What are the chances, Belgian birth cert.?

[harleychick]

What are the chances of my obtaining the details of my Great great Grandmothers birth details,as I have been told that it is impossible to obtain Belgian records unless you absolutely prove your connection to the person, or go to a Belgian records office for the area you want,in person? Is this true.
I am trying to find the name of my great great Grandmothers Mother.
My great great grandmother was born Isabella Debruyne in Liege about 1839-41. She married in 1856 in London and her marriage cert. states " she was of Full age with consent of father"
Her father was Franciscus Debruyne, occupation Engineer. Her sister who married in London in 1858 has the same details for the father . The 1861 census has Isabella, now married ,as aged 22, born Liege. Finding her Mothers name would complete that part of my tree. Her parents do not appear in any British census, so either were only briefly in Britian, or never came over from Belgium.
Any help most welcome
Thankyou Sheila.

[Jan1954]

There is this guide (http://genealogy.about.com/od/belgium/Belgium_Genealogy_Family_History.htm) that may help.

[harleychick]

Thanks Jan,
Will have a good look asap.
Sheila.

[Chisel]

Another suggestion (that worked for me) is to write to the nearest FGHS. They will put a request out there for a volunteer to search for you.

I also managed to find a marriage and birth of british subjects in Belgium in the oveseas index lists. Admittedly I was looking in 1929.

[Astoria]

I don't know where you are based, but the family history centres run by the Church of the Latter Day Saints ( Mormons) have access to many records. I have been able to view records from a very small village in Northern Italy going back to about 1809, there is a very small charge £2.60 per film, but is is fantastic to view the originals.

[harleychick]

Thanks folks, something else to try.
I am about 60 miles from my nearest LDs centre, but it might be worth asking them first before I travel.
Sheila.

[Lesley Robertson]

Thanks folks, something else to try.
I am about 60 miles from my nearest LDs centre, but it might be worth asking them first before I travel.
Sheila.


It does help to know roughly where people are - there's no point in telling you to go to the Archives in Brussels if you're actually in Montreal! You can give a location on your User CP (you can see them on the top R of a message).

If you go here http://194.171.109.12/page/93/buitenland#subpage151 and scroll down untill you get to Belgie, you'll find a collection of links. There's no equivalent page in english, but many of the pages they lead to have english versions. The "Nationale Centrum" is the Belgian FHS, the Rijksarchief is their National Archive. Ignore the "heemkunde" site, it's one of these wannabe index sites. Under "Digitale Bron..", is a lot of stuff that's being digitised - for Liege there's BMDs to 1900. I had a look in the birth registrations for Liege - the system's not admitting that it's got any Debruyne, DeBruijn or any other variant I could think of. You might have more luck with one of the other areas. Select the "Digitale Bron..", then click on "internet" under one of the provinces on the blue column on the left (Belgium's at the bottom). You'll get a yellow page - put the surname in the box under "recherche directe", select "Naissances' and hit "Chercher" with your fingers crossed. Debruyn works better than with the e on the end.

If all else fails, there's a Rootsweb newsgroup called soc.genealogy.benelux. A lot of the posts are in dutch or french, but if you post in english there's a good chance that one of the very helpful folk will answer.

Lesley

[harleychick]

Wow thanks lesley,a lot to look at many thanks Sheila

[Lesley Robertson]

Wow thanks lesley,a lot to look at many thanks Sheila


I speak dutch, so if you find anything, just ask and I'll take a look at it.
Lesley

[harleychick]

Thanks lesley...just had a quick look..plenty of Isabella Debruynes, but none seem to match as yet.She married in England and i have her cert., but dont know where she died, as no trace after 1871 census.
1861 census has her born in 1840 Leige daughter of an engineer, Franciscus Debruyne.
Sheila

[Lesley Robertson]

Thanks lesley...just had a quick look..plenty of Isabella Debruynes, but none seem to match as yet.She married in England and i have her cert., but dont know where she died, as no trace after 1871 census.
1861 census has her born in 1840 Leige daughter of an engineer, Franciscus Debruyne.
Sheila


If you click in the second option on that box, you can search on someone being a parent/spouse. Try that with Franciscus and see whether it turns up Isabella's baptism.

Lesley

[harleychick]

Hi Lesley
Nothing turned up as yet,
Sheila