How to find French ancestors of Huguenots living in Holland?

Question

According to my mother, her father's Dutch family was descended from French Huguenots. To date, I've traced the family back to Wolter Neutel (Neutel-30), born c.1720, whom I believe is the son of a Hans Neutel. (I'm not yet completely sure about that, though - I need to do some more research before I add him to WikiTree as Wolter's father.)

Assuming that Hans Neutel is indeed Wolter Neutel's father, my problem is:

There are no records for Hans Neutel's birth or marriage in WieWasWie - the first record is for his daughter's baptism in 1717. From what I understand, many French Huguenots emigrated after the Edict of Nantes was revoked in the 1680s, so based on those two facts, I'm theorising that Hans would have belonged to the first or second generation of his family in Holland. Thus, his birth record would be in some kind of French archive - but I have no idea where in France the family came from!

The issue is further complicated because the surname "Neutel" was often given to immigrants, so it was almost certainly not the family surname in France.

As a result, I'm not sure how to go about finding Hans' ancestors. Does anyone have experience researching genealogy in this situation, know of accessible sources for Huguenot immigration to Holland, or just have advice for how I can/should proceed?

Thank you!

Answer 1

"La Grande Arche des Fugitifs? Huguenots in the Dutch Republic After 1685"
Interesting Master's thesis from Bringham Young University
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3899&context=etd

Answer 2

The first place I always look and its free

FAMILYSEARCH which gives :-

Wolter Hansen Neutel baptised 11 Sep 1720 Coevorden, Drenthe, Nederlands He was born at Coevorden the son of Hans Neutel (shows original doc)

I try to find the local Family History Society in that area and ask for help (you may need translating) Go back one step at a time and don't take your mothers word as gospel

Answer 3

Keep in mind that some Huguenots came to the Netherlands well before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. For example, I was recently researching a couple who emigrated about 1625.

Answer 4

I very much doubt the French Huguenots descent of the Neutel branch:

• The surname "Neutel" seems more German ("neu" ="new") than French
• I did not see the claim of immigrants (to the Netherlands?) being given the name "Neutel" before, nor have I ever seen that name for French Huguenots
• The baptisms you found are of the "Hervormd" religion, not of the expected "Waals gereformeerd" religion
• No settling traces of "Neutel" in favorite Huguenot refugee cities Leiden, Utrecht, Amsterdam
• Hans' occupation was recorded as corporal in the children's baptism records. In 1723 in the Hessen-Philippsthal regiment

Comments

Thank you for your input; food for thought! Could you please give me a source for Hans' membership in the H-P regiment? I'd like to look into that further.

---

It says so in the baptism registration of son Albartus, Oct 20, 1723:

Corpraal onder die ritmr Donge onder het regiment van de Prins Hessen Phylipsdal

Searching a bit more I found Hans with various surname spellings in the compagnie of ritmeester van Dongen in the Regiment van Hessen-Philipsthall:

• Apr 1725 - Miijtel
• Nov 1725 - Nutel
• Apr 1726 - Nuijtel
• Nov 1726 - Nuijtel
• May 1727 - Nuijtel
• Nov 1727 - Nuijtel