The Van Damme family from Kaprijke in the Meetjesland in Belgium

V Joannes Baptist van Damme

fs Franciscus van Damme (IV) & Georgia de Causemaecker.

° Kaprijke 13 August 1729
x Brugge 13 september 1754 Maria Anna Haverbeke.
† Kaprijke 10 April 1793

The youngest of Frans van Damme and Georgia de Causemaecker was born in Kaprijke on 13 August 1729 at about 1 a.m. The same day his older brother "Livinus vandam" and his aunt Petronelle de Causemaecker took him to church to be baptized.

It is in Bruges (20 bis) that Jan Baptist van Damme got married on 10 September 1754 to Maria Anna Haverbeke. She was born in Kaprijke on 8 March 1721, the daughter of Petrus Bernardus Haverbeke, burgomaster of Kaprijke, and of Jacoba Lammens. When Maria married Jan-Baptist she was the widow of Jacobus Cathelijn (° Lembeke 31/10/1712 - † Kaprijke 17/4/1754), son of Laureyns Cathelijn and Anna Van Overtvelt. He was a landbouwer on one of the 3 Rijssel farms in Kaprijke and after his death his widow has continued to exploit the farm together with her second husband Jan Baprist Van Damme. He also owned about 40 acres of land in Balgerhoeke.

A daughter from her first marriage, Angelina Theresia Cathelijn, was later married to Petrus de Zutter and they become the parents of quite a few children and as many as 38 grandchildren with the De Zutter family name.

Cattle plague broke out at the end of 1770 on a farm and end 1771 on a further six farms. It was then decided to count all cattle. This was done at the beginning of 1772. The lists mention the name of the road where each farm was situated. That's how we know Joannes farmed on a Rijssel Farm, he had 7 cows, 3 heifers, 3 calves, no oxen and no stears.

This meant his was the biggest lifestock owner of Kaprijke. Two of Kaprijke's 133 farmers had declared 12 animals and three 11 animals. Total lifestock for the whole town was about 700 head of cattle. Noteworthy is also the fact that in 4 months Kaprijke's cattle heard went down by 118 head, because only 61 animals had to be killed and buried in great pits. (RAG-Kapr. 43 2nd part 90)

Jan Baptist was the owner of a farm, bought by his father in 1719 with 9.3 acres in Eeklo-Balgerhoeke. He also had almost 35 acres situated in the Mekensakker (Balgerhoeke) and near the Moerstraat in Kaprijke and St.-Laureins.

We are led to believe that he lived on the farm in Balgerhoeke (Pastoor Bontestraat). But in the "Ommestellingen", the accounts of the city of Eeklo, he was never taxed as an inhabitant. He was always taxed on 3 acres as an "Afgesetene" - which means someone not domiciled in Eeklo. In fact he was registered as an inhabitant of Kaprijke (21).

On 20 March 1786 Jan Baptist Van Damme bought from the Mestach family a house with farm buildings and approximately 0.155 acres of land in Kaprijke in the Grote Voorstraat with the idea of going to live there as a pensioner. (22) On 2 May 1786 the lease came to an end and on 10 April 1793 Jan Baptist died here. Maria Anna Haverbeke had passed away here on 17 December 1790. She was buried on 19 December with the highest service.

Joannes was for a couple of years alderman in Kaprijke and in 1788 and 1789 also "armmeester" which means he was responsible together with some other citizens for a local government agency that gave help to the poor.

In the Estate Reckonings of Jan Baptist, drawn up in Kaprijke on 15 April 1795 only 3 heirs are mentioned (23).

The children of Jan Baptist and Maria Anna Haverbeke:

On 16/10/1755 a stilborn child of the male sex "baptisatus domi mortuus in partu, sepultus in coementorio".
On 27/2/1755 a child of the female sex dies after birth; "baptisata in partu et in eodem mortua est", wrote the village priest.
Franciscus Bernardus Van Damme (VI)
Born in Kaprijke on 6 May 1758.
x Maria Cornelia Boelens.
Maria Anna Van Damme
° Kaprijke 1 March 1760.
Married on 7/2/1787 in Kaprijke to Carolus Bernardus Martens, the widower of Maria-Anna Van Lent. He was the son of Jan Martens and Elisabeth Huyghe. The first witness was Petrus Minnaert, Carolus' stepfather and the other witness was mother Maria Anna Haverbeke. We see in the marriage deed that mother couldn't write her name. The bride, the groom and the best man did sign the document. Their wedding contract was drawn up for the city council of Kaprijke on 27/1/1787 and mentions a house with farm, barn and other buildings in the Zuidstraat just bought by Carolus but most of the payments had yet to be made. This became the common property of the newly weds. (RAG-Kaprijke 299 page 94)
Maria Anna became a widow (with three children) on 4 March 1793.
Isabella Francisca Van Damme
° Kaprijke 25/5/1761
She died there on 1/1/1767 and was buried "in a grave" the next day. That means she was not buried in the church.
Carolus Van Damme
° Kaprijke 29 March 1763
He was married in Oosteeklo op 26/7/1791 to Joanna Maria Standaert (° Oosteeklo 18/9/1767), daughter of Pieter Joannes and Caroline Theresia Claeys (Cl.11) from Oosteeklo. She was 5 years his junior. She died in the Wisken quarter on 3/8/1828, op de wijk 't Wisken. De Millecamps, notary public of Watervliet drafted the estate inventary after her death.

That's how we know they owed her doctor for his consultations and medicines almost twice as much as her estate had to pay to the village priest for the funeral service and concession, for the service the day after and for the 5 high masses later on. And we conclude that she must have been ill for quite a while. (RAG, Notary depot van Acker Bassevelde I, 175 act 5).

Carolus died in Kaprijke on Candlemass 1833.

They had 13 children in Kaprijke (Rijsselhof):
- Carolina Van Damme
  ° Kaprijke 14/8/1792
  (beguine)
- Francisca Van Damme
  ° Kaprijke 16/12/1793
  Married in Kaprijke on 25/6/1826 to Carolus Buysse, farmer from St.-Laureins (° 25/7/1795),son of Georgius and Joanna Catharina Geirnaert.
  He died in Kaprijke on 11/1/1877 aged 81, in the Stroomstraat, where his brother Joannes was their neighbour.
  Francisca died on 9/1/1878.
  They had 4 children.
- Francis Bernard Van Damme
  ° Kaprijke 21/12/1795
  † Kaprijke 22/11/1866, not married.
- Pieter Joannes Van Damme (V a)
  ° Kaprijke 25/9/1797
  x Maria Catharina Claeys
  xx Joanna Seraphina Van Hooteghem
  † Eeklo 18/5/1880.
- Joanna Maria Van Damme
  ° and † Kaprijke 4/1/1800, twin sister of
- Jacobus Van Damme
  ° and † Kaprijke 4/1/1800
- Maria Theresia Van Damme
  ° Kaprijke 28/12/1800
  Married in Kaprijke on 24/5/1826 to 24 year old farmer Joannes Franciscus De Vliegher, fs. Jacobus Emmanuel and Anna Maria De Vleeschouwer. In 1847 they lived in what is now called the Vaartstraat, 10 (Vaart = Canal).
  On 23 February 1850 two police men in Ghent wrote a death certificate declaring that the previous day at about 9 o'clock they had found his body in the water of the Old Scheld river near "d'hooye".
  Maria Theresia passed away in Kaprijke in her home at the Vaartstraat on 6/10/1878; her son-in-law Engelbert Laureyns (47 years old) en Charles Louis Laureyns (41 years old), both farmers in Kaprijke went to the townhall for the registration of her death.
  They had 4 children.
- Victoria Van Damme
  ° Kaprijke 28/3/1803
  She married in Kaprijke on 20/7/1836 with Petrus Jacobus Van Hijfte, a 42 year old farmer from Eeklo, the son of Petrus Bernardus and Maria Jacoba Lippens. He was first married in Eeklo to Eugenie Van De Walle (° Eeklo 4/7/1801 - † Eeklo 20/1/1836) and after the demise of Victoria in Eeklo on 30/10/1837 he was wed a third time in Watervliet on 2/6/1838 to Maria Francisca De Nockere (° Watervliet 22/8/1811), daughter of Bernardus and Maria Theresia Dujardin. Pieter Jacobus died in Sint-Laureins on 16/8/1870 and Maria Francisca also in Sint-Laureins on 10/6/1891.
- Joannes Van Damme (V b)
  ° Kaprijke 11/4/1805
  x Kaprijke 22/10/1845 Sophia Van den Bossche.
  † Kaprijke 9/1/1888
- Jacobus Franciscus Van Damme
  ° Kaprijke 15/5/1807
  † Kaprijke 13/3/1884, not married.
- Sophia Van Damme
  ° Kaprijke 10/8/1809
  † Kaprijke 11/5/1884 (not married).
- Rosalia Van Damme
  ° Kaprijke 3/9/1815
  † Kaprijke 25/9/1834.

The parents of Joannes-Baptist:
Franciscus van Damme (IV) & Georgia de Causemaecker.

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