Help and FAQ file

To search for a person in the database:

• First click the "FULL DATABASE" button on the main page of the site.
  This will bring you to the entrance site of the database, made with the fabulous and free Humo-Gen data-to-web genealogy program.
  
• Enter the name(s) you're looking for into the search boxes "First Name" and/or "Last Name" and hit the "Search" button. Note that you can look for names that contain the string you entered into the search box (the default option), names that exactly match the string you entered or names that start with the string you entered. Just open the pull down list next to the search box and choose the appropriate option.
  
• The result page will list the names that match the search string(s) you entered.
  
• Click the name you wish from the result list and this will bring you to the family page of this person.
  
• On the family page you will see one or two icons next to the names, that will generate ancestor or descendant reports for this individual (where relevant)
  
• Please note that the ancestor report (NOT the descendant report) can also be displayed graphically by clicking the "GRAPHICAL" button on top of the ancestor report page.
  
• The tabs on top of all pages easily bring you back to the home page ("HOMEPAGE") or the search page "MAIN INDEX A-Z").
  
• There are two more tabs labeled "PERSONS" (an alphabetical list of all persons in the database) and "NAMES" (an alphabetical list of all surnames), but I find these tabs less useful, since it's much faster to find what you want with the search option.
  

• In the following paragraphs I will elaborate on the issues of using genealogical information you find on the web. However, first read the following:
  

  DISCLAIMER
  The following is NOT legal advice and I am NOT qualified to give legal advice.
  The next paragraph just states the "Rules of the Thumb" that I go by and is based merely on my understanding of common sense, decency and respect.
  I can hold no responsibility whatsoever for claims or damages you might encounter when following these rules.
  If you feel uncertain concerning these issues, please take legal advice from an authorized person.

• Copyrights
  Plain genealogical data (names, places, occupation) is historical data that should be considered open to public knowledge and use. Just as I might mention on my web site that Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769 in Ajaccio, Corsica and died 5 May 1821 at St. Helena, without infringing on anyone's copyrights, so I can state these same details about any other person.
  As with Napoleon, in this respect it is irrelevant whether I looked this up in a book, found it on the internet or read it in dusty archives.
  Yet, if I copy a large "chunk of tree" from someone else it could be considered polite to credit the person for this if I publish this information on the internet or elsewhere. You may notice this is how I acted on the main page of this site.
  Things are different when we relate to detailed descriptions of people's lives that were collected through long and painstaking research. To stick with my example, if someone writes a book on Napoleon's life based on extensive research, then quoting or copying substantial parts of this work would be considered an infringement on his copyrights. The same is true, in my opinion, of the substantial notes some genealogists attach to the persons listed in their data. I do not consider it proper to copy and publish these details without specific permission from the owner. For example, large parts of the Kottenheim descendant report on this site were copied from Bart Voorzanger's website. Besides crediting him for this, I did not copy the extensive research notes from his site but rather offer a link to his site from my main page, so the surfers can visit his site and read up there about his research.
  My website does not include such notes and I don't object at all if you copy data from this site.
  If you copy data because you found our trees are partly overlapping, I would extremely appreciate it if you would email me in order to allow me to also receive some of your data and enrich my tree.
  Thanks in advance.
  
  
• Privacy
  Most countries have restrictive laws as to the publication of details concerning LIVING people. These laws usually allow the mentioning of the name, but without any dates. In order to safeguard privacy usually recent dates or not given out. Common examples are a 100 year rule for birth dates, 75 years for wedding dates etc. Many genealogy programs offer "privacy filters" that make it possible to turn the full files into webpages, while leaving out recent dates unless the person is specifically registered as having died.
  On this site too, living persons are mentioned without dates, unless with permission.
  Though this complies with most country's laws, some people are extremely carefull about their privacy and do not even like being mentioned by full name. If I get notified by someone like that, I manually change his given name into "Living". Of course as a genealogist I prefer having as few as possible cases like this on my tree.

• If you found a match this means part of our trees overlap. This also means you can copy a whole chunk of my tree that you didn't have yet and expand your tree.
• That's one of the great advantages of Genealogy sites on the internet: the ability to expand your tree, sometimes even multiply or tripple the whole tree, just because you found matches with other genealogists' trees.
• However, this phenomenon always works both ways! If our trees overlap, I might also be very interested in copying part of your tree.
  Unlike you though, who found my website, I can't know you visited here.
• Therefore, in the good sharing spirits of the internet in general and amongst genealogists in particular, I would expect and appreciate if you would not just copy my information, but also email me so I'll have a chance to ask you for your info. Of course I would always respect any privacy filters you'd prefer for your information.
• Thanks in advance!

• The FULL DATABASE part of this website was made using the free Humo-Gen program. The program is PHP based and even with large databases such as this one, it quickly renders search results and extensive ancestor and descendant reports.
• The program is easy to install on a server with PHP and has a simple administrator interface.
• The great advantage of this program over the regular GEDCOM to HTML programs, is that these programs usually render a great amount of html files that have to be uploaded to the server. Humo-Gen instead only requires to upload the GEDCOM file itself which is then automatically entered into the SQL database on the server. It makes upkeep and upgrading of the website very simple.
• Another great advantage is that the the web interface can be set to 4 languages by the visitors to the site. Presently the available languages are English (default on my website), Dutch, French and German.
• You can download the program from: www.huubmoons.nl/sofware

• Don't give up!
• My best advice is to try The Dutch Jewish Genealogical Data Base of Amutat Akevoth.
  The site has a rich collection of pedigrees of Dutch Jewish families and a nice list of private websites with genealogical data on Dutch Jews. In addition the site offers much information on the history and research on Dutch Jewry.
• Another very good site to look for Jewish genealogical data is JewishGen.
  This American site hosts tens of thousands Jewish family trees and over two million names. I have located quite a few Dutch Jewish branches on this site.

Privacy is of great concern to me.
By internationally recognized standards, no specific permission is required to list someone's name amongst genealogical data, but when dealing with living persons, no dates are mentioned except with specific permission of the person. These rules are also implemented on this site.
Yet, If you find yourself on my list and feel uncomfortable - please let me know by email, so I can change your given name into "Living".
I would like you to consider not taking your name off, since the growing number of family trees on the internet is of enormous importance to the recovery of information that would otherwise be scattered and lost.