Belgian and Louisiana Relatives Reunite
There is currently a contingent of Louisiana-side relatives touring Belgium as part of a multi-national "Thiels Family Reunion." Several members of the Thiels family have in the past 100 years married into the Petrus family including my great aunt Emma Petrus who married Louis Thiels and moved back to Louisiana.
I notified our Belgian relative, Jan Scholliers (see ERRATA below), of the impending visit and he expressed an interest in meeting with the group. I gave Jan the email address of fellow Belgian reunion organizer Rik Thiels and just received the following note regarding his visit.
Dear Keith
I wrote to Rik Thiels, explained who I am, and asked him if some relatives of Emma Petrus had come to Belgium. He told me that there was a Anne Moseley - Van Mol among the American party that landed at Brussels on Sept. 6th.
So I went to the meeting on Sunday Sept. 11th and found Rik who brought Anne to me. I said something like 'I am Jan, I have nothing to do with this Thiels Familiy... but if I am right you are a granddaughter of Emma Petrus, daughter of Ferdinand, who had a sister Paulina etc...etc...' I got a big hug when she realised we were distant relatives. We exchanged email addresses and she recognized my name when she saw it in writing (because it is mentioned in the Petrus Family site). We only could talk for something like 15 minutes, she had to attend to the ongoing activities in the hall. I will write her and tell her about the family here in Belgium. As she came to the Thiels meeting, she might be interested in other Belgian roots.
So... that is what I wanted to tell you. Would you believe...... having no uncles, no aunts and no nephews nore nieces, it was a special moment for me! I hope there will be, some day, an opportunity to meet you and your family too.
Jan (Scholliers)
ERRATA: I previously misidentified the author of the email above, Jan Scholliers, as "Jan Meijnaerts." Jan Scholliers is a descendent of Paulina Petrus/Van Opstal, sister to my great great grandfather Ferdinand Petrus. Ferdinand's sisters, Paulina and Justina, remained in Belgium with their husbands while the men of the family immigrated to the United States. Jan is my 3rd cousin and our common ancestors are Joseph and Christina Meijnaerts/Petrus.
I received the following polite note from Mr. Scholliers regarding my error in identification:
Dear Keith
As you posted my mail to the Petrusfamily website, I just looked to it. I am afraid you have been mixing things up. I am not Jan Meynaerts, but Jan Scholliers.... Well...maybe you can 'repair' the thing before anyone else notices.
Best regards
Jan
Jan Meijnaerts, on the other hand, is the son of recently deceased Lucien Meynaerts who was instrumental in piecing together the Belgian side of our family history. The Meijnaerts family tree of which our family is a branch, may be viewed at: Stamboom Familie Meynaerts en aanverwanten. Jan Meijnaerts assisted his father in his research and carries on the tradition today. The website is in Dutch/Flemish but you'll get the basic idea.
I notified our Belgian relative, Jan Scholliers (see ERRATA below), of the impending visit and he expressed an interest in meeting with the group. I gave Jan the email address of fellow Belgian reunion organizer Rik Thiels and just received the following note regarding his visit.
Dear Keith
I wrote to Rik Thiels, explained who I am, and asked him if some relatives of Emma Petrus had come to Belgium. He told me that there was a Anne Moseley - Van Mol among the American party that landed at Brussels on Sept. 6th.
So I went to the meeting on Sunday Sept. 11th and found Rik who brought Anne to me. I said something like 'I am Jan, I have nothing to do with this Thiels Familiy... but if I am right you are a granddaughter of Emma Petrus, daughter of Ferdinand, who had a sister Paulina etc...etc...' I got a big hug when she realised we were distant relatives. We exchanged email addresses and she recognized my name when she saw it in writing (because it is mentioned in the Petrus Family site). We only could talk for something like 15 minutes, she had to attend to the ongoing activities in the hall. I will write her and tell her about the family here in Belgium. As she came to the Thiels meeting, she might be interested in other Belgian roots.
So... that is what I wanted to tell you. Would you believe...... having no uncles, no aunts and no nephews nore nieces, it was a special moment for me! I hope there will be, some day, an opportunity to meet you and your family too.
Jan (Scholliers)
ERRATA: I previously misidentified the author of the email above, Jan Scholliers, as "Jan Meijnaerts." Jan Scholliers is a descendent of Paulina Petrus/Van Opstal, sister to my great great grandfather Ferdinand Petrus. Ferdinand's sisters, Paulina and Justina, remained in Belgium with their husbands while the men of the family immigrated to the United States. Jan is my 3rd cousin and our common ancestors are Joseph and Christina Meijnaerts/Petrus.
I received the following polite note from Mr. Scholliers regarding my error in identification:
Dear Keith
As you posted my mail to the Petrusfamily website, I just looked to it. I am afraid you have been mixing things up. I am not Jan Meynaerts, but Jan Scholliers.... Well...maybe you can 'repair' the thing before anyone else notices.
Best regards
Jan
Jan Meijnaerts, on the other hand, is the son of recently deceased Lucien Meynaerts who was instrumental in piecing together the Belgian side of our family history. The Meijnaerts family tree of which our family is a branch, may be viewed at: Stamboom Familie Meynaerts en aanverwanten. Jan Meijnaerts assisted his father in his research and carries on the tradition today. The website is in Dutch/Flemish but you'll get the basic idea.
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