THE BELGIANS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Belgium
History
Chapter 1 – History of Ghent
Chapter 2 – King Arthur and Ghent
Chapter 3 – City on the Mouth of the River
Chapter 4 – The Burgundians
Chapter 5 – Emperor Charles V
Chapter 6 – Revival of Catholicism and Trade
Chapter 7 – City of Textiles
Chapter 8 – Living Conditions
Chapter 9 – Emigration
Chapter 10 – Where Our Ancestors Lived
Chapter 11 – Religion
Chapter 12 – Gaelens
Chapter 13 – Boerjans
Chapter 14 – Life Together for Nathalie and Ben
Chapter 15 – William H. Boerjan Family
Chapter 16 – Boerjan Girls
Unknown Photos
Resources
INTRODUCTION
Our Belgian forebears hail from places such as Oost Eeklo, Maldegem, Lembeke (which has been incorporated into Kaprijke, northeast of Eeklo), Basselvelde, plus others. The nearest market was Ghent, and this is where the Boerjan family travelled to on market days. They made this trip on foot, so it must have been within reasonable walking distance.
The kingdom of Belgium is a democracy with a constitutional monarchy. The current king, Albert II, does not govern. In fact, according to the constitution, the king cannot take any official action without the approval of a minister, and his ministers are held accountable for his actions. In Belgium, the king is traditionally considered a moral leader. The present king is Philippe.
Belgium has a well-educated public and a very high quality of life. There is almost no illiteracy, and all citizens over the age of 18 are required to vote. The major religions of Belgium are Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Anglicanism, the Orthodox Church, Judaism and Islam. The leaders of the four major religions – Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, and Islam – are paid by the state.
About 75 percent of the population is Roman Catholic but in recent years church attendance has been declining. The second largest religion practiced in Belgium is Islam. Hinduisim and Sikhism are also increasing, but the government does not recognize them. As with the rest of the world, the traditional face of Belgium is changing.
BELGIUM
Belgium is about the size of Maryland and its coastline is only 40 miles. It is bordered by the North Sea, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and France. Its climate is fairly moderate.
In the northern part of Belgium, known as Flanders, Dutch or Flemish is spoken. This is the language our ancestors spoke. In the south, French is spoken. Brussels, the capital, is in the Flemish part of the country, but is mostly French speaking. German is also spoken in Belgium.
There is a separation movement in Belgium. The concept of separation is based on the notion that the cultural continuity of Wallonia is with France, and that of Flanders is with the Netherlands. There has been tension between these two groups, based on language and economic factors, for a long time. Our ancestors spoke Flemish or Dutch and our present relatives in Belgium speak Dutch.
The Belgians
HISTORY
The name Belgium came from an ancient Celtic tribe, the Belgae, who settled the area in 900 BC. The Romans ruled Belgium after 52 BC. As the Romans moved out, the Germanic tribes moved in – these people were called the Franks, and their king was Charlemagne, who is considered the founder of the Holy Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire ruled from 880 to 1806. After Charlemagne’s death, Belgium was ruled in part by the French.
Charlemagne, “Charles the Great”, King of the Franks.
Belgium merchants grew rich during the Crusades, and they joined artisans in communes (free cities) and gained political rights which saw a charter of civil liberties in 1066.
In the late 1300s the Bergundians ruled Belgium, eventually leading to rule by the Habsburgs. Belgium became part of the Netherlands and was ruled by Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor. As with the rest of Europe, Belgium saw much religious conflict during this time.
Charles V
Belgium was ruled by the French until 1815 when Bonaparte was defeated at Waterloo. The United Kingdom of the Netherlands was created, of which Belgium, known as the Southern Netherlands, was a part. The Belgians didn’t like their new ruler, the Dutch King William I, and revolted. Belgium gained independence and a German prince, Leopold I, was elected as Belgium’s first king. His son, Leopold II, is infamous for the cruelty of his rule in the Congo Basin. He became very wealthy from this area of the world.
Leopold II of Belgium
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After World War II erupted, Belgium was invaded by Germany. Their king, Leopold III, was taken prisoner by the Germans, and as he surrendered to the Germans he was very unpopular.
Leopold’s son, King Baudouin, proclaimed the Belgium Congo’s independence in 1960. When King Baudouin tried to influence a law that was being passed, the people were outraged. As in every constitutional monarchy the monarch is required to not interfere in the ruling of the country.
King Baudouin
Belgium sent forces to Rwanda through the United Nations in 1994, were involved as peace keepers in Kosovo through NATO, and are supporters of the United Nations as peace keepers. They also sent troops to Afghanistan and deployed six F-16 fighters in support of the NATO intervention in the Libyan civil war.
Belgium entered the Euro zone in 1999 as a founding member of the European Union. Ghent, the home of our ancestors, is the location of the third largest port in Belgium. Three- quarters of its trade is with the rest of Europe, and their economy has been affected by the Euro crisis. Belgium’s largest trading partner is Germany.
Chapter 1 – History of Ghent
The city of Ghent was within close proximity to Oost Eeklo, Maldegem, Lembeke (which has been incorporated into Kaprijke, northeast of Eeklo (Echeloo in the map below), and Bassevelde. These are all familiar locations in the Gaelens and Boerjan families.
Ghent was the central market town and people lived there during prehistoric times. During the Roman period, the city grew and moved to the confluence of the Scheldt and Leie rivers. The Abbey of St. Peter (later Saint Bavo) was founded in about 630. St. Peter’s and a second abbey, Blandijnberg, became the two religious centers, and people began to build houses between to the two abbeys. Ghent became a centre of trade and commercial activity, and their then ruler Charlemagne sent a fleet to protect the city from the Vikings, who had attacked in 851 and 879. A fortification was built to protect the city and was located on the spot where the Gravensteen, the Castle of the Counts, was later built.
Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts)
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During the 11th and 12th centuries, Ghent became an important trade centre. The stone Castle of the Counts was built at this time. Ghent relied on English imports of wool. The town was later ruled by the House of Hapsburg. Charles the V, the Holy Roman Emperor, was born there in 1500.
Charles V – Note the Hapsburg Chin
The son of Charles V, Philip II of Spain, ruled during a period of religious troubles between the Protestants and the Catholics. Many people left Flanders and settled in England and Germany. Later, the economic situation improved as a result of the building of a canal between the Ghent harbor and the city of Ostende. At this time Louis XIV was determined to conquer Flanders which led to conflict in the area. During the 18th century, peace and prosperity again returned to Flanders and new industries were developed.
Philip II of Spain (also has the Hapsburg Chin)
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In 1800 the cotton industry flourished because a citizen of Ghent smuggled a common mill out of England and set up a successful industry in Ghent. At this time Belgium was under the control of the French. After the Battle of Waterloo, Flanders was united with the Netherlands. Ghent continued to grow and the number of inhabitants tripled in the 19th century. Poor living conditions led to the forming of the first Belgian trade union.
Battle of Waterloo
Chapter 2 – King Arthur and Ghent
The city of Ghent played an important role in the legend of Arthur. In the 10th century, Abbot Dunstan from Glastonbury fled to Ghent from Somerset for political reasons. He lived in protection at St. Peter’s abbey for two years, then returned safely to Glastonbury, where he introduced the Benedictine rule, to which he had been introduced in Ghent. He left a mysterious manuscript at the Ghent Abbey which was later given to the court poet Chretien de Troyes. This manuscript was the starting point for Troyes “Perceval ou le conte del Graal”, which made Arthur and his knights famous.
St. Peters Abbey, Ghent
Roundel of Men and Women Harvesting Grapes, early 1460s Chapter 3 – City on the Mouth of the River
Between 1100 and 1500, Ghent played a prominent role among the major cities of northwestern Europe. The number of inhabitants from the 13th to 15th centuries is estimated at 65,000, just slightly less than Paris, and larger than London or Hamburg.
Ghent owed its metropolitan character in the Middle Ages to its production of luxury woollen cloth and its excellent geographic location at the confluence of the two main rivers in Flanders, the Leie and the Scheldt, both of which provided good opportunities for trade. The city’s name means “river mouth” or “confluence”. Archaeologists have found evidence of human presence going back to the Stone and Iron Ages.
Confluence of the Leie and Scheldt Rivers
The Counts of Flanders ruled after the Norman invasions. Count Baldwin II, the Bald, brought order and peace to his earldom, and conditions were established that nurtured the growth of the economy. Baldwin built a fortification on the left bank of the Leie, where the keep of the Gravensteen Castle now stands. The population moved into the area and a market was built. The present day Groentenmarkt was built at the foot of the fortification, and a settlement expanded around it.
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Rapid growth began in the area between the Leie and the Scheldt, in the shadow of the fortress, and bordered by two large abbeys. Many churches were built to meet the needs of the population.
St. Nicholas Church
St. Bavo Cathedral
Church at Oosteeklo
From 1100 to 1400, 60 percent of the households earned a living in the fast-growing woolen trade. Semi-skilled or unskilled workers were employed in the areas of sorting, washing, spinning and bleaching the wool. The specialists worked in the areas of weaving, fulling (process of felting the woolen cloth to make it thicker and smoother), and dying the wool. This was done exclusively within the city. Ghent’s weavers sold the finished product all over Europe and even as far as North Africa. Wool was traded for wine, salt and other consumer goods.
The wealthy merchants who were the original owners of the land on which Ghent was built gained the most from the woolen trade. These merchants began to aspire to political and economic independence from the Count of Flanders. Thus, the Gravensteen was built to control the people and to keep the city safe. The aldermen of the city had the monopoly on local government, finance and administration of justice. They built hospitals and set up charitable organizations. A minority of the people lived well, and the majority were repressed and exploited. The craftsmen organized themselves and began to protest against the poor
The Belgians conditions in the early years of the 14th century and they won! Craftsmen began to enter the ranks of aldermen. They were organized into guilds which functioned as political associations.
Gravensteen
Of the four guildhouses at the Graslei, the oldest is the Spijker. It was a wheat trading house. The guildhouse of the Free Sailors is the most beautiful of the guildhouses and boasts a late- Gothic façade. The Sailors’ guild was one of the most powerful guilds because they had sailing privileges through the harbor of Ghent. On the left side of the Spijker is the first Grain Counters House and next to it stands the Angel, with its beautiful Renaissance façade.
War broke out between England and France (the 100 Years War) and the economy of Ghent declined significantly. A trade agreement was signed with the Edward, King of England and the population of Ghent paid him homage as the rightful king of France rather than the previous King Philip VI. The Ghent textile workers were soon working on their looms again.
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John of Gaunt, the fourth son of England’s King Edward III, was born in the Ghent Abbey of St. Bavo in March 1340.
John of Gaunt The Black Prince, Edward, Prince of Wales
- Brothers -
Chapter 4 – The Burgundians
Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, gained possession of Flanders in 1383 through marriage. Philip repressed any upsurge of independence in Ghent. Ghent cloth workers were losing a lot of their business to the new textile centers in northwestern Europe, such as Brabant, Holland and England. Also, the rural peasant cloth makers could work for less money, and they were taking business away from the city. Violent raids were made on the peasants by the Ghent militia who came into their homes and smashed their looms.
Other economic areas grew in Ghent, such as the wine industry and the country’s grain trade. The quaysides were busy with the ‘schroeders’ using wooden cranes to unload barrels and other heavy loads.
The Graslei and the Korenlei were the heart of the Ghent harbor for many years. The Ghent shipmasters dominated shipping on the main Flemish inland waterways. As early as the mid 13th century, the city council extended natural waterways and canals.
Graslei and Korenlei
Chapter 5 – Emperor Charles V
City administration built the formidable town hall in about 1500. The Van Eyck brothers finished their famous altarpiece of The Adoration of the Lamb in 1492. The city was well- known for their tapestries. Ghent was doing well. However, this was not to last. The economy began to slump and the city’s treasury was emptied.
Adoration of the Lamb Ghent Tapestry
There could not have been a worse time for Charles V, who had been born in Ghent, to impose a heavy tax! Craftsmen and unskilled workers went on strike. Charles V travelled to his birthplace to punish the population of the city. He removed their privileges and independence, and abolished their rights to exercise power outside the city. Fifty Ghent patricians were made to beg for his mercy.
More trouble followed. Luther and other reformers in the church were well supported in Ghent and the city split apart on the point of religion. The Protestants of Ghent suffered through the Inquisition and their emperor’s heresy edicts. Protestants struck back - not a single church, monastery, convent or chapel was safe from their fervour. The cathedral itself was stripped bare and whitewashed so it could be used for Protestant services. Luther Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
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Enter Prince William of Orange, who urged agitators to seize power in a coup and establish a Protestant dictatorship. Ghent was the source of a revolt against King Philip II of Spain and the round-up of Catholic clergymen.
Philip II
The Catholic Duke of Parma turned the tide by his conquest of Ghent in 1584 on behalf of the King of Spain. The Catholics were again on top. About 15,000 people left Ghent, most of them Protestants. Some were just people who were fed up with the city so they moved to the northern Netherlands.
Chapter 6 – Revival of Catholicism and Trade
After 1600, the public life of the city was dedicated to Catholic reconstruction – dozens of destroyed or badly damaged monasteries, convents, churches, chapels and almshouses were repaired or rebuilt. This was the era of Baroque architecture.
Religious orders were established in Ghent. The principal newcomers were the Jesuits with their devotion and discipline. A major figure in Ghent at that time was the Ghent bishop, Antoon Triest. He was a tireless organizer. He kept busy and on average visited each of his 150 parishes once every three years. He also left his mark due to his love and patronage of the arts.
Antoon Triest
The prospects of Ghent commerce and inland shipping were greatly improved by the completion of the canal from Ghent to Bruges, which was further connected to the harbours of Ostend and Dunkirk between 1613 and 1640.
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Every year, barges carried approximately 50,000 passengers from Ghent to Bruges and vice versa. Tsar Peter the Great left Ghent on a barge in 1717. After 1700, there was a direct connection to the sea, which led to worldwide shipping.
Main Canal in Ghent Tzar Peter the Great
In 1740, peaceful times came with the prosperous reign of the Austrian Empress Marie Theresia. Ghent had its first great economic revival since the Middle Ages. Factories were built and sugar refineries appeared in 1750. New and straight cobbled roads were built to the larger towns and cities. These roads have survived more or less intact to the present day.
Empress Marie Theresia
Mechanization of the textile industry came around 1800, which led to a new industrial awakening. Ghent at that time belonged to the French, with principles of the French Revolution being applied; for example, a new form of city council. The privileges of the church were abolished. Associations of workers were also prohibited.
The Belgians
Factory bosses were given free reign and had an enormous market for their goods in France. Lieven Bauwens smuggled spinning and weaving machines and steam engines from England to Ghent.
A canal was built that connected directly to the North Sea, and seagoing vessels sailed into Ghent for the first time.
Lieven Bauwens
Residences in the French style were built after 1750.
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The Treaty of Ghent put an end to the Second Anglo-American War. The American delegation stayed in Ghent in 1814 during negotiations with the British. John Quincy Adams, future president of the United States, the leader of the American delegation, maintained cordial relations with the people of Ghent.
John Quincy Adams
Chapter 7 – City of Textiles
Large textile factories and workshops characterized Ghent from 1800 to 1930. Population increased from 61,000 in 1814 to more than 175,000 in 1930. The textile industry prevailed, leading to the Gravensteen being converted into a spinning-mill with workers’ houses surrounding the castle. After an explosion in the factory, the building became unstable, and it was decided to leave the castle. The castle was in danger of demolition at one time, but luckily it was decided to repair the complex and give the building back its appearance of the 12th century.
Abolished monasteries and convents were put to similar use as factories. As with other economic booms, for 100 years, people flooded into Ghent from the countryside looking for work. They lived in squalor in miserable slums and endured poor working conditions, low wages, lack of hygiene and cholera epidemics. From these conditions rose the trade unions.
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There was a huge rift between the workers and the owners of the factories. The majority of the population supported Dutch King William I and his policies of economic progress and expansion of commerce and industry. He founded many trade institutions, giving him his nickname of “King-Merchant”. Industry flourished. The king founded the University of Ghent, as well as the University of Leuven and the University of Liege. Both French and Dutch were spoken in Ghent, although Dutch was prevalent.
King William I of the Netherlands
The center of trade was in the Northern provinces which created great wealth for the kingdom. However, the money flowed into the hands of Dutch directors, and only a few Belgians managed to profit from the economic growth. Feelings of economic inequity were one of the causes of the Belgian uprising. Dutch was imposed as the official language of Belgian, and this angered the French-speaking aristocrats and industrial workers. Schools throughout the kingdom were required to instruct students in the Reformed faith and the Dutch language. Many in Belgian feared that the king was trying to extinguish Catholicism and the French language.
In 1830, Belgium broke away from the Netherlands, and an independent state of Belgium was proclaimed. King William sent his sons, William, the Prince of Orange, and Prince Frederick to invade the new state. Some support of the Orange dynasty still existed in Belgian, so they persisted in their endeavours for many years, however, the Dutch never did regain control over Belgium.
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In July of 1831, Leopold of Saxe-Coburg swore allegiance to the Belgian constitution and thus became the first king of the Belgians.
Ghent maintained lots of green spaces until 1830, when the city changed dramatically. There were numerous factories and workers’ housing estates. Public transport had been mechanized. Trains ran throughout the country. Urban renewal began in 1913 when the inner city was completely redesigned. New initiatives included the Museum of Fine Arts.
In 1914, Germany invaded Belgium. The invasion was very hard on the people. German soldiers carried out many acts of violence against them during the invasion. A typical action was ordering a town set on fire. Hundreds of houses were destroyed. Civilians, fleeing the flames, were hunted down and executed. The Belgians eventually surrendered. Because Belgium was occupied so soon in the war, large parts of Belgium’s architectural heritage were saved. Many previously unemployed people were hired during the war to enlarge the Ghent harbor, so living conditions did improve to some extent.
German Invasion of Belgium
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German Invasion
Between the First and Second World Wars, working conditions improved with achievements such as an 8-hour day, 6 day work week, and paid annual vacation.
The 1930s brought economic crises in the urban areas. Nazi Germany occupied Belgium, and during the Allied offensive, parts of the city were destroyed. Life became almost unbearable. Also, the people living in the vicinity of the Verbindingsvaart canal and the neighborhood of Merelbeke station were hard hit by Allied bombardments.
The first British tanks rolled into the city of th Ghent on the 10 of September 1944. The city was ready for the victorious arrival of the
liberators and they received a tumultuous welcome. Everywhere flags were flying. They were hoisted on public buildings and draped along every house front. Everyone was overjoyed, there was cheering and shouting. “Welcome Tommy”. The British soldiers were overwhelmed with armfuls of flowers and offers of beer and wine. Many citizens had saved a bottle or two for this very occasion. Member of Canadian Provost Corp talking to members of the Belgian Resistance Frank Key – ghentinwartime.blogspot.ca in Bruge, 1944.
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During the winter of 1941-42 the weather was particularly cold. Newspapers were censored and filled with German success stories around the world. Morale was low – people just wanted the war to end. They wished for an end to food shortages and to be freed from the oppressive and evil presence of the enemy. People especially feared the Gestapo and SS; there were many rumours of atrocities, although the full truth of the atrocities did not come out until the end of the war. There was hard frost in winter and it was bitterly cold. You could not find fuel for houses or cars, and there were many shortages. The Belgian people, however, were inventive, and they thought of ways to make their own items, such as clothes made out of silk parachutes found in the fields, or rings and bracelets made out of airplane wreckage. The summers were beautiful – warm and sunny. There was fresh fruit, green beans, peas, and grains to make bread. People, in their search for food, found household pets could be used for food. If you had a pet, you kept it inside or it could have been stolen.
Frank Key - http://ghentinwartime.blogspot.ca/
In the years after World War 2, and in large part inspired by the desire of seeing an end to the recurring wars between its neighbours, which were often fought on its soil, Belgium became one of the pioneers of European unification.
Brussels is the seat of most European institutions, such as NATO, of which Belgium is a founding member.
FPS Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade & Development Cooperation
After the war, Ghent recovered quickly. The digging of the Watersportsbaan course and the erection of highrise buildings for social housing around it were the beginning of a new era of growth. The broadened canal to Terneuzen attracted large steel, petrochemical and car assembly plants to the harbour area. Employment was such that people could afford to purchase a house with a garden, a car, and to take an annual vacation to one of the seaside resorts.
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Municipal reorganization in 1977 merged a number of the surrounding villages with Ghent, creating a population of 250,000. People moved to the countryside. The inner city was beautified, monuments were restored, and pedestrian shopping areas were created. In 1977, car traffic was prohibited from entering the inner city.
Pedestrian Zone
The city of Ghent grew around the River Leie flanked by the ‘Korenlei’ and ‘Graslei’ on each side of its banks.
Houses of Ghent
Chapter 8 – Living Conditions
The Boerjans and Gaelens were peasant farmers who lived in East Flanders. Boerjan translated from Flemish is “Farmer John”. The family lived around the villages of Lembeke, Maldegem, Oste Eeklo, Assenede and Evergem from the 1600s to present day. The nearest market center was Ghent, and the Boerjan family walked to Ghent on market days. My grandmother remembered her mother-in-law, Nathalie, telling stories about walking to the outside market on market day.
Boerjan relatives throughout history committed crimes and served time in prison – five of our ancestors served prison terms. Studying their living conditions may provide reasons for these criminal acts. One of our ancestors was Franciscus Boerejan, who was sentenced to 3 months for theft at the Correctional Tribunal of Ghent on January 11, 1830, and his daughter, Marie Therese, was sentenced on the same day to 14 days in prison, also for theft. Franciscus served his sentence from April 24 to July 24, 1830, and Marie served her sentence from April 24 to May 3, 1830. We will never know the circumstances of the crime, but it could be that they were involved in the uprising that led to the Belgian Revolution.
Antoine Édouard Ducpétiaux: Inspector-General of Prisons
Prison conditions at Ghent - To illustrate his point, Ducpétiaux drew upon a number of examples of prison practices from the renowned Ghent prison. He included the full report of the prison doctor Daniel-Joseph Mareska about health conditions in the Ghent prisons which was provided with additional commentaries. The accounts of homosexuality in prisons were particularly shocking and challenging to contemporaries. Mareska apologised for providing what he called ‘obscene details’, but took the view that such abuses should not be passed over in silence. This was grist to Ducpétiaux’s mill. The communal system that was applied in Ghent’s prisons in The Belgians
accordance with the strictest standards could neither prevent nor eradicate such ‘unnatural acts’. Salvation for the prisoner and the prison system in general could only be developed in the cellular regime. 39 Ducpétiaux (1838, vol. 3, pp. 323-326)
However, there was a seamy side to the Belgian prison system, which was home to more suffering and gruesome stories than Ducpétiaux’s figures could capture. For example, the members of the administrative committee of the Ghent prisons showed considerable skill in hushing up scandals. In 1839, an officiating chaplain was sidelined after being suspected of having published a rather unflattering article in a local newspaper about the use of corporal punishments in Ghent prisons. This mistreatment had led to the suicide of a prisoner. Worse still, in a sermon the chaplain had urged the prisoners not to subject to such abuses any longer. Through intervention by the bishop of Ghent, the problem was dealt with and the clergyman was pensioned off. During the same year, a female prisoner claimed to have been raped by an unknown man in the courtyard of the women’s prison. She admitted this six months later when she was no longer able to conceal her pregnancy. She was pardoned with a reduced sentence to buy off her silence. In neither case did the central administration get involved.
The English Cyclopedia, Part 1, Vol 3:
The central prison of Ghent, situated in the Coupure, is remarkable for its size and its judicious arrangements. This establishment has all the appearance of a busy workshop. Weaving, and its accessories of spinning and winding, are the most common employments of both males and females. The two sexes are separated. The women are also employed in washing and mending the clothes of the prisoners and in the other necessary household duties. The building will hold 2000 prisoners. This prison, so far from being a cause of expense, brings in an annual profit to the city of 4,000f (50,000 florins). A considerable portion of their earnings is given to the prisoners, part at the time and the remainder at their discharge from prison.
www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/rwinslow/europe/belgium.html
Following the French Revolution, Belgium was invaded and annexed by Napoleonic France in 1795. It was made a part of the Netherlands by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Belgium (The Southern Netherlands) and the Northern Netherlands (Holland) were united to form one State. This new state was ruled by King William I. Although his policy was beneficial to the Belgian bourgeoisie, there was protest. The Catholics objected against the interference of the Protestant king in clerical matters. The Liberals demanded more freedom. In 1828 Catholics and Liberals drew up a concerted program of demands. The association between Catholics and Liberals was called unionism. In 1830, Belgium wrested its independence from the Dutch as a result of a series of incidents leading to an uprising of the Belgian people culminating in a revolution. William I sent in his troops, but they were expelled on September 27th, 1830. The rebels received support from volunteers outside the city. Following this uprising Belgium separated from the Northern Netherlands. A provisional government declared independence on October 4th, 1830. On November 3th of the same year, a
The Belgians
National Congress was elected by an electorate of 30,000 men, who paid a given level of taxes or who had special qualifications. On February 7th, 1831 the national congress adopted a constitution which, for its time, was very progressive. (This constitution was revised in 1893, 1921, 1970, 1971, 1980, 1989, and 1993.) A constitutional monarchy was established in 1831, with a monarch invited in from the House of Saxe-Coburg Gotha in Germany. A diplomatic conference on the future of Belgium opened in London on the November 4th, 1831. The great powers of the time recognised the secession of Belgium from the (Northern) Netherlands. Leopold I of Saxe-Coburg became the first King of the Belgians (1831-1865). In 1865 he was succeeded by his son Leopold II (1865-1909). Under their reign Belgium became the second most important industrial power. Both kings wanted to secure Belgium's economic independence by promoting colonial expeditions, but they were not successful in this until the end of the 19th century.
Belgium was the second country, after Britain, in which the industrial revolution took place, and the first in continental Europe. Wallonia (French-speaking southern Belgium) was the first region to follow the British model successfully. Starting in the middle 1820s, and after Belgium became independent in 1830, numerous works comprising coke blast furnaces as well as puddling and rolling mills were built in the coal mining regions around Liege and Charleroi.
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Puddling – Molten iron in a reverberatory furnace was stirred with rods, which were consumed in the process. It was one of the first processes for making bar iron without charcoal in Europe. Eventually the furnace would be used to make small quantities of specialty steels. En.wikipedia.org/
Wallonia exemplified the radical evolution of industrial expansion. Thanks to coal, the region geared up to become the second industrial power in the world after Britain. The sole industrial centre outside the collieries and blast furnaces of Walloon was the cloth-making town of Ghent.
As the industrial revolution got underway, it changed a mainly rural society into an urban one. Rural poverty reappeared. The rural economies of Flanders remained dependent upon labour-intensive agriculture and poorly paying cottage industries, such as spinning and weaving. As these industries were mechanized, poverty increased even more. There were inadequate farming incomes to support a family as the population doubled between 1846 and 1847. Belgium was still characterized by small, unproductive farms that continued to use primitive farming methods, and adequate food supplies could not be guaranteed. Many young people could not find employment on the farms and had to leave the area to find jobs. Some moved to the United States or Canada.
The farmers themselves were mostly tenants and did not own the land they worked on. High rents were demanded by the owners. The farmers had to find other jobs to supplement their income, such as the weaving of linen cloth in cottages. Many men held these positions. The family at this time typically lived on the edge of poverty. They grew much of their own food, such as potatoes, and pastured a cow on grass along public roads for milk. They also raised pigs which were fed food scraps.
For our ancestors, life was always on the edge. They couldn’t move up in the world and they suffered greatly from poverty. Life was cruel. In the cottages, women did lace work by candlelight or kerosene lamp, often leading to blindness. The only furniture they had were a table, bed, trunk or a couple of chairs and some kitchen utensils. Some people moved into the cities so they could work in the factories and lived in slum conditions.
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By the 1800s the potato was the staple food of the poor. The harvest gradually declined over the years due to blight or disease. The potato famine spread throughout Europe and led to the high death toll in countries such as Ireland. In 1846, “the fields were black and the smell blew over the roads”. The disaster was complete when the barley crop failed.
The Treaty of Ghent – Treaty that officially ended the War of 1812. The treaty was signed in Ghent, Belgium, on December 24, 1814.
Disease ran rampant due to unhygienic living conditions and infestation of lice that carried typhus. Cholera due to poor sanitation combined with poor nutrition led to many deaths. It became routine for the local “veldwachter’ (policeman) to visit each cottage on a regular basis to check for bodies.
Chapter 9 – Emigration
The reasons for people leaving Belgium and moving to North America were complex. Poverty increased in the rural areas after the defeat of the Austrians by the revolutionary French in 1794. The rural decline began in 1794 and continued for 20 years in the Flemish-speaking area of Belgium. Some of this decline is due to the economic and social system that characterized the “Ancien Regime”.
During the economic boom in the 1700s, rural populations began to grow faster than rural employment in the rural areas grew. Cottage-based industries, such as spinning flax and weaving linen during the winter months supplemented the farmers’ income. Land prices remained high and land plots shrunk as the population grew. Average farm sizes were about 2.5 acres. Linen prices were low and merchants took advantage of this. This and poor crop yields resulted in rural poverty, high infant mortality rates, poor health and deplorable living conditions. Many worked for extremely low wages as laborers (‘dagloners’) and some obtained seasonal work in France and Wallonia.
In the last half of the 1700s, modes of farming improved with the resulting increase in yields. As a result, poverty was reduced, population growth slowed, and infant mortality rates dropped.
Life in the 1800s
In the early 1820’s, power looms started to appear in city factories which lead to a decline in the cottage industries. This was a gradual decline and some rural producers of high quality linen survived into the late 1800s. The improved economic state in the rural areas saw a decline in migration from the countryside to the cities and emigration from Belgium.
Life in rural Belgium was reflected in the working and living conditions at the turn of the 19th century and was very different from lifestyles today. Children did not attend school because they had to work. The only education they received was from the local priest at Sunday school when they learned their catechism. Some even managed to learn to read at Sunday school. In 1842, the government set out to organize primary education, with religion very much present. In 1879, a law was passed stating the government had complete control over education, and religious content was not allowed. The municipal schools only hired teachers with a diploma from the “Royal Normal School” of teacher training. In 1884, the newly elected Catholic government repealed the law, and the situation reverted back to the time when Roman Catholics had great involvement in education. Then Catholic schools and state-sponsored The Belgians schools were set up – much like we have in Canada.
The farmers worked their land by hand. Farming was an extremely hard life, full of hard work and long days, with no days off in the week. One example is mowing season, which was carried out in the hot months of July. Scythes were used – there was no farm machinery on these farms. The whole family took part in the harvest – from old folk to young children. They each had a task so the processes were generally quite smooth. The women followed the mowers, gathering the swathes, with children helping – no swathing machines here. The wagons, which held the hay, were driven to the barn where the hay was stored.
Later, the grain was brought into the barns, and threshed to loosen the grain kernels with threshing flails. These flails had long wooden handles with a shorter piece attached to the end by a leather strap. The person threshing the wheat raised the handle and brought the short flail down hard horizontally on the wheat sheaves lying on the floor. Threshing lasted from All Saints’ Day until Easter. Finally, by 1911, hard labour gradually disappeared and fewer farmers used the threshing flail – instead they rented or purchased small threshing machines.
After threshing was complete, the grain was separated from the chaff by winnowing, a process where the threshed grain was shaken in reed baskets so the chaff dropped on the ground, leaving the grain kernels. On larger farms winnowing was gradually replaced by
The Belgians mechanized methods early in the 1900s.
There were periods when disaster hit, with foreign grain prices being extremely low, with the local grain price dropping from 31 francs per bushel in 1881 to 14 francs in 1895. However, farmers being farmers, they persisted in their traditional way of farming. These farmers had the mentality of “next year country”, the same as the farmers in Western Canada in the early 1900s – even if one year was not good, the next year may be really good. You just never knew in farming. However, conditions in Western Canada for farmers were different in that they generally had larger areas of land to farm, leading to higher yields, and with some operations being farmed using mechanized equipment.
In Belgium, farmers were still using old ways. If they had a harrowing machine, the family pulled it. Sooner or later, the farmers had to accept the modern ways of farming. They could not make enough money off their traditional farming methods to sustain a family in rural areas. Some people moved to the cities to find work in factories. Many emigrated to Canada or the United States, where they could acquire land for almost free. Even in Canada, change was hard for our ancestors. My great grandfather, Ben Boerjan, could not make the transition from horses to machines, and when it was time to switch to mechanized farming, Ben retired.
Spiked-tooth harrow
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Day Workers
Day workers (“dagloners”) were people who worked for a daily wage. Dagloners often worked for a “boer” but did not live in the boer’s farm. Therefore they had to provide for their own living accommodations and food, clothing for their family, and other needs. In 1822, a male dagloner earned 1 to 1.5 francs per day, and a woman earned 0.6 to 0.9 francs. If the wife did not work, the only food they could afford was porridge, soup and potatoes and hopefully rye bread. Dagloners and their families ate lots of rye bread – almost at every meal. The only variety was the food served with the rye bread. For the meal at noon, they had potatoes instead of rye bread, and no meat – just vegetables. They could even have just porridge made with milk – one of our families’ favourites. The only day they had meat was on Sunday, where beef or pork would be served with rye bread, noodles or potatoes.
To me, rye bread seems hard and dry. I don’t think I would have flourished with the dagloners’ food choices.
To supplement their income, the wife and the children often worked – the more children, the more income. Such was the economic decline – previously a family could live on the husband’s earnings, and the wife might even be able to buy rye bread, cheese and occasionally herring. Now they found it hard to make ends meet with the entire family working.
Some dagloners were farmers who tried to rent a small piece of land upon which they grew food for the family. They would have a goat for milk and they raised rabbits for meat. The goats and rabbits often lived in the same house as the family in separate quarters. They could have had pigs which they raised, then either sold one or more, slaughtering the rest for family use. The meat would have to be preserved, so hams and bacon were often soaked in brine, then smoked. The dagloners sometimes managed to save enough money to buy essential, but expensive, consumer items, such as shoes, which could cost earnings from 5 days’ work.
The Belgians
The family usually lived in a thatched cottage built in the wattle and daub style. Thatched cottages were lived in by people in many countries of the world at this time. The roofs were very durable – they were expensive to fix but lasted for years and years.
A dagloner’s work was usually seasonal, with the dagloner working full time for a farmer in May and June planting flax. Then while the flax grew, he would go to Holland to cultivate beets. Afterwards, he would return to the farm where he cultivated the flax he had planted in the spring – cultivating flax was very hard work. In August, the dagloner would prepare the flax fields for seeding using a hoe and pick.
Cultivation and Preparation of Flax
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If the dagloner owned a loom, he would contract with the farmer the spinning and weaving of the flax. In the fall, after the crops were off, spinning and weaving would carry the farmer through the winter.
Spinning
Dagloner working in the fields
Jobs for children of 10 or 11 were often working in a “weeding group” – a group of 30 to 40 children to weed the fields. Each child worked from dawn until 7:00 or 8:00 in the evening to earn half of what an adult would make.
Dagloners and their families were the ones hardest hit when bad times came because they were at the bottom of the economic ladder.
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The Family
A household consisted of a married couple, their children, and servants they may have had. The household usually had only 5 to 6 members, and more than two generations living together was very common. Three generations living together was not common due to high mortality rates and late marriages.
Children were an integral part of the household economy. In their late teens they often left their homes to find work elsewhere so they could bring income into the family. By the age of 7 girls already did housework, fed the chickens, watered the animals and carried food and drink to the men working in the fields.
If a young girl’s labour was not needed on the home farm, she left home, usually at the ages of 12 to 14, to work on another farm or household. She may have migrated to a nearby town or city to live and work in another household, or she may have worked quite far away.
My great grandmother, Nathalie Gaelens Boerjan, had two nieces who worked away from home as maids in France. They were the daughters of Nathalie’s brother, Jozef Gaelens. The girls visited the family about twice a year, bringing home any money they had earned. Once before going home, they could not resist the temptation of purchasing items for themselves which left their funds depleted, and when Jozef learned this, he was very angry because he had already inckuded that income into the expense budget. Apparently women in the Gaelens family were particularly fond of jewellery – I don’t remember my greatgrandmother having an inordinate love of jewellery. She did not seem to have huge amounts of jewelry even after Ben retired from farming – they certainly had the income where she could indulge that love if she had it.
The age of marriage was relatively late – over 26 years for men and 23 years for women. It was not unusual for the bride, after a very long courtship and engagement, to walk to the altar pregnant. This occurred with some of the Boerjan women, including Angela Switsinck Boerjan who was 8 months pregnant on her wedding day. Many women were left at the altar, or may have become widows, and they had to raise their child alone. This usually entailed taking on outside work, or sending family members off to seek work. Some even sent their children to beg on the streets – that is how desperate they were.
If income sufficed, some families even had a servant who ate and lived with the family. Women often raised their own dowry if the family’s income was low. As it took many years to save up for your marriage, this was one reason for the late marriage age.
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Flax was a big part of these families’ lives. Rural families were supported by growing and processing flax into linen cloth. This cottage industry lasted until the onset of the Industrial Revolution. This plus the failures of the harvest brought poverty, epidemics and starvation to the rural areas and was a major factor in the decision of these families to leave Belgium for North America.
In the countryside, even though starvation faced a family, children were rarely abandoned. In the cities, it was a different story, with many newborn infants being left anonymously at the foundling homes. The following is the birth certificate of Joanna Francesca Bauwens.
In Gent at 16:15 (4:15 p.m.) there appeared before me Francies Verhegghen, head of the Civil Registration: Joanne Kints, 55 years old, from the Home for Foundlings, who declared she had found yesterday at 15:30, in the "rolleken" of the Foundling Home in St. Jans Hospital a child of the female sex, about 3 months old. The child shown to us was dressed in a little linen shirt and a satin dress with white and purple stripes, a red-colored cotton scarf with white flowers, a purple cotton cap and a white undercap of piqué. She was wrapped in a white cotton bundle inside a purple-coloured cotton covering with red and white flowers. We found a short note attached to the child in Flemish that said: "Joanna Francisca Bauwens age fourteen weeks last Monday".
We registered this child as Joanna Francisca Bauwens. This official report [was prepared] in presence of Angelus Vlaemynck, 54 years-old, employee at the (sugar) refinery and Jan Francies Peelman, 33 years old, police officer, living respectively in Saint Jansdreef and Brabantdam (streets). After this certificate had been read aloud, Joanne Kints declared she couldn't write; [so] the witnesses signed with me.
February 20, 1820, Signed: JF Peelman A. Vlaemynck F. Verhegghen
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The St. Jan’s Foundling Home existed in Ghent from 1820 to 1863. In the “Register der Vondelingen”, there is a history of 7,181 children being abandoned there. Most of their histories have only a few lines covering a couple of days or weeks. This was because 75 percent of the children that were brought into St. Jans died within a very short time after their arrival. About 10 percent of the foundlings were left by maids and servants made pregnant by their masters. If the child was abandoned without a name it was named at St. Jans according to the alphabet. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~belghist/Flanders/Pages/foundling.htm
Emigration
After the decision had been made to emigrate, farmers would sell their land to pay for their fare. Repeated crop failures and the loss of the potato crops created large numbers of destitute people who were often reduced to begging and wandering around the countryside as vagabonds looking for work. “Beggar colonies” were set up near the towns and cities. Some volunteered to go into these colonies, and some were committed to them by magistrates. The municipal government was responsible for the cost of feeding and lodging these people, and often looked for ways to reduce this cost. Some were encouraged to emigrate to Central or South America but were forced to return to Belgium because of tropical diseases and ill health.
The Council of the Province of Antwerpen encouraged the placement of the “socially fallen” into beggars’ colonies, and encouraged people in these colonies to emigrate overseas to the United States or Canada at a cost of 186 francs per person. This included a ticket for passage, money for food for 77 days, kitchen utensils, pocket money, a set of trousers, a vest, working overalls, 2 shirts, 2 pairs of socks, a pair of shoes, a trunk, a towel, comb and hair brush, soap, needles and thread, a straw-filled mattress and pillow, a bed cover, and a pipe and tobacco. They were “mustered” onto the ships as sailors, to make them more acceptable – the government did not want anybody to know they came from beggars’ colonies. Some were even people who had been in jail and had their sentences commuted if they agreed to leave Belgium.
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In April 1854, the captain of the ship Ann Washburn, destined for the U.S., insisted that each emigrant have a ticket to show that he would be travelling further into the interior of the United States and would not become a burden to the city of New York when they disembarked. The U.S. ship owners had suspicions that the municipalities were sending beggars or people with prison records as regular passengers. Thus, the governor of Antwerpen spread the word that there would be no trouble if such emigrants were sent to Canada. The plan was to have these people travel to Canada, then move on to the American Midwest, thus circumventing New York and U.S. regulations. Some of the emigres never prospered and lived under the same conditions they had endured in Belgium.
Emigrant Cabin on Steamship
Between 1850 and 1885, more than a 1,000 of these beggars were sent off as emigrants, mostly to the U.S. The Red Star line after 1872 disinfected baggage to make sure that poorer emigrants from Belgium and the rest of Europe who boarded at Antwerp did not contaminate the ships with vermin.
Some immigrants may have come via the Ghent-Bruges-Ostend canal, where they would travel to England, and depart Europe for North America from there.
Our Belgium ancestors came to the U.S. in the mid to late 1890s. They had friends and relatives who had emigrated to America so they would not be entirely alone in the New World.
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Ships Sailing from Antwerp – 1892
S/S Noordland, Red Star Line, 1892-04-07, 1892-03-02 S/S Friesland, Red Star Line, 1892-04-12, 1892-03-07 S/S Conemaugh, Red Star Line, 1892-04-15, 1892-02-23 S/S Switzerland, Red Star Line, 1892-04-20, 1892-03-08 S/S Illinois, Red Star Line, 1892-03-13 S/S Rhynland, Red Star Line, 1892-04-28, 1892-03-18, 1892-02-06 S/S Nederland, Red Star Line, 1892-03-25 S/S Pennland (1), Red Star Line, 1892-03-25 S/S/ Belgenland, Red Star Line, 1892-03-28, 1892-02-14 S/S Westernland, Red Star Line, 1892-03-29 S/S Westernland (1), Red Star Line, 1892-02-23 S/S Pennsylvania, Red Star Line, 1892-03-31, 1892-02-15 S/S Waesland, Red Star Line, 1892-02-17
Ships Sailing from Hamburg – 1892
Stubbenhuk, Hamburg 1892-04-21 (Quebec) 1892-05-09 C-4538 5 Antwerp 1892-04-26 Montreal, Que
Chapter 10 – Where Our Ancestors Lived
Our Boerjan ancestors lived in many villages near Ghent throughout the years.
Village of Lembeke
At present, Lembeke is included in the municipality of Kaprijke. They two villages merged in 1976.
The entire territory was sandy moorland with a high ridge cutting across it. Lembeke either means "River by the lime-tree" or "River in loamy bed". The "Little Kaprijke Canal" was a waterway that linked Lembeke and Kaprijke to Ghent during the Middle Ages. The cloth industry was the major industry in Lembeke during the 15th and 16th centuries. Religious conflicts in the 17th century led to political and religious instability with resulting damage to many of the churches in the area. They were repaired over the next few centuries, resulting in a mix of styles. Pieter Boerejeans and his wife, Angela Switsinck, lived in Lembeke, as did Franciscus Boerejan during his two marriages, to Anne Petronelle Finet and Maria Judoca Van Cauter. Franciscus and his daughter, Marie Therese, were imprisoned in 1830.
Desire Boerjans and his wife, Sophia Taets (right), also lived in Lembeke.
The Belgians
Desire was born during the famine years. In 1864, Desire spent 1 month and 8 days in jail for marauding. From prison records, we know that Desire was 1.7 metres (5.6 feet) tall, had blue eyes, a long face, normal nose, and fair hair. Surprisingly, he did not have the famous Boerjan nose!
Kasteel Hofter Kruisen Aveschoot Manor, Lembeke
Brewery, Stockman, Lembeke
Parish Church, St Egidius, Lembeke
House in Lembeke
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Town of Maldegem
Maldegem is the largest municipality in East-Flanders. The municipality comprises the villages of Maldegem, Adegem, and Middelburg. Until the 13th century, Maldegem's territory consisted mainly of swamps and woods. From the 14th century onward, annual fairs have taken place here, a privilege given to the village by Count Louis of Male. The manor Maldegem stood under the authority of 'het Brugse Vrije'. Maldegem is often called 'the faithful'.
The community owes its good name to the bravery and loyalty of its knights of the Count of Flanders. Philip of Maldegem fought on the side of Guy of Dampierre against Filips (the king of France), was captured and his castle was burnt down. Walter of Maldegem accompanied the Count when he was captured by the French. Nevertheless, not all the knights were loyal. Eustache of Maldegem chose the side of the French! Eventually he saw that he was wrong and fought on the Flemish side at Groeningefield (Battle of the Golden Spurs 1302). The municipal hall stands centrally on the market square. This building was erected between 1907 and 1909. In the tower hangs a carillon with 18 bells. Beside the little river "Eede" lies St. Anna Park. The house at the entrance of this park is called the castle of St. Anna. In the 13th century, this building served as a hospital.
The church of St. Barbara was built in 1074. The tower dates back to the 11th century, and the choir to the 15th century. The building was destroyed in 1578 and rebuilt in 1778-1779. On the right hand side of the small road that leads to the church stands the old "Schepenhuis" (house of magistrates), which was built in 1525. A pillory was located in front of this house. A small 16th century castle still stands not far from the church, and is called "Het Kasteeltje".
The Belgians
Reesinghe Castle is situated just outside the center of the town. The present manor was built in 1858 at the same location as the stronghold of the lords of Maldegem, which was a ruin at that time. There was a fortified farm built on a small hill, surrounded by a wall, and after some time, the farm became a genuine castle.
Reesinghe Castle
Maldegem's most famous attraction is the Steamcenter. This center consists of a tourist railway, Maldegem-Eeklo, a small track Maldegem-Donk, and the station at Maldegem. In that station, built in 1862, you can admire the old steam train, steam rollers, etc.
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Maldegem 1909
The Poermolen Free primary school, public library, School founded in 1880.
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Village of Oost Eeklo
This discussion is about the little village where the Gaelens family were born and where they lived. The Gaelens family lived at Oost (East) Eeklo. My Great Grandma Boerjan (Nathalie Gaelens) used to tell my Mom and her sisters that if they weren’t good, they would be sent to Oost Eeklo. The children did not know where Oost Eeklo was, so it scared them into obedience.
If you drive from Oosteeklo to Eeklo you travel via Lembeke. Because the village is not big you probably will not find much information about it. Oosteeklo now has 2,741 inhabitants. During the childhood of our Gaelens cousins who lived in the village, there were 1,250 inhabitants. It is funny for us in Canada to call a village of 1,250 to 2,741 inhabitants a village. The town of Elrose, where the Canadian family grew up, had a population of 496 in 2016, and is classified as a town.
Oosteeklo (formerly in 1309 Oesteclo; in 1330 Oesteecloo; in 1416 Hoesteecloe; later Oost- Eeclo; and in the childhood of our Belgian cousins it was called Oost- Eeklo. It is now called Oosteeklo.)
From our cousin in Belgium:
Oosteeklo is a historic village in the Flemisch province of East Flanders which since 1976 has been a subdivision of the municipality of Assenede. Before 1976 we had a town hall in Oosteeklo, but that has now been demolished, that's why I have to go to the town hall of Assenede to find information about our family.
Oosteeklo is situated 11 km east of de city Eeklo and 19 km north of Ghent, about 9 km from the border with the Netherlands. My grandfather Jozef Gaelens worked in the Netherlands in the sugar factory in a small village called Sas Van Gent at the border of Belgium. He went on foot every day, he left at 3.00 a.m. to be on time
The oldest mention of the village is in a charter of 1226. Ename Abbey owned a stretch of marshland in the area. The soil was sandy and the landscape low-lying heathland, granted to Oosteeklo Abbey and sublet to tenant farmers. Pasturage was supplemented with woodland and a limited acreage of arable land on which mostly rye and buckwheat were grown. Flax was grown for the production of linen. In the 18th century, the village was a part of the lordship of the manor of Boekhoute.
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Oosteeklo has 2 facebook pages. The first 'Oosteeklo' with the current news. And the second "ge zijt nen echten uusteklussen os ge" where we share old pictures and memories. In the dialect Oosteeklo is "Uusteklu".
The Gaelens family lived on a street to the left.
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This is a death announcement for aunt Marguerite, daughter of Nathalie’s youngest brother Jozef. She would be Bill Boerjan’s first cousin.
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Townhall – now demolished. Records for Oosteeklo were moved to Assenede.
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Church where the Gaelens family and descendents were all baptised.
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Wooden mill.
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Stone mill of Oosteeklo.
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A farm.
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The mayor’s house.
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Home of wealthy family – then.
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Home of wealthy family – now.
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Monument with soldier from WW1.
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Our cousin’s grandfather (Jozef Gaelens) and grandmother with their 5 youngest children. Aunt Irma, at the front on the right, reminds our Belgian cousins of Auntie Vi, the daughter of Bill Boerjan.
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City of Oost Eeklo
The discussion below is about the city of Oost Eeklo.
Eeklo is a combination of two words, “eke” and “lo”, two old German words for “oak” and “sparse woods”. Eeklo was an open city in the Middle Ages, located on the border between the Catholic south and the Protestant north. Having no ramparts meant it was regularly attacked and sacked by armies and rebel soldiers. It was nearly abandoned at one time.
The center of Eeklo nowadays: city hall with the church behind it, Sunday evening, 12 May 2002. All is quiet on Eeklo's Time Square.
In 1240 the town was granted municipal rights by the Countess of Flanders Johanna of Constantinople. The whole area around Eeklo was the personal property of the Counts of Flanders, who had a hunting lodge there. The lands were sandy and marshy but were developed by religious orders so farming could be carried out there.
In 1348, the Black Death appeared in Europe. It began in the port of Sluis and infected the whole country. People everywhere panicked and the churches were full of people praying, fasting and trying to atone for their sins.
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During the Middle Ages, Eeklo belonged to the Brugese Vrije, a castellany in the county of Flanders, which might explain the specificity of the local dialect, quite different from other Western Flemish dialects. The town had trade relations with Ghent, and production of cloth increased its wealth. In the beginning of the 15th Century, the city had a flourishing textile industry and was prosperous. The cloth of Eeklo was famous as far away as Germany. This prosperity made it possible for the town council to modernize and improve the town. Education was subsidized and the guilds were revived; however, corruption, squandering and dissension eventually led to decline.
The Revolt of Ghent against Philip the Good from 1451 to 1453 meant hard times for Eeklo and its church. This church was rebuilt in 1520 after a fire destroyed its spire. During the religious disturbances and during the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648) the church was not spared. Historians will tell you this war was fought for the independence of the Protestant Netherlands from Catholic Spain. That may be so, but the people of Meetjesland did not want the Protestants living in their area anymore than they wanted the Spaniards living there. On 25 July 1578, the statues and many other ornaments of the church of Eeklo were vandalized. In 1583, part of the church was once again destroyed by fire and it was not repaired until 1612. In the winter of 1613-14, Irish soldiers used it as their barracks.
This house once was located just outside Eeklo in the Peperstraat (Peper =
Pepper) on the way to Bentille.
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By 1640, the cloth industry had completely disappeared and attempts to revive it failed. The entrepreneurs and the best weavers left for the Protestant north.
There was not only the regular passage of troops of all kinds and economic decline through the area, but the people were also the victims of epidemics such as plague, typhus, and small pox. In 1693-94, child mortality was between 30 and 50 percent of total mortality.
Needless to say, in those days there were many beggars in Eeklo and industry and commerce stagnated into a deep depression, especially when French or Dutch soldiers raided the town. In 1718, famine ravaged much of Europe, as well as Belgium, as frost killed crops, fruit trees and domestic fowl as far south as the Mediterranean Coast.
In Eeklo, like elsewhere during the Austrian period, the economy recovered slowly but surely. The flax and linen industry revived but not the wool trade. All hope was placed on agriculture. Ruined farms were rebuilt, the woods were taken care of, and land left fallow for years and years was tilled again. The grain markets came back to life and more commerce meant more taxes for the treasury of the town.
Eeklo during this period became an important educational center thanks to the efforts of the Récollet Brothers, a Catholic order.
The church in the city of Eeklo was in a sorry state and signs of the destruction carried out by the Calvinists a century earlier were still clearly visible everywhere. Around 1775, the edifice was open to the public even though it was old and weakened. It would be another hundred years before a new church was built.
The Holy Cross and Notre Dame Churches were built between 1781 and 1784 by the burgomaster of Lembeke. The Lembeke church served as a model. Inside the church is located a beautiful Van Peteghem organ dating from the second half of the 18th century.
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In 1793, France was in the middle of the murderous French Revolution. The terrorists themselves had taken control. In January, King Louis XVI was guillotined. Mary-Antoinette followed him in October. On 10 July 1794, the French invaded Eeklo and took everything they could lay their hands on, including grain, horses and other lifestock. When there was nothing left to steal, they imposed very heavy war taxes. The population of Belgium was so impoverished that in desperation even the most virtuous started thieving. On 1 October 1795, Belgium was officially annexed and incorporated into France. Napoleon decided that Eeklo would be part of the Scheld Department and promoted the city to capital of the district. Eeklo also received a tribunal.
The living standards of the inhabitants of Eeklo gradually improved, however, not for long. Napoleon's dictatorship came to an end at Waterloo in 1815 and now for better or worse the North (now the Netherlands) and the South (now Belgium) were reunited into one Kingdom under Willem I of Orange of the Netherlands.
Willem I of Orange
In 1866, Eeklo had 5,895 illiterate persons out of a population of 9,544. Perhaps these figures are misleading because quite possibly the babies were counted among the illiterates. It is perhaps more interesting to know that in 1862-63 only 241 candidate soldiers from Eeklo out of 491 had received "tuition" ("onderwijs"). No doubt a lot of those 241 could barely write their name. ("De Familie De Crop", C. De Crop, in "De Eik" (The Oak), 1984, p. 110).
Eeklo Municipal Flag
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City of Eeklo 1910
City of Eeklo Train Station
City of Eeklo – St. Vincent Church
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City of Eeklo – 1905
City of Eeklo – Convent
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City of Eeklo Cattle Market – 1899
City of Eeklo – 1878
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City of Eeklo – Le Moulin et la Chapelle de St. Sépulcre
City of Eeklo – De Kerk en de Groote Markt
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City of Eeklo
City of Eeklo as it would have looked 1880
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Our grandparents may have visited these very sites when they returned to Belgium to live in about 1899 or 1900. Great Grandma Boerjan (Nathalie) had had sisters and brothers living there. Perhaps she visited her brother, Josef Gaelens. The Boerjans returned to the U.S. in January 1901.
The ship they travelled on when they returned to the U.S. was the SS Kensington and landed at Ellis Island.
Whether the Boerjans settled at Ghent, Oost Eeklo, Lembeke or Maldegem when they lived in Belgium is unknown, but it was probable in Ghent.
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City of Ghent
Ghent is located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province. The city began as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Leie. In the Middle Ages, it became one of the largest and richest cities of northern Europe.
Archaeological evidence shows people have lived at the confluence of these two rivers since the Stone Age and the Iron Age. Ghent is derived from the Celtic word ‘ganda’ which means “confluence”. Initially the people in this area spoke Celtic and Latin, however, when the Franks invaded the Roman territories in the 4th and 5th centuries, they spoke ‘Old Dutch”, which was spoken thereafter.
In about 650, St. Amand founded St. Peter’s Abbey and St. Bavo’s Abbey in Ghent. The city was attacked and plundered twice by the Vikings. During the Middle Ages, Ghent was the leading city for the manufacture of cloth.
By the 11th century, Ghent was the largest city in Europe after Paris. Within the city walls lived 65,000 people. The first industrialized zone in Ghent was devoted to the wool industry. Wool was imported from Scotland and England. Raw wool was baled and shipped from North Sea ports to the textile cities of Flanders, notably Ypres and Ghent, where it was dyed and worked up as cloth. Trade with England suffered significantly during the Hundred Year’s War.
ca 1534
The Belgians
Ghent recovered in the 14th century when Flanders was united with neighbouring provinces under the Dukes of Burgundy. High taxes led to a revolt. Eventually, Flanders was ruled by the House of Habsburg. In 1500, Charles V, who was born in Ghent, punished the people of Ghent after the city’s nobles revolted.
St. Michael’s Bridge
St. Bavo
Under the rule of Philip II of Spain (son of Charles V) Ghent suffered like most other cities of Flanders and the low countries under the continuous religious troubles between Protestants and Catholics. Many people left the impoverished Flanders and settled in England and Germany. It was only under the Archdukes Albert and Isabella that Ghent would flourish once more. Later, the economic situation improved thanks to the construction of the canal between the Ghent harbor and the city of Ostende. War, however, was never far away, especially when Louis XIV of France repeatedly tried to conquer Flanders.
Louis XIV
The Belgians
The Eighty Year’s War in the 16th and 17th centuries ended Ghent’s role as the centre of international importance. In 1745 the city was captured by French forces during the War of the Austrian Succession before being returned to Empire of Austria. This part of Flanders was known as the Austrian Netherlands until 1814. The Treaty of Ghent was signed in 1815, which ended the War of 1812. After the Battle of Waterloo, Ghent and Flanders became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands with the northern Dutch for 15 years. Ghent was occupied by the Germans in both World Wars and escaped severe destruction.
The Austrian period of the 18th century again brought peace and prosperity. New industries were developed (sugar refineries and cotton mills).
The number of inhabitants tripled in the 19th century. The miserable working and housing conditions of the working-class resulted in the creation of the first Belgian trade union in Ghent. Ghent also played an important part in the Flemish movement in Belgium. In 1886 the Royal Academy of Language and Literature was founded. In 1930 the Ghent University became a Dutch-language university. Now, Ghent has a population of about 250.000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Belgian province of East-Flanders.
Ghent University, a former monastery
Chapter 11 – Religion
In the 7th century, abbeys were founded in remote places and this is where the country was Christianized. This was conducted under Charlemagne, who waged war to impose Christianity on the region. During the Reformation, the influence of the Protestant religions appeared in Belgium. The Lutherans even had martyrs in Belgium in the early 1500s. Then Spain, who showed no tolerance for Protestants, came to control the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (of which Belgium was a part) and outlawed any other religions but Catholicism.
The south of the Netherlands had a large population of Roman Catholics and the north was mainly Protestant. The union of north and south split up in 1830 and the south formed the Kingdom of Belgium which consisted of three areas – Flanders, which spoke Dutch and many were Catholics, Wallonia, which spoke French and most were Catholic, and Luxembourg.
Roadside Chapel
In most families, at least one son or daughter took Holy Orders as a priest or nun. Roman Catholicism played a major role in the lives of our ancestors who emigrated to North America.
Everywhere you go in Belgium, even today, simple chapels are located along the roads and at crossroads and were common places of worship for ordinary folk who often stopped to pray. Some simply consist of a crucifix attached to a tree, or a little box attached to a tree with a crucifix and a small altar inside. Passersby can stop and say a few prayers at these small chapels.
The Belgians
St. Bavo Cathedral
Van Eyck’s Altarpiece
The Belgians
Saint Jacobs, Ghent
St. Nicholas Church, Ghent
Chapter 12 – Gaelens
Nathalie (Nellie) Gaelens was born in the village of Oost Eeklo on July 27, 1870. Her father registered her birth on July 28. She grew up in a large family. Nellie’s Great Grandfather was Jooris Gaelens, and her Great Grandmother was Johanna Francisca de Bul.
Jooris Gaelens
Jooris Gaelens - Born about 1780 - Deceased ?
Spouse and Child - Married to Johanna Francisca de Bul, ca 1780 o Pieter Francies Gaelens, born 1808
Address: Oosteeklo, Stroomstraat
The Belgians
Nellie’s grandparents were Pieter Francies Gaelens and Marie Theresia Van Hoecke.
Pieter Francies Gaelens
Pieter Francies Gaelens - Born about 1808 - Deceased - Werkman (Labourer)
Spouse - Married to Marie Theresia Van Hoecke, born about 1808
Pieter Francies and Maria Theresia Van Hoecke has 13 children, some of whom died very young. Augustus, Pieter’s brother, was married to Eduard’s wife’s sister, Amelia Hollebosch.
o Pieter_Francies ca 1808- and Maria_Theresia Van_Hoecke ca 1801- o Eduard 1836-1887 and Virginie Hollebosch 1843-1925 o Petrus 1865- o Johannes 1866-1875 o August 1867-1868 o August 1868- o Nathalie 1870- o Eliza Marie 1872-1872 o Francies 1873- & Marie Baeke 1888- o Charles_Louis 1876- o Raymond 1878- o Prosper 1880- o Jacobus_Leopold 1882- o Leontine 1884-1947 o Jozef 1886-1965 and Melanie Van_Hamme 1891-1968 o Maria_Martha 1911-/1991 & Maurits Van_Semmertier o Martha_Maria 1913-/1991 & Sylvair David o Clara & Maurits Courteaux o Albert_Leo & Julia De_Muynck o Marcel_Antoine (1921-1991) o Marguerite_Leonie & Julien Van_Goethem o Irma_Celina & Robert Spanoghe o Franscina_Maria & Jerôme_Camiel Closse * o Andrea & Roger Van_Ryssel o Augustus 1838-1877 & Amelia Hollebosch 1836-1918 o Petrus 1856- o Leonie 1866- &1895 August Baeke 1860- o Frans 1871- & Marie Baecke o Gustaaf 1907-1994 & Madeleine Bauwens o Octavie 1877-1964 & Charles_Louis De_Roo 1875-1952
* Our cousin’s family in Belgium.
The Belgians
Nellie’s Mother’s Side – Nellie’s grandfather:
Livinus Hollebosch
Born 15 January 1790 - Oosteeklo Baptized 15 January 1790 - Oosteeklo Deceased 23 August 1857 - Oosteeklo, age at death: 67 years old
Parents
Joannes_Bernardus Hollebosch 1751-1824 Maria_Anna Roegiers 1760-1824
Spouse and children
Married to Livina_Maria Lippens 1803-1887 with . Amelia Hollebosch 1836-1918 o Felicita Hollebosch 1837- . Monica Hollebosch 1842-1900/ . Virginie Hollebosch 1843-1925 married Eduard Gaelens
Siblings
o Francisca Hollebosch 1791-1848 o Maria_Carolina Hollebosch 1792- o Francies Hollebosch 1793-1848 o Petrus_Bernard Hollebosch 1794- Carolus_Francies Hollebosch 1795-1880
Address: Oosteeklo
The Belgians
Virginie Hollebosch
Virginie Hollebosch, Nellie’s mother, was born on October 19, 1843, and she was a field worker. Her father was Livinus Hollebosch, and he died at Oost Eeclo on August 23, 1857. Her mother was Livinne Marie Lippens, born 1776, who was a small farmer.
These were the children of Eduard Gaelens and Virginie Hollebosch.
Petrus (Peter) Gaelens born on February 19, 1865 at 11.00 am, died October 20, 1938, Moline, Rock Island, Illinois, USA. He moved to the U.S. with a brother, Raymond, in the 1890s. Joannes Gaelens born on March 3, 1866 at 6.00 am and died on November 26, 1875 at 6.00 pm, at age 9. Augustus Gaelens born on April 25, 1867 at 9.00 am and died on September 29, 1868 at 11.00 am, at 17 months. Augustus Gaelens born on September 29, 1868 at 10.00 am and passed on July 1, 1915 at Sint Jan Baptist in Zelzate age age 47.
Note that Augustus II was born an hour before his older brother, Augustus I, died. What a day it must have been for Virginie – she gave birth to a baby the same hour her 1 year-old died. The parents, Eduard and Virginie, must have decided to name Augustus II after their first baby after Augustus I died.
Nathalie (Nellie) Gaelens born July 27, 1870 at 07.00 pm and passed in 1956 in Saskatchewan, Canada. Elisa-Maria Gaelens born on November 6, 1872 at 10.00 pm and died on December 17, 1872 at 4.00 am at 2 months. Franciscus Gaelens born on December 1873 at 4.00 am and died on May 4, 1962. He was married to Maria Backe. He was 89 when he died so he lived to a ripe old age.
On Franciscus Gaelens, Jozef Gaelens’ granddaughter, Ingrid Closse, our cousin, only found that he had one son, Charles Louis Gustave Gaelens. When Charles was 24 years old, together with his father, he registered the death of his baby daughter Georgette Marie Joseph Gaelens who was born in Sleidinge on January 2, 1930 and passed away on August 24, 1932 in her father's house on the Weststraat in Oosteeklo where Charles was living at the time. Georgette's mother was Madeleine Bauwens, who was unmarried. At the time in Sleidinge there was what we call 'a mother house'. This was a place where women had their babies (a maternity hospital), with no other kinds of patients treated there.
The Belgians
Charles Louis Gaelens born on July 10, 1876 at 10.00 pm and died May 11, 1906 at Sint Jan Baptist in Zelzate. He was 30 years old when he died. Raymond Gaelens born on June 16, 1878 at 2.00 am. – moved to the U.S. with Peter, according to the Gaelens family in Belgium. Prosper Gaelens born on June 16, 1880 at 3.00 am and died on November 1, 1956 at Sint Guislain in Gent. He was 76 years old when he died. Jacobus Leopold Gaelens born on September 5, 1882 at 8.00 am and died on March 7, 1949 at Sint Guislain in Gent. He was 67 when he died. Leontina Gaelens born on September 26, 1884 at 8.00 am and died on May 7, 1947 at the psychriatic hospital on the Oostveldstraat in Eeklo. She was unmarried. She was 63 when she died. Joseph (Jozef) Gaelens born on November 4, 1886 at 11.00 pm and died on January 29, 1965. He was 79 when he died. He was married on October 11, 1912 to Melanie Van Hamme, who was born on May 9, 1891 and died on January 30, 1968. They had 9 children. Their Granddaugher, Ingrid Closse, has been in touch with the family in Canada and provided this genealogy information.
Hollebosch sisters marry Gaelens Brothers
Augustus Gaelens, uncle of Nathalie, was born in 1839 and was married to Amalea Hollebosch, Virginie’s sister, who was born in 1837. They also lived on the Stroomstraat in Oosteeklo and had 5 children. Augustus worked as a dagloner. He died in the mental institution of Zelzate in 1877. In the year of his death his youngest daughter was born.
At the age of 22, Petrus Gaelens went to register the death of Eduard Gaelens, his father, at the town hall of Oosteeklo. On information from our cousin in Belgium, Ingrid Closse, Petrus and Raymond travelled to the U.S. They thought that Petrus and Raymond came at the same time as Nathalie, however, Petrus (Pete) and possibly Raymond came a few years before Nathalie travelled to the U.S. Because Nellie was not living at home at this time, the family was probably not kept updated on information about Nellie and her brothers.
Nellie arrived in Philadelphia on August 8, 1893, and she travelled alone according to the Passenger List of the ship, Pennsylvania.
The Belgians
I found Petrus Gaelens’ death registration on Ancestry.com –
Petrus died on October 20, 1938, Moline, Rock Island, Illinois at age 73. Father: Hollis Gaelens. Profession: Laborour. Residence: Coal Valley, Rock Island, Buried, October 24, So. Moline, Rock Island, Illinois (Ancestry.com).
His father’s name was a bit of a confusion: his mother was Virginie Hollebosch and his father was Eduard Gaelens. Because Petrus spoke Dutch and probably did not speak English too well, the registration of his parents’ name, probably when he arrived in the U.S., could easily have gotten mixed up by the person registering him.
Prosper and Jacobus passed away in the psychiatric hospital of Sint Guislain in Gent. The hospital was founded in 1857 by Dr. Jozef Guislain. When the number of patients continued to increase, a new ward was opened in 1864 with the name of Sint Jan Baptist. This is where Augustus and Charles passed away. During World War I, one out of three patients at the Sint Guislain died of starvation. After the war, the ward had to be rebuilt.
St. Guisland, Ghent
The Belgians
Nellie was the 5th child of Eduard Gaelens and Virginie Hollebosch. Jozef, the grandfather of our cousin Ingrid, was number 13 in line and the youngest. Virginie, Nellie’s mother, gave birth to 10 boys and 3 girls. As was common in those days, some of them died in infancy.
Nellie when she was younger.
The records also mention Jan Francis Boerjan, who was a neighbour of Eduard Gaelens and Virginie Hollebosch. They may be part of the family of Great Grandpa Ben Boerjan (Nellie's husband).
Chapter 13 – Boerjans
Generation 1
Joannes (Boerjan) married Theresia Cordeman.
The last name of Joannes is not known. Only at the birth of his first child is the name “Briant” written in his baptism book; by his second child, “Broyan” was written; by his third child, “Brejan” was written, and by his fourth child, “Bruhans” was written in the baptism book.
From this marriage came:
1. Martina Briant, born at Maldegem on June 21, 1648, died 1684, perhaps in childbirth as they had only been married 11 years. Married at Maldegem on April 27, 1673 to Martinua Bollaert
2. Hubertus Broyan, born at Maldegem on March 10, 1650. Died at Maldegem on May 5, 1700. Married Magdalena de Jaegere in 1685. Married Maria Mattheus in 1697. Married X de Vuldere in 1700.
3. Cornelia Brejan, born at Maldegem on January 21, 1652. Died at Maldegem on March 10, 1728. Married to Judocus Depaepe, who died before 1728.
4. Jacobus Bruhans was born at Maldegem on September 21, 1653 (at the time of his first marriage it was written Bourjan, and at the time of his first wife’s death on May 31, 1701). He married Cornelia Pickelbeen in 1696 and Guillelma Wilhelmina van Ooteghem in 1701. The name was written Bruan after his second marriage on August 1, 1701. He died in 1715 at Maldegem.
In the family tree of Jean Michel Tonneau, Joannes and his wife are called Jan Briant and Theresia Cordeman.
http://gw.geneanet.org/pamaprijelo?lang=es;pz=confidentiel;nz=confidentiel;ocz=300;p=jaco b;n=bruhans
The Belgians
Generation 2
Jacobus Bruhans - (at his first marriage was written Bourjan, and at the time of death of his first wife on May 31, 1701. The name was written Bruan after his second marriage on August 1, 1701.) He was born at Maldegem on September 21, 1653. He was married first at Maldegem on June 24, 1696 to Cornelia Pickelbeen, who died at Maldegem on May 31, 1701.
From this marriage came:
1. Petrus Bourjans (with his marriage in 1719 came the commonly used name “Bruan”). He was born at Maldegem on June 29, 1697. He died on June 15 at the age of 53, and was buried on June 17, 1750, at St. Kruis. He married Joanna Gilleman, who died on January 14, 1729 at St. Kruis. Four children were born of this marriage. He married Godelieve Govaert on February 27, 1729, at St. Kruis. She died on September 24, 1777 at St. Kruis. There were 7 children born of this marriage. In total, Petrus had 11 children in all. 2. Judocus Bourian (at his death came the name “Bruan”), born at Maldegem on Twins June 6, 1699, died at Maldegem on June 8, 1699. 3. Cornelis Bourian, born at Maldegem on June 6, 1699, and died at Maldegem on June 8, 1699.
Jacobus married for a second time at Maldegem on August 1, 1701 to Wilhelmina van Ootteghem, who was born in 1673 and died at Maldegem on December 12, 1715. There was a 20 year age difference between Jacobus and Wilhelmina.
From this marriage came:
1. Joannes Bruan (with his marriage the name “Boerejans” was used). Joannes was born at Maldegem on December 29, 1702 and died at Maldegem on November 21, 1758, at the age of 56.
2. Elisabeth Bruan, born at Maldegem on April 10, 1706.
3. Joanna Bruan (Boerjan the registered name at death). Born at Maldegem on October 24, 1708, baptized at Maldegem, died at Maldegem on October 31, 1708 – he only lived 8 days.
From the above-located research, there is a diverse variety in the last name. Within this family were used the names Bruhans, Bourjan, Bruan, Bourjans, Bourian and Boerjan.
The Belgians
Generation 3
Joannes Bruan (at his marriage the name “Boerejans” was used). He was born at Maldegem on December 29, 1702, and died at Maldegem on November 21, 1758 at age 56. He was married on April 13, 1728 to Marie Anne de Vrieze, who was born about 1705, and who died at Maldegem on June 28, 1757 at age 52.
From this marriage came:
1. Anne Maria Boerjan, born at Maldegem on January 12, 1729. She died at Maldegem on March 23, 1729, at 2 months, 11 days old.
2. Petronella Barbara Boerjan (at her death the name “Boerian” was used in the register). She was born at Maldegem on March 18, 1730, and died at Maldegem on May 6, 1736, at 6 years of age.
3. Maria Francisca Boerjan, born at Maldegem on March 2, 1733.
4. Clara Boerjan, born at Maldegem on January 16, 1736, and died at Maldegem on July 14, 1756, at 20 years of age.
5. Pieter Boerejans, born at Maldegem on February 20, 1738, and died at Lembeke on January 7, 1818 at 80 years of age.
6. Joanna Boerjan, born at Maldegem on October 31, 1740, married to Georgius Kockuijt.
7. Joseph Boerjan, born at Maldegem on March 3, 1748, and died at Lembeke on March 15, 1817 at 69 years of age. He was married for a time at Basselvelde on April 30, 1774 to Anna Maria de Koningh, who was born at Bassevelde and died at Bassevelde on January 27, 1808. He married a second time at Lembeke on September 10, 1810 to Petronella Isabella Soens, who was born at Waarschoot on April 21, 1764, and died at Lembeke on August 4, 1811 at 47 years of age. Note: In the civil register, it stated that Petronella Soens married Joseph on September 15, 1808, and that she was the widow of Ferdinant Van Belle, who died at Lembeke.
8. Regina Barbara Boerjan, born at Maldegem on December 13, 1745, and died at Maldegem on April 28, 1748 at 3 years, 4 months.
The Belgians
9. Petronilla Cornelia Boerjan, born at Maldegem on February 18, 1749, no known occupation*, and died at Maldegem on June 21, 1753 at 4 years, 4 months. (*No known occupation on the register usually indicates that the person died as a child).
10. Isabella Clara Boerjan, born at Maldegem on August 6, 1752, died at Kaprijke on November 26, 1819, at 67 years of age. She was married firstly to Petrus van de Wijnckel, secondly to Josephus Haudor, and thirdly at Kaprijke, July 17, 1798, to Petrus Deroose who was born at Ichtegem ca 1762 and died at Kaprijke on March 1, 1814.
Joannes Bruan married a second time at Maldegem on June 25, 1758, to Joanne Verbeke. After his first marriage Joannes had been widowed for one year. They were married for six months when Joannes died at age 56.
His second wife was left with five underage children, 6, 9, 15, 18 and 20 years old.
1795 – FORMER AUSTRIAN NETHERLANDS ANNEXED TO FRANCE
The Belgians
Generation 4
Pieter Boerejans was born at Maldegem on February 20, 1738, and died at Lembeke on January 7, 1818 at 80 years of age. He was married on May 1, 1773 at Lembeke to Angela Switsinck, who was baptized at Lembeke on September 27, 1752, and died at Lembeke on October 13, 1804 at age 52. At the time of their marriage, Pieter was 35 and Angela was 21. Interesting note: she was 8 months pregnant at the time of their marriage.
From this marriage came:
1. Petronella Boerejan, born at Lembeke on July 9, 1773, and died at Bassevelde on December 10, 1851, at 78 years of age. She was married to Georgius Bauwens, who died on August 25, and was buried on August 27, 1826, at Bassevelde.
2. Isabella Boerjans, born at Lembeke on November 7, 1774, married at Kaprijke on January 10, 1801 to Jacob de Decker, who was born at Kaprijke on September 1, 1780, a day labourer.
3. Petrus Franciscus Boerejan, born at Lembeke on August 11, 1776, and died at Lembeke on August 31, 1780, at 4 years of age.
4. Joannes Boerejan, born at Lembeke on January 19, 1778, died April 28, 1846*.
Op 28 augustus 1846, om 9 uur 's-avonds, is in de woning van Bernard Taets, Beekstratte te Lembeke, overleden Joseph Boerjan, 60 jaar ongehuwd en zoon van Pieter Boerjan en Livina Coppens. Deze Joseph zou dus ca 1786 geboren moeten zijn. Maar Pieter is pas in een 2e huwelijk in 1804 met Livina Coppens getrouwd. Vermoedelijk is dit het overlijden van Jonnes Boerjan geboren 19 January 1778 uit het 1e huwelijk van Pieter met Angela Switsinck.
*August 28, 1846, at 9 a.m.-night, in the home of Bernard Taets, Beekstratte to Lembeke, Joseph Boerjan died, at 60 years old. He was the unmarried son of Peter and Livina Coppens Boerjan. This Joseph was born about 1786. Peter entered into a 2nd marriage in 1804 with Livina Coppens. Presumably it is the death of Jonnes Boerjan born 19 January 1778 from the 1st marriage of Peter with Angela Switsinck.
The Belgians
5. Franciscus Boerejan, born at Lembeke on March 11, 1780, died at Lembeke on April 5, 1839, at 59. He married Anne Petronella Finet at Lembeke on July 30, 1808. She was 38 and he was 28. She was born at Lembeke on June 18, 1770 and died there on September 25, 1808 (married for only 2 months at time of death). When Franciscus married Anne Petronella Finet, she was the widow of Andre Deltour. The marriage to Franciscus (Francies) and Anne lasted only 57 days when Anne died.
Franciscus married for a second time to Maria Judoca Van Cauter on October 13, 1809, at Lembeke. She was 23 and he was 29. She was baptized at Lembeke on July 30, 1786, and died there on November 30, 1867 at age 81. Marie and Franciscus had 9 children.
At the Correctional Tribunal of Ghent, Francies was sentenced on January 22, 1830 at age 50, to three months in prison for theft. On the same day, his daughter, Marie Therese, was also sentenced to 14 days in prison, for theft. Francies served his sentence from April 24, 1830 to July 24, 1830, and Marie served her sentence from April 24, 1830 to May 3, 1830.
6. Bernardus Boerjan, born at Lembeke on September 4, 1782, labourer, died at Kaprijke on April 4, 1821 at age 49. He was married at Hoofdplaat on December 12, 1814 to Anna Catharina Foossens, who was born at Kilsdonk around 1771, and died at Kaprijke on March 19, 1821 at the age of 50.
Het heeft Bermar veei moeite gekost om te kunnen trouwen. Het huwelijk heeft plaatsgevonden te Hoofdplaat en niet in Yzendijke waar Bernardus toen woonde. Eeen en ander blijkt uit onderstannde brief.
"Mijn Heer d'Heer Burge meester toi Hoofdplaat.
Mijn Heer brengen dezes Bernard Boerjan zoude gaarne trouwen, hij loopt sedert een jaar om zulks hier gedaan te krijgen dog het heeft nog niet konnen lukken om reden hij den doodbrief van zijne aanstaande vrouwsmoeder niet heeft, of kan dat het Caphiel op het een of ander van zijn papieren niet staat, het is maar een niets beduijdende kieynigheid die er aan mankeert, en ik zoude hem gerust daarvan trouwen, dog gij weet onze burgemeester is op dat stuk zeer moeyelijk. Zoo gij dat konde
The Belgians
besluyten om die wens hen te trouwen, mits zij betalen, zie ik er geen den minste zwarigheid in, en ik zal zoo gij wilt de publicatie van ondertrouw hier doen, schoon dat ook al niet nodig is. Yzend; 7 november 1814 EU Dienaar A. Faro"
As best as I can make out, there seemed to be a problem with the marriage in that Bernardus had not produced his mother’s obituary/death certificate. On November 7, 1814, the Burgermaster of Hoofdplaat said he did not wish to marry them until he has received this. Also, marriage banns had to be posted in the church for three successive Sundays at Mass, after which the Burgermaster would give them permission to marry once they had paid the fee. Once the banns were successfully posted, the couple was married on November December 12, 1814.
7. Ignatius Boerejan, born at Lembeke on January 8, 1785, died at Lembeke on June 8, 1786, at 18 months of age.
8. Petrus Boerejan, born at Lembeke on February 23, 1787, married at Zuidzande on November 4, 1817, to Collette Gilles, spinster.
9. Carolus Bourjan, born at Lembeke on January 26, 1789.
10. Georgius Boerejan, born at Lembeke on May 2, 1791, died at Ichtegem on January 29, 1867, married to (1) Anna Therese Ioye at Ichtegem on December 28, 1816; she was born September 12, 1795, spinster, at Torhout, died at Ichtegem on October 10, 1833. They had 7 children; (2) Regina Geneveva Turloot at Ichtegem on January 25, 1834; she was born at Ichtegem on September 16, 1802, spinster, and died at Ichtegem on October 9, 1859. They had 5 children.
11. Zonder Nam (stillborn child) born in 1793.
12. Maria Theresia Johanna Boerejan, born at Lembeke on December 21, 1794, died at Bassevelde on January 17, 1884. She married Joseph Anjun on February 16, 1826, at Boekhoute. Joseph was born at Selsaete on July 30, 1786, and died at Bassevelde on June 21, 1864.
The Belgians
Joseph Anjun was eerst gheuwd geweest met Joanna Marie de Vleeschauwer, die op 17 oktober 1825 te Boekhoute is overleden.
(Joseph Anjun had first been treated (married) with Joanna Marie de Vleeschauwer, who died on 17 October 1825 in Boekhoute.)
Pieter Boerejans married a second time at Bassevelde on December 11, 1805 to Livina M. Coppens, baptized in Lembeke on August 1, 1767, and died at Lembeke on April 30, 1840. From this marriage came:
1. Marie Therese Boerejan, born at Lembeke on November 25, 1806, no occupation, died at Lembeke on December 25, 1806, at 1 month of age.
2. Jan Baptiste Boerejan, born at Lembeke on July 25, 1808, died at Lembeke on March 13, 1857, married at Lembeke on August 29, 1832 to Marie Colete Pauwels, who was born at Kaprijke on July 7, 1806, and died at Lembeke on May 28, 1863. Marie had 13 births resulting in 1 living son, Angelus. Bruno lived for 10 months, Joannes Baptiste lived for half a day (12 hours), she had 4 stillborn boys and 2 stillborn girls – Marie Therese lived for 2 days, Julie lived 1 day, Amelia died at 2 months, and Jacobus died at 2 months, 20 days. Marie Colete must have had a problem giving birth.
Van 29 october 1835 tot en met 28 november heeft Jan in de gevangenis te Gent doorgebracht. Hiertoe was hij veroordeeld, wegens diefstal, door het Correctioneel Trubinaal te Gent op Juni 1835. Jan was 1.71 m lang, had een grote neus en blauwe ogen.
From 29 October 1835 to 28 November, Jan, at age 22, was in prison in Ghent. To this end, he was convicted of theft by the Correctional Tribunal Ghent on June 1835. Jan was 1.71 metres tall (5.6 feet), had a big nose and blue eyes. Obviously he sported the famous “Boerjan nose”.
1830 – Belgium declares independence, Kingdom of Belgium formed as a Constitutional Monarchy.
The Belgians
Generation 5
Franciscus Boerejan, born at Lembeke on March 11, 1780, and died at Lembeke on April 5, 1839 at age 59. He was married for a time at Lembeke on July 30, 1808 to Anne Petronella Finet, who was born at Lembeke on June 18, 1770, and died at Lembeke on September 25, 1808, after 2 months of marriage. She was 38 years old. Franciscus was 28.
Franciscus was married a second* time, at age 29, at Lembeke on October 13, 1809 to Marie Judoca Van Cauter, who was baptized at Lembeke on July 30, 1786, and died at Lembeke on November 30, 1867 at the age of 81. She was 23 when they married.
From this marriage came.
1. Marie Therese Bourjan, born at Lembeke on July 15, 1811, and died at Lembeke on May 12, 1880. She had one child, Petrus Boerjan, who was born and died on December 23, 1840 at Lembeke.
Marie married Pieter Francis Hontele on December 1, 1876 at age 65. Pieter Francis was born at Assenede on September 27, 1814, and died at Boekhoute on May 18, 1891.
Marie had her child, Petrus, at age 29, married Pieter at age 65, and died at age 69.
Marie Therese must have led a hard life because, at age 19, she was imprisoned for theft in 1830 for 14 days, incidentally at the same time as her father, who was imprisoned for 3 months. In those days, a person was sometimes forced to steal food to feed their families or themselves.
2. Marie Francoise Boerejans, born at Lembeke on July 7, 1813 and died at Bassevelde on February 28, 1862, at the age of 49. Marie Francoise was married to Livinus van Heesvelde, who was born at Oost Eeklo on May 3, 1814. He was a labourer.
3. Joannes Boerejans, born at Lembeke on September 15, 1816, and died at Ghent on October 8, 1902, at age 86. Joannes was married to Rosalia Van De Kerkhove at Lembeke on May 22, 1846. She was born at Lembeke on August 12, 1824, and died at St. Nicolaas on April 16, 1894 at age 70. They had one child, Eduardus Boerjan, who was born at Lembeke on December 1, 1846, and died at Lembeke on June 6, 1847, at 18 months.
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Bij een vonnis van de rechtbank te Gent van 5 december 1838 is Joannes veroordeeld tot een gevangenisstraf van een jaar en een dag. In het gevangenis register isvermeld: "Betigt van diefte van een verken". Zjn signalement was; lang 1.66 m; blauwe ogen; gewoon gezicht. Hij is op 28 januari 1839 opgenomen in het arrest ant enhuiste Gent enop24februari 1839overgebracht naar het gevang a. Bernard.
Toen Joannes trouwde heeft hij hiervoor toestemming gekregen van de colonel-commandant van het le regiment Linie, waar hij alsremplancant voor de lichting 1840 was.
In a judgment of the court in Ghent on December 5, 1838, Joannes, at 22 years of age, was sentenced to imprisonment for a year and a day. In the prison register, it stated "Betigt van diefte van een verken."- caution of the theft of a pig. In his permanent report, it indicated he was 1.66 metres long (5 feet, 4 inchs tall), had blue eyes and a just face. He was recorded on January 28, 1839 in the ant enhuiste Gent judgment of the 24th of February, 1839, transferred to the prison St. Bernard de Clairvaux House of Correction. Joannes married when he had been given permission from the colonel-commandant of the regiment of the Line, where he was alsremplancant for a levy in 1840.
4. Sophie Boerejans, born at Lembeke on January 17, 1819, and died at Lembeke on March 25, 1858 at age 39. Sophie was married at Lembeke on May 20, 1842, to Angelus De Pape who was born at Lembeke on December 9, 1811, labourer, who died at Lembeke on February 15, 1881.
5. Naamloos Boerjan, born and died at Lembeke on June 4, 1821. This child is only recorded in the death register and not in the birth register. It is mentioned in the death register that "the child lived only a few minutes – it did not mention a name.
6. Joannes Baptiste Bourjans, born at Lembeke on April 7, 1823, and died at Oost Eeklo on February 27, 1864 at age 41. He married Amelia Geiregat at Basselvelde on April 7, 1861. She was born at Bassevelde on February 23, 1835 and died on November 18, 1865, at age 30. Joannes’s surname at the wedding was Boerjans. The couple only had one child, Joannes Baptiste Boerjan, who was born at Oost Eeklo on August 30, 1861. Joannes married for a second time to Joannes B. Backe.
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7. Desire Boerjans, born at Lembeke on May 23, 1826, and died at Lembeke on May 22, 1894, at age 68. Desire married Sophia Taets on August 13, 1853 at Lembeke. Sophia was born at Lembeke on February 9, 1832, and died at Lembeke on July 9, 1909 at 77. She had been widowed for 15 years at the time of her death.
Desire was also in jail at age 38. In 1864, he was imprisoned for 1 month and 8 days for marauding. We know from the prison records that he was 1.7 metres (5 feet, 6 inches) tall, had blue eyes, a long face, a normal nose, and fair hair.
8. Catharina Bourjan, born at Lembeke on August 15, 1829, no occupation. She died at Lembeke on January 12, 1835 at 6 years of age.
9. Petrus Francies Boerjan, born at Lembeke on July 1, 1833, died at Hoboken, Belgium, on April 22, 1920, at 87. His first wife was Helena Van Hijfte, whom he married on February 4, 1856 at Oost Eeklo. She was born at Eeklo on June 21, 1834, and died there on December 2, 1866. They had three children. Helena lived to the age of 32. Petrus’s second wife was Antonia Hollevoet, whom he married at Zelzaete, Belgium, on February 28, 1867. She was born at Zelzaete on April 10, 1840, and died at Hoboken on December 29, 1915 at the age of 75. The couple had 7 children who lived. Their first child was stillborn.
Five Boerjans up to this time have served time in prison:
- In 1816 – Joannes Boerejans, son of Franciscus Boerejan and younger brother of Marie Therese, at the court in Ghent, was sentenced to a year plus a day. He was 22 years old. His crime must have been more serious than that of Franciscus or Marie Therese because he was sentenced to a much longer sentence. - In 1830 – Franciscus Boerejan, father of Joannes and Marie Therese, served 3 months in prison for theft. He was 50. - In 1830 – Marie Therese Boerejan served 14 days for theft. She was 19 years old. She was the daughter of Franciscus Boerejan and brother to Joannes Boerejans and Desire Boerjans. - In 1835 – Jan Baptiste Boerejans, son of Pieter Boerejans and Livina Coppens, grandfather to Marie Therese, Joannes Boerejans and Desire Boerjans, convicted of theft. He was 22. - In 1864 – Desire Boerjans, son of Franciscus Boerejan and brother to Marie Therese, was imprisoned for 1 month and 8 days for marauding. He was 38.
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Generation 6
Desire Boerjans and Sophia Taets
Leopold, about 7?
Sophia Taets looks really grumpy in this picture. Does her nose resemble the famous “Boerjan nose”? Desire looks like the description of him in the prison register - 1.7 metres tall (5 ft, 6 in), blue eyes, a long face, a normal nose, and fair hair. Sophia may have been pregnant in this picture.
Desire Boerjans was born at Lembeke on May 23, 1826, and died at Lembeke on May 22, 1894, at age 68. Desire married Sophia Taets on August 13, 1853 at Lembeke. Sophia was born at Lembeke on February 9, 1832, and died at Lembeke on July 9, 1909 at 77.
From the marriage of Desire Boerjans and Sophia Taets came the following children:
1. Leopold Boerjans, born at Lembeke on April 18, 1854.
2. Rosalie Boerjans, born at Lembeke on December 22, 1856, and died at Lembeke on January 29, 1858, at 2 years of age.
3. Benjamin Boerjans, born at Lembeke on April 22, 1859, and died at Lembeke on March 26, 1864, at 4 years, 11 months.
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4. Angelus (Lus Boerjan), born at Lembeke on March 4, 1861, and died at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada on June 4, 1917 at 56.
Angelus is evenals zijn broers Peter en Bernardus naar Amerika geemigreerd. In America, was hij bekend onde naam Lus Boerjan. Hij is nooit gehuwd geweest en heeft een tijd alleen door America rond getrokken. Toen Peter en Bernardus zich in Saskatoon gevestigd hadden, is hij er ook heen getrokken en is eveneens een boerderij begonnen. Bij zijn overlijden in 1917, liet nig zijn bezittingen na aan Peter. Bernardus, aan zijn zuster in Belgie, die gehuwd was met Camiel Bierens en aan een nicht Leonie Roelant.
Angelus, like his brothers Peter and Bernardus (Ben Boerjan), emigrated to America. In America, he was known by the name of Lus Boerjan. He has never been married and had at a time just travelled around America. When Pete and Ben settled near Saskatoon, he was also drawn there, and also started a farm. Upon his death in 1917, he left his possessions to Peter, Ben, to his sister in Belgium, who was married to Camiel Bierens, and to a niece Leonie Roland.
5. Petrus Boerjans (Pete Boerjan), born at Lembeke on December 17, 1863, died at Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., in October 1940 at 77 years of age. Pete was married to Virginia van de Avoy, who was born at Yzendijke on May 29, 1870 and died at Seattle, Washington, on November 25, 1957, at the age of 87. From this marriage came (1) Mary Lucille Boerjan, born on January 17, 1901, and married James Clarke on January 14, 1920 at Seattle, Washington; and (2) Theophile Boerjan, born in 1903 (architect). He married Irene Dines and had one child, Virginia Boerjan.
6. Rosalie Boerjans, born at Lembeke on July 23, 1866, and died at Assenede on November 3, 1896, at 30 years of age. She had a son, Augustus, on December 2, 1887, before she was married. When she married, she changed her son’s last name to her husband’s name – Neyt. Her husband was Emimilius Neyt. He was born at Assenede on January 22, 1866, and died on November 3, 1896 at 30 years of age. Coincidentally he died the same day as his wife died. They were probably killed in an accident of some sort. The couple were both 30 years of age at the time of their deaths.
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7. Marie Leonie Boerjans, born at Lembeke on October 25, 1867. She married Hippolijte Roelandts at Lembeke on May 18, 1892. Hippolijte was born at Aveghem on November 29, 1861.
8. Bernardus Boerjans (Ben Boerjan), born at Lembeke on April 16, 1870 and died on June 16, 1957 at age 87 at Elrose, Saskatchewan. He was a farmer. Ben married Nathalie Gaelens, on August 12, 1893, at Rock Island, Illinois. Nathalie (Nellie) had been born at Ooste Eeklo on July 28, 1870, and died at Elrose, Saskatchewan on March 15, 1956 at age 86. She always called Ben “Bernt”.
9. Maria Celina Boerjans, born at Lembeke on October 5, 1873, and died at Waarschoot on August 5, 1948, at 75 years of age. She had two children before she was married – Aloysius Boerjan, born at Lembeke on April 22, 1892, and died at Lembeke on August 13, 1894 at 2 years of age, and Raymond Boerjan, born at Ooste Eeklo on May 14, 1894. Maria Celina eventually married Camiele Bierens.
10. Elodia Marie Boerjans, born at Lembeke on October 18, 1874, and died at Lembeke on October 4, 1876, at 8 months of age.
11. Augustus Boerjans, born at Lembeke on February 6, 1876, and died at Lembeke on October 4, 1876, at 8 months of age.
12. Elodia Boerjans, born at Lembeke on February 13, 1878, and died at Brugge in May 5, 1900 at 22 years of age. She died in childbirth. Her child was Martha Maria Boerjans, born at Brugge on May 5, 1900, and died at Lembeke on June 16, 1900 at 1 month.
Sophia was pregnant from age 23 to 46 almost constantly, giving birth to 12 children. Her last child, Elodia, was born when Sophia was 46. I bet Sophia was glad when she went into menopause. Three of her sons emigrated to North America – Angelus (Lus), Petrus (Pete), and Bernardus (Ben).
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Sophia’s age at births:
Leopold 23 Rosalie – died at 2 yrs 25 Benjamin – died at 5 yrs 28 Angelus 30 Petrus 32 Rosalie 35 Marie Leonie 36 Bernardus (Ben) 39 Maria Celina 41 Elodia Marie – died at 2 yrs 42 Augustus Boerjans – died at 8 mo 44 Elodia 46
All the Boerjan men who were in prison had a description of them in the prison records at the Tribunal in Ghent. They are all about 5 feet, 6 inches, had blond hair and blue eyes.
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Generation 7
Bernardus (Ben) Boerjan and Nathalie (Nellie) Gaelens
Ben Boerjan was born at Lembeke on April 16, 1870 and died on June 16, 1957 at age 87 at Elrose, Saskatchewan. He was a farmer.
Ben married Nathalie Gaelens, on August 12, 1893, at Rock Island, Illinois. She was born at Ooste Eeklo on July 28, 1870, and died at Elrose, Saskatchewan on March 15, 1956 at age 86
From the marriage of Ben and Nathalie came the following children:
1. William Boerjan, born at Chicago, Illinois prior to 1895, died at birth. Nathalie told the story of this birth - that the doctor who delivered her baby was drunk, and he used forceps to deliver little William. However, he held the forceps too tight, and crushed the baby’s skull during the delivery. Nathalie was forever traumatized by this.
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2. William H. Boerjan (the middle initial Bill gave himself as he did not have a middle name). William was born at Kewanee, Illinois on August 8, 1896, and died at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on August 19, 1981 at age 85 from a burst aneurysm near his heart. Bill was married to Valerie Boucher, who was born on the farm near at Eldred, Roome Township, Minnesota (delivered by her father) on January 21, 1900. They were married on July 12, 1919. Valerie died in Rosetown on October 12, 1995, at the age of 95, surrounded by her family. Bill and Val had three children, Anita Marie, Blanche Beatrice and Viola Marguerite.
3. Theophile Boerjan, born at Kewanee, Illinois on June 4, 1898. He was registered as being born to Benjamin and Nellie Schalens on his birth certificate. Tay married Mary Hall, a school teacher, in 1939 but it was never a happy marriage. He died at Elrose in February 1966. Birth certificate received.
4. Joseph Boerjan (Jay Raymond) was born at Oakwood, North Dakota, on March 21, 1904, and died at Pasco, Washington in September 1987 at the age of 83. Birth certificate received.
5. Marie Marguerite Boerjan Harrison was born at St. Boniface, Manitoba on April 17, 1906, and died at Colwood, British Columbia on May 8, 1970. She was only 64. She had a brain tumour for several years.
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Generation 8
William Boerjan and Valerie Boucher
William was born at Kewanee, Illinois on August 8, 1896, and died at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on August 19, 1981 at age 85. Bill was married to Valerie Boucher, who was born at Eldred, Minnesota on January 21, 1900.
Bill and Valerie had three children:
1. Anita Marie Boerjan, born at Crookston, Minnesota, on February 28, 1919, married Earl Olson on July 19, 1942. She was married for a second time to Claude Treinen. Anita died on October 5, 2008. Anita and Earl had 7 children.
2. Blanche Beatrice Boerjan, born in Elrose, Saskatchewan, on April 30, 1920. She married Carl McCallum on January 13, 1943 and died in Elrose, Saskatchewan in December of 1989 at the age of 69. Blanche and Carl had two children, a son, Billy, and a daughter, Judy, both born at Elrose.
3. Viola Marguerite Boerjan, born in Elrose on November 23, 1923, and died in New Westminster, British Columbia on September 19, 1962, at the age of 39. She was married to Donald (Mac) MacDonald in September 1944. They had three daughters, Bonnie, Sandy and Joanne.
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Generation 9
Anita Boerjan and Earl Olson
Anita Marie Boerjan, born at Crookston, Minnesota, on February 28, 1919. She married Earl Alexander Olson, who was born on December 31, 1908, at Brownlee, Saskatchewan, on July 19, 1942. Anita and Earl had seven children, five daughters and two sons. Earl died on July 14, 1966, at Elrose, Saskatchewan, at the age of 58 from a burst aneurysm in his head/neck. His brother, Lawrence, and sister, Margaret, also died of a burst aneurysm.
Anita was married for a second time to Claude Treinen. They were married for almost as many years and Anita was married to Earl. Anita died on October 5, 2008, at the age of 89.
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Anita’s and Earl’s son, Evan William, who was born (as a twin) on December 28, 1953, passed away from lung cancer in October 24, 2015, in Calgary. He died at home, surrounded by his wife, Sherry, whom he married in October 1982, and his two daughters, as well as his sisters and brothers. It was a very sad time for the whole family. Evan’s daughters adored him. His eldest daughter had just had a baby and she was sad that he and his older sister would not get to know their grandfather. Evan had enjoyed his grandchildren so much.
Evan’s funeral was very well-attended, with his friends speaking about his loyalty and steadfastness. His boss stated how Evan had worked up until a few days before his death. Even though he did not feel well, he refused to give up and so kept on going to work each day. His clients, some of whom had been with Evan for over 30 years, all spoke of how well Evan took care of them.
Evan’s ashes lie in Elrose Cemetery, near his parents, and a burial ceremony was held shortly after his death. His daughters come to Elrose to pay their respects to their father on the anniversary of his death each year. The whole family gets together, reminiscent of “Little Xmas” celebrations held at Thanksgiving for many years.
Chapter 14 – Life Together for Nathalie and Ben
Nathalie (Nellie) and Ben met in Belgium. It could be that Nellie’s brothers were friends of Ben and his brothers and that is how Ben met Nellie. Nellie worked away from the home where she was born, as did many young Belgium women at that time. The men of the family at that time also travelled around the country, working for local farmers. The Gaelens had a neighbor called Jan Francis Boerjan, an older man. If he was a relative of the Boerjans, it could be that Ben and Nellie met when Ben’s family was visiting.
Ben and Nellie became engaged in about 1890. They made the decision to emigrate from Belgium, and Ben and Pete (Ben’s brother), and a cousin made the sea journey to North America on April 8, 1892 to New York harbor on the ship, West Laveler, as stated in a future U.S. border-crossing document. They settled in Chicago, Illinois, where there was a good- sized Belgium community, and Ben saved his money up so he could bring Nellie to America. Finally, in 1893, he had enough money to purchase a sea crossing for his fiancé.
A record of Ben’s and Pete’s sea journey has not been found as yet. The immigration station in New York was being changed from Castle Garden to Ellis Island, and some of the records may have been lost or misfiled. Also, many of the records in Antwerp, where Ben set out from, were destroyed in World War I. As said before, Ben stated on later U.S. border- crossing records that he arrived in New York on the ship, West Laveler.
In August 1893 Nellie came to the U.S. on the ship, “Pennsylvania”, from Antwerp. She travelled alone according to the ship’s manifest, even though the family in Belgium said that they heard that she had travelled to the U.S. with two of her brothers. The journey where Nellie and Ben were accompanied by her brother, Petrus, and perhaps a cousin, Edmund, took place in 1901 when Ben and Nathalie returned to the U.S. from Belgium (Passenger List for the Kensington – Ancestry).
Nellie’s ship arrived in Philadelphia on August 8, 1893. She and Ben were married on August 12, 1893, at Rock Island, Illinois. The Rock Island Daily Argus announced a License to Wed given to Bernol Boerjan and Natelie Saalens, Rock Island, Illinois. On the Pennsylvania's passenger list, Nellie's last name is spelled as Gaalens but when it was transcribed, it was spelled Saalens. That is probably where the pronunciation of Schalens came into being. Rock Island is immediately across the Missouri River from Davenport, Iowa. It was once said that Nellie and Ben were married in Davenport. It is interesting to note that Bill Boerjan indicated on his army records that his mother's address was Rock Island, Illinois, even though she was living in Canada during WWI. It is also interesting that Nellie’s uncle, Peter Gaelens, lived in Coal Valley, Rock Island, Illinois. He died October 20, 1938 in Moline, Rock Island, Illinois. He had been a labourer.
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The reasons for emigration to America were two-fold. The opportunities for young families in America were seen to be too good to pass up. Ben and his brothers and cousin had heard all of the stories about opportunities in the New World. In the late 19th century, the governments of Canada and the United States wished to encourage the immigration of good farmers from Europe, so they sent advertisements all over Europe offering people the possibility of owning land for free! Often the steam ship lines offered packages to people wishing to travel to North America to acquire land for free. This was a dream come true for many Europeans as land was not readily available in Europe, and if it was it was too expensive.
Another reason for emigration was that the parents of these young men wished them to avoid the draft in their home countries. In Europe, due to the number of wars over the years, many countries had compulsory conscription in the Armed Forces. Many young men from every country in Europe made the journey to America to avoid the draft in their home countries, and made good lives for themselves and their families in North America.
Nellie and Ben settled in Kewanee, Illinois, where their sons, William and Tay, were born. Kewanee was about 55 miles from Rock Island, a fairly short journey by train. They also lived in Chicago, Illinois, for a time.
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Nellie and Ben – Wedding Picture (Notice that Nellie has her wedding band on her right hand, which is commonly done in Europe to this day. She also had a very small waist.)
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Nellie became pregnant with their first child in about 1894. Due to the doctor’s drunken incompetence, the baby died at birth. They named him William. Nellie said that it was because the doctor used forceps and crushed the baby’s skull. Nellie was affected by this for the remainder of her life. In December 1895 she became pregnant again, and this time the baby survived and thrived.
William II
As can be seen in the picture above, both male and female babies of this age were dressed the same – in little dresses. William would have been about 1 in this photo.
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The Boerjan brothers were wanderers. Ben and Nellie moved their family to Kewanee, Illinois, where Ben was employed in an iron foundry and Nellie ran a boarding house, which she was very successful at. William was born on August 8, 1896, and another boy, Theophile (Tay) was born on June 4, 1898. With Ben’s earnings and Nellie’s income from the boarding house, they were able to save quite a bit of money.
William and Tayphile
Note: the church that registered William’s and Tay’s births, and where the birth certificates were filed, burned down and the records were lost. Later, when Bill and Tay were applying for Canada Pension, they tried to order their birth certificates. They had a very difficult time getting copies which they needed in order to receive Old Age Pension. They had a certification prepared by the appropriate U.S. government department, which was sworn to by Ben Boerjan, their father, stating when and where they had been born. (I think the person that was looking for these records could not find them because of the way Boerjan may have been spelled as I received a copy of Tay’s birth certificate).
In about 1900, while living in Kewanee, Ben was injured at work and had to leave his job for awhile. Nellie suggested they move back to Belgium while they still had some money. This they did, however, Nellie was not happy. They were too rich for the poor, and too poor for the rich. There was no middle class in Belgium at that time. Ben would have stayed – he
The Belgians wasn’t as unhappy at Nellie because he spent a lot of time in the local pub visiting with his friends. Nellie was left alone at home with the babies. Nellie decided it was time to move back to the U.S. She had become pregnant while living in Belgium, but she lost the baby on the sea journey to the United States.
Kewanee, Illinois
The family travelled on board the Kensington from Antwerp in January 1901 and entered New York through Ellis Island. As they were considered citizens of the United States, having lived there before, they were not required to go through the stringent immigration procedures that were required of people immigrating to the United States for the first time. Nellie’s brother, Peter, and an Edmund Ghaelens, travelled to the U.S. with the family them.
The sisters Kensington and Southwark, Red Star Line.
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After arriving back in the U.S., Nellie decided that, as she and Ben had made the decision to make North America their home, she should learn to speak English instead of speaking Dutch/Flemish all the time. Prior to this, she did not have the incentive to learn English as she had always thought they would eventually return to Belgium to live. Nellie went to night school to learn English. She also learned to sign her name and she began to learn to read.
The first Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Oakwood ND, constructed in 1881. This church was very small, and was later used as a granary.
Saint Aloysius Academy in 1906. This school opened in 1906 and closed in 1967.
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Ben, always searching for opportunities in the newspapers, located some land to homestead in North Dakota, so the family moved to a location near Oakwood. Their son, Jay Raymond (Joe) was born there on March 21, 1904. His birth certificate states that he was “born at Oakwood, Grand Forks County, North Dakota – father’s name: Ben Boerjan, mother’s name: Nellie Schaelens.
There were many homesteads surrounding Ben’s land which were owned by Germans (from Russia).
Two hundred and fifty years ago, Russia’s tsarina Catherine the Great signed a manifesto inviting foreigners to settle in her country. A German national herself, Catherine's decree marked the beginning of the history of Russian-Germans. They lived in several colonies in Russia. There were Catholic and Protestant communities. They kept to themselves and did not intermarry with the ethnic Russians living there.
These Germans from Russia refers to the large numbers of ethnic Germans who emigrated from the Russian Empire, peaking in the late 19th century. The upper Great Plains in the United States and southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan have large areas populated primarily by descendants of Germans from Russia.
Bill and Tay went to a school run by Catholic brothers, and German was the only language spoken there. As the boys spoke only Dutch, they couldn’t communicate very well and “often got a switch on their behinds”. At that time, Russian Germans did not like people from Belgium for some reason, and Ben felt his neighbours picked on him because he was Belgian. He also wanted to acquire enough land for himself and his sons, and, as he was surrounded by Russian Germans, he knew this would be impossible. Thus, Ben and his brother, Pete, decided it was time to move on, this time to Canada. Bill and Tay were especially happy about the move because they did not like school in North Dakota, for obvious reasons.
Nellie, Ben, ?, Aunt Ferza, Uncle Pete, ?
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The Boerjan family moved to St. Boniface, Manitoba, where Nellie gave birth to a baby girl, Marguerite, in 1907. Ben worked on an ice wagon, delivering ice to people with ice boxes. This was very hard on his bowels because he had to sit on or near ice all day. He later required surgery on his bowels. Ben was a farmer at heart, anyways, and he always watched the newspapers for land to homestead. At the earliest opportunity, the young family moved to Lanigan, Saskatchewan.
In Saskatchewan, for a registration fee of $10.00, any male over 18, or any widow who was sole head of a family, could have a quarter-section of land (160 acres) from the federal government (the “Crown”). To transfer title of land from the Crown to the homesteader, the land would have to be “proved up”. The farmer had to have broken at least 30 acres of land, and must have built on the land a residence worth at least $300 in which he had resided for at least six months of each of three consecutive years. He must be a British subject, either by birth or naturalization. Once all these conditions were met, the title was transferred and registered in the homesteader’s name at the Land Titles Office.
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The land around Lanigan, Saskatchewan was a quiet, peaceful land. It was a land of rolling grasses fringed with green poplar bluffs, abounding in wildlife, such as antelope, deer, prairie chicken, and bush partridge. The land was part of the Saskatchewan Valley, bounded on the south by Last Mountain Lake, on the east by Big Quill Lake, and on the west by the Little Manitou. The land differed from the open plains of the Palliser triangle. It was dotted with many depressions which held the spring run-off. In many of these, there were small clumps of poplar which had been protected from fires by wet ground and by the lush green growth always found in such locations. This same unevenness of land, and abundance of moisture, accounted for a variety of grasses and a great quantity of feed for grazing animals. The buffalo were long gone, although there was evidence of their existence in this area. The prairies were strewn with bleached buffalo bones, and the land was crisscrossed with narrow crooked paths connecting the more dependable water holes. At intervals, there were wallows and salt licks where the grass had long since ceased to grow and where the ground was as hard packed as the modern city streets.
Lanigan, 1909 Lanigan City Hall, circa 1909
Here was an ideal site where the North American Indian could hunt and live. There was food and water at hand, meat easily secured to feed their families, and in the bluffs protection from the winter storms and hot summer sun. The Indians have left much evidence of their existence in what was once their camping sites - arrowheads, heavy stone hammers, and chunks of dark grey pemmican marked their sojourn in this land.
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The following is an excerpt from "Lanigan, 1905-1955: Saskatchewan's Golden Jubilee".
"There is one homesteader on the very town-site itself about whom we must tell. In the spring of 1906 Ben Boerjan and his family settled on the southwest quarter of Section 22. He tells of building a sod house and barn, and of the leaky roof characteristic of such abodes. Mr. Boerjan was Lanigan's first milkman, supplying milk (22 quarts for a dollar) to the town during the years 1907 to 1910. At that time, he sold his land to Mr. Griffith. This quarter was surveyed for town lots, but when it was learned that the town would not extend that far south, it became the locale for the Lanigan Golf Club."
Ben and his sons, Bill and Tay, cleared the right-of-way for the railroad where Lanigan is now situated while at the same time carrying on the dairy business.
Ben selling milk (Ben was a barrel-chested man)
Ben always thought he wouldn't survive past the age of 35. With this in mind, he taught Bill from a young age how to take care of his mother and siblings. He also taught all his boys the Belgium work ethic, which stood them in good stead throughout their lives.
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Bill remembered well those days and the soddy they had lived in, even though he was very young. The first thought many homesteaders had when they stepped onto their new quarter section (160 acres, 65 square hectares) probably concerned a home. What to build it out of? In many places, the only material in abundance was the prairie sod itself. The sod today has all been ploughed and cultivated, but in those years, it was knotted together by the roots of hundreds of years of grasses and weeds and was very tough. It was also handy, so that was the material chosen by the pioneers to build their homes. First, they would plough out the floor plan, approximately 16 x 26 feet, or 5 x 8 metres. Then, they would cut down some poplar trees from the hills or from a nearby coulee and use it to build a frame. They would usually plough out additional sod, as it was going to be used as bricks and many bricks would be needed - 4,000 or so. Also, a ploughed area was needed around the house to act as a firebreak against the inevitable prairie fire. Then sod bricks were stacked against the poplar frame. Each brick would be 1.6 or 2 inches (4 to 5 cm) thick, about 1 foot and 3.748 inches (40 cm) wide, and twice as long, and piled up with a slight inward tilt to help bear the weight. Doors and windows could be placed anywhere. The roof was made by stretching poles side by side between the walls, then laying down a layer of hay, a layer of sod, another layer of hay, then some more sod. Some homesteaders referred to that top layer as "government shingles". Boards on the ground would make the floor, and cloth was plugged into the dirt walls to seal them from the outside. Blankets were hung to make rooms. This was the little home on the prairie, warm in winter, cool in summer, although not particular dry, as noted by Ben.
In 1909, Ben and his brothers, Pete and Angelus (Lus), decided to move to another area of Saskatchewan - Elrose - to take up homesteads there. Nellie and her sons, Bill and Tay, maintained the business at Lanigan, which was very hard for them as Bill and Tay were both young and Marguerite was a baby. They had a horse and oxen. Bill could remember driving the wagon and horse, and the wagon getting stuck in the mud. The boys would have to push the wagon, with Nellie following behind carrying her baby, helping as much as she could, as she was structurally quite a small person. These boys learned at a young age to be responsible and were a great help to their mother.
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At Elrose, Ben's brother, Pete, homesteaded the north half of Section 14-25-16 W3 and Ben the south half of Section 14 (Dominion Land Grant records, ArchiviaNet). This land was hilly and stony prairie. Ben also acquired Lsds. 9, 10, 15 and 16, in Section 26-24-16 W3 along with the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway Co. (Source: Dominion Land Grant records, ArchiviaNet). In some townships, the railroad had accepted 8 or more sections as part of its land grant and if a quarter in one of these sections adjoining a homesteader's land became available, the homesteader could claim the first right to purchase it at $3.00 per acre. The homesteader was required to break 50 acres within 3 years and be resident on either the homestead or the pre-emption for 6 months of each of 6 years. In 1908, all unclaimed odd and even numbered sections were released for homestead and pre-emption lands. Bill’s daughter, Anita, inherited the following land from William (Bill) upon his death, which consisted of the following lands:
Northwest quarter (NW/4) of Section 13, Township 25, Range 16, West of the Third Meridian (W3M) (150 acres)
Southwest quarter (SW/4) of Section 13, Township 25, Range 16, W3M (160 acres)
Northwest Quarter (NW/4) of Section 15, Township 25, Range 16, W3M (160 acres)
Southeast Quarter (SE/4) of Section 22, Township 25, Range 16, W3M (160 acres)
Southwest Quarter (SW/4) of Section 24, Township 25, Range 16, W3M (156 acres)
This land was owned by Anita and farmed by her nephew and grandson of Bill, Billy McCallum, until the summer of 2001. Anita and Billy both received offers on their land from a large farming concern in the area, and decided to sell. Fortunately, the purchaser is a local farmer. It is unfortunate that today, with economic conditions the way they are in Saskatchewan, a small farmer cannot survive.
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Sometime after they initially homesteaded the land, Ben's brother, Pete, decided to move from Saskatchewan to Lake Samanish, at Port Orchard, Washington, in the United States, where he purchased a summer resort. He had married Ferza, who was deaf, and they had 1 son, Theophile, and 1 daughter, Mary. Theophile married Irene, and had 1 daughter, Virginia. Mary married James Clarke, and they had 2 sons, Tom and Jim. Pete is thought to have died in 1945, and Ferza in 1950.
Lake Samanish
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Lus moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and died there of a burst appendix in June 1917, leaving all his worldly goods to Pete, Ben, a sister, Maria Celina Boerjans (Mrs. Camiele Bierens) in Belgium, and Maria's daughter, Leonie Roelant, also in Belgium. He never married or had any children of his own. Each beneficiary received $80. Bill and Tay looked for Lus's grave in Saskatoon for years, but they were never able to find it. Bill's granddaughter, Adrienne, has since located Lus's grave; he is buried in Woodlawn Cemetary, Grave Number 1727, Block – Lot – Section 44-L012-S1/3, Date of Death: 1917/06/01, Date of Burial 1917/06/08.
Woodlawn Cemetery, Saskatoon
Nellie
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1918
Nellie and Ben at their House in Elrose
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Ben had great muscles – Ben was a nice-looking man
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Nellie and Ben – Smiling
You didn’t often see Nellie smiling in photos. It was probably because she had few teeth. This photo reflects her personality best. She was a sweet, loving person.
Chapter 15 – William H. Boerjan Family
Bill and his brothers, Tay and Joe, grew up helping their father on the farm. There was quite a bit of work to do as the farming was done with horses. Joe was never a farmer – he was more an office-type worker.
When Bill was about 19 or 20 he decided to move back to the United States, where he worked in International Falls, Minnesota, for the Minnesota and Ontario Power Company. He met his future wife, Valerie Marie Boucher, there. She was staying with her sister, Vitaline, who introduced them. Bill worked with Vitaline’s husband. Bill and Val started courting and immediately fell in love. Valerie was a very petite, pretty, dark-haired French girl, with large brown eyes. Bill was a barrel-chested, handsome man, with lots of dark curly hair and grey eyes.
Bill wished to serve in the Armed Forces during the war years. In 1918 he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He had been accepted after stating he was old enough, and when Nathalie discovered this she immediately wrote the Canadian government and told them he was not of age, and that she would not give permission for him to join the services. She remembered all the young men, like her husband, who had left Belgium and moved to America to avoid the draft, and also the many men that had died in the wars in Europe. She would never give permission for her son to join the Army! While Bill was living in International Falls, when he was 21, he was drafted into the Army of Occupation as a Sargent in the Medical Corps. He was stationed overseas at the end of the WWI. He was a member of the Ambulance Corp., picking up the wounded and burying the dead.
Bill Friend The Belgians
Bill’s Draft Card
Bill’s Unit in France – Bill, back row, right end
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Bill on right
While Bill was overseas, Anita was born in February 1919. She was premature and as a result she was very tiny. Valerie lived with her family at Crookston, Minnesota, while Bill was in the service, and she gave birth to her baby at home. She was only 19 and very frightened, but her parents were a great support to her. She shared a room with her sister, Dora, and tiny Anita slept between them at night. Valerie is sure this is how Anita survived. She was kept fed, warm, safe, and very loved for those crucial first months of her life.
Val and Anita
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When Bill was in France, his friends often teased him about all the pretty French girls they were meeting, and Bill would always answer, "I have my own pretty little French girl waiting for me at home". He wrote Valerie often while he was overseas, and when he returned home he brought her many gifts from France, such as handkerchiefs and scarves, which she treasured and passed on to her granddaughters.
Bill and Val were married on July 12, 1919 at Crookston, Minnesota. They were a very good- looking couple. She was so pretty with her hair done in the latest style and her large brown eyes with a twinkle in them. Bill was tall and handsome, with his curly hair styled upward, making him seem taller.
After the wedding, Bill wished to move his new family to Saskatchewan, to the farm he and his family owned, so he and Valerie, along with their new baby Anita, travelled to Saskatchewan on the train.
Valerie and Bill had two more daughters, Blanche, born April 30, 1920, and Viola, born November 23, 1923. Valerie always wanted to give Bill a son, because the Boerjan name in our branch of the family died if there were no sons born to Nathalie and Ben's children. Valerie had a miscarriage once, and she and Bill were very sad. The doctor asked her if she wanted to know what sex the baby was, but she wouldn't allow the doctor to tell her, because she would have been devastated if it had been a boy. It is likely he told Bill, however. Val could never have any more children after that.
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Anita, Vi and Blanche
Bill added to the land the family was farming and he became very successful. The motorcar was leading to mechanical farm equipment, and Bill’s father loved his horses. If Ben could not farm with his horses, he decided he could not farm at all. When Bill decided to use motorized farm machinery, Ben retired, and he and Nellie moved into a house in Elrose.
Bill built a new house on the farm in 1929. It was a beautiful, large house with lots of room for his family. The girls loved it on the farm - they had lots to do. They played ball in the summer, rode the horse, Jesse, and helped their parents with chores. Anita helped her mother in the house but Blanche preferred to help her dad. She was a tomboy and never enjoyed housework. There was always a constant battle between Valerie and Blanche - Valerie felt that Blanche should spent more time helping with the housework which Blanche hated with a passion. Vi, the youngest, was the baby; she was small, with pretty blonde hair and a pretty face, and everybody doted on her.
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Bill was a very good farmer, and extremely successful businessman. Other men in the Elrose area were taken in by crooks who travelled throughout the area selling fake stocks in non- existent mines. Bill was one of the few men in the area to see through their schemes, and did not participate. Others in the area lost everything. Bill survived the Dirty Thirties quite intact, with the family surviving by raising their own food.
Bill was a very well-respected member of the community. He was on the hospital board for many years, he belonged to the Elrose Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion (a Canadian veterans' club), and he was very active in the Roman Catholic Church in Elrose. The priests that came to the Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Elrose always sought Bill out for his invaluable advice. Bill also had a love of the hunt, and every fall he would go hunting for moose and deer. His grandson, Bill, has inherited this love, and hunts to this day.
Valerie was also active in the community and very busy raising her children. She belonged to the Legion Auxiliary and the Catholic Women's League. Bill and Valerie always loved to travel, and they made a trip every other year to Minnesota, so that Valerie could see her family. One form of entertainment they enjoyed very much was attending motion pictures, and when they visited Val’s family in Minnesota, they attended the movie theatre, often with Valerie's sisters.
When Bill and Valerie lived on the farm and the children were young, the girls would stay in town with Ben and Nellie (Grandma and Grandpa) Boerjan during the week and attend school, as the roads were quite often impassable in the winter. Then on weekends they would return to the farm. Because they spent so much time with their grandparents, they were very close to Ben and Nellie in many ways, especially with Nellie.
Ben’s and Nellie’s house in town
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The girls could get into mischief on the farm. One story Anita told was:
“We even had an old buggy we used to play in and later when we had Jesse, our riding horse, we would hitch her to the buggy with whatever we could find and ride down the road. Sometimes going downhill it would run up on her (Jesse) and hit her in the back of the legs. She wouldn’t like that too well and once we hitched her up, put Vi with us on the seat and started across the road. The buggy hit the back of her (Jesse) legs and off she went. Blanche and I went flying off, and Vi who was in the middle held on for dear life. I became almost hysterical, beating the ground with my fists and crying “I’ve killed my sister”. However, in the trees the horse and buggy came to a halt and Vi climbed off a broken-up buggy. Dad didn’t get after us as he figured the buggy wasn’t any good anyway, and we’d learned our lesson.”
Nellie had learned English while living in the U.S. and had started to learn to read and write. She continued to learn to read and write English when Anita attended school because when Anita worked on her schoolwork, she taught Nellie at the same time. Perhaps this led Anita to her decision to become a teacher when she grew up. Nellie never could read Belgium in depth, however, and when she received letters from relatives in Belgium, she would have Mrs. Verbruggen, a Belgium neighbour and good friend, translate them for her.
On Halloween, the girls would be living in Elrose during the week, but the girls were not allowed to venture out with their school friends to trick-or-treat. Ben and Nellie did not want their grandchildren "begging at people's doors for candy". However, they were encouraged to hand out candy to the children that came knocking at the Boerjan door.
When the girls got older, they rode to school in a horse-drawn wagon that went around the area collecting children from the various farms. One cold winter day the wagon tipped over, and the stove, which had a full-blown fire going, fell on Anita, burning her quite badly. She had to stay home from school for many months, and her teachers sent all her school work home for her to work on. Luckily, Anita had good self-discipline, and she excelled in academics. She was accelerated (skipping two grades), and graduated at the age of 16. Anita was required to remain at home for 2 years because she could not attend any of the post-secondary schools until she was 18. She wanted to become a teacher, so when she was old enough she asked her dad if she could attend the university in the fall. He thought about it, and said "If we get a crop this year, certainly you may". Sure enough, that year's crop was successful, and Anita applied for Teachers' College and was accepted.
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Valerie and Bill
Valerie set out to obtain a board and room situation for Anita in Saskatoon for the first few months of school. Valerie wanted to make sure the accommodations were suitable for a girl Anita's age so she travelled to Saskatoon with Anita on the bus. Valerie was always a friendly person so she never hesitated to visit with people she was in close proximity to. She struck up a conversation with a woman who was also travelling to Saskatoon, and this woman owned a boarding house that was close to the Teachers' College (then called Normal School) on Avenue A (now Idylwyld). She told Valerie to come see her if she did not find a suitable place. Valerie and Anita investigated several boarding houses, but Valerie did not feel any of them were suitable. She remembered the lady on the bus, so she decided to take her up on her offer. She found the accommodations very suitable, and Anita moved in. She had some young women who became friends as her roommates. The boarding house was across the street from Sion Convent, just down the street from Normal.
Saskatoon Normal School
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Anita lived at the boarding house until the winter of 1938-39, when Bill, Valerie, Anita and Viola moved into Saskatoon for the winter. They rented a house on 5th Avenue, a luxurious house that belonged to Mr. Russell Wilson, once the mayor of Saskatoon, who was spending the winter in Hawaii. Blanche visited her Auntie Marguerite in Ontario during this time. Vi attended the convent to complete high school and then went on to Robertson's Business College. Anita and Vi always walked home together for lunch. They used to walk across the railway tracks because it was a shorter route, and one day they were flashed by a man passing by. It was quite scary for them.
In the spring, Bill and Valerie moved back to the farm as it was time to plant the crop, and Anita moved in with the Angus family, where she could work for her room and board.
Britain went to war with Germany in 1939, and Canada entered on the side of Britain within a week of the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939. Blanche and Vi enlisted.
Blanche was an ambulance driver and chauffeur for the officers. While she was in the services, she met her husband, Carl McCallum, who was a cook. They fell in love and were married. After the war they settled on the east coast, where Carl's family was located, but they weren't happy there. They moved to Elrose, and Carl joined the family farming operation. Carl was a maritimer so he had lots to learn about farming but he was smart and willing. Blanche worked right alongside him on the farm throughout their marriage. They had two children, Carl William, born in 1943, and Judy, born in 1946. Blanche died in the winter of 1989 of lung cancer. Carl lived until 2005 even though he only had one lung and one-third of his stomach. He was a scrappy little fellow with a magical personality. Both he and Blanche were very witty and a joy to visit with.
Carl, Blanche and Tay Judy and Billy
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Valerie and Bill lived on the farm until 1946, when they moved to Elrose. Their daughter, Blanche, and her husband, Carl, took over the day-to-day operation of the farm. Valerie and Bill decided to travel, and drove to Texas for the winter of 1940. In 1953, they went to Florida on holiday. In 1955, they went to Texas on vacation to do some reconnaissance for their future.
Vi met Donald McDonald right after the war and she married and moved with him to British Columbia. They had three daughters, Bonnie, Sandy and Joanne. Between the births of Sandy and Joanne, Vi contracted breast cancer. She was being successfully treated, with hopes that her cancer would go into remission. The doctors told her not to get pregnant, or the cancer would spread very quickly. However, her husband did not get the message, and she became pregnant with Joanne. The cancer spread to her lungs and she was very sick. Bill and Val felt really bad that Val did not live near them so they could be of assistance to her. However, they did drive to British Columbia to spend as much time with her as possible after her cancer diagnosis. Anita also joined them whenever she could. On September 19, 1962, Viola died of breast cancer, and matastisized lung cancer, in New Westminster, British Columbia, which was very sad because she was so young –she was only 34. She was Bill's baby, as well, and he grieved for her in a significant way.
Val and Bill decided to settle in McAllen, Texas, for the winter months. They did this every year until Bill's death in 1981, and Valerie continued to travel to Texas for the winter until 1989, when her health prohibited it. Bill's brother, Tay, and his wife, Mary, also lived in Texas in the same trailer park as Bill and Valerie. Many other people from the Elrose area also wintered in the southern United States, and many spent time with the Boerjans at McAllen. They lived in the Trailer Town park and thoroughly enjoyed living in the Rio Grande valley, which was sub-tropical and very close to the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Their daughters continued the tradition, and spent many winters in Texas, and the tradition has been passed on to their grandchildren, who are now just beginning to spend their winters in a warmer place in the winter. At that time, Texas was very safe near the border. Their park was small compared to the trailer parks that exist there today. The park was kept very clean and there were fruit trees and tropical plants all over the park. There was also a small community center where they held dances and pot luck dinners. They enjoyed driving to Whataburger once in awhile. They also enjoyed excursions to Mexico to the town of Reynosa and Progresso where they could purchase items much cheaper than in Texas. The border towns were quite clean and safe at that time.
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Trailer of Bill and Val – April 1958
Bill and Val had a routine during the summer when they were home. Bill would rise early and have breakfast. Then he was off to the farm for a full day’s work. Val would do her chores around the house and work in the garden, which was very abundant. Val was a good gardener. She would lay down after lunch for about an hour, then she would walk downtown to get the mail. On her way back, she always stopped at Anita’s home, which was on Main Street, just down the street from the post office. On those days when Blanche was not living on the farm, she would also come downtown to get the mail and join Anita and Val for coffee. I remember Val smoked Du Maurier cigarettes. I always enjoyed listening to the adults visiting, and I remember many afternoons sitting with Mom, Blanche and Grandma after I got home from school.
Bill died on August 19, 1981 just after his birthday. He had experienced chest pains and the doctor told him to take it easy and not to do any strenuous tasks. Val and Anita were scheduled to drive to Minnesota to visit Val’s family. Bill seemed to be feeling well so he told Val that she and Anita should go on their trip. While they were away, he was cutting tree branches in the backyard and he collapsed - he had an aneurysm on his aorta and it was leaking. He was rushed into Saskatoon University Hospital by ambulance and lived through surgery to repair the artery; however, his blood pressure never rose enough to keep him alive, and he passed away. Fortunately, the RCMP were able to reach Anita and Val and they had arrived before Bill died so were able to spend some time with him. All the grandchildren had travelled to Saskatoon on hearing Grandpa was in the hospital, so everybody was home for the funeral.
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Val travelled to Texas a few times after Bill died. The first year after Bill’s death, Patricia drove Grandma Val down to McAllen in Bill's car. They travelled with Carl and Blanche, and it was a wonderful adventure. The trip lasted 4 1/2 days.
From Patricia,
"I remember the morning we left for Texas. We woke so early that it was still dark. The alarm hadn't gone off for some reason and I suddenly woke up and jumped out of bed. I woke Grandma and we hastened to get ready. We washed as fast as we could and rushed to put our clothes on. Poor Grandma - she put her pants on inside-out and didn't even realize it in the dim light. Fortunately, I had loaded the car the night before, so it was just a matter of making sure that everything in the house was secure, then headed for Blanche and Carl's house.
The travel days were long. We had prepared lunches in advance and stopped on an approach (to a field) to eat our lunch. I remember I asked Blanche how many miles she got per gallon in her car, and she replied "40 bushels to the gallon". I guess she was still thinking of home. We usually drove for another 5 or 6 hours, then stopped for the night. Blanche, Carl and Grandma had made the trip so many times that they knew exactly where to stop. However, one day we travelled too long and arrived in a small Texas town too late to get two rooms in the motel. There was a lot of drilling for oil going on in the area, and all the rooms were rented by drilling companies. We managed to get one room with two queen- sized beds. Grandma was quite uncomfortable with sleeping in the same room with a man who was not her husband, and insisted that she sleep as far from him as she could, with me and Blanche in between. We all had a shower; the shower curtain didn't keep the water in and we were slipping and sliding on the bathroom floor. We were so tired we were giddy. We all got the giggles as we sat up in bed telling jokes and family stories and eating chocolate bars. It was such fun! I will always remember that night. I am so blessed to have experienced that time with my grandmother, aunt and uncle."
That year, Anita had made the trip south with her youngest daughter, Cheryl. They travelled down the west coast, stopped in Los Angeles and enjoyed the sites through the southern United States, and arrived in McAllen the same time as we did. Anita had rented a little trailer, and she and Cheryl stayed there. Patricia stayed with Val.
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Val lived very near Anita's trailer and was across the street from Carl and Blanche. Trailer Town was a small, beautiful trailer park in those days, and you could easily walk around and visit everybody. The weather was beautiful, about 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. One day was spent at Padre Island, sitting on the beach and sun tanning. Another day was spent in Reynosa, Mexico, a border town. After about a week, Cheryl and Patricia flew back to Canada. All in all, it had been a very memorable trip.
After Bill's death, Valerie lived in their house as long as she could but felt she should move into the Golden Years Lodge due to her increasingly frail health. She sold the house to the new Alliance minister, who was a young married man with small children. She was extremely happy that it went to such a pious person as she was always very spiritual. He was a kind man, and often visited her in the Lodge.
Val was never happy in the Lodge. She had made the decision to go into the Lodge herself but she had lost her independence. She didn't fit into the regimen; she had been so independent since Bill died. She had come into her own, learning how to manage money, how to manage day-to-day and monthly expenses - she had enjoyed making decisions for herself. Now she was back to having decisions made for her by somebody else. She broke her wrist and the doctor didn't set it properly; she got arthritis and experienced continual pain in that wrist for the rest of her life. She became more frail as time went on.
Valerie’s favorite times were when the family all got together for Easter and Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was our traditional "Little Christmas" when Anita prepared a huge turkey dinner, and the family exchanged gifts. Then in the spring, when Anita returned from Texas, the family would all journey home again for Easter.
In 1995, Val suffered a stroke and had to be rushed to the hospital in Rosetown. At the time Anita was living in the United States. Anita's daughter, Adrienne, made sure that Val was admitted to the hospital in Rosetown. Anita drove to Rosetown as soon as she could, and the rest of the family was called home and arrived in time to say goodbye before Val slipped away. She is buried alongside her husband in the Elrose cemetery. She is missed by her grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.
We were fortunate to have had the opportunity to see Val blossom into an independent woman after Bill's death. She really missed him but after the mourning period was over she readily adapted to being on her own. Bill had such an overpowering, attractive personality that Val would often stay in the shadows, and her grandchildren never got to really know her until after his death. She was a sweet, funny, loving person, and we were all privileged to have spent lots of time with her.
Chapter 16 – Boerjan Girls
Anita successfully completed teachers' college and returned home, looking forward to a summer of fun with her friends at the lake. Bill and Valerie had a summer cottage at Clearwater Lake, about 25 miles from Elrose, where the family often spent their summers.
Clearwater Lake had many attractions for young people of the day: swimming, boating, fishing, and dancing in the evenings. Earl Olson and his brother, Ernie, operated a barber shop and pool hall during the day and Earl played in the dance band in the evening. It was a summer fun spot for the whole area, as the lake was a spring-fed lake, and very clean. There was a large dance hall, a beach store and café, a hotel, many cottages surrounding the lake, boat rentals, an ice cream parlour, and a children’s park, with rides for the young ones.
Anita and Blanche both had many friends at Clearwater Lake. Anita was impressed with one young man in particular, Earl Olson. He played saxophone in the dance band and entertained dancers on the circular dance floor in the evenings. Earl was a favourite of all the girls, and he had even gone on a date or two with Anita's sister, Blanche.
When Earl saw Anita and she saw him, sparks flew! The day they met, Anita had a date with another young man she had been seeing named Carlyle Richardson, but she forgot all about it and ended up standing Carlyle up. Blanche was quite annoyed with Anita because she liked Earl and would have liked to continue going out with him.
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Anita and Earl dated for two weeks and became engaged. In the winter Earl operated a barbershop and pool hall in Elrose. The business was located in the old Quebec Bank building located on Main Street, across the street from the hotel, in the four-block commercial area of the town. In the residential section of the town, one-story homes, some with front verandahs, were spread out. They were attractive little houses, with flower gardens, caragana bushes, and prairie grass lawns. Prairie grass was the best grass at this time because many people did not have the water to keep a lawn looking nice, and prairie grass was very hardy. There was always a vegetable garden located in the back garden. The modern convenience of that time was a clothesline in the back garden – on laundry day you could never replace the fresh smell of clothes just taken down from the clothesline. Grandma Boerjan had a huge garden with large cabbages and rows of potatoes, carrots and onions. The prettiest tree in everyone’s yard was the lilac tree – it was beautiful plus it produced the loveliest flowers in the spring. It also made a great hedge. Who could resist the small yellow flowers on the Caraganas – they were so sweet.
Elrose also sported wooden sidewalks. The roads were topped with gravel, which could make it quite dusty some days. The Elrose Hotel, across from Earl’s business, was quite impressive with a veranda surrounding the front, with chairs located all along it. People could sit and visit – it was usually the old folks that sat there and watched the activity on Main Street. There was a Chinese café, operated by Moon Chow – they made the best chips and gravy of anywhere. Moon had a large showcase in his café with all kinds of candy treats and chocolate bars for the little ones.
When Bill met Earl, he was impressed with him – he could see how he and Anita felt about each other. However, he worried about how this would affect Anita's future teaching career. He wanted to see a return on the investment he had made in her education, so when Anita and Earl told him of their desire to be married, he told Anita that he wished her to teach
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school for three years before she was married. Then, she could get married with his full blessing.
Anita and Earl were engaged for three years – Earl was trying to save enough money for their life together after they were married. Anita always said those three years were some of the hardest years of her life. She couldn't bear to be away from Earl, yet she couldn't bear to be with him, anticipating when they would have to part.
The first year of their engagement, Anita taught at Kyle (the Clearwater Lake School). The second year she taught school in a small, one-room school at Biggar, Saskatchewan (Louvain School). The conditions were far from good. She taught Grades 1 to 12. She either boarded out with a family or stayed right in the school. At Biggar she taught children who did not even speak English, with the exception of one student, who acted as her interpreter when he could. It was a Russian and Ukrainian community, and the Russians and Ukrainians were feuding. Anita was often caught in the middle as the parents would come and complain to her about how their children were treated by a child from the other faction. The third year she taught at Eston (Cascaden School District). Children will be children, and these children played tricks on Anita – one trick was putting a mouse in her drawer in her teaching desk. It gave her quite a fright when she opened the drawer. Her last school was so bad that halfway through the year she could no longer stand it – her nerves were so bad that her dad feared she would have a nervous breakdown so he drove to Eston and brought her home.
Anita and Earl set their wedding date for July 19, 1942, with the marriage taking place at the family farm. Earl was Lutheran, so they could not be married in the church. The priest came to the farm and married them. All those years of saving resulted in Earl not having much more money than when he started.
In 1942 the Allied Forces landed in North Africa and German forces reached Stalingrad where they would be involved in a long siege. Many young men from Elrose joined the Army, Navy and Air Force, among them Earl Olson, Jack Maines, Gordon McKellar and Willard Bale. Earl and his brothers, Ernie, Lawrence and Everett, all joined the Canadian Air Force.
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Earl was stationed in at RCAF Station Victoriaville in Quebec and was a member of the Air Force Band. Their duties consisted of entertaining the troops throughout the country and promoting the sale of War Bonds. He also was an airplane mechanic when he wasn’t off with the Band. RCAF Station Victoriaville was Training School #3.
Anita lived in the nearby town of Victoriaville, while Earl lived on base. Their first daughter, Elaine, was born in Victoriaville in April 1943. Anita shared a flat with the wife of an army buddy of Earl's. Elaine was a very collicky child, and Anita a very nervous first-time mother. Earl obtained a 1-month leave when Elaine was about 3 months old, so they decided they should visit Saskatchewan. They rode the train across Canada with their small baby. Elaine had cried most of her first three months, as Anita followed "The Canadian Mother and Child" to the letter, which only allowed feeding every four hours. While on the train, Anita fed Elaine as much as she wanted so her crying would not disturb the other passengers. Elaine drank three 8-ounce bottles at one feeding, quite a lot for a 3-month old baby, and slept for 24 hours straight. Anita threw away "The Canadian Mother and Child" and thereafter depended on her instincts, which were very good. Elaine was a pretty baby – Anita used to do her hair in ringlets; Elaine’s hair was very thick.
The flat where Anita and Elaine lived was located in a two-story house in Victoriaville. They were situated on the second floor with a veranda surrounding the house, where Anita, Elaine and her roommate could sit and watch life go by. In the winter, Anita would follow the example of the Quebecois mothers and put Anita to sleep in her carriage on the verandah. She would be snuggled up in lots of blankets and she would go right to sleep in the fresh air.
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Anita found it hard being so far from Earl and not seeing him as often as she would have liked to. However, she kept busy with Elaine, and one of her roommates was a very good friend. Her husband was also stationed in Victoriaville and lived on base. They were from Saskatoon so she and Anita had much in common.
When Anita became pregnant with her second child, she and Earl decided she should come home to Saskatchewan to give birth. Their second child, Julianne, was born in EIrose in June 1945. As Earl was still in the service, Anita lived in a small house in EIrose with Blanche and her son, Billy - Blanche's husband, Carl, was overseas. Blanche had mustered out of the service when she married. The little house that Anita and Blanche lived in was located next to Nathalie and Ben's house. Anita lived there until Earl was released from the RCAF in August of 1945.
Julianne was a pretty blonde baby – the opposite in coloring to Elaine. She was a good- natured baby with blue eyes. Elaine was a bit jealous of the new baby. She had always been the apple of everyone’s eye – now she had to share the spotlight. One day she thought she found a solution – the family was sitting in the yard at the farm one beautiful summer day visiting, and Elaine took the little Julianne out of her carriage and placed her in one of the window wells. When Anita discovered that Julianne was not in the carriage, she was frantic. Everyone looked for Julianne and she was finally discovered, quite happy in the window well, with her hair sticking up and grass sticking to her face.
Elaine, Julianne, Billy
When Earl was released from the RCAF, he had two career paths to follow – he had been offered a job in Ottawa with Central Band, RCAF, which would have allowed him to pursue his music career, or he could settle back into life in Elrose with Anita and the children, and operate the barbershop and pool hall once again. Anita did not want to live so far from her family, so they decided to settle in Elrose to raise their children.
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Earl Olson’s Band
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This young couple’s business and home were located on Main Street, just across the street from the Elrose Hotel. The front of the building consisted of two pool tables and a barber chair in the enclosure at the front. The windows in that part of the building were huge and let in lots of light. The back consisted of a large living space, with a large living room and kitchen, and four bedrooms upstairs. There was a large picture window overlooking the backyard. The two windows in the kitchen faced the automotive shop next door.
At that time, there was no running water or indoor plumbing in Elrose, so they had to use an outside toilet in summer. For the winter, Earl built a small water closet on the 2nd floor, with a portable toilet that he had to empty every night. There was a huge wood-burning stove in the kitchen that filled one whole wall at the end of the kitchen. Bath night was Saturday night, so all the family would be clean for church the next day. The tub was placed in front of the stove, where it was very warm. The stove held warm water in a storage tank which would be used for the Saturday night baths. Everybody had a bath in succession.
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The house also had a large yard for the children to play in and a garden in the back surrounded by a 6 foot high fence so they would have privacy. There were large trees in the yard to climb and a sand pit, which the cats used to take advantage of quite often.
Earl had built a playhouse for the kids, very similar to the one in the picture. It was quite large, with two rooms and real windows.
The family always had cats .. sometimes 2 or 3 at once. Earl loved cats! If there was a kitty in distress, or abandoned, we would adopt it. If a cat followed us home from church, we adopted it. Anita did not like cats as one had given birth to her kittens in Anita’s bed when she was little, and she never cared for them after that. I think that she grew more fond of them as she got older.
Anita and Blue
The family in the 1950s was very busy. Elaine and Julie were in figure skating and in band at school. The kids attended the same school as Anita did - the Elrose School was a beautiful brick building. There were four classrooms on each floor, with hardwood floors and large windows. The building is still standing.
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Due to Earl's long hours in the pool hall, which was open from 10:00 in the morning to 10:00 at night, Earl did not get to spend as much time as he wanted to with his family, so in the early 1960's, he converted the Pool Hall to a Laundromat. The barbershop closed at 6:00, so Earl finally had his evenings free. However, at that time, he developed a bad case of asthma, and was quite ill from that time until his death. He was able to take his family on many camping vacations, however, which they enjoyed very much. They vacationed in such places as Cypress Hills, Good Spirit Lake, and Banff, Alberta.
Grand Opening – Earl always wore a white shirt and tie.
Earl played in two dance bands, the Hugh MacDonald orchestra and the Corbet band, all his married life. Anita used to request this song when they went to dances, "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" to tease him because Earl was always in the orchestra pit and she was left with no dance partner. It used to annoy Earl no end.
Earl was also leader of the Legion Band, which marched in the annual parades in Elrose and at towns all over Saskatchewan. Anita also was in the Elrose Legion Band as was Elaine. The photo below shows Anita, Earl, Elaine, and other members of the band eating a picnic lunch on one of their parade days. Earl loved marching – he had marched several times with the Air Force Band and you could tell he was enjoying every minute of it. He was a very good marcher, and he even walked in a similar fashion.
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Legion Band Members
Anita and Earl had a further five children, three girls and two boys. Patricia was born in 1948, Murray in 1953, the twins, Adrienne and Evan in 1955, and Cheryl in 1960. Anita used to joke that she spent a lot of time in the Elrose Hospital; she had six of her children there (one set of twins) and eventually worked there. In fact, when she first started working at the hospital, her office was the old delivery room where she had spent many hours in labour. She could never forget staying in the hospital when Patricia was born – they were building a new wing, and there was constant construction noise.
After having three girls, finally a boy came along, Murray Earl Olson. He was a beautiful baby – he won a baby contest once he was so pretty. Murray was about 18 months old when Anita gave birth to twins! A pretty little girl, Adrienne Gay, and a beautiful blond boy, Evan William. Evan was a plump, full term baby, and Adrienne was a skinny premature baby. What was the reason for this? The doctor told Anita she had conceived them a month part – a rare occurrence. Adrienne was bright as a penny and constantly on the move while Evan was a quiet, contented little baby who enjoyed watching the world go by. Anita said she used to have to wake Evan up to feed him.
Anita became pregnant in 1959 and she and Earl were both surprised. I remember the afternoon she was informed that she was pregnant. She had company and there was a knock at the door. Anita answered the door and was surprised to find the doctor in the porch. Anita had been experiencing quite a bit of bleeding and when she initially went to the doctor, he told her that she had fibroids and she would need a hysterectomy. He did a
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pregnancy test just to be sure she was not pregnant. When he examined her, he was sure he felt something else besides fibroids in her uterus. The test was negative but he was convinced there was something else there. He performed another pregnancy test and this one came back positive. He thought he better go see Anita as soon as possible and give her the news. He was optimistic that the fibroids would disappear after the pregnancy and she would not need a hysterectomy. Six months later Anita gave birth to a beautiful little girl, Cheryl Lee Olson. She was the apple of everybody’s eye! Earl doted on her – she was such a sweet little baby with wispy blond hair and blue eyes.
Cheryl was born the same year that Elaine left home to attend beauty school in Saskatoon. One new bird in the nest and one leaving the nest. I remember when we drove Elaine into Saskatoon – we have a picnic at the Forestry Farm. It was a beautiful day and we sat on blankets and enjoyed our picnic - Cheryl in her carriage and the other children running around and playing games. After about a year in Saskatoon, Elaine met John Bergen and they became engaged. They married in April – the weather was fine and the bride beautiful. John and Elaine had two daughters, Crystal Marie and Jacqueline Lynn.
In September 1962, Anita’s sister, Vi, passed away. Her husband, Mac, was an alcoholic and in no condition to take care of their three daughters so Anita and Earl offered to take the two oldest girls, Bonnie and Sandy, into their home, and Blanche and Carl would take into their home the youngest, Joanne. Bonnie and Sandy were going into adolescence and dealing with that plus the death of their mother was extremely hard on them. They acted out for reasons they did not know – they just knew they were hurting and they needed somebody to pay attention to them. They missed their father and the friends they left behind in British Columbia.
This was a very hard time for Anita because she had a hysterectomy about 9 months after Cheryl was born. They did not have hormone replacement therapy in those days, and Anita was in a bad way. She experienced all the physical symptoms of menopause as well as the emotional ones. She became extremely depressed and her health deteriorated. She found it hard to focus and there was so much that needed her attention. After about a year, Anita and Earl acceded to Bonnie’s and Sandy’s request to return to Vancouver and live with their dad.
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Julianne was given the option by Bill Boerjan to attend the convent in Moose Jaw for the last two years of high school. She loved the convent – she made many friends there and she enjoyed her classes. She often said if she had not attended the convent, she would probably not have completed Grade 12. She went on to nursing school, where she earned a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) certificate after two years. She met Francis Ordog just as she started nursing school, and they became engaged to be married.
Julie and Francis were married in July 1966 on the long weekend. There were about 100 at the wedding. It was a beautiful day – the sun was shining and it was quite warm. Their reception was in the church basement and their wedding dance was at King George Hall outside of Dinsmore.
Earl died in July 1966 just two weeks after their Julianne was married. Anita had been quite ill for some time, and was exhausted after Julianne's wedding. She went to the lake in northern Saskatchewan with Valerie and Bill to rest and recuperate. They had a holiday trailer at the lake. At that time and right up to his death, Earl was in good health, so his death came as a surprise to all his family. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had to be called to find Anita at the lake, and Valerie, Anita, and Bill came home immediately.
There were still young children at home when Earl died. Cheryl was just 5 years old. It was a struggle emotionally and financially for Anita to take care of the children. Earl left no life insurance – he always said the house they lived in was their life insurance. Anita worked part-time at the post office for a few years, and then was employed as the Elrose hospital administrator. She is a very talented lady. She was hospital administrator the year the new hospital in Elrose was built, and she was involved in that operation on a day-to-day basis.
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Elaine, Julie, Trish, Murray, Adrienne, Evan Anita and Cheryl - 1966
Patricia left home in the fall of 1967 to attend Saskatoon Business College. Murray worked at the grocery store across the street from our home – he was delivering groceries in the grocery van from the time he was about 15, before he even had his drivers’ license. All of Anita’s children had jobs when they were older. Murray and Evan both delivered papers from the time they were about 12, and Adrienne had lots of babysitting jobs. Eventually Murray completed school and moved to Saskatoon to work. Evan also left home after his finished Grade 12 and eventually settled in Calgary. Adrienne met the young man she wanted to marry while she was in Grade 11, and when she graduated from Grade 12, they were married. By this time, Patricia had moved to Calgary and was working for the Calgary Board of Education.
Anita followed the tradition of her parents and grandparents, and was always very active in the community - she is a long-standing member of the Royal Canadian Legion and the Catholic Women's League. She also belonged to the church choir for many years, and she and her daughter Patricia sang in the choir as well – Earl was the leader of the church choir for many years. Anita played saxophone in the Elrose Legion Band, under the leadership of her husband. At one time, she was Brown Owl in the local Brownies troop.
Anita had a very good career – she enjoyed working at the hospital. Then in 1981 her dad died and left his estate to Valerie and his daughters and Vi’s children. Bill was an extremely astute business man, and was considerably wealthy, so Anita had enough money so that she could retire.
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Upon retirement, Anita began to spend the winters in the Rio Grande Valley, in McAllen, Texas, after her youngest, Cheryl, left home to attend Red Deer College. She met Claude Treinen there. He had just begun to travel south for the winter, and lived in the same trailer park as Anita. He was from Remsen, Iowa - a very handsome and distinguished looking man. He was a widower with seven children. They were married on December 11, 1982.
Cheryl and Larry (standing, right) Elaine, Claude, Anita, Adrienne, Francis, Patricia, Julianne, Evan, Shirley and Murray (seated on floor), Thanksgiving
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Anita and Claude spent many winters in Texas and summers at Palliser Regional Park, on Lake Diefenbaker, in Saskatchewan. Rusty's Coulee Marina, on Lake Diefenbaker at Palliser, was operated by Anita's daughter, Julie, and her husband, Francis, for quite a few years. Anita and Claude moved to Saskatoon because Anita was required to undergo dialysis treatments at St. Paul's Hospital. They have lived at Caleb Manor for the last three years; however, in the spring of 2007 Claude's health deteriorated to the point where he was moved into a seniors' home in Remsen, Iowa, so he would be close to his family. Anita missed Claude very much, but many family members and friends from Caleb visited her. Claude died on September 23, 2007. He could not live without Anita.
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Blanche Beatrice
Blanche was a tomboy all her life, and she loved nothing more than working with her father on the farm. She never was a fan of housework as a child, although she was an extremely good housekeeper when she was an adult.
Blanche joined the Armed Forces during the war, where she met her husband, Carl McCallum. She was a part-time ambulance driver and part-time chauffeur for the officers. Carl was a cook. After the war was over, the young couple moved to the east coast, where Carl's family was, but they weren't happy there. They decided to move west, and Carl joined the Boerjan farming operation. This was a new skill for him because he was a maritimer, but he was smart and willing, and it didn't take him long to learn the ropes. Blanche worked right alongside him. Their first child was a son, Carl William, whom they called Billy, born in 1943. They had a daughter, Judy, in 1946. They had a medical problem known as the RH factor, so they were never able to have any more children. They felt lucky to have two children.
Carl, Earl, Julianne, Judy, Billy, Elaine with Patricia The 1950 Chevrolet was owned by Earl.
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Carl and Blanche lived on the farm in the summer and in their house in Elrose in the winter. This allowed the children to attend school without worrying about inclement weather. Their house was 1 block from Anita's, and Blanche and Anita were always very close. Billy was a quiet child, but Judy was very active. In Grade 1 the teacher had to tie her to her desk because she liked to wander around the classroom visiting with the other children rather than attending to her studies.
Blanche died on December 18, 1989, at age 60. This was one of the coldest winters in history in Saskatchewan. It was about -40 the day of her funeral. She died of lung cancer, which was ironic, because her husband had had a lung removed due to cancer 20 years before. It was thought they may both have been exposed to chemicals in the farming operation over the years that led to the cancer. Their son, Bill, operated the family farm until his health dictated a change of lifestyle. The land was sold but Bill still lives in the area. Carl lived in Elrose for many years before his death on June 21, 2003, at age 81 – Carl certainly was a success in the treatment of his lung cancer. It is so sad that Blanche’s cancer could not have been treated as well. Judy and her husband live just outside of Saskatoon.
Viola Marguerite
Viola joined the Armed Forces during the war where she met her future husband. She married Donald McDonald right after the war and moved with him to British Columbia. They had three daughters, Bonnie, Sandy and Joanne.
Vi had a very tragic, troubled and unhappy adult life. Her only solace was her religion and her children. She was far from her family, and her husband was a chronic alcoholic. Vi developed breast cancer at a young age and it spread rapidly to her lungs. She died on September 19, 1962. Mac died in 1990.
Unknown Boerjans
These photos were found in a Boerjan photo album from the old country.
They look like the same man.
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The same girl?
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Resources
Belgium Travel Network Translations from Boerjan Book, prepared by Urbain Boerjan, Sluiskill, Nederlands Wikipedia Ancestry.com / Ancestry.ca Prairie to Wheat Fields – Our Roots – www.ourroots.ca – Elrose History Book Hillman Story: Elrose III: History Book Excerpts – www.hillmanweb.com New York Passenger Arrival List – https://familysearch.org/ www.Belgiumview.com
Belgium History
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Belgium http://www.infoplease.com/country/belgium.html
History of Ghent
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghent In Your Pocket - http://www.inyourpocket.com/Belgium/Ghent/History Stad Gent - http://www.gent.be/eCache/STN/1/62/771.html www.trabel.com – Travel Info on Belgium - http://www.trabel.com/gent-history.htm Eupedia - http://www.eupedia.com/belgium/ghent.shtml
King Arthur and Ghent
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Belgium
The Burgundians
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgundians
Emperor Charles V
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_V,_Holy_Roman_Emperor
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Catholicism and Trade in Belgium
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flanders Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Belgium
City of Textiles
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghent Team Flanders - http://teamflanders.org/?page_id=317 Ghent Travel Guide - http://www.eupedia.com/belgium/ghent.shtml
Living Conditions
In Your Pocket – http://www.inyourpocket.com/Belgium/Ghent/History Visit Flanders US - http://www.visitflanders.us/discover/cities/ghent/ghent-history/ Daglners – Rootsweb - http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~belghist/Flanders/Pages/dagloners.htm
Emigration
Belgian Canadian - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Canadian Torsten Feys – Licentiate Thesis - http://www.ethesis.net/emigration/emigration.pdf Rootsweb - http://belgium.rootsweb.ancestry.com/bel/1ant/11/11002/800a3307.pdf Red Star Line Museum - http://www.redstarline.be/en
Where Our Ancestors Lived
Infoplease – www.infoplease.com > World > Countries > Belgium Timeline Belgium – Timelines in History – www.timelines.ws/countries/BELGIUM.HTML Genforum - Genforum.genealogy.com > Regional > Countries Lembeke – Wikipedia Maldegem – Wikipedia Ghent – Wilipedia Eeklo – Wikipedia Oosteeklo - Wikipedia Staf Eeklo – www.eeeko.be
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Religion
Religion in Belgium – Wikipedia Saint Nicholas’ Church, Ghent – Wikipedia St. Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent - Wikipedia Ghent Altarpiece - Wikipedia Roadside Chapels - www.flickr.com
Gaelens
Ancestry.com Ancestry.ca www.padraigan.com Urbain Boerjan, Sluiskill, Nederlands
Boerjans
Ancestry.com Ancestry.ca www.padraigan.com
Life Together for Nathalie and Ben
Lanigan History Book – “Our Lanigan” 1905-55 History Book – VirtualMuseum.ca Saskatchewan Homestead Index – www.saskhomesteads.com Land Records – Saskatchewan Archives Board – www.saskarchives.com Dominion Lands Act – Wikipedia
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Urbain Boerjan passed away. His book provides all the Boerjans with valuable genealo- gical information on the Boerjan family. He did a lot of research at the archives in the Netherlands.
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