Chapter 9. How we know: the evidence, link by link
Every generation of this account is joined to the next by records, and each link has a grade. This chapter puts the whole chain in one table, and then lists what is still open.
What is proven, and how strongly
| Link | Evidence | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Godelieva (1916) ← August × Paraïlde Allemeersch | birth act 1916; their marriage act 1913 | A |
| August (1883) ← Fredericus × Ludovica Meulemeester | birth act 1883 | A |
| Fredericus (1842) ← Pieter × Anna Theresia van Moortele | marriage act 1870 | A |
| Pieter (1805) ← Bernardus × Helena Kerckhove | birth act 1805, marriage act 1830, death act 1866 | A |
| Bernardus (1769) ← Emmanuel × Joanna Mestdagh | baptism 1769, death act 1842 | A |
| Emmanuel (1734) ← Joannes Baptista × Cornelia Charle | his baptism 1734 (A); the only Emmanuel baptised at Jabbeke, "baptised in this parish" at his burial | B |
| Joannes Baptista (1707) ← Joannes × Maria van Dierendonck | his baptism 1707 (A); the only namesake old enough to marry in 1729; age at burial; his brothers' mother named in orphan and estate records | B |
| Joannes (married 1692) ← Joannes Schaecht × Catharina de Vos | the only Joannes Schacht baptised at Tielt in the years read (A); his wife's age; his sister Ester at Wingene | C |
Two habits of the registers are worth repeating, because both bit this research before they were caught. Ages at burial were guesses, and for the old they were guessed high: Joannes of Wingene was called "about 84" when the only matching baptism makes him 75, and his grandson Emmanuel was aged by a dozen extra years in 1782. And the dates printed in the estate-inventory index stand one row too early in the Kasselrij Ieper series; the Deschacht entries used here come from other series, but every index date is treated as suspect until a register confirms it.
What is still open
- Catharina de Vos. The Tielt burials of 1664 to 1683 have now been read in full (4 October 2026): no Schacht burial and no Catharina de Vos, so she very probably did not die at Tielt before the Joanna of 1670, and that Joanna was most likely another man's child (chapter 1). What remains: the marriages of 1666 to 1671 (a second Schaecht wedding would name the other household), and the burials after 1683.
- Aarsele. Aarsele, next to Tielt, had a small Schaeck family. The AGATHA index names Franciscus Schaeck as a godfather in 1637 and 1665, Jacoba Schaeck as the mother of three Verhoyen children (1661-1665), Judocus Schaeck as a marriage witness (1664) and Cornelia Schaeck as a godmother (1664). The parish censuses of 1642 and 1650, which list every household with ages, were read in full. In 1650 they show Fransois Caeck, son of Pieter, aged 33, with his wife Tanneken de Smit and two small children, very probably the same Franciscus.
Transcription and translation
Fransois Caeck fs Pieters habitat in aedibus conductis a vidua Livini Maetens(?) aet. 33. C. resp. Tanneken de Smit illius uxor aet. 27. C. resp. Pieterken eorum fs aet. 3. Maijke fa aet. suae anno primo. Cathelijne Caeck fam. aetat. 15. C.
Fransois Caeck, son of Pieter, lives in a house rented from the widow of Lieven Maetens(?), aged 33, has made his Easter duty. His wife Tanneken de Smit, 27. Their son Pieterken, 3; daughter Maijke, in her first year. Cathelijne Caeck, servant, 15. He is very probably the Franciscus Schaeck of the AGATHA index of Aarsele (godfather 1637 and 1665), the census writer dropping the S; that identification is grade C. He was born about 1617, son of a Pieter; no Joannes appears in his household or anywhere else in the Aarsele census.
Franciscus is also the name of the second Tielt household of 1670, so this family may be kin of the Tielt Schaechts. But there is no Joannes Schaeck in either census and none in the index, and no Schacht or Schaecht at all; nothing yet ties Joannes to Aarsele. The Everaert family of Aarsele (Livina Everaert, 1664) may still be the "Catharina E[..]arde" of the Joanna baptised in 1670. - The Tielt orphan court. Its estate inventories and guardianship accounts from 1472 to 1796 are on FamilySearch in eighty-seven films. An inventory made at the death of Catharina de Vos, or of Joannes Schaecht the elder, would list the children with their ages and join the two Joanneses for certain. The printed indexes of Claude Moors [S13] give the film and page for each name. - Earlier Tielt baptisms. The years 1648 to 1652 and February to August 1655 have not been read, and a Joannes born then would fit the burial age of 1738 better. - Jan De Schacht's estate inventory, Zerkegem 1748 (no. 1030), should name all the children of Joannes and Maria van Dierendonck. It is on the list requested from the State Archives at Bruges. - Acts not yet read: the death acts of Joanna Mestdagh (about 1815) and Helena Kerckhove (Zerkegem, 13 January 1860, known from her son's marriage act), and of Fredericus (1928), August and Paraïlde (1971), which are too recent to be online.
If you can help
Corrections and additions are welcome, especially from anyone who has read the Tielt wezerij films or holds photographs of the family - the account so far has not a single face in it. The author can be reached through saeij.com.