Find your ancestors

About a million (!) Belgians and Dutch people are descended from people who lived in the Colonies of Benevolence. You too, perhaps? Did one of your ancestors live in a Colony? Dive into the archives and find out for yourself!

In the Belgian Colonies of Benevolence / Rijksweldadigheidskolonies

Wondering whether your ancestors remained in Wortel or Merksplas Colony as vagabonds? You can find it out through a new search module (online via www.kolonie57.be/zoek-je-voorouders or in the Visitor Centre 'Colony 5-7 in the Colony of Merksplas). it's open for everyone. Files that are less than 100 years old have not yet been included due to data protection legislation.

In the Archives of Antwerp, you can consult the personal files of vagrants. You can do so via the archive entrance M36, RWK 1996-1997. ('RWK' stands for Rijksweldadigheidskolonie.) In the inventory, you can check which folder contains the family name you are looking for. The archivist of the reading room will help you request the folder and examine its contents. You can download the inventory as a pdf file.

If you're not familiar with archives, go to the reading room and ask the archivist for help. More information.

 In the Dutch Colonies of Benevolence

Wondering if your ancestors also stayed in Veenhuizen? Search on http://allekolonisten.nl. Do you want to know more? The archive of the Society of Benevolence, covering some four hundred linear meters, is also located in the Drenths Archive in Assen. Is is accessible for everyone. More information is avalable on www.drenthsarchief.nl.

Many descendants of the many settlers wonder in which house exactly their ancestors lived. The Drenths Archive has investigated this and via the app 'Habitation History', you can see who has lived in which house, in what period and in what capacity. As a family? With another family?