Methods of Genealogical Research of the Dormans Family
By Jan Dormans
For the 50th anniversary of my parents' marriage, I wanted to give them our family pedigree. As I had no data at all, I first consulted them. My parents' wedding book was the starting point. They also provided me with information about my grandparents and aunts and uncles. Old family portraits, taken at special occasions, came out to the table as we explored our family's past.
For further genealogical research during this year (1986), I stuck with the Limburg State Archives in Maastricht, as our family appeared, for the most part, to stay at home in the province of Limburg. In 1987, I also consulted the Municipal Archives of Maastricht, near to the State Archives. Now (as of 2018) the Limburg State Archives and the Municipal Archives of Maastricht have joined together to form the Regional Historical Centre of Limburg.
Civil archives, including registering births, deaths, and marriages, were introduced in 1796 based on the French law established in September of 1792. At this time, first names were translated into French (Peter became Pierre, Jan became Jean), and the dating followed the republican calendar with its own names for days, months, and years (11 Nivose XIV = 1st January 1806). Fortunately, the French date could be translated to the Gregorian date by a book, present in the library of the study room at the Archives.
Often the marriage certificates were accompanied by appendices, that were robust with further genealogical information. Copies of birth certificates or certificates of fame were included as well as permission of both side's parents (needed till the age of 30 for both bride and groom), evidence of a former husband, evidence of divorce, and evidence of militia (groom had to prove in order to satisfy his military duty). Additionally, professions were listed in this section.
A certificate of fame was necessary when no birth certificate was available. Neighbors, the general practitioner, the midwife and constable in the village had to confirm the person's identity and verify his or her time and place of birth.
All this data was captured on microfilm, available to me in the study room of the State Archives.
To be thorough, I also consulted the alphabetical 10-year tables of birth, marriages, and deaths (ex 1812 - 1822, 1823 -1833, etc) per community.
For data before 1800, I had to consult the ecclesiastical archives of all parishes in Limburg in Latin on microfilm, or by looking at the original ones.
At the Council of Trente (Italy) in 1563, it was decided that the catholic church would register births and marriages, with 2 witnesses each. Unfortunately in marriage certificates, no notation was made of the bride and groom's professions, parents' names, or birth information.
From January 1, 1939, an identity card was introduced for everyone living in the Netherlands and issued for all newborns from then on out. This card noted the names of both parents, often with birthdates and birth places of each, as well as a list of all respective residential addresses.
At time of death, the identity card was sent to the Central Bureau for Genealogy (CBG) in the Hague. I have asked many Dormans relatives for copies of these cards, in order to complete as much 20th century data as possible.
As a final effort, I searched for relatives in Limburgian communities in telephone books (as the internet did not exist in 1986). Many letters, phone calls and visits later, I had a nice view of the whole family.
For research from the 19th century until now, obituaries are interesting genealogical sources as they sum up all important information and genealogical data of the deceased person, with his functions, and often a short biography. Large collections are in the CBG, and state and municipal archives. In the paper, De Limburger, death announcements can be searched from 2006 to the present by province and (local) paper.
I also looked into the link between the French family de Dormans and our family in Limburg. Data about the French family de Dormans can be searched at French internet sites: www.123genealogie.com and www.search.geneanet.org and at Wikipedia.
The internet has also proved to be a wealth of information as many archives have now been digitalized and are more accessable from a distance.
A Surprising Coincidence and a Look Overseas
While conducting my genealogy research, I stumbled upon a surprising coincidence. At a visit to the State Archives in Maastricht visitor cards must be filled out. When I checked in with my family name, two visitor cards were present under Dormans. Upon my asking, I was able to copy the home address of the other mysterious Dormans in hopes of collaborating our research. Paul Dormans appeared to live in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA. After intensive correspondence we exchanged our genealogical data. It appeared that he left during WWII. During this time, he reached the USA, where in he married an American, Virginia Statham, in Mississippi. Their four children are, as far as I can confirm, the first American Dormans. Our first common ancestors were Nicolaas Dormans and Catharina Hoen, married in Schinnen in 1710.
It’s becoming more commonplace for relatives to depart to countries far away. Children of Leonardus Josephus Johannes Dormans were born in Blantyre, Malawi. Other relatives with our family name live in Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Unites States of America, Canada, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand.
Interesting Findings
Lost to A Fire
In the ecclesiastical archives of the parish of St.Dionysius in Schinnen, the years 1672-1674 are missing as a result of a fire. The marriage date of Mathias Dormans and Agatha Palmen was probably somewhere in 1674. Presumably Servatius was born in 1675 as their first child.
Stephanus Ortmans married Maria Dormans, possible a daughter (born 10-27-1722, chapter 4, IVa-7) of Servatius, or a daughter (born 09-21-1717, chapter 4 IVb-4) of his brother Nicolaas. As Stephanus is a baptism witness of Johannes Petrus Dormans, son of Mathias Dormans and Joanna Leufkens, it is more probable that Nicolaas was his father in law, as he would be baptism witness as uncle, than when Servatius was his father-in-law, as the brother of his father-in-law was the grandfather of the baptism.
A Century Old
As far as I know, there has been only one Dormans to live to 100 in our family: Maria Hubertina Johanna Dormans born in Nuth on January 18, 1897 and died in Nuth on March 19, 1997.
It will not be a coincidence that due to better health services in the 20th and 21st centuries, the frequency of 100 year old persons in our family will likely increase. My aunt, Maria Louise Elisabeth Dormans, born in Oirsbeek on June 24, 1918 will hopefully reach age 100 in June of 2018.
A Unique Practice: Upside Down
Curiously but very illustrative for the catholic south in the 18th century was the habit of the pastor in Schinnen to describe illegitimate children in the birth register as such by the text “illegitimus filius”, but also to press the parents to face the facts by writing the birth information upside down !
Professions- Generation to Generation
Father Lambertus (chapter 5, VIIIb) as well as three sons (IXb, IXc, IXd) and two grandsons (Xb, Xd) were all carpenters, wheel makers or joiners. Also his brother, Pieter Laurens (VIIIc), and the father in law of his son, Hubertus (IXd), practice the same profession. It is notable that often a certain occupation is passed down from father to son over our many generations.
Hand Scribed Data Leaves Room for Error
It is remarkable that sometimes the data on a personal record card is not complete, although this card concerns the data of the civil status. On the personal record card of Peter Willem Dormans (chapter 6, IXe) 7 children were mentioned, while his seventh child Anna Wilhelmina is not included.
According to the civil register of Maastricht Martinus Hubertus Dormans (chapter 5, Xe) had no children, although in 1906, more than one year after his marriage, a daughter Catharina was born, that died 09-21-1906.
Pieter Laurens Dormans (chapter 5, IXa) had as fifth child, a daughter, Maria Hubertina, born in 1867. Her birth and death certificates are present in the archives of the community Beek. In the 10-year summary of the birth/marriage/death registers of Beek Maria Hubertina is not mentioned, but Peter Dormans, is listed as being born on the same day as Maria Hubertina. We can surmise that the name of Peter was registered by mistake instead of Maria Hubertina.
The eleventh child of Lambertus Dormans (chapter 5, VIIIb) was called Maria Anna, who married Petrus Steenbakkers in 1879. However, in the community Heer a death certificate dd. 04-18-1859 is present of Maria Anna Dormans, eleven months old (so born about May 1858). She was the daughter of Lambert Dormans and Anna Catharina Sijben. It is unclear when this Maria Anna was born, as the eleventh child was born at 04-03-1858. Also the age of the father Lambert (60 year) is not correct looking at his birth date (07-14-1808), as he was 50 year old at 04-18-1859.
Twins
Twins.
From this research 23 twins were detected during four centuries. Twins, who had a father or mother Dormans.
1. 10-09-1646 Mathias Dormans and Jacobus Dormans, sons of Petrus Dormans and Maria Vroemen, who were not linked to the pedigree presented here, as to few data are available. There parents married in Heerlen 03-03-1642.
2. 03-27-1679 Dionysius Dormans and Servatius Dormans.
3. 05-12-1763 Joanna Elisabeth Dormans and Maria Joseph Dormans
4. 03-30-1780 and 03-31-1780 Henricus Stijfs and Maria Catherine Stijfs
5. 09-04-1812 Marie Gertrude Dormans and Marie Judith Dormans
6. 09-07-1812 Pieter Mathijs Dormans and Leonard Hubert Dormans
7. 10-16-1843 Peter Willem Dormans and Maria Agnes Hubertina Dormans
8. 02-02-1846 Jan Hubertus Dormans and Peter Theodorus Dormans.
Twins no 5 an 6 occurred in the same family.
9. 07-26-1865 Elisabeth Dormans and Pieter Dormans
10, 06-23-1874 Joseph Hubert Custers andJan Hubert Custers
11. 02-09-1895 Anna Maria Hubertina Schreurs and Henricus Franciscus Schreurs.
12. 07-18-1903 Maria Hubertina Walraven and Maria Catharina Walraven.
13. 09-27-1903 Leonard Dormans and Frederik Dormans.
14. 10-03 1907 Jan Frans Jozef Dormans and Jan Pieter Willem Dormans
15. 11-04-1916 Wilhelmina Johanna Maria Dormans and Maria Catharina Antonia
Dormans
16. 05-12-1921 Maria Hubertina Dormans and Martinus Hubertus Dormans
17. 09-07-1938 Petrus Hubertus Dormans and Martinus Hubertus Dormans.
18. 01-09-1945 Paul Joseph Johannes Dorscheidt and Peter Catharina Johannes Jacobus
Dorscheidt
19. 07-08-1946 Johannes Arnoldus Maria Aloysius Dormans and Peter Paul Willem Maria
Dormans.
20. 10-01-1987 Maud Mathilde Renee Verberne and Merel Veronica Maria Verberne.
21. 10-05-1990 David Hamacher and Tobias Hamacher.
22. 02-01-1993 John-Paul Franks and Rebecca LouEllyn Franks.
23. 08-22-2000 Martijn Johannes Helena Lowie Dormans and Daniël Anna Betin Dormans
From scientific literature it is known that having two-egged-twins is partly determined genetically. In the Netherlands the number of twins per 1000 pregnancies through the centuries is averaged 12. Considering the relative high number of twins in our family genetical factors appeared to have an influence.