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Belgium Research

https://www.thefhguide.com/project-9-belgium.html

Class Outline: Goals 1-2

Speaker Notes: Click the down-arrow next to Slideshow and select Presenter View. Then click the link on the main slide. For each item in quotes below, open the similar link in The Family History Guide. Last updated: 2024-08-04 Home Page

GOAL 1: Research

Choice A:

“BYU: Intro to Belgium Genealogy”

- Watch the video from 11:45 to 14:02 to learn about geographical divisions of Belgium.

- Watch from 14:02-16:40 for common genealogical records

- Pause the video at 16:40 and discuss the 4 historical points on the screen.

- At 26:30 pause and review the points on the screen about records and language.

“RT: 500 Years …”

- On the second page, briefly review the bullet points. Mention the last bullet point briefly.

“French Word List”

- Scroll down to Variation Example and mention a few of the items that illustrate alternate spellings.

- In Key Words mention that these are basic genealogy terms to know.

- In General Word List mention that these can be helpful supplemental words.

“Dutch Word List”

- In Key Words mention that these are basic genealogy terms to know.

- Scroll up a bit and mention the word categories in the Contents section (upper left).

- Scroll down to Variation Example and mention a few of the items that illustrate alternate spellings.

(Records and Databases)

“FS: Belgian Record Finder”

- Browse the Record Finder and discuss the categories of records and which to use for different objectives.

“OpenArchives”

- Mention the tabs across the top as resources that can be explored.

- In the database, enter “Ghent” in the search field. Then click the document icon for Ademar van Ghent, and in the next screen click and zoom in on the scan image (lower right). Mention that the record can be downloaded with a free trial subscription..

Choice B:

“All about family names”

- In the article, briefly review each of the major headings to discuss aspects of Belgian names. There many topics, so you can be selective in what you cover.

“Surname distribution” link

- In the lower left, enter “Smits” as the surname to search for. The map shows darker colors for counties where more people with this surname were living at the time of the population register. Hover over a few of them to show numbers and percentages.

- Click “About familyname.be” (right side) to show instructions for using the map.

- Click “All about family names” (right side) for a detailed introduction to Belgian surnames.

Choice C:

“Geneaknowhow” site

- If necessary, translate each page on the site from Dutch to English.

- Scroll down to the links for Flanders and mention that these correspond to Belgium counties.

- Click the link for West Flanders.

- Open any of the first few PDF links to show a record collection in Dutch.

- Go to the Antwerp page and open a sample PDF.

“World GenWeb” site

- Click the “Belgian Researchers” link.

- Select one or more links in the Records On-line section (right side) to show index transcriptions for a variety of record collections, such as Belgians in several U.S. censuses.

GOAL 2: Civil Registers

Choice A:

“FS: Belgian Civil Registration”

- In Online Resources scroll through the record links, arranged by provinces, and mention that these collections are free on FamilySearch.

- In Arrangements and Indexes read the first paragraph and summarize the second paragraph to explain how index information is used in record collections.

- In Information Recorded … review the bullet lists for each type of vital record to describe the types of information found in the records.

- Read the Divorce Records paragraph.

“State Archives of Belgium” site

- Click the Civil status registers tab and type “Antwerpen” for the municipality.

- Select Birth Records and Birth Indexes and click Search.

- To view the results a free registration on the site is required. (You may want to do that ahead of time to show the results.)

“Anatomy of a Death Record”

- Scroll through the images and captions in the article to describe the basic elements of Belgian death records.

Additional articles

- Mention that similar articles from TheBelgianAmerican.com in Choice A provide insights into other types of vital records. These are good resources for further study.

Practice Exercise

- Open the main link for Record Search Practice and read the problem statement. Mention that learners can click the Hints link if necessary but should not click the Answers link. Tell the learners they have (x) minutes to find the answers. Then read the answers at the end of the time.