Sources & license
Alletukkers.nl is built on data made available through Open Archives, an initiative by Coret Genealogy that makes genealogical sources digitally accessible. The data is supplied in A2A format and retrieved via the OAI-PMH protocol, a standard for automated exchange of archive data.
What sets Alletukkers.nl apart from individual archive portals is the combination: civil registration records and population registers from Twente municipalities, all searchable in a single query, giving you unified access to Twente historical census records and civil registration in a single search. This makes it possible to follow a family line and build a Twente family tree across multiple locations and over longer periods of time without having to switch between separate archive systems. The database contains records and population registers from Twente archives and is regularly updated.
Available archives
These archives represent the core of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Twente. Together they offer a cross-section of the region, from early industrialized textile cities to smaller municipalities in the surrounding area. Below is an overview of the available sources.
| Archive | Period | Records | Person mentions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stadsarchief Enschede | Unknown | 605.076 | 1.953.383 |
| Gemeentearchief Hengelo | 1811–1946 | 62.283 | 124.421 |
| Gemeente Oldenzaal | 1811–1967 | 38.040 | 50.409 |
| Gemeentearchief Borne | 1930–1953 | 5.901 | 49.550 |
About the archives
Enschede was the center of the Twente textile industry in the nineteenth century. The records in the Enschede archive reflect the rapid population growth that industrialization brought: names of working-class families who moved from the countryside to the city, and records of the great textile families like Van Heek, Jannink, and Ter Kuile, who made a decisive mark on Enschede society. Enschede's civil registration records are among the most extensively documented in the region.
Hengelo developed into an industrial city later than Enschede, but experienced similar growth in the second half of the nineteenth century. Alongside textiles, the metal industry gave Hengelo its own character: when C.T. Stork moved his machinery factory from Borne to the new railway junction at Hengelo in 1868, he laid the foundation for what would later distinguish the city from Enschede. The Hengelo archive contains both civil registration records and population registers, making it possible to follow families over longer periods.
Oldenzaal has an older urban history than its two larger neighbors. As a former Hanseatic city, Oldenzaal has its own archival tradition, and the records reflect a community that gradually joined in Twente's industrialization. Family names found in Oldenzaal often reflect its position close to the German-Dutch border, including surnames with that occur on both sides of the border.
Borne is the smallest municipality in the current selection and therefore offers a comlementary perspective: a more agrarian community that, through the construction of rail and water connections in de the nineteenth centruy, gradually came under the industrial influence of Hengelo and Enschede. Migration movements between Borne and the larger cities are visible in the combined database, as the same names appear in multiple municipalities.
License
All civil registration and population register data used by Alletukkers.nl has been made available as open data under the CC0. This means that participating archive institutions waive their copyrights and related rights in this metadata, to the extent they hold them. This site also displays other genealogical metadata, such as places, dates, and source references, which may be reused under the same terms.
Alletukkers.nl adds no new rights to this source data. The search functionality, design, and technical infrastructure are our own work; the underlying record data remains in the public domain.
Notes about the data
Historical records are not always consistently spelled or completely filled out. Names appear in multiple variants, dates are sometimes missing, and place names have changed over the years. The data is displayed as provided by the archives, without editorial corrections. If in doubt, consulting the original record via the scan link is always the best approach. Note that some scans at the source have limited public availability and cannot always be displayed directly online.