May 24, 2026

How to Trace Your Dutch Ancestry: A Step-by-Step Guide

Learn how to trace Dutch ancestry using civil records, church registers, WieWasWie.nl, and the Gemeentearchief. Start your journey back to the Netherlands.

Love Netherlands

Dear Netherlands,

The Dutch have a word — gezellig — that doesn’t translate. It’s the feeling of a candle on a wet Tuesday. It’s a bar full of people who’ve known each other since school. It’s the brown café where the owner remembers your order and the rain outside makes the windows glow. You can’t chase it. You can only notice when it finds you.

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In today’s email:

• How to Trace Your Dutch Ancestry: A Step-by-Step Guide
• At The Café — Café ‘T Mandje — The First Lesbian Bar in Amsterdam
• Around The Web — Friesland Travel Guide: The Netherlands Province Most Tourists Never Reach, Zeeland Travel Guide, The Wadden Islands — Choosing Your Island + more
• From Love Netherlands — Cycling in the Netherlands: A Complete Guide for Visitors
• Dutch Food You Will Love — Kibbeling — The Dutch Fried Cod From the Fish Stall

How to Trace Your Dutch Ancestry: A Step-by-Step Guide

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If you want to trace Dutch ancestry, you have good news. The Netherlands has some of the most complete genealogy records in the world. Civil registration began in 1811. Church records go back centuries before that. Many of these records are now free to search online. This guide walks you through every step — from your first search to planning a heritage trip to your ancestral village. Millions of people worldwide have Dutch roots. Dutch-Americans in Michigan and Iowa, Afrikaner families in South Africa, Dutch-Indonesians, and Dutch-Australians all share this heritage. Tracing that lineage connects you to a specific place, a family name, and a story that is yours. Why Dutch Genealogy Records Are So Detailed The Dutch were early record-keepers. Town councils, churches, and trade guilds all kept written records. The Dutch Reformed Church registered births, marriages, and deaths from the…

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At The Café

Café ‘T Mandje — The First Lesbian Bar in Amsterdam

Café ‘T Mandje on the Zeedijk opened in 1927, run by Bet van Beeren — one of the first openly lesbian bar owners in the world. The bar’s interior is preserved exactly as Bet left it: dozens of cut-off ties pinned to the ceiling (her custom for any man who got too rowdy), framed photos of regulars from the 1930s onwards, and the same long wooden bar her customers leaned on for half a century. It’s still a working café and an active part of LGBTQ history. Stop in for a beer, take in the ceiling, and read the small museum corner near the door.

👉 Visit the café

Around The Web

From Love Netherlands

Cycling in the Netherlands: A Complete Guide for Visitors

Cycling in the Netherlands is not just a way to get around — it is the single best way to experience the country as the Dutch themselves do. With more bicycles than people, 35,000 kilometres of dedicated cycle paths, and flat terrain that makes even long routes feel effortless, the Netherlands is the most cycle-friendly country on earth. Whether you are planning a few hours around Amsterdam’s canals or a multi-day route through tulip fields and…

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Photo: Shutterstock

Dutch Food You Will Love

Kibbeling — The Dutch Fried Cod From the Fish Stall

Kibbeling is bite-sized chunks of cod, dipped in spiced beer batter and deep-fried until the outside crackles and the fish inside flakes apart. Every fish stall in every Dutch town square sells it, served in a paper cone with a small pot of garlic-and-mustard whitlofsaus. There’s nothing quite like the first bite on a cold afternoon, salt and crisp and steam all in one go. Dutch fried fish is taken seriously here — every region has its own batter recipe, and the truly local stalls cook to order rather than pre-frying.

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