More than two hundred people attended Family History Day in the Drenthe Archives. It was all about the Drenthe woman and the search for foremothers. And that search can be a challenge.
“Ancestors and ancestors sound more normal. We are much more used to that,” says Hilde Boelema of the Drenthe Archives. “But those foremothers are just as important. And how nice would it be if you were to investigate that female line. Who knows what special, exciting stories you will encounter there.”
But to find out you need some perseverance. More can be found about the men in history, because their names appear on property deeds, for example. Women were often not mentioned.
One of the visitors is Jacobien Bakker from The Hague. She traveled to the Drenthe capital to do research, because her ancestors come from Drenthe. “I am specifically looking for my foremothers. A lot is passed on through women that has not been described. You get a piece of culture from your mother and that in turn from her mother.”
She has been working on her research for a while, but foundered in 1680. “It kind of ends there. Most of what you find is through the men, who owned a piece of land, for example. You will find that again.”
But she has already discovered all kinds of things: “My grandmother is from Assen and her mother and her mother. But before that they came from Diphoorn. I had never heard of that.”
Of the two hundred visitors who browsed the archive today, the majority were women. Boelema: “And many of them are young, between 25 and 35 years old. The image that history lovers are older, gray men is therefore incorrect.”
Bakker also hopes to discover much more about her foremothers. But that takes time. “I have to stop working first. Because it obviously takes a lot of time to do it properly. Especially if you have to come from The Hague.”
Watch the video about the search for foremothers here: