Bentheimers Ancestry Tour

This tour, and especially our guide extraordinaire, Jaap de Boer, exceeded our expectations one hundred fold! His research, geographical analysis of my family tree, and his deep knowledge of Friesland was impressive. He pre-arranged a visit to one of my living cousins! He gave me an outstanding understanding of my family and their life before emigration. My love for the area has been enhanced beyond belief. Jaap de Boer is an all star. He even produced a written summary of his work and tour locations as a keepsake that I treasure!

This was one of the most amazing experiences of life (and for my wife and kids). Never did I think I would be able to find out this much information about my family and heritage and it was all because of Jaap and his hard work putting together this tour or us. His research was amazing and provided unbelievable insight into my ancestors from Friesland. If you want to visit Friesland and get all of the local and historical information about this place, or if you have family that was originally from this location, you need to book this with Jaap, you will not regret it!

I would highly recommend Jaap's tour. He was able to dig into our family history and give us a detailed accounting of our ancestors in the area. The planning was seamless and simple. I could go on and on about the highlights but I would just say this, it was the highlight of our vacation!

Jaap excelled in his preparation and presentation. We had a wonderful time and the tour remains the highlight of our sixteen day European vacation. His grasp of the history surrounding the subject matter was outstanding. I will recommend him to our family and friends who are considering a similar experience.

We had a wonderful tour in Friesland with Jaap. He did a lot of work preparing for our tour. The detail he found in our family genealogy was amazing! He is thorough, well-prepared and very organized. I would highly recommend Jaap.

Our tour with Jaap was a birthday present for my husband and a real highlight in our recent trip to the Netherlands! Jaap took the family information we shared with him before our trip and dug up so much more! We got to see (and hold!) the registry book from 1812 in which my husband's ancestor officially declared the last name that my husband has today. SO cool! Our adventures continued as Jaap drove us to various towns in Friesland that played a role in our family’s lives, painting a picture that included farmers, pottery makers, potschippers, and merchants. Jaap is great at bringing history to life; you really get a sense of the people you come from. At the end of the day, Jaap gave us a booklet that included all his research and everything we learned that day. If you have ancestral roots you'd like to explore in Friesland, then Jaap is your guy. We cannot recommend him highly enough!