Introduction
Before you can do research in Dutch resources, you need to find the place of origin of your immigrant ancestors. It is a very important piece of information, because the records in the archives are organized by place.

Step One
Always start in your own home. Do you have a family bible? Is not there a place included? Look first carefully at all the family papers you own: obituaries, birth, marriage and death certificates, letters, and so on. Do not forget to check the reverse side of old photographs. If you are not able to find a clue, ask relatives to do the same. Hopefully you already found the place of origin of your immigrant ancestors. Otherwise continue with step two.

Step two
There are a few things left you can do at home. Familytreemaker publicized recently the CD-ROM Dutch in America, 1800s Immigration Records. Of course you can also try to find your ancestors in the only nationwide database of the Netherlands, GenLias. But GenLias is still incomplete, and if you are looking for a frequent surname it is hopeless without a place.

Other possibilities
Are you still looking for the place of origin of your ancestors? Try these resources:

• passenger arrival records
• immigration and naturalization papers
• church records

Passenger lists before 1900 are in general not preserved in the Netherlands, but from 1900 on there is specific information available of the Holland America Line.

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