Family research in the Netherlands is much different from that in the USA. In the USA usually graves are kept for decades or centuries. In the Netherlands you rent a grave. And according to dutch law each grave requires a responsible person. And in case the responsible person is not easily traceable, then the owner of the graveyard is allowed to take away and demolish the gravestone and rent the location to an other person. By this way many gravestones of my broader relatives have disappeared. The only minimum protection is that for a deceased person a minimum grave rest of 10 years is obligatory by law. Then about females. Dutch females keep their maiden name all their life. Within a marriage a female person is allowed to use the last name of her husband. Dead females are buried under the same name as they where born. For information it can be added that she was the widow of Mr. SoandSo.

Family research in the Netherlands is much different from that in the USA. In the USA usually graves are kept for decades or centuries. In the Netherlands you rent a grave. And according to dutch law each grave requires a responsible person. And in case the responsible person is not easily traceable, then the owner of the graveyard is allowed to take away and demolish the gravestone and rent the location to an other person. By this way many gravestones of my broader relatives have disappeared. The only minimum protection is that for a deceased person a minimum grave rest of 10 years is obligatory by law. Then about females. Dutch females keep their maiden name all their life. Within a marriage a female person is allowed to use the last name of her husband. Dead females are buried under the same name as they where born. For information it can be added that she was the widow of Mr. SoandSo.