Belgian Laces Old Belgian money The old building housing the National bank, Photos by TSweb Belgian money Inside the National Bank – 1909, , Photos by TSweb Volume 31 - #120 June 2009 Our principal BELGIAN LACES: Official Quarterly Bulletin of objective is: THE BELGIAN RESEARCHERS Keep the Belgian Belgian American Heritage Association Heritage alive Dear Members! As I am writing this, the lawnmowers are humming in IN MEMORIAM in our hearts and in the background: sure sign Spring has finally arrived, Charlotte Rogers (1929-2008) the hearts of our and not a day too soon for me! posterity Guy Gallez has been sprucing up our TBR webpage, adding more information extracted by Chuck THE BELGIAN VandenEeden, Elaine Putman and Victoria Valentine. Guy gave me the site stats. The site has 1,641 pages RESEARCHERS and 207pictures.In all the data is using 45 Mb of space. Belgian American Charlotte S. Rogers, 79, of Jeannette, died Friday, Aug. Not bad for it being due to volunteers! Thank You for 22, 2008, at home, with her loving family at her bedside. Heritage Association making this information available! We know it takes She was born May 15, 1929, in Penn, a daughter of the late Carl and Rose (Kuntor) Schmidt. Charlotte graduated time and determination to extract the original records. Our organization was from Westmoreland Hospital School of Nursing in May Thank You! of 1950. She spent most of her career in obstetrics and founded in 1976 and State Farm has once again awarded a $500 grant to TBR on behalf of Chuck VandenEeden for his work. gynecology, first at Westmoreland Hospital and then at welcomes as members Jeannette District Memorial Hospital. For 30 years, she For that we doubly thank him as he could donate his Any person of Belgian had been tracing her family history back to the 1500s. In time to any other non-profit. THANK YOU, Chuck! addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her descent interested in There is much work yet to be done. The way Guy has husband, Everett "Buck" Rogers; and a sister, Dorothy Genealogy, History, laid things out, you should see at a glance where we Schmidt. She is survived by a son, Craig Rogers and his could use your help. Just visit wife, Nancy, of Gibsonia; three daughters, Jody Speece and her husband, Lawrence, of Greensburg, Judy Rogers, Biography or Heraldry, http://www.rootsweb.ances try.com/~inbr/index.html at home, and Beth Jurkiewicz and her husband, Edward, either amateur or As you know I have more information to put into Belgian Laces so we are also adding a research blog of North Huntingdon; six grandchildren, Adam and Nicholas Speece, Nathaniel and Caitlin Jurkiewicz, and professional. that will complement Belgian Laces. Kayla and Margaret Rogers; three sisters, Mercedes You are invited to http://thebelgianresearchers.blogspot.com/ Regola, of Greensburg, Vivian Asbaugh, of Tulsa, Okla., become a member and This one is dedicated to Belgian sites and how to use and Bernice Seiter, of Little Rock, Ark.; as well as them but I hope I will have time to also get to one numerous nieces and nephews. Friends will be received to participate actively in solely dedicated to sites within the US/Canada where from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday in the MASON- GELDER FUNERAL HOME INC., 201 N. First St., the Belgian emigrants settled. the work of the society. Jeannette. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Remember also to check www.Myfamily.com to access The annual membership the recently released electronic version of back issues Monday in Sacred Heart Church, Jeannette. Interment will follow in Jeannette Memorial Park, Penn Township. fee includes a (98-101) as well as your current issues. Enjoy! To send online condolences, visit www.mason- subscription to the Régine gelder.com . quarterly Table of Contents BELGIAN LACES Letter from the Editor/News Inside Cover President-Editor: Books in Review p37 Régine Brindle A brief history of Belgian banknotes and coins p38 The Belga p39 Treasurer/Secretary: Belgians in Oklahoma in the 1910 Census p43 Melanie Reynolds Fort Sedgwick p45 Past Presidents: Letter home from Henry Fontaine p48 Micheline Gaudette Belgians on the WWI Draft Cards p52 Pierre Inghels Pennsylvania and West Virginia Obituaries p54 Co-Founders: Belgians workers at the Lehigh Zinc Co., South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania p55 Micheline Gaudette & Belgians in 1906 Saskatchewan p56 Obituaries from Canada and Michigan p58 Ardiena Stegen Applications of Belgians for Naturalization (Juneau, Alaska Territory) p60 Deadline for Hanging the Tapestries p62 submission of Articles Belgians on the 1900 Census: Cook Co, IL – Chicago (part 1 of 13) p63 to Belgian Laces: Researching Online: Links of interest/FamilySearch indexing Update p66 March 1 – June 1 Belgians in the News p67 September 1 - December 1 Tribute to Past Members p68 Index p69 Paper: $20 (US/Can) $30 Overseas Contact Information: THE BELGIAN RESEARCHERS - 495 East 5th Street - Peru IN 46970 ISSN: 1046-0462 Tel/Fax:765-473-5667 OR e-mail [email protected] Electronic ONLY: $10 All subscriptions are for the calendar year-*New subscribers receive the four issues of the current year, regardless when paid Content of the articles is the sole responsibility of their authors - All Rights Reserved ISSN: 1554-2432 (anywhere) Content Can Not Be Reproduced or Redistributed without Prior Authorization from The Belgian Researchers, Inc Belgian Laces Vol#31-120 "Farewell to the franc: the gripping tale of Belgium and its money" by Ben te Boekhorst, Marianne Danneel en Yves Randaxhe, Lannoo On the occasion of the changeover from the Belgian franc to the euro, the history of our national currency was captured in the book "Farewell to the franc: the gripping tale of Belgium and its money". Available in Dutch and in French from the museum of the National Bank ([email protected]) 2001, ISBN 90 209 4439 8. Price: 7 euro. The Belgian banknote, CD-ROM, National Bank of Belgium. Price: 15 euro (order). Google Your Family Tree By Dan Lynch * Chapter 1 — Search Engine Basics * Chapter 2 — Interpreting Web Search Results * Chapter 3 — Advanced Search Techniques * Chapter 4 — Language Tools * Chapter 5 — Google Books * Chapter 6 — Google News Archive * Chapter 7 — Blog Search * Chapter 8 — Images & Video * Chapter 9 — Google Alerts * Chapter 10 — Google Maps * Chapter 11 — Google Earth * Chapter 12 — Google Notebook * Chapter 13 — The Google Toolbar & Google Chrome * Chapter 14 — Other Tips & Tricks * Appendix A — Getting Started in Genealogy * Appendix B — Top Sites for Genealogists * Appendix C — Other Internet Search Engines * Appendix D — Web Search Engine Defined * Appendix E — Syntax Summary & Quick Reference * Index You can learn more about this book at : http://www.googleyourfamilytree.com/contents.php. On YouTube Mary Slawson interviews Dan Lynch at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ot9T0dehGc and FaceBook has a page for the book at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Google-Your-Family-Tree/103259055513 . Dick Eastman’s review: http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/12/google-your- fam.html Published by FamilyLink.com - 340pages, $34.95. Order online from the book's home page which then points to WorldVitalRecords.com at http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/google_your_family_tree/?cpn=gyftwebsite 37 Belgian Laces Vol#31-120 A brief history of Belgian banknotes and coins http://www.nbb.be/pub/02_00_00_00_00/02_02_00_00_00/02_02_04_00_00.htm?l=en The history of the Belgian franc stretches over a period of 170 years. The national currency unit was created by a law passed in 1832, two years after Belgium declared its independence. Much of that history was actually written by the National Bank, which has issued Belgian banknotes since 1850 and became the "guardian of the currency" from its inception. Belgian banknotes The National Bank has designed and printed Belgian banknotes since 1850 up to the end of the 20th century. The last series was dedicated to Belgians who left their mark in the development of the arts in the 20th century. - 100 Franc note (1995): James Ensor, one of the greatest painters at the turn of the century. - 200 Franc note (1996): Adolphe Sax who owes his world fame to the invention of the saxophone, the dominant instrument of jazz and other styles of music. - 500 Franc note (1998): René Magritte, who was one of the leading representatives of surrealism movement. - 1000 Franc note (1997): Constant Permeke, whose expressionist art in Belgium was prominent between the two world wars. - 2000 Franc note (1994): Victor Horta, a pioneer and a leading figure in the Art nouveau movement, which spread throughout Europe at the start of the 20th century. - 10000 Franc note (1997): Albert II and Paola, the Belgian royal couple. 1830-1914: a young nation’s coins and notes http://www.nbb.be/pub/02_00_00_00_00/02_02_00_00_00/02_02_04_00_00/02_02_04_01_00.htm?l=fr When Belgium was young it was not easy to choose a national currency unit; there were both economic and political reasons for adopting "the franc" following the French example. It took a long time to produce enough coins to meet the country’s needs; in the meantime, Belgium accepted certain foreign currencies. The franc is defined in terms of its weight in silver. The first coins were therefore struck in that metal, and in bronze for the small denominations. The law allowed the option of minting coins in gold; these were rare, and this "bimetallism" gave rise to numerous problems. In 1860, Belgium became the first country in the world to issue coins made of cupronickel, which is nowadays the most common alloy used in minting coins. The first coins with inscriptions in Dutch appeared in 1886; the first bilingual banknotes followed a year later.