My genealogical research

My genealogical research.

I started working on genealogy in the Netherlands in the early 1970's by talking to siblings of my paternal grandfather and writing down their stories. Using the information they gave me, I continued my research in the files of the municipal archive in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The first computer software program I used, starting in 1989, was an MS-DOS program called Family History System (FHS) written by Philip Brown. In the mid-1990's I started using Reunion for Windows (later Generations) and Family Tree Maker. At present I am using only RootsMagic 7 (version 7.7.0.).

My Dutch database had 1,446 individuals on 01-01-1998, 1,687 on 01-01-1999, 2,080 on 01-01-2000, 2,308 on 01-01-2001, 2,492 on 01-01-2002, 2,985 on 01-01-2003, 3,101 on 01-1-2004, 3,414 on 01-01-2005, 3,514 on 01-01-2006, 3,690 on 01-01-2007, 3,762 on 01-01-2008, 4,038 on 01-01-2009, 4,350 on 01-01-2010 and 5,114 on 01-01-2011.

I started working on a database containing American Gase family members, set up by Eugene J. (Gene) Phillips of Tiffin OH, in 2001. Gene has sent me his database in May 2000 when it contained 1,181 individuals. Later he has sent me another gedcom file containing 177 individuals, all related to his wife, Mary Catherine (Guyton) Phillips. Therefore, I had a total of 1,358 individuals to begin with!!

My American database had 3,175 individuals on 01-01-2005, 5,570 on 01-01-2006, 11,377 on 01-01-2007, 21,991 on 01-01-2008, 32,085 on 01-01-2009, 39,800 on 01-01-2010 and 46,550 on 01-01-2011.

In 2011 the two databases have been merged. The number of individuals in the full database was 59,000 on 31-12-2011.

On 31-12-2012 my database contained 71,556 individuals in 30,822 families.

On 31-12-2013 my database contained 86,175 individuals in 36,924 families.

On 25-11-2014 individual 100,000 was added to my database.

On 31-12-2014 my database contained 101,006 individuals in 42,831 families,

On 31-12-2015 my database contained 108,650 individuals in 45,950 families,

On 29-12-2016 my database contained 116,500 individuals in 49,097 families,
On 31-12-2017 my database contained 122,375 individuals in 51,532 families,
On 31-12-2018 my database contained 128,509 individuals in 54,239 families,

On 31-12-2019 my database contained 133,365 individuals in 56,712 families.

On 31-12-2020 my database contained 138,520 individuals in 58,932 families.

On 31-12-2021 my database contained 142,130 individuals in 60,478 families.
On 31-12-2022 my database contained 145,835 individuals in 62,059 families.

On 31-12-2023 my database contained 149,000 individuals in 63,430 families.

Today, December 5th, 2024 my database contains 151,800 individuals in 64,713 families. Of these 151,800 individuals 151,598 are related in one big family!!

My database contains over 20,000 full obituaries (not available on my website) and the information from more than 20,000 death certificates.