families who have been there for a long time, and even historical photographs of the area or of your ancestor’s home. You can usually find this person by contacting the local library or genealogical society.

Walking Where They Walked

Once your ancestor’s life is put in context, it is an amazing treat to be able to walk a day in his or her shoes. Visiting an ancestor’s home in person, walking Main Street in his or her town, or taking a genealogy tour to their homeland are things that will bring home to you the amazing lives your ancestors lived there.

If you are seeking connection, and want to learn who an ancestor really was, don’t be satisfied with only finding a name, a date, and a place. Seek out every record created by (or for) your ancestor. Reflect upon the importance of family history and what every detail in each record meant for your ancestor in his or her story… and what it means for you.

Our team of professional genealogists are experienced at pouring over every record and shred of evidence to weave together the details of your ancestors’ lives into a meaningful narrative that will be cherished for generations to come. Get started today by requesting your free quote.

august 14, 2015 by Marissa - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 6 Comments

Jewish Family History Research Tips, Part 3: Conclusion

This post concludes our three-part series on Jewish family research for genealogy. Click here for part one and part two in the series.

Record Types

Jewish families appeared in a variety of records throughout their time in Eastern Europe. When conducting ancestral research for Jewish families, the following resources for their town, district, and region should be considered:

Civil Registration: government-kept records of births, marriages and deaths.

Synagogue Records: Jewish-specific records of child naming and circumcision (at 8 days old), marriages, and burials.

Census Records: some censuses were for the general population, others were specific to the Jewish community.

Church Records: when a Jewish community was in an area where the church and government were intertwined (areas with a state church, for example) the predominant church in the area sometimes recorded vital events for the entire local population, including those not of their faith. This was an early form of Civil Registration.

There were also some city directories, guild and occupational records, land records, emigration permission records, and various others in which these Jewish ancestors might be found. These record types have not been the primary focus of microfilming and digitizing efforts by FamilySearch, JewishGen, or other such genealogically-minded organizations because they generally cannot be used to trace ancestry from one generation to the next. Thus, the majority of these other types of records are only available in the regional and state archives of Central and Eastern Europe.

Repositories

Once you have identified one or more possible hometowns for your ancestors, it is necessary to find out the location, condition, and availability of any pertinent records from these towns and their affiliated synagogues. There is a great database called Jewish Records in the Family History Library Catalog that has been created by the FamilySearch team.

This resource provides information about Jewish-specific records that are available through the Family History Library. However, you should still check the regular FamilySearch Catalog as well, since Jewish families also appeared in non-Jewish record types.

Due to the efforts at FamilySearch to make more records more easily accessible, you may find that the records you want to use are available online, or at least indexed in the “Record Search” section of the FamilySearch website. If the records you need are on microfilm and you don’t live in the Utah area, a copy can be ordered for use at your local Family History Center, a process similar to inter-library loan.

Please note that while the Family History Library does not loan out books, they are working to digitize them, making these resources more accessible for those who cannot come to the library and read them on the premises as well. Find an already digitized book here! You can search by title, author, family surname, or location.

The Family History Library has many important records for Jewish research in Europe, and their collection is always growing. However, they do not have every record from every location. (This is common to genealogy in general and is not unique to Jewish research.) Some records were destroyed or lost during wars or natural disasters. Some are housed in archives that are so disorganized that the extent of their collection is not known. Others simply have not been microfilmed or digitized, but they are available on-site in archives and synagogues in Europe.

JewishGen.org, an affiliate of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, is also actively working to make these records more accessible. Similar to MyHeritage.com, FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com, and others, they accept Jewish family trees and include them in an online database. If you have distant relatives who are researching the same ancestors, you may find that they have more information than you do. And best of all, it’s free!

There are many other public resources to aid you in locating records for your Jewish ancestors, but most of them have some affiliation with JewishGen. These include Jewish Record Indexing-Poland, Avotaynu (Jewish genealogy publications), and Routes to Roots.

Reading the Records

Once you have determined the location of the records for your ancestors, you or an on-site researcher (if needed) can search them to find your ancestors and extend your family lines. Synagogue records were usually kept both in Hebrew and in the official local language. The other record types discussed here were typically only recorded in the official language of the country or region. Since many people in the United States do not speak the necessary languages to research their ancestors onsite themselves, it is often the case that a little help is needed. If you find yourself in this situation but still want to tackle the project yourself, a genealogical word list would be very beneficial. While you may not be fluent in the foreign tongue of your ancestors, these resources contain keywords that you will frequently encounter in records, enabling you to recognize them and comprehend what the record was described in a general way, if not exactly. FamilySearch.org has published such lists for many languages pertinent to Jewish research. In a pinch, Google Translate can also be useful.

Latin Genealogy Word List

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Latin_Genealogical_Word_List

German Genealogy Word List

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/German_Word_List

Poland Genealogy Word List

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Poland_Genealogical_Word_List

Russian Genealogy Word List

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Russian_Genealogical_Word_List

Hungary Genealogy Word List

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Hungary_Genealogical_Word_List

Czech Genealogy Word List

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Czech_Republic_Genealogical_Word_List

Slovakia Genealogy Word List (available soon!)

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Slovakia_Genealogical_Word_List

As always, we welcome your comments and shared experiences. Do you have further questions? Have you had success implementing any of these techniques? Comment below!

The scope of this article series could not hope to include every resource out there for Jewish research. Each family was and is unique, so they require individual research efforts to find them and learn about them. If you’d like help, contact the professionals at Legacy Tree Genealogists.

juni 26, 2015 by Marissa - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 2 Comments

Jewish Research Part 2: Tips and Resources

Learning about your immigrant Jewish ancestry can be rewarding. Here are a few tips and tricks that can help you overcome common obstacles in Jewish genealogy research.

In a previous post, we covered an introduction to Jewish immigrant research, focusing on historical context, migration patterns, and determining the European hometown.

Once you’ve made the connection across the pond, however, there is still work to be done.

Maps and Gazetteers

Once you have found a record that names your Jewish immigrant’s hometown, it is important to identify all possible matches for this town. First, you should try to identify the region from the Pale of Settlement where the town was located. This usually isn’t too difficult since the region often appears on several records before you find the exact town name. Comparing the location to modern and historical maps of your choice, you should be able to see what country and region the town now lies in.

It is a good idea to start any “place search” by typing the town name and the country into a search engine to see what comes up. Sometimes it is that easy to identify the Jewish hometown. However, more often than not, the town name has been spelled phonetically in the United States record or the spelling of the town name might have changed with the controlling government or a language change.

There are several gazetteers that are useful for locating and identifying the correct Jewish hometown. The Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex system uses six characters instead of the typical four, and it soundexes the first letter as well. This is an extremely useful and often necessary tool for locating possible hometowns. The JewishGen Communities Database and the JewishGen Gazetteer both use this advanced soundex to assist in locating Jewish and Eastern European towns.

The Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, has some excellent gazetteers that used to be hidden behind the B1 reference counter, but are now accessible to anyone. They are on the shelves near the microfilm readers. Some of these gazetteers are also available online, some free and some not. The following list includes some excellent Eastern European maps, gazetteers and other useful resources.

Poland, Galicia, Hungary & Slavic Gazetteers

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Poland_Gazetteers

http://www.austriahungary.info/en/gazetteer1900

www.hungarianvillagefinder.com/ ($$)

http://www.halgal.com/gazetteers.html

Research Idiosyncrasies

When researching different ethnic groups, religions, and people from other linguistic backgrounds, there are often small things that may be unfamiliar, and which can trip up a genealogist unfamiliar with the culture. Jewish research is no different. Here are some quirks you’ll often run across, and which are important to know:

First, the name on the passenger list might not match the census or other documents exactly. When taking on Americanized names, many Jewish immigrants have often been known to use several – as long as they all began with the same letter. Isaac, Isaak, Isador(e), Ishmael and Israel might all refer to the same man. Rachel, Risa, Rosina, and Ruth could all be the same woman. You should definitely think outside the box with your search parameters.
Think Old Testament – a man called Jacob in one record could be called Israel in another. This has to do with the fact that Jews often had Jewish names relating to their religion as well as everyday names they used in their public and professional lives. Sometimes the Anglicized name was a variation of the Hebrew one, but not always.
Jewish gravestones almost always include the name of the deceased’s father. This is a patronymic tradition being carried on from the times before Jews had established surnames. If you can’t read Hebrew or Yiddish, the JewishGen website has instructions to walk you through it.
Surnames were not always consistent. After arriving in the United States, many Jews shortened their surnames for simplicity or to be less identifiable as Jews. Keep an open mind with spelling variations. As long as it was phonetically similar it could be a match. Use indexes carefully and try to find ones that use the Daitch–Mokotoff Soundex system.

Watch for the third and final installment of our Jewish genealogy posts in the coming weeks, and feel free to comment with any questions, or your own experiences!

Legacy Tree Genealogists has experts trained in Jewish and Eastern European research that would be happy to help you find your ancestry. Contact us for more information and to begin your journey.

juni 5, 2015 by Marissa - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 17 Comments

Family Tree Research and Jewish History

Understanding your family tree research and Jewish history is essential for writing your family history and bringing your ancestors to life. Here are some of our tips on finding your ancestor’s hometown and helping to navigate your research.

In the last several hundred years, there were three major influxes of Jews into the United States (and countries like England and Canada).[1] The Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal were the first to arrive, coming during the Colonial years of American history. The second wave was of Jewish families from Germany (Ashkenazic Jews), who began arriving in serious numbers in the 1840s. The last major wave of Jewish immigration into the United States was the Eastern European Jews (also Ashkenazic Jews). This wave of immigration began around 1880 and continued until about 1924, when the United States began setting immigration quotas to restrict the number of immigrants arriving. During this third wave of Jewish immigration, over 2,000,000 Jewish immigrants arrived in America from Eastern Europe.

Map of Jewish immigration, circa 1880-1924. Courtesy of http://friends-partners.org.

Historical Context

A majority of Jewish immigrants during the 19th and 20th centuries came primarily from two areas: Germany and a portion of Eastern Europe known as “the Pale.”

The first German Empire was established in 1871. At that time, the kingdom of Prussia and the independent southern German duchies, kingdoms, etc., became united under one government. Jews from these areas immigrated to the United States and other “safe havens” during the early to mid-1800s as persecution drove them from their homes. There were very few of them left in Germany by the late 1800s.

A map of united Germany, 1871. Courtesy of http://rootsweb.ancestry.com.

In 1792, Poland was completely wiped off the map due to the ever expanding borders of the Kingdom of Prussia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Russian Empire. Just inside the Russian border, in the middle of non-existent Poland, was an area called the Jewish “Pale of Settlement.” It was established in 1791 under the rule of Catherine the Great, and continued until the fall of the Russian Empire in 1917.[2] At that time, Poland was reestablished and much of this land was returned to that country.

The Pale was approximately one-fifth of the land in European Russia (west of the Ural Mountains). The present-day countries of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, and parts of western Russia were included in the Pale’s borders.[3]

Map of the Jewish Pale of Settlement. Courtesy of http://heathsmith.com.

The Pale was supposedly where the Russian Empire magnanimously allowed their Jewish population to make their homes. In actuality it was the area to which the “less desirable” Jewish population was exiled as a buffer from the other two competing European empires. Jews were not the exclusive residents of this area, but they were not allowed to live outside its borders without special permits, or to live inside most of its cities.

Map of regions within the Pale. Courtesy of http://jewishcurrents.org.

As an example, you may recall having watched the musical/movie Fiddler on the Roof. Anatevka was a small, relatively self-sufficient Jewish community or shtetl established just outside of a Russian city in the Pale. This was fairly typical of the political situations and boundaries for the Jewish population. This story of the poverty-stricken Tevye and his family was set in the early 1890s during a wave of anti-Jewish pogroms that led to the expulsion of over 20,000 Jews from Russia.[4]

Finding the Jewish Hometown

The predominant Jewish community in the United States today is from the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Due to their relatively late immigration, it is usually not very difficult to find a record that names their hometown. It is important to keep in mind, though, that when the birth place is found in a record, it may refer to the nearest large city or the region from which they came, just as we tend to do when generalizing our past residences. The maps earlier in this article can help to determine if this was the case since they show the large cities and the regions within the Pale.

A brief review of some records that are most likely to include the name of an immigrant hometown are as follows:

Military records
1. Service records from both World Wars – some are online through major repositories like Fold3, and some are available through the National Archives (NARA).
2. Draft registrations for World War I and World War II. These can be found at most major genealogy websites.
Naturalization papers
1. If you find a naturalization online at MyHeritage.com, FamilySearch.org or Ancestry.com, browse a couple of pages forward and backward. You may find more than you thought!
2. Post-1906 naturalizations usually included the name of the immigrant hometown and the date and ship on which they arrived in the United States.
3. Post-1922 naturalizations also included female immigrants who were now required to establish citizenship independent of their husband’s. Prior to this date, a woman’s citizenship status changed when her husband’s did.
Passenger lists
1. A lot of passenger lists from the 1890s forward include the name of the hometown or the nearest relative back home and their hometown/residence.
2. Remember that passenger lists aren’t always just one page. Browse forward to see if there is a second page with un-indexed information!
Social Security Applications (SS-5 forms)
1. It may take several weeks to get one of these records, but they usually give an exact birth date, birth place and the parents’ names. If your immigrant had a Social Security number, it’s worth it to send for this record! Click here for more information on how to obtain it through the Freedom of Information Act.
Vital records and Synagogue/Church records
1. Marriage license applications are generally the most informative vital records available, but in some cases birth, marriage and death certificates have been known to include the exact hometown.
2. Synagogue records of naming/circumcision (at 8 days old), marriages and burials are available throughout the United States. Don’t be afraid to call or email the local historical society or a possible synagogue location. They are more than happy to help you trace your Jewish ancestry!
3. If the family converted or a local church served both the Christian and the Jewish communities, the hometown may be recorded in a local parish church’s records of baptisms, marriages and burials.
Peripheral family members and friends
1. If you have a hard time finding a record for your immigrant, remember that they usually didn’t come alone. Find another family member who came over and try to locate a record with their hometown named.
JewishGen databases – See http://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/.
Newspapers and obituaries, family records, town and county histories, cemetery records, etc.

You just have to find the right record. The name of the hometown is out there! Stay tuned for Part II of this article next week…

If you need help tracing your Jewish ancestry, the team at Legacy Tree Genealogists can help! We understand the obstacles involved in tracing Jewish ancestry, and have the knowledge and experience to overcome these challenges. Contact us today to request a free quote!

Citations:

[1] MyJewishLearning, “Jewish Immigration to America: Three Waves” (Online: MJL, 2015), http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-immigration-to-america-three-waves/2/, accessed May 2015.

[2] JEWDAYO: A Daily Blast of Pride, “December 23: Pale of Settlement” (Online: Jewish Currents, 2015), http://jewishcurrents.org/december-23-pale-of-settlement-472, accessed May 2015.

[3] Wikipedia, “Pale of Settlement” (Online: Wikimedia.org, 2015), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_of_Settlement, accessed May 2015.

[4] The word Pogrom is defined as “an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group, in particular that of Jews in Russia or Eastern Europe.”