GSFA articles and files
Genealogical Society of Flemish Americans


Interesting articles and miscellany
UPDATED 4 August 2009
FLEMISH AMERICAN HERITAGE magazine
ARTICLES
DOWNLOADS

Index to past issues of Flemish American Heritage magazine


In the July 2009 Flemish American Heritage magazine :
    Cover Story:Castle Tillegem - A castle that was last privately owned by Counts of Briey and the Baron Verhaegen. It is the property of the Province of West Flanders since 1980. Its partly visible moat system dates back to the late middle age.
    Emigrants from Zwevezele (part 4) - a continuing series.
    Town Series: Koekelare - The town that is between Tourhout and Dixmuide. The oldest church in the town is St. Martinus which was destroyed by the Normans in the 9th century and was rebuilt later on. It was last renovated in 1909 through 1912.
    The Family of Alidor BRAEM - A three pages on the life of Alidor BRAEM and his family, who all emigrated to USA
    In Memoriam: Mary Ellen VAN DAMME (nee GRENON) - The first editor of this Flemish American Heritage and a mother of 8 children.
    Belgian Royalty: The First Belgian King - Leopold I: Leopold became the first king of Belgium on July 21st, 1831. An interesting fact: Sixteen months earlier, Leopold accepted but then rejected the throne of Greece
    Flemish Cooking: Lukken - Very delicious cookies! You need a lukken (or pizzelle) iron to make those thin cookies. Many of Flemish Americans make them for Christmas.
    Plus the usual queries and membership roster update.

In the March 2009 Flemish American Heritage magazine :
    Cover Story: Castle Merode - An imposing castle located in the historic Kempen of the province of Antwerp.
    Town Series: Mechelen, A small settlement started out on the Dyle river. It was an administrative captial of Netherlands in the early 16th century. Also, it was the home of the Beethoven family
    Dilemma of too many DENOLFS - The DeNolfs families of Zwevezele 1650 - 1800: How the author solved the problem of two men born in same month/year and figured which one is his direct ancestor?.
    Emigrants from Zwevezele (part 3) - A list of emigrants between the years 1900 - 1910
    More about carillions - Carillion music.
    DEBOO in North America with corrections.
    Plus the usual membership list updates, queries.



ARTICLES
SS Kensington
SS Kensington, 1894 American Line
"My father came to the U.S. on this ship, October 17, 1899. It then carried 60 Saloon and 1,000 Steerage pasengers. In 1895 the American Line exchanged routes with the Red Star Line, Antwerp to New York, and 8 years later they were switched over to the Dominion Line with accommodations altered to 300 Second Class."

    --Dorothy Smith

All of This STUFF You have been doing research for five, ten, twenty, thirty years, and have collected a lot of stuff related to your family. Data, copies of documents, and original records. Pictures, memorabilia. The day will come that you are going to join your ancestors. What will happen to your collection?
By Edward Gaulin, Sr.

Puzzle Photos: See if you can figure these out

Belgian Postcards made of some kind of bone. Another puzzle, from the turn of the century

Belgian Heroes: Inspiring short stories from past GSFA calendar

An old Flemish folk tale about the  Devil's Barn of Amelgem.

The Seventh Son: an old Belgian custom in which the 7th son becomes the godson of the King. This is from our magazine, Flemish American Heritage

The August 1998 cover of FAH magazine, in color. Art by Steve Van Damme. 168K, so it will take a while...

Jim Van Damme's Family Trip to Belgium, an article which isn't quite ready for the magazine yet.

Past Queries contains all the queries that was published in all of the FAH issues.


DOWNLOADS

The GSFA Name List.  This is the index to our pedigree book of charts that members have submitted. Click on the link and check the list, and if the surname you're researching is in here, it's somewhere in our files.  Come on down to the Buyse Library and have a look. If you want to use our research service instead, click on this for more information.

Index to the Ontario microfilm catalog. Contains these files; you need an unzipping utility like PKUnzip, plus an ASCII text editor to read it (any PC word processor will do).  Click here to download. Phone numbers are provided in the readme file.

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