Tracing back the mothers line

March is Women's History Month and today is International Women's Day - so plenty of reasons to dedicate a post to some of the women in my family tree.
 

This time I'm starting in the mid-18th century...
 

Elisabeth Vereggen was possibly born about 1750. Closest potential match I was able to find so far is a baptism record of 1749 mentioning the baptism of "Elizabetha Vereggen", daughter of Jacobus Vereggen and Adriana Van den Boogaert.

 

Although I still have to find out more about Elisabeth, I know for sure that she married Antonius Van den Broek and they had at least one daughter called Maria Theresia Van den Broek who was born in 1779 in the village of Budel which was in the Generality Lands of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. More specifically in Brabant of the States, which was the northern part of the Duchy of Brabant.




Entry in baptism records relating to

the baptism of Maria Theresia Van den Broek in 1779

Maria Theresia's daughter, Elisabeth Quanten, was born in 1799, also in the village of Budel. By that time, however, the Dutch Republic had been succeeded by the Batavian Republic. Maria Theresia also gave birth to an additional three children - all boys.

 

Maria Theresia used to work on a farm, while her daughter Elisabeth first was a maidservant, then performed manual labour and eventually became day labourer on a farm.

Baptism of Elisabeth Quanten in August 1799

While the baptism record of Elisabeth Quanten shows that she was born illegitimately, she was recognized by her father from the very beginning. In 1828, Elisabeth Quanten had a daughter called Joanna Schreurs, in the village of Sint-Huibrechts-Lille, which, at that time, was in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Birth of Joanna Schreurs in 1828

Joanna was the oldest of five children as she had two youngers brothers and two younger sisters. When Joanna was four year old, her grandmother, Maria Theresia died, aged 52.

 

Joanna Schreurs, who performed manual labour for a living, had six children, three boys and three girls. The youngest daughter was Johanna Herteleer. Johanna was born in 1869 in the village of Hamont, meaning she was the first one of the female line to be born after the Belgian independence and thus in the Kingdom of Belgium.



Birth of Johanna Herteleer in 1869



Three years before Johanna was born, her grandmother Elisabeth had passed away aged 67 in her house in Hamont. On her death record, her last name was spelled as Kwanten which is phonetically exactly the same as Quanten.

 

Death record of Elisabeth Quanten in 1866

 

Johanna Herteleer was the first woman in this line to have had a right to vote, but only on municipal level... She worked as a market vendor and died in the early 1930's when she was about 64 years old.

 

Johanna's oldest daughter was Maria Broeckx (born in 1893) and was the mother of my great-grandmother Anna Hennebicq (born in 1909) and grandmother of my maternal grandmother, Hilda Sterckx. All three of them were allowed to vote in all elections - so including federal elections - only from 1948 onwards.

 

My grandmother told me many years ago that she remembered her great-grandmother, Johanna Herteleer, wearing a long black dress and a white, lace bonnet. She would sit in her rocking chair and the children from the neighbourhood would come and sit all around her and ask for her to tell stories from long time ago...

 

Three generations :

Hilda Sterckx (standing left) and Anna Hennebicq (standing right)

with Maria Broeckx (sitting)

 

While I already wrote a post about great-great grandmother Maria Broeckx, I still have to write more about my grandmother Hilda and my great-grandmother Anna. I will do that in later blog posts because I have so much to tell about these remarkable women.

My mother, Patricia Brusten, with her mother, Hilda Sterckx

 

And then of course - after this long history - I obviously have to add my own mother, Patricia Brusten, to the list. I know she will be reading this post with great interest. And of course this post is also largely dedicated to her.

 

So these are the women, traveling back about 270 years all along my maternal line...

 

I've read that mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) is exclusively maternally inherited. Well I can genuinely say I'm proud to be part of this gene pool. 

 

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Maart is Women's History Month en vandaag is het daar bovenop Internationale Vrouwendag - genoeg redenen dus om een blogbericht te wijden aan enkele vrouwen in mijn stamboom...

 

Elisabeth Vereggen werd waarschijnlijk geboren omstreeks 1750. De meest waarschijnlijke "match" die iheb kunnen vinden is een doopregistratie van 1749 die de doop vermeld van "Elizabetha Vereggen", dochter van Jacobus Vereggen en Adriana Van den Boogaert.

 

Hoewel ik nog meer moet te weten komen over Elisabeth, weet ik zeker dat ze gehuwd was met Antonius Van den Broek en dat ze ten minste een dochter hadden die Maria Theresia Van den Broek heette en die was geboren in 1779 in het dorp Budel dat zich in de Generaliteitslanden van de Republiek der Verenigde Nederlanden bevond. Meer specifiek in Staats-Brabant, dat zich in het noorden van het hertogdom Brabant bevond.

Doopregistratie van Maria Theresia Van den Broek in 1779

De dochter van Maria Theresia was Elisabeth Quanten, geboren in 1799, ook in het dorp Budel. Tegen dan was de Republiek der Verenigde Nederlanden echter opgevolgd door de Bataafse Republiek. Maria Theresia kreeg nog drie kinderen - allemaal jongens.

 

Maria Theresia was akkerbouwsterterwijl haar dochter Elisabeth eerst dienstmeid was, dan handwerkster was en uiteindelijk dagwerkster werd.

Doop van Elisabeth Quanten in augustus 1799

Terwijl uit de doopregistratie van Elisabeth Quanten blijkt dat ze onwettig geboren was, werd ze wel reeds erkend door haar vader. In 1828 kreeg Elisabeth Quanten een dochter die ze Joanna Schreurs noemde en die werd geboren in het dorp Sint-Huibrechts-Lille, dat, in die tijd, in het Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden gelegen was.

Geboorte van Joanna Schreurs in 1828

Joanna was de oudste van vijf kinderen en had twee jongere broers en twee jongere zussen. Wanneer Joanna vier jaar oud was overleed haar grootmoeder, Maria Theresia, op de leeftijd van 52 jaar.

 

Joanna Schreurs, die dagwerkster was, kreeg zes kinderen, drie jongens en drie meisjes. De jongste dochter was Johanna Herteleer. Johanna werd geboren in 1869 in het dorp Hamont, wat betekent dat ze eerste in de vrouwelijke lijn was die werd geboren na de onafhankelijkheid van België.



Geboorte van Johanna Herteleer in 1869



Drie jaar voor Johanna werd geboren, was haar grootmoeder Elisabeth overleden op de leeftijd van 67 jaar in haar woning in Hamont. Op haar overlijdensbericht werd haar familienaam nu gespeld als Kwanten wat fonetisch natuurlijk overeenkomt met Quanten.

 



Overlijdensregistratie van Elisabeth Quanten in 1866



 

Johanna Herteleer was de eerste vrouw in deze lijn die het recht had om te stemmen, doch, enkel in gemeenteraadsverkiezingen... Ze werkte als marktkraamster en overleed begin de jaren 1930 wanneer ze ongeveer 64 jaar oud was.

 

De oudste dochter van Johanna was Maria Broeckx (geboren in 1893) en was de moeder van mijn overgrootmoeder Anna Hennebicq (geboren in 1909) en grootmoeder van mijn maternele grootmoeder, Hilda Sterckx. Zij hadden alledrie stemrecht - ook in federale verkiezingen - maar pas vanaf 1948...

 

Mijn grootmoeder vertelde me jaren geleden hoe ze zich herinnerde dat haar overgrootmoeder Johanna Herteleer, meestal een lang zwart kleed droeg en een wit kapje op haar hoofd had. Ze zat in haar schommelstoel terwijl de kinderen uit de buurt rond haar kwamen zitten en haar vroegen om nog eens verhalen te vertellen over vroeger. 

Drie generaties :

Hilda Sterckx (staand links) en Anna Hennebicq (staand rechts)

met Maria Broeckx (zittend)

 

Terwijl ik al een bericht schreef over bet-overgrootmoeder Maria Broeckx, moet ik wat schrijven over mijn grootmoeder Hilda en mijn overgrootmoeder Anna. Ik zal dat in toekomstige blogberichten doen omdat ik veel te vertellen heb over deze opmerkelijke vrouwen.

Mijn moeder, Patricia Brusten, met haar moeder, Hilda Sterckx

 

En dan natuurlijk - na deze lange geschiedenis - moet ik uiteraard mijn eigen moder, Patricia Brusten, toevoegen aan deze lijst. Ik weet dat ze deze blog leest met veel interesse en uiteraard is dit bericht grotendeels ook bijzonder aan haar opgedragen.

 

Dat zijn dus de vrouwen, ongeveer 270 jaar terugreizend in de tijd, langs mijn maternele lijn...

 

Ik heb gelezen dat mitochondriaal DNA (oftewel mDNA) exclusief wordt doorgegeven door vrouwen aan hun kinderen. Wel, ik kan oprecht zeggen dat ik trots ben om deel uit te maken van deze genenpoel. 

 

Finding Private Edouard Broeckx (1918)

As we are approaching November 11, Armistice Day in Belgium, I wanted to dedicate a blog post to my great great grand uncle, soldier Edouard Broeckx.
 

On August 14, 1986 Edouard was born as the second of three children from my 3-times great grandparents Hendrik Broeckx and Joanna Herteleer. Before his birth, his parents were living in the Belgian city of Mol where father Hendrik was a painter. But then, when Edouard was just two weeks old, the family moved to the city of Antwerp. His baby sister Joanna was born in Antwerp, when Edouard was two and a half years old. His older sister Maria was five years old then.

On August 4, 1914, only ten days before Edouard reached the age of 18, German forces invaded neutral Belgium and only two months later, Edouard stopped his job as a mechanic and joined the Belgian army. Edouard was active in the army for almost the entire duration of the Great War. Only from the very end of March 1917 untill mid-July 1917 he spent three and half months in a hospital, to return to the trenches after he recovered.
 

During the last weeks of the Great War, in the morning of September 28, 1918, the Belgian Army started a liberation offensive. One of the first goals was to take back the town of Houthulst in the province of West Flanders. The point of departure was a little village called Kippe which is about one mile to the north of Ypres. At 2.30 AM Belgian artillery started shooting the German troops. The shooting lasted for three ours before the Belgian troops started moving further. Another thirty minutes later Edouard got killed by hostile fire, in the village of Merkem, as heavy fighting continued.

Only four days later, on October 3, 1918, Edouard was burried in a temporary grave at about 27 yards from the road between Kippe and Nachtegaal. Many soldiers were later exhumed to be moved to their final resting places, however, for unknown reasons, the grave of Edouard could no longer be found...

In May of 1920, the following letter was sent to my 3-times great-grandmother by the Belgian Army:

 

Dear Mrs. Broeckx,

 

I have the honour to inform you that your mourned son, soldier Broeckx Edouard of the 3rd line regiment, who fell gloriously on the Field of Honour, will be included in an upcoming Royal Decree, by which he will posthumously be awarded the Cross of Knight in the Order of Leopold II with Palm, as well as a War Cross. As soon as this Decree is published in the Belgian Offical Gazette, these decorations will be handed over to you during an upcoming official ceremony.

 

 

On August 2, 1922, my 3-times great grandfather, Hendrik, sent a letter to the Belgian Army to ask why they still had not been able to find the remains of his son. He also asked if perhaps there had been a mix up with Corporal Jan Broeckx who had been burried at the Antwerp cemetery Schoonselhof, however, the army responded that this did not appear to be the case. 



Grave of Corp. Jan Broeckx in Antwerp

Corp. Jan Broeckx was a native from the city of Turnhout and was born as a son of a shoe maker in December 1894. At the time of his birth, his family had already been living in Turnhout for at least fifty years, meaning that there is no closeby relation with the family of Edouard Broeckx that came from the Belgian city of Mol.

The searching for the grave of Edouard continued, and even Edouard's father attended several search actions in February and March 1923. Sadly, the grave was never found again and a death certificate was eventually issued in the second half of 1923.

 

Schoonselhof Cemetery in Antwerp, Belgium

I haven't found any records mentioning possible reasons why the grave of Edouard couldn't be found. Maybe he was actually exhumed but not properly identified. Perhaps Edouard is amongst the many unidentified soldiers burried in Antwerp...



Four unknown soldiers burried in Antwerp, Belgium

The city of Antwerp did erect a memorial in honour of the Belgian soldiers burried at the Schoonselhof Cemetery.

Memorial in honour of the WWI soldiers burried in Antwerp



Now if we return to September 1918, one day after Edouard Broeckx died on the battlefield, the Belgian army had advanced from Merkem to Houthulst and was able to recapture the forest there, however, not without suffering a lot of casualties. As silent witnesses of the battles in and around Houthulst, stand the many headstones in the Belgian Military Cemetery in Houthulst. Also there, several unknown soldiers have been burried. Perhaps Edouard was one of the soldiers who eventually got interred at the Houthulst cemetery... 



Map showing the locations of Merkem and Houthulst

One name that particularly caught my attention at that cemetery was that of Corp. Albert Hennebicq, because Edouard's older sister Maria, had married a man called Ferdinand Hennebicq, who was my great-great grandfather. The quite rare Hennebicq name will be a topic of a later blog post.

 

Belgian WWI Cemetery in Houthulst, Belgium

 

I can already add that I have not yet been able to find a family relationship between Edouard's brother-in-law, Ferdinand Hennebicq, and this Corp. Albert Hennebicq, although both Hennebicq men did have ancestors living in the same small region in the Walloon province of Hainaut, near the city of Tournai wich could be an indication that they were in fact related.

Corporal Albert Hennebicq, a 25 year old native of Saint-Sauveur in the Belgian province of Hainaut, died only one day later than Edouard Broeckx, on September 29, 1918 during the end offensive of Passchendaele, which was a little to the southeast of Houthulst. 



Grave of Corporal Albert Hennebicq





As I was trying to find more information on Edouard Broeckx, I did come across a picture of a Belgian WWI soldier who was named Edouard A. Broeckx and who lived in the village of Hoboken, just to the south of Antwerp.



Edouard A. Broeckx of Hoboken, Belgium



 

There are quite a lot of indications that this Edouard A. Broeckx from Hoboken was not the same person as my great-great grand uncle Edouard Broeckx, but still I decided to also include the picture of Edouard A. Broeckx here. Perhaps at some point in time I will figure out if the two gentlemen were actually related to each other.

 

I know my 3-times great-grandparents must have been devastated by the loss of their only son at such a young age. It must have been difficult for them to not be able to visit a grave. Maybe they re-visited the grave of Corp. Jean Broeckx instead, still hoping that it was in fact their son who had been burried there...

 

 

 

 

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