Archive for 2011
A Farm Name As Surname
Friday, July 1st, 2011
Typical farm from the eastern Netherlands
Photograph Wikimedia Commons
Inspired by a family tree I recently completed for a client, I’d like to share with you a special kind of surname you may come across and that is both a blessing and a curse: surnames based on farm names. If you have been researching your roots for some time, then you may be familiar with the shift from “fixed surnames” to “patronymics”, usually as you step back from the 1800s into the 1700s. All of a sudden —it seems— your ancestors shift surnames with each generation. In the Netherlands, after 1811, all Dutch adopted a fixed surname, as imposed by Napoleon in that year. Before that, many people were named after their father. And so Pieter, son of Willem was called Pieter Willems and Jan, son of Pieter Jan Pieters, etcetera. A bit confusing when first researching such patronymics, once you get the hang of it they are pretty straightforward and often a great tool when doing research in a time when records are less informative.
However, in certain parts of the Netherlands, especially in what is now called Twente and the Achterhoek (the easternmost parts of the provinces of Overijssel and Gelderland), people preferred farm names over patronymics. This means that people were not named after their father, but after the farm they were somehow associated with. “Somehow associated with” sounds a bit vague, and thas is exactly what it is. People adopted the name of the farm they were born at, worked at, married into, owned, used to own, founded, or whatever other plausible association you can think of. Moreover, people used to changes surnames upon a change of farm and so changed surnames several times during their lifetime.
To clarify this, a little example. Let’s say you have an ancestor Hendrik who was born on a farm called “Boerhoeve”. At his birth, he will be registered as Hendrik Boerhoeve. Little Hendrik grows up and gets his first job as a farm hand at the “Dennenhoeve”. He meets a nice girl called Greetje and they marry. On the marriage record he is registered as Hendrik Dennenhoeve. Greetje was the daughter of a wealthy farmer without sons that owned the “Eikenhoeve”. Hendrik and Greetje move in with Greetje’s parents. When their first child is born, Hendrik is registered on the birth record as Hendrik Eikenhoeve and their son as Jan Eikenhoeve. Greetje’s parents die and Hendrik inherits the farm. However, he decides to sell it and found his own farm which he calls “Hendrikshoeve”. By the time their son Jan gets married Hendrik is registered on the marriage record as Hendrik Hendrikshoeve. Hendrik becomes a wealthy man and when Napoleon summons him to choose a fixed surname he boldly decides to call himself “Rijkman” (lit. “rich man”). When Hendrik dies, he is registered on his death record as Hendrik Rijkman. All his descendants will be called Rijkman from this point on. However, if they wish to trace their roots back they will have to search for the names Boerhoeve, Dennenhoeve, Eikenhoeve and Hendrikshoeve as well. To add to the confusion, not all people called after these farms are necessarily related, the only thing they obviously share is that at some point in time they were associated with those farms in one way or another.
Though farm names may seem a pain at first glance (and they are!) they also provide invaluable information about the whereabouts of these ancestors. Before the 1850s, addresses were not –or only sporadically– kept in the Netherlands. Unless your ancestors had property to sell or inherit, or they show up in one of the early censuses, it is unlikely that you will be able to pinpoint exactly where they lived. With farm names, however, you can. Most farms in the Twente and Achterhoek areas can be found on old maps. Furthermore, as most farms were leased, some lease contracts survived and can still be found in the notarial archives. And if you get really lucky, there may be pictures of the farm, or it might even still be standing where it stood 300 years ago!
Further reading:
Finding old maps on Watwaswaar.nl: http://magazine.dutchancestrycoach.com/wat-was-waar-what-was-where-in-the-netherlands.
On the origin of Dutch surnames: http://magazine.dutchancestrycoach.com/making-sense-o…-dutch-surname.
Got stuck with your own research? Ask for help here: http://magazine.dutchancestrycoach.com/free-help.php.
Dutch Sayings: Water And Sea
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
Looking out to sea, George Hitchcock
Photograph Wikimedia Commons
The Dutch are famous because of their relationship with the sea and water in general. We reclaimed land from the sea, used water to drive our economy, sailed the seven seas, and conquered nations far away. Nowadays, we are still fighting the flood every day by keeping our dikes up-to-date. A people that intertwined with the sea and water cannot but reveal that special bond in its language. Today I’ll share with you some of the literally hundreds of Dutch sayings involving water.
Water bij de wijn doen (to add water to the wine): lowering demands to accomplish a compromise.
Een storm in een glas water (a storm in a glass of water): much to do about nothing, not as severe as it seemed at first.
Stille wateren hebben diepe gronden (still waters have deep grounds): he who does not talk much often has deep thoughts, there is more to this person than meets the eye.
Ze zijn als water en vuur (they are as water and fire): they cannot stand each other.
Het hoofd boven water houden (keeping one’s head above the water): barely getting by, financially.
Een steek onder water (a punch below the water): insulting someone with a smile, using indirect speech.
Het water loopt altijd naar de zee (water always flows towards the sea): the rich always get richer.
Met hoog water lopen (walking with high water): wearing trousers that have legs that are too short.
Zo vlug als water (as quick as water): very quick, very keen.
Kijken alsof men water ziet branden (to look as if there was water on fire): looking very surprised.
Het kind met het badwater weggooien (to throw out the baby along with the bathing water): taking such ill measures to solve a problem that you end up ruining everything, including that what you wanted to solve.
De boot missen (to miss the boat): being too late to participate in something lucrative or favorable.
Dat is geen man over boord (no-one fell overboard): that is no problem.
In troebel water is het goed vissen (murky waters make good fishing): one can benefit from the problems of others.
Recht door zee (straight through the sea): being honest (or as some non-Dutch experience this : being blunt).
Onder zeil gaan (going underneath the sail): going to bed/sleep.
Water naar de zee dragen (to carry water to the sea) : a pointless business, measures that do not solve a thing.
Als de koeien op het ijs dansen en het warm water regent (when the cows dance on the ice and it rains warm water) : never.
Er zal nog heel wat water door de Rijn stromen, eer dat gebeurt (a lot of water will flow through the Rhine before that happens): it will take a long time for that to happen.
Het water loopt over de dijk (the water flows over the dike) : to cry.
Spijkers op laag water zoeken (searching for nails at low tide): nitpicking.
De zon niet in het water kunnen zien schijnen (not being able to see the sun shine in the water) : to be jealous.
Want to know more about Dutch sayings an proverbs? Read this book:
Dictionary of 1000 Dutch Proverbs (Hippocrene Bilingual Proverbs)
The Language Of Our Ancestors: Research On Emigrant Dutch
Saturday, April 16th, 2011
Photograph Wikimedia Commons
As some of you may know, I spent much of my childhood abroad in Spain. At home we spoke Dutch and at school I spoke Spanish with my friends. I always thought that the Dutch we spoke was perfectly normal until I returned to Holland and noticed people often gave me a funny look because of my Dutch. They said it was old-fashioned or stiff and some expressions I used were quite unfamiliar to them. I, in turn, did not understand them either, every now and then. I remember a day that I was walking down the hallway with some fellow students when one of the guys said “Oh, just a moment, I’m gonna shake hands with my cousin”. Puzzled I looked down the hallway where I saw nobody and said: “Where is he then, I didn’t know your cousin was studying here too?”. Then everybody burst out in laughter, and I wondered what the joke was. It finally dawned on me when I saw the student heading for the toilets. I just hadn’t heard that expression before.
My experience is not new. I guess that all Dutch emigrants have had similar experiences. You speak your native tongue as you have always done, you think. However, slowly your pronunciation changes, you start using words from the new language that surrounds you even without noticing. And so, over time, the Dutch you use changes. It becomes “Emigrant Dutch”. It’s the Dutch your ancestors spoke or you even still may speak at home.
The Meertens Institute has started a new research project on this “Emigrant Dutch”, led by Nicoline van der Sijs, author of Cookies Coleslaw and Stoops. We already mentioned her in our article From Daalder to Dollar. They are trying to find out if and how English has influenced how the Dutch emigrants speak and write overseas. Although this may seem straightforward at first glance, it turns out to be quite complicated to distinguish between alterations in the language due to the specific Dutch dialect spoken by the emigrants or their ancestors and those derived from English influences. To do the research thoroughly, they are composing a large corpus to study. For this they need letters written or audio fragments spoken by Dutch emigrants in their native tongue.
Do you happen to have any old Dutch letters or recordings lying around the house written by you or your Dutch emigrating ancestors? Consider donating a copy to the project via Nicoline.van.der.Sijs@meertens.knaw.nl. If you do decide to donate something, please make sure you mention some basic data about the person who wrote the letters, like name, age, place of birth, when they emigrated etcetera.
Thanks in advance!
