On Saturdays I rummage through my old cabinet, pull out and dust off an item, and present it here on Roots. Today: The trouwboekje of Hendrik van Kampen (1877-1941) and his wife Geertje Wiesenekker (1879-1957).
Introduced in the late 19th century, the trouwboekje (marriage booklet) has been handed out to married couples for over a century, as a proof of their marriage. It is a small booklet containing the details of the marriage (date and place) and basic genealogical data of both spouses (official names, place and date of birth, names of the parents). It has space enter the names, births and deaths of the children, and the deaths of the spouses. The booklet also contains several pages with the regulations for birth and death registrations and registration in the population register.
Most married couples carefully kept their trouwboekje, and took it to the registrar when registering the births (or deaths) of their children.
The booklet above is the marriage booklet of my great-grandparents Hendrik van Kampen and Geertje Wiesenekker, who married on 14 September 1904 in Hilversum.
Page 2 shows the marriage details: Hendrik van Kampen, born in Hilversum on 7 November 1877, son of Barend van Kampen and Lammertje Veerman (deceased), and Geertje Wiesenekker, born in Huizen on 17 September 1879, daughter of Gijsbert Wiesenekker and Willempje Prins, married in Hilversum on 14 September 1904.
Page 3 lists the children of the couple. Only one, in this case: My grandfather.
The deaths of both spouses should be listed on page 4, but only the wife’s death was filled in. I don’t know why the husband’s death is missing.
The “trouwboekje” of Hendrik van Kampen and Geertje Wiesenekker, front
The “trouwboekje” of Hendrik van Kampen and Geertje Wiesenekker, page 1
The “trouwboekje” of Hendrik van Kampen and Geertje Wiesenekker, page 2
The “trouwboekje” of Hendrik van Kampen and Geertje Wiesenekker, page 3
The “trouwboekje” of Hendrik van Kampen and Geertje Wiesenekker, page 4
The “trouwboekje” of Hendrik van Kampen and Geertje Wiesenekker, page 5
Interesting. I don’t know of any of these existing in my family. But then, most of my ancestors living in the late 1800s had already immigrated to the US and wouldn’t have had these.