Welcome to Ancestry Abroad!

Hi! I’m Rosie and I’m the founder of Ancestry Abroad. As a Brit living in the Netherlands, I’m well aware how challenging it can be to navigate records in a language and system that you don’t know first-hand. That’s why I set up Ancestry Abroad – to use my hard-won knowledge of the Dutch and British archival systems to help others track down their ancestors.

I am a fully qualified archivist. I completed the first half of my archival training in the UK before doing a masters in Archive and Information Studies at the University of Amsterdam. As such I have an in-depth understanding of the records available to family historians in both countries.

I have been doing genealogical research in a professional capacity for over half a decade, as well as helping friends with theirs ‘just for fun.’ I love carrying out family history research, as it always feels like a puzzle itching to be solved and you never know quite what you will uncover. One of my favourite bits of research so far has been tracing a family who believed themselves to be Scottish but turned out to be descended from Italian ice cream sellers!