The 18th century Brothers sisters.

Before Women's History Month is over, I wanted to post another article, this time about the family of my 6-times great-grandmother Anna Maria Gebruers. Anna Maria was great-grandmother to my 3-times great-grandmother Joanna Gelens. She was also great-great grandmother to my great-great grandmother Joanna Verelst.

In Flemish "gebruers" means as much as "gebroeders" in Dutch, which translates into "brothers" in English. Funny thing is, so far, I've only been able to find sisters of Anna Maria and no brothers at all.

Based on the age mentioned on her death certificate, Anna Maria must have been born about 1757. Her parents were Michaël Gebruers and Anna Peeters. The family lived in the village of Geel, which is in the southeastern part of the present day province of Antwerp in Belgium. At that time, however, Geel was located in the Austrian Netherlands.

Anna Maria's three sisters were named Maria Anna (°19 January 1754), Maria Catharina (°22 October 1756) and Maria Theresia (°28 November 1767).

So, as if naming one daughter "Anna Maria" and another one "Maria Anna" didn't create enough confusion, all three sisters of Anna Maria had the first name Maria...

Tragically, father Michaël died early September 1767, two months before Maria Theresia was born, leaving mother Anna Peeters with the care of her daughters.

Burial registration of Michaël Gebruers (1767)

Anna Peeters died in 1795 and only four years later, also her daughter, my 6-times great-grandmother Anna Maria died at the age of 42.

Death registration of Anna Maria Gebruers (1799)

Anna Maria had married a man named François Gelens in September 1784 and the couple had at least five children: three sons and two daughters. All of the children were born in the 1780's and 1790's.

Marriage registration of Anna Maria Gebruers and François Gelens (1784)

Sister Maria Anna performed day labour for a living and married a man named Joannes Dams. She died in 1825 at the age of 71.

Entry in civil register concerning the death of Maria Anna Gebruers (1825)

Sister Maria Catharina was a lace worker and never got married. She eventually died in 1836 at the age of 79.

Entry in the civil register relating to the death of Maria Catharina Gebruers (1836)

At the time of her wedding, in 1806, the youngest of the sisters, Maria Theresia, made a living spinning yarn. On the entry in the civil register, Maria Theresia's autograph definitely stands out. In fact she was the only person, other than the civil servant, who knew how to write. Because she wrote so beautifully, I assume she received quite a good school education.

Signature of Maria Theresia Gebruers (1806)

Maria Theresia did live to become old, as she died in April 1859, at 91 years of age...

Anna Maria Adriaenssen

In an attempt to fill some gaps in my family tree, I was looking at the information I have found concerning my 3-times great-grandmother, Anna Cornelia Simons. In doing so I realized that I had mixed-up her birth record with that of another baby girl called Anna Maria Simons, born a year before my 3-times great-grandmother, also in the Belgian village of Loenhout.

As a result I had to make some corrections in my family tree, because I had previously entered the wrong names for the parents of Anna Cornelia based on the incorrect birth certificate. It turns out her parents were Adrianus Simons and Anna Maria Adriaenssen.

At the time Anna Cornelia was born, on June 20, 1823, she already had two elder sisters called Anna Catharina (born in 1820) and Cornelia Petronella (born in 1821). The birth certificate of the oldest sister, Anna Catharina, revealed that Anna Catharina was in fact a triplet!

My 4-times great-grandmother, Anna Maria Adriaenssen, had given birth on February 25, 1820 at 6:00 PM to a first baby girl called Maria Jacoba. Eight hours later, at 2:00 AM on February 26, 1820, Anna-Catharina was born. Then it only took thirty more minutes before the third triplet was born, another baby girl called Anna Cornelia.

  

Doing some further research I learned that, sadly, Maria Jacoba died after only four days, on that year's leap day, February 29, 1820. Tragedy struck again soon, because one week later, also Anna Cornelia died on March 7, 1820. Obvioulsy postnatal care in the early 19th Century was not at all at the level it is today. Perhaps the triplets were born prematurely.

One year later, Anna Maria gave birth to Cornelia Petronella. And then, in 1823 to my 3-times great-grandmother who appears to have been named after the last-born of the triplets...

After giving birth to five girls, Anna Maria gave birth to three more girls: Maria Elisabeth (born in 1824), Maria Theresia (born in 1827) and Joanna (born in 1828). And then, finally, in 1829, after she had 8 girls, a boy was born and named Joannes Baptista.

Regrettably, Cornelia Petronella died at the age of 10 in 1832 and also her younger sister Maria Theresia died way too young in 1834, being only 7 years old.

As far as the middle triplet, Anna-Catharina, is concerned, she did survive and eventually married and got three children herself. My 3-times great-grandmother, Anna Cornelia Simons, married my 3-times great-grandfather Adrianus Van Minnebruggen in 1850. She lived to be 76 years old and passed away on October 24, 1899 in the village of Brecht. It appears that also the remaining siblings of Anna-Catharina and Anna Cornelia lived into adulthood. I still have to do some research to try and find out more details about them.

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Teneinde enkele blinde vlekken in mijn stamboom op te vullen bekeek ik onlangs naar de informatie die ik had betreffende mijn bet-bet-overgrootmoeder, Anna Cornelia Simons. Daarbij realiseerde ik me that ik haar geboorteakte had verwisseld met die van een andere baby die Anna Maria Simons noemde en een jaar voor mijn bet-bet-overgrootmoeder geboren was, ook in het dorp Loenhout.

Bijgevolg moest ik een aantal correcties doorvoeren in mijn stamboom, vermits ik de foutieve namen als ouders van Anna Cornelia had genoteerd, door me te baseren op de verkeerde akte. Het blijkt dat haar ouders Adrianus Simons en Anna Maria Adriaenssen waren.

Op het ogenblik dat Anna Cornelia werd geboren, op 20 juni 1823, had ze reeds twee oudere zussen die de namen Anna Catharina (geboren in 1820) en Cornelia Petronella (geboren in 1821) droegen. De geboorteakte van de oudste zus, Anna Catharina, toonde dat Anna Catharina in feite deel uitmaakte van een drieling!

Mijn bet-bet-bet-overgrootmoeder, Anna Maria Adriaenssen, schonk op 25 february 1820 om 6 uur 's avonds het leven aan een eerste meisje dat Maria Jacoba noemde. Acht uur later, om 2 uur 's morgens op 26 februari 1820, werd Anna-Catharina geboren. Vervolgens duurde het nog een half uur alvorens de derde baby geboren was, nog een meisje dat Anna Cornelia werd genoemd.

Uit verdere opzoekingen heb ik geleerd dat Maria Jacoba jammer genoeg overleed slechts vier dagen na haar geboorte, op schrikkeldag 29 februari 1820. Pas een week later sloeg het noodlot opnieuw toe en overleed ook Anna Cornelia op 7 maart 1820. Vanzelfsprekend waren de postnatale zorgen in de 19de eeuw nog lang niet op het punt dat ze nu zijn. Misschien werd de drieling werd prematuur geboren, we zullen het allicht nooit te weten komen.

Eén jaar later schonk Anna Maria het leven aan Cornelia Petronella. En vervolgens, in 1823, aan mijn bet-bet-overgrootmoeder die klaarblijkelijk genoemd werd naar de laatst geboren baby van de drieling...

Nadat ze vijf meisjes op de wereld had gezet, werden er nog drie meisjes geboren: Maria Elisabeth (geboren in 1824), Maria Theresia (geboren in 1827) en Joanna (geboren in 1828). En dan, tenslotte, in 1829, na de geboorte van 8 meisjes, werd een jongen geboren die Joannes Baptista werd genoemd.

Jammer genoeg overleed in 1832 Cornelia Petronella op de leeftijd van 10 jaar en ook haar jongere zus Maria Theresia overleed veel te jong in 1834, toen ze amper 7 jaar oud was.

Wat betreft de middelste drieling, Anna-Catharina; zij heeft het overleefd en is uiteindelijk getrouwd en kreeg zelf drie kinderen. Mijn bet-bet-overgrootmoeder, Anna Cornelia Simons, huwde met mijn bet-bet-overgrootvader Adrianus Van Minnebruggen in 1850. Ze werd 76 jaar oud en overleed op 24 oktober 1899 in Brecht. Het lijkt erop dat ook de overige zussen en de broer van Anna-Catharina en Anna Cornelia volwassen zijn geworden. Ik moet nog wel wat opzoekingen doen om meer over hun leven te weten te komen...