Tips on using sites containing information pertinent to Belgian genealogy
 

World War II European Theater Army Records on Fold3.com

Caught a tweet this morning, from Dear Myrtle and had to check it out. I looked for a message from Fold3.com in my mail box but never found one... no tweet either so I hope Dear Myrtle won't mind my recopying some of it here.
When I was a little girl, I turned my eyes and cringed every time one of my elders would bring up the war (WWII) as they were alive when it happened and they remembered first hand what they had gone through.
My father was five years old when the German armies marched through his little village of Dalhem in early May 1940. I am fuzzy about the exact chronology but I know my grandfather was deported to Germany shortly after the invasion. How he ended up in a military POW camp, I am not sure about either but that is where he was. We have a handful of letters he wrote the family but they never quite satisfied my curiosity.
They first had him in Stalag VA in Ludwigsburg, then moved him to Stalag VB in Villingen. He was put in the service of a woman whose husband was fighting/had fought in Hitler's armies: Widow HEFELE at Illerbachen - hamlet of Berckheim- D- 88450.
 

Researching on the Belgian Archives site
I find this article published in Belgian Laces Vol#30-116 still applicable and since FamilySearch was once again asked to remove the images from access on www.familysearch.org, at least here are some directions as to how to use the Belgian Archives site to do some research. Good luck!
The Belgian Royal Archives have made available many names online also.
Go to: http://arch.arch.be/ and choose your language of preference: Dutch or French only for search formats, which is why I have taken the time to translate below to help take you through the steps of a Person Search on this site.
If you chose the English setting for the site, the search menu will be in Dutch.
 

Friday, August 12, 2011

How to Help with The “Belgians in the US Census” Project
The idea to develop a census template came to me after a member of TBR volunteered to help retrieve the Belgians who lived in Michigan in 1930, using the microfilm images available for free at www.archive.org.
A quick look at the number of microfilms to view (106 total), each approximately 1,100 pages long, convinced me not only of the enormity but also of the impracticability of the task at hand. So I suggested creating lists of persons using Ancestry.com’s index and see if it was possible to link this information with the microfilms available at Internet Archive.
After much stumbling I found a system which, although far from perfect, makes it realistically possible for someone with internet access to help move this project forward.
 

Are you Looking for the History of Courcelles?
Some researchers dismiss the value of mailing lists and forums. I have found true pearls on these networks. One such pearl was shared today by Pat on http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/gencharleroi/ A complete book on the town of Courcelles, in pdf format, searchable!
 

New strategies to give online access to more records: part 2
Thank You to Hubert Barnich for giving the opportunity to look at the site at http://actes.marche.be/ Here is the list of the localities being digitized for this site: Aye, Champlon, Grimbiemont, Hargimont, Hollogne, Humain, Lignieres, Marche, Marloie, On, Roy, Verdenne, Waha There are already 48,020 TIF files
 

New strategies to give online access to more records: part 1
Several organizations in Belgium have been plugging along indexing civil registers and parish registers and making the indexes available online for free and even giving access to the electronic copies of the original records.
How do they do this?
Simple. The Royal Archives don't have a true monopoly on these records as each locality retained a copy and has the right to make them available on their own.
One of the reasoning is that if more localities followed the example of the ones here, the Royal Archives would have to relinquish their grip and make the records available to all online.

Brussels City Archives Online
The news this morning is the RTBF announcement that the Brussels City Archives are now accessible online. Check out this link http://www.bruxelles.be/artdet.cfm/4445 The article is in French so I will endeavor to expound in English.

The Belgian Archives Online
In February 2009, FamilySearch began uploading digital images of Belgian civil records onto its Record Search Pilot site, enabling genealogists researching their Belgian ancestry to access original records right from their homes.
It was however short lived as the Belgian Archives quickly requested access to the public be restricted. I won't lie when I say that it was a terrible blow to researchers, especially since the creation of the index for these Belgian records had just begun.

Try FamilySearch "record Search Pilot"
There is great news on the horizon, even though there is still room for improvement
(like making the images for the Belgian records available!!!)
If you have family from Luxemburg (the Grand Duchy), you will be delighted to learn that the Civil Registers have been uploaded online and you can 'scroll' , more like page through, the records as if you were sitting at a microfilm reader in a Family history Center or in another library.

Are you Looking in Hoogstraten?
I can't remember when I discovered this site but I rediscovered it this morning.
I still don't speak Dutch and so I struggle with the contents of this site, therefore, the only way for me to learn what is behind each tab, is to just click...

Belgian Archives Update
Don't get your hopes up, access is still limited to the Archives buildings in Belgium BUT the article they posted to announce the latest released registers is well worth becoming acquainted with. You should be able to apply the same concept to other villages and make use of your local Family History Centers, even if the staff is not up to par with Belgian research.
These latest records are the 1784 census of the Saint Catherine Parish in Bonlez (Brabant).

A New Decree shortens Cemetery Leases in the Walloon Region
A few years ago, we presented an article in Belgian Laces (BL102) that dealt with the preservation of funeral patrimony. At the time (2005), Xavier Deflorennes, Mr. Cemetery was documenting these Walloon Region cemeteries.
To the horror of many American researchers, used to visiting cemeteries to find information about their departed loved ones, in Belgium, graveyards are not enduring as they are here.

More Funeral Cards
Try this link for new funeral cards.

BUMMER!
This morning I opened a promising email from the Archives in Belgium. It seemed to promise the reader access to online parish record images, and since I have been working with FamilySearch Indexing's Belgian project, and have been aware that the Archives had not wanted to release the images online, I was really anxious to see exactly what was happening.

The Red Star Line Museum
A couple of weeks ago I received the following information from Charlotte Op de Beeck who works for the Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp, Belgium.
In 2006 the South Street Seaport Museum in New York held a 6 months exhibit Antwerp-America: The Red Star Line and the Paintings of Eugeen Van Mieghem, 1870-1935 (see Belgian Laces #107 and also the Van Mieghem Museum) It is about that time that word reached us of the plan to turn an old warehouse into an immigration museum in Antwerp and we had hoped to do a follow up but never really had the chance. Maybe this message will provide a renewed opportunity to learn about the museum but also about its website. Here is the message from Mrs. Charlotte Op de Beeck:

More Memorial sites
Annette Biazot was so kind as to refer me to two other Memorial sites you will want to check out. The first is the Memorial Genweb linked with FranceGenWeb. On this site you will find a database of monuments to the dead, soldiers and civilians, French and of various nationalities, who were killed or disappeared during war time...
The other Memorial site is more specifically designed to find deportees who died in concentration camps: Les Deportes Decedes en Deportation...

Bel-Memorial
Are you looking for Belgians who were killed during WWI or WWII? Not sure exactly where they might have died? Try this web page: Bel-Memorial This bilingual site (Dutch - French) is dedicated to the memory of those who died during these conflicts.

Are you looking for a short cut?
 This new site GenWalBru will give it to you!
It covers the southern part of Belgium and Brussels An alphabetical listing of localities will redirect you to the site where that town's particular records can be found online.

Tackling OLD records.
As I was looking through my Favorite links to share with you I saw one many English speaker probably don't know about but which leads to an amazing site, that of Andre Comeliau's Genealogies au Pays de Herve. It is not a fancy site by any means but does it ever contain amazing things!

Online History Books
This morning my attention was redirected to a very interesting site. Granted its content may make it difficult for the non-French speaker but it is worth a look if you have family in the provinces of West Flanders and of Hainaut. The borders between Belgium and France were often crossed back and forth and you may find the information of great value: NordNum.

Family Histories and Index on a Variety of Personal sites
In my early internet days I had the opportunity to meet a great many interesting people thanks to the Belgium-Roots mailing list that Georges Picavet created.
One such person was Jozef Smits. He was a scientist besides having a great interest in history and genealogy and we more or less locked horns on a technical word I had used in a post on Belgium Roots.
Jose Schoovaert built some sites where to share his knowledge, his art and his love for the Walloon language, which was still spoken fluently by our friends in Wisconsin and in Pennsylvania.
We partner with several genealogical associations in Belgium, and this one, the Association Genealogique du Hainaut Belge, also provides links to its members' personal pages or to their online

The Mercator Reveals its Secret
When Yves Heraly sent word that records had been found on the Mercator, I immediately tried to find out more. I will always remember the excursion to Ostend to see the Mercator with my father, back in 1969. We later took our own kids to see that beautiful ship when we returned to Belgium some 20 years later.

Finding Your Ancestors Using Netradyle
Netradyle began in 1993. Its name comes from the combination of the names of three local streams: Nethen, Train and Dyle.
Some similar sites  require that you become a member of their organization and that you index 20 to 30 pages before giving access to the records but this is NOT the case with NetraDyle.

Virtual Tour of Waterloo
When I was a little girl, my father decided to take us to Waterloo. It was a dreary day and the only memory I have of the place is that it was raining and I didn't want to be there. How I wish I had better understood where I was! Now that I no longer live in Belgium, I can't just decide to go to Waterloo like my father had done. BUT... modern technology is making miracles happen. If you have had the same wish to visit Waterloo but just can't make the trip right now... Here is the next best thing.

Are you Looking for Belgian Funeral Notices Online?
So far this year The Belgian Researchers have lost 2 good friends in Belgium: - Jean-Jacques Hallaux, in January 2009, founder of Netradyle,  who made so much information available to researchers online and whose kindness and generosity with his time was well known.
- Willem Bevernage, who passed away just days ago, at the age of 71. He too made abundant records available online with great deal of kindness to everyone.

Treasure Trove for Grand-Leez researchers Our member Rick F was looking for family in Grand-Leez, Belgium. Several families from Grand-Leez ended up in Wisconsin between 1855 -1856, but the people he was looking for left in 1871. He had found a connection in Belgium and their family names compared well but they could not find a common link to tie their family trees together.

Last minute addition and it's not an April's Fool Just received news that a third project is also available: Belgie, Mechelen - Overlijden Registers 1851-1900
I was amazed to see this was more than just an announcement. The projects are already available for download to the software used to index these batches.

FamilySearch indexing Projects I received news today that might liven things up for the Belgian indexing project started by FamilySearch indexing a couple of years ago.
Jean Huysmans is the Belgian project manager. Every month he sends the indexers a report on the project's progress. Up to now, the project has only released images of towns in Flanders and, even though there is work for both Dutch and French speakers, that has hindered a more active participation from many who might otherwise have added their efforts to the current indexers'.
The wonderful news came this morning that 2 test-case projects are about to be added: one for Belgie, Kalmhout - Overlijdens Registers 1851-1900 and one for Belgique, Charleroi - Deces 1851-1900

Trying something new... Over the past few years, I have subscribed to a growing number of forums and mailing lists in an effort to uncover new resources for my friends at The Belgian Researchers.
One such email arrived today that I would like to share with you... it's in French but it's easy to understand.
I credit Bernard Counen, member of the Liege yahoogroup  who alerted the group to a site about Wallonia's clock towers and chapels.