Chapter 5. Bernardus Jacobus Deschacht and Helena Kerckhove, Zerkegem, 1769 to 1860
Four crosses in a register
Bernardus Jacobus married Helena Kerckhove at Zerkegem on 29 April 1794, "both under age but with the consent of those concerned". Petrus Kerckhove and Anselmus de Schacht - the godfather of 1769 - were the witnesses. None of the four could write, and each made a cross.1
Transcription and translation
29 aprilis praeviis sponsalibus et tertio proclamati contraxerunt matrimonium Bernardus de Schacht habitans in Jabbeke et Helena Kerckhove habitans in hac, ambo minorennes sed cum consensu quorum interest. Coram me et testibus Petro Kerckhove et Anselmo de Schacht, omnibus declarantibus nescire scribere. hoc + est signatura Bernardi de Schacht. hoc + est signatura Helenae Kerckhove. hoc + est signatura Petri Kerckhove. hoc + est signatura Anselmi de Schacht. ita quod testor, [J.] D'Hoore pastor de Zerkeghem.
On 29 April [1794], after betrothal and three proclamations, Bernardus de Schacht, living at Jabbeke, and Helena Kerckhove, living in this parish, contracted marriage, both minors but with the consent of those concerned. Before me and the witnesses Petrus Kerckhove and Anselmus de Schacht, all declaring they could not write; each made his cross. So I attest, D'Hoore, parish priest of Zerkegem. Bernardus was 24, hence 'minor'; Anselmus de Schacht had been his godfather in 1769 (grade A).
It was the last spring of the old order. Two months later the French won the battle of Fleurus, and by the end of June 1794 the Austrian Netherlands were in French hands for good; in October 1795 they were annexed to the Republic.6 Bernardus and Helena's married life began under requisitions, the persecution of the priests who refused the oath, and from 1798 the conscription law that drove the countryside into the Boerenkrijg, the Peasants' War, that October.67 The Jourdan-Delbrel law of 5 September 1798 made every unmarried young man between twenty and twenty-five liable for the army, something the Flemish countryside had never known. The rising that followed began in the second week of October and was crushed near Hasselt on 5 December; between five and ten thousand people died in the fighting.8 Bernardus, twenty-nine and married, was just beyond the law's reach; his younger neighbours were not. Bernardus was a day labourer; the couple stayed at Zerkegem, and twelve children were born to them there between 1794 and 1819.2
Zerkegem, where they lived, is one of the oldest names in the district: a document of 765 already speaks of Sirigoheim, and the parish church, dedicated to Saint Vedast, belonged until the eighteenth century to the abbey of Saint-Vaast at Arras. In the nineteenth century, in Bernardus's old age, the village got its schools and the church was enlarged.9
The end
Bernardus died at Zerkegem on 1 February 1842, at two in the night, aged seventy-two. His son Samuel reported the death, and the act names his parents: Emanuel and Joanna Mestdag. With the baptism of 1769, that makes two independent acts for the same link - which is why, from Bernardus down, every link of this line is grade A.3
Transcription and translation
Sterfgeval N. 5. Een jaar achttien honderd twee en veertig, den eersten februarij, om tien ueren voormiddag, is voor ons Petrus Carolus Verbrugge, Burgemeester ambtenaar van den burgerstand der gemeente Zerkeghem, arrondissement Brugge, provincie Westvlaanderen, gecompareerd Samuel Deschacht, werkman, oud vier en twintig jaren, geboren te Zerkeghem, zoon van den overledenen, en Joseph Vermeersch, veldwagter, oud vijf en vijftig jaren, beyde alhier woonachtig, welke comparanten ons verklaard hebben dat Bernardus Deschacht, arbeyder, oud twee en zeventig jaren, geboren te Jabbeke en woonende in dit gemeente, zoon van Emanuel en van Joanna Mestdag, echtgenoot van Helena Kerckhove, arbeydster, oud acht en zestig jaren, geboren in dit gemeente, overleden is op heden ten twee ueren s'nagts, in zijne woonste staende binnen dit gemeente. Den eersten comparant verklaard bij onkunde niet te konnen schrijven, en den tweeden heeft met ons naer aflezing dezen akt geteekend. [Signed:] Joseph Vermeersch; P. C. Verbrugge.
Death, no. 5. On 1 February 1842 at ten in the morning appeared before Petrus Carolus Verbrugge, mayor and registrar of Zerkegem, Samuel Deschacht, workman, 24, born at Zerkegem, son of the deceased, and Joseph Vermeersch, rural constable, 55, both living here, who declared that Bernardus Deschacht, labourer, aged 72, born at Jabbeke and living in this commune, son of Emanuel and of Joanna Mestdag, husband of Helena Kerckhove, labourer, 68, born in this commune, died today at two in the night in his house in this commune. The first declarant could not write; the second signed with us after the reading. The act names Bernardus's parents outright: the link to Emmanuel and Joanna Mestdagh is grade A from two independent acts (this and the 1769 baptism).
Helena Kerckhove outlived him by eighteen years. In April 1847, a "labouring woman" of seventy-two, she was present at the town hall of Zerkegem and gave her consent when her son Jacobus married for the second time.4 She died at Zerkegem on 13 January 1860, aged about eighty-six, and the date is written into the act of her son Pieter's second marriage that October. The family tree's date, 1847, was wrong.5
Transcription and translation
Huwelyk N. 14. Een jare achttien honderd zeven en veertig, den achtten april, om negen uren voormiddag ... compareerd Jacobus De Schacht, werkman, geboren in dit gemeente den negen en twintigsten maerte achttien honderd elf, en woonende te Bekeghem ... meerderjarigen zoon van Bernardus, alhier overleden den eersten february achttien honderd twee en veertig, en van Helena Kerckhove, werkvrouw, oud twee en t'zeventig jaren geboren en woonende in dit gemeente, alhier tegenwoordig en toestemmende in het huwelyk, en weduwaer van Francisca Boffel, overleden te Bekeghem den tienden mei achttien honderd zes en veertig ... ter eenderzyde; en Joanna Theresia Moyaert, werkdogter, geboren te Westkerke den zeven en twintigsten january achttien honderd dertien ... dogter van Joannes, overleden te Roxem den zes en twintigsten october achttien honderd twee en veertig, en van Anna Theresia De Ruyter, overleden te Westkerke den twintigsten april achttien honderd veertien ...
Marriage no. 14. 8 April 1847, nine in the morning, Zerkegem town hall: Jacobus De Schacht, labourer, born in this commune on 29 March 1811 and living at Bekegem, son of age of Bernardus, who died here on 1 February 1842, and of Helena Kerckhove, labouring woman, aged seventy-two, born and living in this commune, present and consenting; widower of Francisca Boffel, who died at Bekegem on 10 May 1846; and Joanna Theresia Moyaert, born at Westkerke on 27 January 1813, daughter of Joannes, died at Roksem 26 October 1842, and of Anna Theresia De Ruyter, died at Westkerke 20 April 1814. The groom, his mother and the bride could not sign.
Transcription and translation
N. 35 Huwelyk. Het jaer achttien honderd t'zestig den vier en twintigsten october om drie uren na middag ... compareerde Pieter Deschaght werkman geboren te Zerkeghem den negentienden germinal jaer derthiende der fransche republiek, overeenkomende met negensten april achttien honderd vyf, alhier woonagtig, weduwaer van Anna Theresia Vanmoortel alhier overleden den twee den july achttien honderd zeven en vyftig, meerderjarigen zoon van wylen Bernardus en van zyne echtgenoote Helena Vandekerckhove beide te Zerkeghem overleden, den eersten den eersten february achttien honderd twee en veertig, en de tweede den derthienden january achttien honderd t'zestig, hebbende geene overlevende ascendenten ... en Ludovica Moyaert werkvrouw alhier woonende geboren te Houtave den twintigsten juny achttien honderd zes en twintig, weduwe van Henricus De Fevere ... dogter van wylen Cornelius Franciscus en ... Francisca Vitse beide te Houtave overleden ...
No. 35, marriage. 24 October 1860, three in the afternoon, Bekegem: Pieter Deschaght, labourer, born at Zerkegem on 19 Germinal of Year XIII of the French Republic, that is 9 April 1805, living here, widower of Anna Theresia Vanmoortel, who died here on 2 July 1857, son of age of the late Bernardus and of his wife Helena Vandekerckhove, both died at Zerkegem, the first on 1 February 1842 and the second on 13 January 1860, having no living ascendants; and Ludovica Moyaert, labouring woman living here, born at Houtave on 20 June 1826, widow of Henricus De Fevere, daughter of the late Cornelius Franciscus and Francisca Vitse, both died at Houtave. (The act continues on the next spread.)
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Zerkegem, marriages 1781-1797 [S5], image 0_1368 (grade A). ↩
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AGATHA index [S8]: twelve children of Bernardus De Schacht/De Schaghe and Helena Kerckhove at Zerkegem, 1794-1819 (grade B). Pieter's birth act of 1805 calls Bernardus a day labourer ([S6], chapter 6). ↩
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Zerkegem, civil registration [S6], deaths 1842, no. 5 (grade A). ↩
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Zerkegem, civil registration [S6], marriages 1847, no. 14 (grade A). ↩
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Bekegem, civil registration [S6], marriages 1860, no. 35 (grade A); she was born about 1774 by her age in 1847. ↩
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Wikipedia (Dutch), "Verenigde Departementen" and "Franse Tijd in België" [S18]. ↩↩
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Wikipedia (Dutch), "Boerenkrijg" [S20]: the conscription law of 5 September 1798 (men of 20 to 25), the first incidents from 12 October 1798, the defeat near Hasselt on 5 December 1798, and the estimate of 5,000-10,000 dead in the fighting (background). ↩
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Wikipedia (Dutch), "Zerkegem" [S20]: Sirigoheim 765, the patronage of Saint-Vaast at Arras, the nineteenth-century schools and enlargement of the Sint-Vedastuskerk (background). ↩