Weltevreden Genealogy and Family Resources
This entry was posted on Thursday, September 21, 2006 1:00 AM and is filed under Family Tree.
A frequent
question: are we related? Can you check? The answer: maybe!
A law was passed in Holland during the 19th century stipulating its citizens to
register with their local council, forcing many people to choose or adopt a
family name if they did not have one. Similar to well documented stories from
immigrants registering on arrival at Ellis Island in New York, some choose a
name linked to their profession, birthplace or residence. Whilst there was an
'original' Weltevreden family, many instances occurred where people adopted or
were baptised with the Weltevreden, Weltevree, or Weltevrede name because they
came from a village, farm or house bearing that name, or because they just
liked the sound and meaning of it (Weltevreden translates from Dutch into “well satisfied “).
Thus, whilst many people share the name, not all are related. The good news is
that significant amounts of documentation has been gathered by people
sacrificing their spare time over many years, tracking various family lines in
Holland, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and some even in Surinam.
If you'd like to find out more about your family connections and would like to ask somebody
to check their records, the absolute minimum information to start a search requires the
full names and dates of birth of your parents, your grandparents, their places
of birth and year and place of death. These searches may take quite some time
and success is never certain.
Share your
questions about the Weltevreden Family on this blog and let the internet work
for you or e-mail me in confidence.
Best wishes
and good luck!
Pieter
Weltevreden
The Weltevreden Blog
