Picture this! Brussels, Belgium… 1812…

All you ever dreamed to know about who was who in Brussels that year can be discovered thanks to Antoine and Jacques MASSIN who set out to make available the Brussels 1812 Almanach. 

In 1812, Brussels was the county seat of the French Département de la Dyle, after the Austrian Low Lands were annexed by the First French Republic on October 1^st, 1795.   

The Département de la Dyle corresponded to the old Brabant Province which is now divided into 3 parts: Walloon Brabant, Flemish Brabant and the Brussels Region.

They divided the work into 5 parts:

- Dénombrement de la population de 1812:  a population census («Who is Who in 1812»), accessible by alphabetical order, lists every person residing in Brussels in 1812.  Saved as separate pdf files, the text is in French but being typed should be easy to copy and paste into a translating software if you don’t read French.

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

- Alphabetical List of all the towns and main hamlets of Belgium during Year VII.

Example: Achene, Sambre-et-Meuse, with a post office in Namur.

http://www.vieuxmetiers.org/gravure/_fumiste.htm

- Alphabetical directory of occupations, merchants and professions and the names of those who are actively engaged in these activities.

Example:  under “Banquiers” (Bankers): you will find 4 places of business, one of which is

-        DANOOS, Daniel and son, Rue d’Aremberg, Son, 5, #806.

      

     Some of the occupations you will find in this directory will likely surprise you:

-    - sellers of Geographic maps.

     - sellers of Carnival costumes

-    - carriage makers

     They list 4 dentists, and also 4 florists, along with a lot of different occupations that have since disappeared such as "fumiste": a craftsman who installed or repaired chimneys

I had to look that up and I recommend this website to discover the professions that our ancestors practiced:
Les Metiers de Nos Ancetres

- Compilation of the 367 Decrees made at the courthouse during the Year XII (141pages) – adds sometimes lively details to the last census taken by the French in 1812.  - book published in 1997 under the title “Bruxelles Qui est Qui en 1812” (Brussels who is Who in 1812) -

These decrees, signed by the Mayor of Brussels, Charles d’Ursel, Count of the Empire, Officer of the Legion d’Honneur and his substitutes, give us an insight in what it must have been like for a citizen of Brussels to live under the Empire.

Once again in French, but easily copied and pasted into Google Translate:

Arrêté n° 31, du 31 janvier.

Représentation au théâtre du Parc.

Le Maire, etc.

Autorise les membres de la Société dite de Thalie à donner au théâtre du Parc, du samedi 1er février prochain, une représentation des pièces intitulées: La femme a deux maris, la tapisserie et monsieur Vautour.

Charles d'Ursel.

Decree No. 31 of 31 January.

Representation in the Park Theatre.

The Mayor, etc.

Allows the members of the Society called de Thalia to give at the Park Theatre, Saturday February 1^st, a representation of the play titled “The woman has two husbands, the tapestry and Mr. Vautour.”

Charles d'Ursel.

Some have a more personal touch:

Arrêté n° 35, du 1er février.

Certificat de notoriété.

Le Maire, etc.

Déclare que les nommés Gaspar Bouillon et Marie Dupret, son épouse, sont très peu fortunés; vivent en partie du travail de leur fils Pierre et méritent des égards en raison de la position malheureuse dans laquelle ils se trouvent.

Charles d'Ursel.

Decree No. 35 of 1 February.

Certificate of notoriety

The Mayor, etc.

States that the named Gaspar Bouillon and Marie Dupret, his wife, are not very fortunate; partly depend on the work of their son Peter and deserve respect because of the unfortunate position in which they find themselves.

Charles d'Ursel.

-  Almanach for the Département de la Dyle for Leap Year 1812: complete transcription of the book found here –

includes calendars and feast days, sunrises, sunsets, names of all the political leaders in place at the time, and who did what in everyday life: doctors, pharmacists, drivers, firemen, midwives, opera singers…  even a list of how many players played what instruments in the orchestra.

So take a look if you have family who lived in Brussels in 1812 or if you just want background information.  The file is searchable so if you are looking for a specific name, you can find it faster that way.

Jumping back to our day, you can find what is happening in Brussels today by checking out the “Brusseleir” online newslette.

Till next time!

http://thebelgianresearchers.blogspot.com/

Belgian Archives Update

Don't get your hopes up, access is still limited to the Archives buildings in Belgium BUT
the article they posted to announce the latest released registers is well worth becoming acquainted with. You should be able to apply the same concept to other villages and make use of your local Family History Centers, even if the staff is not up to par with Belgian research.

These latest records are the 1784 census of the Saint Catherine Parish in Bonlez (Brabant). Census records served to figure how much tax each individual should pay. (view example)
It symbolizes Austrian emperor Joseph II's political outlook (enlightened despotism). An earlier local census was taken in Brussels in 1783, but the 1784 census was held in all the Austrian Netherlands.

Contrary to other census, this one did not have any fiscal purpose. The government simply wanted to get a basic idea of the population: an exact count was not necessary. They asked parish priests, through the bishops, to make lists of all those who resided within their parishes, thus given the priests an increased administrative role and holding them responsible for the correctness of the statistical data sent back to Brussels and Vienna. It is important to note that not all priests took this task seriously. The 1784 census must be considered more carefully than previous ones as there was no constraint to give correct answers (no penalty in case of errors).
The Bonlez census is a good example.
When comparing the Bonlez Parish register with the one Private Counsel's official record (Kept at the Archives de l’État in Bruxelles, Conseil Privé, Période autrichienne, c.1340 (19 June 1784)), we notice a difference in the final count of parishers. In the second part, there were 13 people too many. Where is the error? in the numbers sent to Brussels or in the infomration recorded byt the Private Counsel?
For more information on the 1784 census, you can check the works of BRUNEEL (C.), DELPORTE (L.) et PETITJEAN (B.), "Le dénombrement général de la population des Pays-Bas autrichiens en 1784", Centre de services et réseau de recherche. Statistiques historiques en Belgique. Heuristique, inventoriage rédaction et interprétation, Archives de l’Etat, Brussels, 1996.
For the Duchy of Brabant Demography, check COSEMANS (A.)'s work: "De bevolking van Brabant in de 17de en 18de eeuw", Commission Royale d’Histoire, Brussels, 1939.

As I was checking further into this, I also discovered some really nice online literature that can add to your research, unfortunately not in English.

I also discovered a couple of historical sites you may enjoy if you read French:
One on the history of the Ban de Meefe,
and another on the Ban d'Olne

Hope this stirs up your interest as much as it did mine.
For access to the links, visit the Blog's home page at
http://thebelgianresearchers.blogspot.com/

It occurred to me that

I have not really taken the time to talk much about how to use our website on Rootsweb. It has really grown since we started it a few years ago.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~inbr/index.html
There you will find
- the complete index to ALL the Belgian Laces issues
- a volume by volume listing of the back issues
- a history of The Belgian Researchers
- the purpose of our organization and how to join
- The Latest News will list the new items posted to the site as well as links to the previous ones posted
- a listing of events happening in Belgium in case you are traveling there or just want to know
- a link to this page, our blog "What's New in Belgian Genealogy?"
and last but by far NOT LEAST...
- free access to a growing number of indexed names thank to the hard work of good will of several of our members, such as:
1. the Belgians in both WW US draft cards
2. the Belgians in a variety of census (we could sure use more help with this)
3. the Belgians in ship lists from 1820 all the way to 1920 (incomplete)
4. the Belgians found in obituaries in several states and Canada
5. the Belgians found in the different Canadian census
6. the Belgians found in other countries (we could sure use your help)
7. Belgian records, either extracted by our members or linked to other sites
The Links also contain access to a variety of websites where to further your research.

We are striving to create a place where you can come and find answers, but we are well aware that the site is only as good as the material sent by those who are willing to share.
If you are aware of new places that we have not listed, please contact me or Guy Gallez so the site can better serve its purpose.

Thanks go to ALL those who are making this website a reality.
Keep up the good work!!

Treasure Trove for Grand-Leez researchers

Our member Rick F was looking for family in Grand-Leez, Belgium. Several families from Grand-Leez ended up in Wisconsin between 1855 -1856, but the people he was looking for left in 1871. He had found a connection in Belgium and their family names compared well but they could not find a common link to tie their family trees together.
One of our members suggested he visit Netradyle, a site containing a lot of extracted records: http://www.netradyle.be/
Another sent a link to Ron Flemalle’s site: PenBelGen: 19th Century Belgian Residents of Door Peninsula, Wisconsin
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=PenBelGen&I11.x=30&I11.y=1
I forwarded the query to http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/geniwal_magazine/ and received a most interesting answer redirecting me to Philippe Josis’ webpage at http://grandleez.be/

Another member went further and must have contacted the page owner as this morning I found a reply to the query in my mailbox. And what reply this was!
Mr. Josis had sent a link to an image from the Population register of Grand-Leez, showing Rick’s family.
Population registers in Belgium are maintained by decades and follow families over that time span: births, marriages, emigrations etc.
Allow me to extract the image for you:

As Head of household: DAVISTER, Louis Joseph, day laborer, born in Ernage, 17 July 1792, illegitimate son of DAVISTER, Marie Joseph, who is the daughter of DAVISTER, Pierre and BERGER, Marie Barbe
His Wife: LEGROS, Marie Thérèse, born in Sauvenière in 1788, daughter of LEGROS, Philippe (who is the son of LEGROS, Laurent and BRABANT, Magdelaine) and JOSET, Marie Josephe.
Their children:
- Marie Catherine, born in Sauveniere in 1815, married to DESSART, Amand, resides at Grand lez
- Ghislain Joseph, born in Sauveniere in 1818, married 1 BERNARD, Antoinette and 2. (blank)
- Hubert Joseph, born in Sauveniere in 1821, married to BEQUEVORT, Anne Julienne, resides at GrandLez
- Clement Joseph, born in Sauveniere in 1823, married to LOOSEN, Albertine, resides in Sauveniere
- Marie Françoise, born in sauveniere in 1829, married to Philippe LANGELE, resides in Incourt

Philippe Josis has spent the greater part of the last 10 years extracting the Grand-Leez records and as of now, he has photographed the all of the Grand-Leez parish registers from 1613 to 1796 (He is also working on the 11 other parishes of Gembloux).
He is working on the French period records (1796-1803) of the cantons of Gembloux and Spy.
For the new régime (1803 – abt. 2000), he has photographed the original records found in the Parish registers as well as in the Civil registers.

On his site’s Home Page - http://www.grandleez.be/grandleez.be.htm -, under the tab “Population”, you can find 5 lists:
- The 1693 enumeration of Mont-Saint-Guibert (Grand-Leez was a part of that location in those days): it’s one of the first enumerations!
- The 1709 enumeration of Mont-Saint-Guibert: 16 years later, with more details
- A list of Heads of Families taken around 1830 by the Abbot Surlectiaux: contains both spouses, house numbers, according to villages/hamlets
- A more recent population listing of Grand-Leez, first published in "Chez Nous" around 1990: includes street names, house numbers, names/surnames of both spouses or companions as well as telephone numbers
- A 2006 list of households of Grand-Leez, according to house number and street

Back to the main page, under “Histoire” you will find a local history (in French), a time line and the coat of arms along with pictures of 2 books dedicated to local history:
- Le Pays de Gembloux: Des Origines a L’An Mille: Jean Martin’s superb summary of 1000 years of History of Grand-Leez and its surrounding: The triangle Gembloux (Baudecet) – Walhain – Grand-Leez
- Notes d’Histoire sur Grand-Leez, also by Jean Martin covers 20 centuries of history and is available through the Cercle Royal d'Art et Histoire de Gembloux .

Let’s return again to the main page and this time click on “Généalogies”.
On this page Philippe Josis explains how so far 26,000 have been extracted from the Grand-Leez records and this has enabled the reconstruction of many old family trees.
If you have family in Grand-Leez, you will want to contact Philippe Josis to see if he can help you find your ancestor.

Be aware though that only specific questions will receive answers. There will be no reply to queries seeking “All information on any surname” so as not to deprive the researcher from experiencing the fun in personal discovery.
On that page, just click on the highlighted “en annexe” where many answers to archived queries can be found.
At the top of the page you will find tabs in alphabetical order.
Since we are looking for DAVISTER, let’s click on the one that says “de A à D”, then select D. This leads us to more alphabetical tabs at the top of the page.

In Internet Explorer, when you hover over “Recherches D”,

a menu comes down giving you some names. Move to the person you are interested in and click. A picture of a record or a family tree will be displayed.

Back to the main page again, this time click on “Tranche de vie” to discover two articles dedicated to personalities who made their mark on Grand-Leez and who deserve to be remembered.
- Henry II de Leez, Bishop of Liège, related to the Grand-Leez nobles
- Mathieu PORTIER, notaire at Petit Leez.

Under the “Evénements” tabs of the Main page, you will find lists of people who participated in events that marked the village history:
- List of young men enlisted in Napoleon’s armies
- List of those who emigrated to America between 1855-1856
- List of those who died or were deported during WWI
- List of those of were captured or/and died during WWII

Under “Liens”, you will find links to further sites to help you discover the region and if you have family in Gembloux, to help you further your research.
Under “Contact” you will find a form to fill out to make your request for research.
Just remember… it must be specific and show that you have given serious thought to your personal research before asking.

Philippe Josis enjoys making this information available to all freely but his work is copyrighted and should not be used for any other purpose than personal research. He juggles many hats besides and wishes for many more years with 32-48 hour days.
Please visit his wonderful site.
You will rave about it as I am, and I don’t have any relatives in Grand-Leez… I searched my database to verify as I would have LOVED finding one and tying into this Gargantuan work. He yet plans to take photographs of the cemetery to add to the information already available.
THANK YOU, Philippe for an amazing site!