The Saeijs of Sleidinge and Zeeland

Part Three. Zeeland

Chapter 9. Eduardus Saey crosses the border, 1844 to 1929

A birth that cannot be found

Eduardus, the son of Bernardus Saey and Marie Therese Vervaet, was born at Bassevelde in 1844 or 1845, perhaps in the house on the dyke described in chapter 8. His birth act has not yet been found. The family's research folder holds a Bassevelde birth act of June 1845 filed under his name, but it is not his. It records the birth of a girl, Angeline, to another Eduardus Saey, a workman of twenty-three, and his wife Marie Therese Millioen. Another act of August 1845 belongs to the daughter of a third Saey father, Jan Bernard.1 In 1845 there were at least three Saey households in Bassevelde, and it would be easy to take the wrong child for ours, as the folder once did.

What the records do give is his age, three times over: thirty-three at his marriage in August 1878, thirty-four in June 1879, and eighty at his death in July 1925. Only a birth between August 1844 and June 1845 fits all three.2

He grew up on the dyke through the hungry forties. He was about sixteen when his father died, and in 1870, when his mother died, he was a dienstknecht, a farm servant, at Bassevelde. He told the mayor that he had never learned to sign his name.3

Over the border

Some time in the 1870s Eduardus left Bassevelde and went north, across the border into the Netherlands. He did not go far. His first recorded home in Zeeland was Waterlandkerkje, then IJzendijke, about ten kilometres from the dyke where he had grown up.4 But it was a different country, with a different church.

West Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, the strip of Flanders south of the Scheldt estuary, had been Dutch since the early seventeenth century. At IJzendijke the Reformed church, built in 1612, was the first church in Zeeland built for Protestant worship. The town itself had been a fortress. The Duke of Parma built a fort there in 1587, and from 1604 Prince Maurice of Orange rebuilt it to a design by the mathematician Simon Stevin. Most of the walls were taken down between 1841 and 1843.5 In the nineteenth century the land of this Protestant corner was worked more and more by Catholic labourers from Belgium. Belgian landowners brought in cheap Catholic farmhands, and Protestant labourers left. The local historians count this among the reasons for the emigration from Zeeland to America.6 Eduardus, a Belgian labourer, fits that picture.

The wedding at IJzendijke

On Saturday 17 August 1878, in the council chamber of IJzendijke, Eduardus Saey, thirty-three, a labourer "now living at IJzendijke, formerly at Waterlandkerkje", married Louisa Clementia Zwartelé, a working woman of twenty-one, born at IJzendijke.7

Marriage of Eduardus Saey, born at Bassevelde, Belgium, and Louisa Clementia Zwartelé, IJzendijke, 17 August 1878
Marriage of Eduardus Saey, born at Bassevelde, Belgium, and Louisa Clementia Zwartelé, IJzendijke, 17 August 1878
Transcription and translation

N° 15. Eduardus Saeij en Louisa Clementia Zwartelé. Heden den zeventienden van de maand Augustus des jaars een duizend acht honderd acht en zeventig, verschenen voor mij Wethouder, Ambtenaar van den Burgerlijken stand van de gemeente IJzendyke, provincie Zeeland, in het openbaar in de raadzaal aldaar, Eduardus Saey oud drie en dertig jaren, geboren te Bassevelde, België, van beroep werkman, thans wonende te IJzendyke, vroeger te Waterland kerkje, van staat ongehuwd, meerderjarige zoon van Bernardus Saey en van Marie Therese Vervaet, beide overleden te Bassevelde ter eene; en Louisa Clementia Zwartelé oud een en twintig jaren, geboren te IJzendyke, van beroep werkvrouw, wonende te IJzendyke, van staat ongehuwd, minderjarige dochter van Carolus Ludovicus Zwartelé en van zyne huisvrouw Johanna Willems, van beroep werklieden, beide wonende te IJzendyke ter andere zijde ... Ten tweeden. Op het door den aanstaanden echtgenoot overgelegd certificaat van ongehoudenheid aan de Nationale Militie hier te lande ...

No. 15. On 17 August 1878, before me, alderman and civil registrar of IJzendijke, province of Zeeland, in public in the council chamber, appeared Eduardus Saey, aged 33, born at Bassevelde, Belgium, a labourer, now living at IJzendijke and formerly at Waterlandkerkje, unmarried, of age, son of Bernardus Saey and Marie Therese Vervaet, both deceased at Bassevelde; and Louisa Clementia Zwartelé, aged 21, born at IJzendijke, a working woman living at IJzendijke, unmarried, under age, daughter of Carolus Ludovicus Zwartelé and his wife Johanna Willems, labourers, both living at IJzendijke ... [The registrar examined] the certificate produced by the groom that he had no outstanding obligation to the National Militia of this country ...

Original: Zeeuws Archief, civil registers of IJzendijke, marriages 1878, act 15. Image from the family's research folder.

The act names his parents, Bernardus Saey and Marie Therese Vervaet, "both deceased at Bassevelde". Louisa was under age, so her parents came to give their consent in person: Carolus Ludovicus Zwartelé and Johanna Willems, both labourers of IJzendijke. The banns had been read in IJzendijke and in Waterlandkerkje on Sundays 4 and 11 August. And the groom had to produce a certificate that he owed nothing to the Nationale Militie hier te lande, the national militia of this country. Even a labourer born in Belgium had to show that he had no obligations to the Dutch army.7

House B 27

Ten months later, at one in the afternoon of 19 June 1879, their first son was born in het huis wijk B nommer zeven en twintig, in the house at ward B, number 27, in IJzendijke. Eduardus registered him the next day, with two witnesses, an innkeeper of seventy and a tailor of thirty-nine, and named the boy Theophile.8

Birth of Theophile Saeij 'in the house ward B number 27', IJzendijke, 19 June 1879; the father 'had never learned to write'
Birth of Theophile Saeij 'in the house ward B number 27', IJzendijke, 19 June 1879; the father 'had never learned to write'
Transcription and translation

N° 56 Theophile Saeij. Heden den twintigsten van de maand Junij des jaars een duizend acht honderd negen en zeventig, verscheen voor mij Wethouder, Ambtenaar van den Burgerlijken stand van de gemeente IJzendyke, provincie Zeeland, Eduardus Saey oud vier en dertig jaren, van beroep werkman wonende te IJzendyke, dewelke mij heeft verklaard, dat op den negentienden van de maand Junij des jaars achttien honderd negen en zeventig, des namiddags te een ure, binnen deze gemeente, in het huis wijk B nommer zeven en twintig, is geboren een kind van de mannelyke kunne, zoon van hem aangever en van zyne huisvrouw Louisa Clementia Zwartelé van beroep werkvrouw, aan welk kind hij verklaart te geven de voornaam van Theophile ... uitgezonderd door den aangever welke verklaard heeft niet te hebben leeren schryven.

No. 56. On 20 June 1879 Eduardus Saey, aged 34, labourer of IJzendijke, appeared before the alderman and civil registrar and declared that on 19 June 1879, at one in the afternoon, in the house ward B number 27 in this commune, a boy was born to him and to his wife Louisa Clementia Zwartelé, working woman, and that he gave the child the name Theophile. The witnesses were Jacobus Bernardus Fermont [?], 70, innkeeper, and Jacobus Bernardus de Witte, 39, tailor. The act was signed by all except the declarant, 'who declared that he had never learned to write'.

Original: Zeeuws Archief, civil registers of IJzendijke, births 1879, act 56. Image from the Zeeuws Archief viewer, in the family's research folder.

The act was signed by the witnesses and the registrar, uitgezonderd door den aangever welke verklaard heeft niet te hebben leeren schryven: "except by the declarant, who declared that he had never learned to write."8

Eight children were born at IJzendijke between 1879 and 1896:9

Once again Eduardus registered the birth himself, and once again the clerk noted that the father had never learned to write.14

Birth of Pieter Johannes Saey, son of Eduard Saey and Louisa Clementia Zwartelé, in the house ward B number 24, IJzendijke, 27 October 1887
Birth of Pieter Johannes Saey, son of Eduard Saey and Louisa Clementia Zwartelé, in the house ward B number 24, IJzendijke, 27 October 1887
Transcription and translation

N° 70. Heden den achtentwintigsten van de maand October des jaars een duizend acht honderd zeven en tachtig, verscheen voor mij Wethouder, Ambtenaar van den Burgerlijken stand van de gemeente IJzendijke, provincie Zeeland, Eduard Saey oud twee en veertig jaren, van beroep werkman, wonende te IJzendijke, welke mij heeft verklaard, dat op den zeven en twintigsten van de maand October des jaars achttien honderd zeven en tachtig, des namiddags te drie ure, binnen deze gemeente, in het huis wijk B nommer vier en twintig, is geboren een kind van de mannelijke kunne, zijnde zoon van Eduard Saey voornoemd en van zijne huisvrouw Louisa Clementia Zwartelé, van beroep werkvrouw, wonende te IJzendijke, aan welk kind hij verklaart te geven de voornamen van Pieter Johannes; welke aangifte en verklaring zijn geschied in bijwezen van Kornelis Verspille [?], oud acht en vijftig jaren, van beroep schoenmaker, wonende te IJzendijke, en van Pieter Johannes de Bruijne, oud twee en dertig jaren, van beroep werkman, wonende te IJzendijke ... uitgezonderd door den aangever, die verklaard heeft niet te hebben leeren schrijven.

No. 70. On 28 October 1887 Eduard Saey, aged 42, labourer, of IJzendijke, declared before the alderman and civil registrar of IJzendijke that on 27 October 1887, at three in the afternoon, in the house ward B number 24 in this commune, a boy was born, son of the said Eduard Saey and his wife Louisa Clementia Zwartelé, working woman, of IJzendijke, and that he gave the child the names Pieter Johannes. Witnesses: Kornelis Verspille [?], 58, shoemaker, and Pieter Johannes de Bruijne, 32, labourer, both of IJzendijke. Signed by all except the declarant, who declared that he had never learned to write.

Zeeuws Archief, Middelburg: civil registers of IJzendijke, births 1887, act 70 (inventory 25.IJZ-G-1887).

Three of the children died as young adults within eight years of each other: Maria Theresia in 1907, Theophile in 1908 and Emma in 1915.

Field labourers of Oostburg

Eduardus and Louisa both worked in the fields for decades. In the Dutch records he is later a veldarbeider, a field labourer, and she a veldarbeidster, still at work in her late fifties.10 Around the turn of the century they moved to Oostburg, the regional centre of West Zeeuws-Vlaanderen.11 Their children's deaths in 1907 and 1908 were registered there.

Eduardus died at Oostburg at eight in the morning of Thursday 2 July 1925, at house number nine in a street whose name the clerk wrote too hastily to be read with certainty. He was eighty and had no occupation any longer. He had been married for almost forty-seven years. The death was reported that same day by his son Pieter Johannes Saey, thirty-seven, a field labourer from Waterlandkerkje, and the town gravedigger.12

Death of Eduard Saey, aged 80, born at Bassevelde (Belgium), at house number 9, Oostburg, 2 July 1925, reported by his son Pieter Johannes
Death of Eduard Saey, aged 80, born at Bassevelde (Belgium), at house number 9, Oostburg, 2 July 1925, reported by his son Pieter Johannes
Transcription and translation

1925. N° 39. Heden twee Juli negentienhonderd vijf en twintig, verschenen voor mij, Ambtenaar van den burgerlijken stand der gemeente Oostburg: Pieter Johannes Saey oud zeven en dertig jaren, veldarbeider wonende te Waterlandkerkje, [...] en Petrus Bernardus van Hulle oud twee en zeventig jaren, grafdelver wonende te Oostburg, die verklaarden, dat op twee Juli dezes jaars, des vóórmiddags ten acht ure, in deze gemeente in het huis [straat, moeilijk leesbaar] nommer negen is overleden: Eduard Saey, zonder beroep, oud tachtig jaren, geboren te Bassevelde (België) en wonende te Oostburg, echtgenoot van Louisa Clementia Zwartelé, zoon van Bernardus Saey en van Marie Theresia Vervaert, beiden overleden. Waarvan akte ... [signed] P. J. Saey, [P. B. van] Hulle.

1925, no. 39. On 2 July 1925 there appeared before the civil registrar of Oostburg Pieter Johannes Saey, aged 37, field labourer, living at Waterlandkerkje, [...] and Petrus Bernardus van Hulle, aged 72, gravedigger, of Oostburg, who declared that at eight in the morning of 2 July of this year, in this commune, in the house [street hard to read] number nine, died Eduard Saey, without occupation, aged eighty, born at Bassevelde (Belgium) and living at Oostburg, husband of Louisa Clementia Zwartelé, son of Bernardus Saey and Marie Theresia Vervaert, both deceased. Signed P. J. Saey and [P. B. van] Hulle.

Original: Zeeuws Archief, civil registers of Oostburg, deaths 1925, act 39 (inventory 25.OBG-O-1925). Image: Zeeuws Archief print, in the family's research folder.

The act calls him geboren te Bassevelde (België). After some fifty years in the Netherlands he was still, on paper, a man from Belgium. At the foot of the act his son signed his name, P. J. Saey. The father who had never learned to write had a son who could.12

Louisa Clementia Zwartelé outlived him by three and a half years. She died at Oostburg on 20 January 1929, aged seventy-one.13

  1. Bassevelde births 1845, act 38 (Angeline Saey, 23 June 1845) and act 55 (Virginie Saey, August 1845) [S63]. Read from the images (grade A). Both are negative evidence for Eduardus. ↩

  2. Marriage, IJzendijke, 17 August 1878; birth of Theophile, 20 June 1879; death, Oostburg, 2 July 1925 [S58, S63] (grade A for the ages; the window is derived, grade C). ↩

  3. Death of Bernardus Saey, 13 November 1861, and of Marie Therese Vervaet, 3 September 1870 [S57, S58] (grade A). ↩

  4. Marriage, IJzendijke, 17 August 1878 [S58] (grade A). Distances measured on a modern map. ↩

  5. Encyclopedie van Zeeland, IJzendijke [S61]. ↩

  6. Zeeuwse Ankers, Bittere armoede en het geloof [S60]. ↩

  7. Marriage of Eduardus Saey and Louisa Clementia Zwartelé, IJzendijke, act 15, 17 August 1878 [S58]. Read from the image (grade A). The witnesses and signatures are on the next page, which is not in the family's folder. The day of the week is calculated. ↩↩

  8. Birth of Theophile Saeij, IJzendijke, act 56, 20 June 1879 [S63]. Read from the image (grade A). ↩↩

  9. The children's births, marriages and deaths from a published descendant report that cites the Zeeuws Archief act numbers [S64] (grade B), agreeing with the Open Archieven index of the Zeeuws Archief [S66] (grade B). Theophile's birth is grade A [S63]. The dates for Alphonsus and Augusta Octavie are also on their gravestones [S65] (grade A for the inscriptions). ↩

  10. Descendant report [S64] (grade B). ↩

  11. Encyclopedie van Zeeland, Oostburg [S62]. ↩

  12. Death of Eduard Saey, Oostburg, act 39, 2 July 1925 [S63]. Read from the image (grade A). The phrase after the first declarant's residence, probably giving his relationship to the dead man, is hard to read, as is the street name. Pieter Johannes is identified as his son by his name and age (born 27 October 1887) [S64] (grade C for the relationship). ↩↩

  13. Descendant report [S64] and Open Archieven index, death at Oostburg, 20 January 1929 [S66] (grade B). ↩

  14. Birth of Pieter Johannes Saey, IJzendijke, act 70, 28 October 1887 [S76]. Read from the image (grade A). Alphonsus at Hulst in 1914: marriage of his brother, Sint Kruis, 1914 [S76] (grade A). ↩

← Chapter 8. Bernardus Saey and Marie Therese Vervaet, on the Landsdijk, 1803 to 1870Chapter 10. Pieter Johannes Saeij and Mathielde Sophia Lohman, 1887 to 1968 →