January 31 1885

On this day, one hundred and seventeen years ago, my maternal grandmother Maria Antonia De Vidts was born in Pamel. She was the second of five children of Felix (Pamel 1853 - 1940) and Blondina Muylaert (Denderhoutem 1849 - 1942). She died, quite young as compared to her parents, on September 25 1949 in Okegem.

Suffice it to say that I was her first grandchild and that I was the "apple of  her eye".

Her siblings were :

Maria Adelina who lived for one month in 1883
Adelina who lived for about two years between 1887 and 1890
Adeline (Pamel 1890 - 1981) who married and had offspring
Petrus Joannes (Pamel 1893 - 1922). Petrus died single.

My mother never knew about the two early deaths and said that her mother had a brother, who died in his twenties, and a sister who continued to live in the paternal house in the Piezelstraat in Pamel.

I was told that a relative was brought up with them :

Eugeen De Doncker (Brussels  1886 - Calais 1915) was a victim of the first world war. I haven't been able yet to define the exact nature of the relationship ; to clear that out, I must consult the Brussels archives, and that has never been a priority in my research. Eugeen married and had offspring in Okegem. My mother and her siblings called him "nonkel Geen" and I suppose that my mother's brother Eugeen was named after him.