Welcome !!
Since the creation of this website in 1995 many things have changed. In the beginning it was a one page website with just a few links to the research on my ancestors. By visiting many archives, talking with a lot of people and, not in the least, the contributions of people who have visited this site, this research has become much more substantive. Now it forms a large source of information, which can freely be used by non-commercial researchers. Commercial researchers are urged to contact me by e-mail.
Except for this information on my ancestors, over the years also information on the Ridderhof, Helmons, Jochems and Van der Gouwe families has been published here. All genealogical data are published in Dutch, but should also be understandable to foreigners. The rest of the website is published in English.
To make the website more complete some pictures of the early twentieth century and some copies of important documents can be found.
In 2001 some personal pages have been included. The main reason to do so, was for me to be able to find important documents and some pictures in an easy way when I'm
abroad. Moreover these pages include very useful links for me as well as my
friends from all over the globe on conferences, jobs and other sources of
information in the field of international relations. In the meantime it has
shown that most people visiting my site are interested in these personal pages
and therefore in 2003 I made them the most important part of my site and moved
the genealogical research a bit to the background.
Let me conclude by expressing my hope you can find the information you are looking for. In case you have any questions or additional information, please don't hesistate to contact me.
Sincerely Yours,
Mike L.H. Ridderhof