The NOE family from the Meetjesland in East-Flanders, Belgium

C III Joannes Noë

fs Joannes and Elisabeth Bochaute

° Zelzate 22/5/1686
x Zelzate 18/4/1708 Adriana De Bock
† Zelzate 13/3/1746

Joannes was the only child of Joannes and Elisabeth Bochaute. Two days after his birth he was baptized and his godparents were Joannes Van Damme (who was the husband of Anna Bochaute) and Anna Gijsels. A year went by and he was already an orphan.

Death was no stranger to him: except for his mother when he was about 1 year old he also lost his stepmother, two half sisters and two half brothers; and before he was 20 years old his father had also passed away.

He married Adriana De Bock who was the daughter of Jan and Elisabeth De Blieck. She was born at Zelzate on 20 November 1688.

(Many years later in 1904 one of their descendants Emiel Noë (C VIII c) would get married to Irma Victorine De Bock. Was his bride Irma related to Adriana ? The answer is here.)

Joannes and Adriana brought up their children during the first half of the Austrian rule. After more than 100 years of Spanish rule (from 1598) the Spanish Succession War broke out after the death of Charles II, the King of Spain. This war ended in the Peace of Utrecht (1713) and our regions were then incorporated into the Austrian Empire where Charles VI ruled.

He was less belligerent than his predecessors but when he died Bavaria and Prussia attacked Austria in alliance with France and Spain in the hope of ruling over the Low Countries.
In 1744 the French armies occupied our country and even won a victory in 1745 but the Peace of Aechen (1748) brought an end to the French occupation and the southern part of the Netherlands (roughly our current Belgium) was ruled once again by Austria. The rule of Empress Maria Theresia, the daughter of Charles VI brought a measure of prosperity to our regions: commerce, industry and agriculture flourished.

Joannes and Adriana farmed in the Denderdreve quarter of Zelzate north of the Kattestraat (Cat street) on a homestead of 3 acres and 70 rods, their property. They also used land in Zelzate and in Assenede that they rented from Alexander van Overpelt, from the heirs of Jan Peynaert and from the widow of Guido Dubosch. They sowed clover, rye, oats, buckwheat, grass and flax on that land. The quarters "Denderdreve" and "den Akker" were the most fertile regions of Zelzate.

Joannes was also innkeeper. We didn't find that written down as such but in the estate reckonings we find "stone pots, bottles, glasses, beer pots, pints" and "all the good beer and gin". He also owed quite a bit to suppliers of beer and other stronger alcoholic beverages. And finally his house was called "den Papegay", the Parrot.

During their marriage they also acquired
a) 5 pieces of land in Zelzate, bought from Augustinus Daelman on 16/6/1739
- 200 rods of land, called "het tweede Widauwstuck", the second Widauwstuck (a "stuck", plural "stucken" is a piece)
- 2 acres of land, two pieces called the "appelstucken" ("appel" = apple)
- 450 rods of land, also two pieces called the "Heystucken"

To finance this purchase Anthonius De Boes from Assenede granted them a loan of 20 pounds at 5% annually. He was the brewer who supplied Joannes

b) 598 rods called "den prez-reep" in the Fieldstreet in Zelzate bought on 14/6/1740 from his unmarried halfbrother who had inherited it from his mother.

c) an acre and 24 rods of land, part of a piece of 3 acres, most of which he had himself inherited from his father. He bought this piece in 1735, also from his halfbrother Pieter.

Adriana gave birth to eight children three of which died in childhood. She died in Zelzate on 12/4/1741 aged 52. Her eldest daughter had come of age. Her brother Gillis De Bock was appointed guardian of her under age son and 3 daughters.

The estate reckonings of 27 June 1741 are a treasure trove of now almost forgotten words for objects, many of them now in museums or only used to give modern places a bucolic look. Here is the text of part of these estate reckonings in old Dutch with the glossary (also in Dutch) provided by Marijn. A translation of all that will not be easy.

What these estate reckonings make clear is the fact that Joannes and Adriana were fairly well off. After a difficult 17^th Century came a period of slowly increasing prosperity and they were among those who have also benefited from it.

Joannes has plowed on for another five years but near the end of his life he has been ill quite a lot: master Ysseboot from Wachtebeke presented a bill of 0-16-0 pounds ("... over visiten en leveringhe van medecijnen, bij hem ghedaen...") for visits and medicines for the patient, but Master Surgeon Pieter De Sy from Kluizen had also been consulted and he requested 0-6-0 pounds.

Just before his 60th year he died on 13/3/1746. Four days before he had made a remarkable last will and testament. Here in short is what he wanted:

shortly after his death, one mass with distribution of a bag of bread for the poor of Zelzate.
two masses per year for his wife and for himself as long as one of his children lived. The cost of these masses was to be paid by those living on his farm
25 extra masses
his daughter was allowed to choose one cow and she also received the big wardrobe for her eagerness to oblige him. In exchange for this she had to buy for her sister Livina a missal with a silver lock, a pair of silver shoe buckles and a loin clasp.
his son Jacobus received "my best frock and my best hat and my best stockings, with all the neckerchiefs and half sleeves which I used to wear,... as well as the best garden shears" ("... mijn besten jupon en mijnen besten hoet ende beste caussens, met all de halsdoecken ende alve mauwen, die ick placht te draeghen, ... alsmede de beste tuynschaere...")
the small wardrobe was for his daughter Joanna
Marie received 1-3-4 pounds to buy a trunk

On 27 March it was already decided to sell all his possessions. And this sale took place on 26 April. There were four lots:
1. the farm with the house, the barn and approximately 3 acres and 70 rods, with the second "widauwstuck" of 200 rods. This was bought by the eldest daughter Catharina for 204 pounds. From now on she would be responsible for the 2 annual Holy Masses in memory of her parents.
2. the "appelstucken", approximately 2 acres, bought by Jan Anrijs for 23 pounds.
3. the Heystukken, about 1.5 acres, bought for 28 pounds by Joannes Van Hijfte, who was already the tenant.
4. the "prez-reep" in the Veldstraat (Field Street) in Zelzate, about 598 rods, bought by the same Joannes Van Hijfte for 37 pounds.

And the day after there took place on the farm the public sale of all the belongings on the farm and in the house that had not been allocated to the children by testament. This sale bring in the sum of 60-11-8 pounds.

Except for various costs such as for the funeral of Joannes and for drawing up the estate reckonings we note 1-9-2 pounds for the 25 Holy Masses to be celebrated by the Fathers "Recoletten" of Ghent and 0-3-2 pounds for the funeral mass with distribution of bread for the poor. And when he died Joannes still owed no less than 2-7-3 pounds for deliveries of beer to Anthonius De Boes, and for liquor his heirs had to pay 3-7-6 pounds to Jan Basoyer from Sas-van-Gent. That's about the price of half an acre of land, in other words quite a tidy sum.

Here follow the 8 children of Joannes and Adriana:

Joannes Noë
° Zelzate 19/8/1710
† Zelzate 23/7/1712
His oldest uncle was only 16 years old and that is why his father's nephew Jan Noë (A II), fs Jan (A I) was honoured as the godfather together with grandmother Elisabeth De Blieck as his godmother.
Josina Noë
° Zelzate 23/10/1713
† Zelzate 30/10/1716
Her godparents were Peter De Blieck and Josina Slock (also called Judoca), the wife of Jan Noë.
Catharina Noë
° Zelzate 26/12/1715
Her godparents were uncle Judocus Noë and aunty Catharina De Bock.
She married in Zelzate on 30/4/1746 with Petrus Quickelberghe and remained on the family farm.
She was widowed whe she died in Zelzate on 27/9/1779.
Maria Adriana Noë
° Zelzate 23/3/1718
Her godparents were Adrianus De Maere and Cornelia Van Reusel.
She married in Zelzate on 21/1/1742 with Joannes Hamerlinck, born there on 1/12/1702, the son of Jacobus Hamerlinck and Gillina Bauwens. He was a widower (with one daughter and one son) since the death on 3/10/1741 of Petronella Van Vooren.
They exploited a farm of 11 acres partly inherited from his parents and situated to the west of the Ghent Canal. Joannes had bought the other part during his first and second marriage.
They had six children.
Joannes died on 18 November 1776 aged 74 and she died there on 19/1/1784.
Jacobus Noë
° Zelzate 17/4/1721
x Assenede 14/1/1748 Judoca Verguyse
xx Assenede 11/3/1750 Livina Debilst
† around 1800
Petronella Noë
° Zelzate 16/1/1724
† Zelzate 8/7/1731
Petrus Noë and Andrea De Bock were her godparents.
Joanna Maria Noë
° Zelzate 1/5/1726
Her godparents were Petrus De Bock and Joanna Lievens.
She married in Zelzate on 25/3/1747 with Judocus De Nockere, son of Karel De Nockere and Livina De Waeghenaere, born in Oostakker on 26/1/1718.
When Joanna Maria died on 15/10/1781, seven of their children were then still alive: Pieter, 37 years old; Livijne, 30; Joannes, 28; Anna Cornelia, 26; Gerardus, 22; Marie, 19 and Angelina, 12. Her brother Jacobus was the guardian.
Judocus died in Zelzate on 25/2/1807.
Livina Noë
° Zelzate 31/7/1729
Her godfather was her 21 year old uncle Joannes and her godmother was Anna Maira Van den Bogaerde.
She married in Zelzate on 2/7/1752 with Joannes Wauters and died in Assenede on 12/5/1795.

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