Links within
this
website are this
color
(Links to
other
websites are in this color)
The
idea for this Website came from the lack of information that
genealogical methods yielded about the ancestors of the owner of this
site. Some of them lived in or near the villages of Baal and Tremelo
in rural Flemish Brabant. Others originated in or near the city of
Gent (Ghent) in East Flanders. Because he knew little about the life
style of these people beyond family stories, the actual conditions in
those times and places were researched on the Web and through
correspondence.
Judging from the number of times this
Website and its predecessor have been visited and revisited and from
the comments and suggestions received, it appears that descendants of
other Belgians who emigrated to the United States and Canada also
have a desire to learn about the lives of their ancestors.
Unfortunately little information has been collected as yet about life
in parts of Belgium other than Flemish Brabant and East and West
Flanders.
To understand how the owner of this website became
interested in all this, visit the web site of his autobiography.
Although most emigrants leaving Belgium for North America departed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many of the events and conditions that led to their departure had their origin in the 18 century and even further back to the era called the 'Ancien Regime'. It preceded the conquest by the French Revolutionary Army in 1794 of what was then called the 'Southern Netherlands' of the 'Austrian Netherlands' ruled by the Habsburg dynasty.
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