52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Ancestor # 13

Bruno Dobbelaere (1849-1926)

Bruno Dobbelaere was born in Kaprijke, Oost Vlaanderen, Belgium on 11 March 1849ⁱ and died there on 16 November 1926ⁱⁱ. He was the son of Karel Franciscus Dobbelaere and Maria Caroline Vermussche. Bruno married Florence Cobert in Eeklo, Oost Vlaanderen, Belgium on 29 April 1876ⁱⁱⁱ. Florence was born on 27 March 1847^iv in Eeklo and died in Kaprijke on 29 May 1929^v.

There are 3 main sources of Belgian genealogy records that are available in the United States through Family Search. These are Catholic church records, civil registrations of birth marriages and deaths and population registers. Catholic church records start about 1600. Church records have been filmed by Family Search and are becoming available through their website. These filmed church records stop about 1800 when civil registration became a requirement. These records are not indexed. You need to know approximate dates to find baptisms, marriages and burials.

In 1796 Napoleon conquered Belgium and instituted civil registration of births, marriages and deaths. These records were filmed by Family Search in 1970 and included the time period 1796-1870. They have been digitized and are available on line. Recently Family Search went back to Belgium and filmed civil registration for the period 1861-1920. These records are being digitized and added to their website. These records are not indexed but most years have an available index for use by the town clerk. There are also indexes for each 10 year period prepared for the archives.

The third record type is population registers. Beginning in 1847, Belgium law required each municipality to keep records of each family group in their jurisdiction. These records include ages, birth place, sometimes birth dates, marriages and deaths for each household member during that 10 year period. They also include occupation and when someone either entered or left the town including the date and where they came from or went. For Kaprijke, Family Search has recently added digital images for registers from 1857 to 1900. These records are not indexed and must be searched page by page to locate your family of interest but they do provide a lot of year-by-year information for a family.

Bruno was the only child of his father's second marriage and the youngest of 5 siblings. He is listed with his father's family in the population registers in the period 1857-1860^vi. In 1857 he was 8 years old and born in Kaprijke. The family moved to the nearby town of Bassevelde on 2 May 1860. Bassevelde's Bevolkingsregisters (population registers) have not been digitized and loaded to the FamilySearch website yet; so, I was unable to follow this family to their new home. In 1867 the family was back in Kaprijke. Bruno was listed as a son and born Mar 1849 in Kaprijke.^vii In 1876 Bruno married Florence and a note is in the population register that he left his father's household. We can follow this move to a new residence with his wife^viii. The births of 3 children, Jules, Charles and Maria, are recorded in this record. In all civil records Bruno is listed as a workman. In his younger days he was an agricultural worker but I am not sure what he did in later years. The family was not well-to-do and the children were expected to go to work early to help support the family.

I have located the 1890 population register for this family but have not yet found the 1880 register. In 1890 Bruno is head of household living with his wife, Florence, and 7 children^ix. Jules left and went to Bassevelde on 23 Aug 1899. Maria went to Gent on 20 Jun 1897 and then went to Brussels on 18 May 1900. Elodie changed households after her marriage on 8 Oct 1900. By 1901 Bruno and Florence had sons Charles and Ivo and daughters Clementine and Seraphina still at home. Eventually all his children with the exception of Maria would immigrate to North America.

Bruno died on 26 Nov 1926. His funeral card states that he was a member of the Xaverian Brothers, a lay order of Catholics who are dedicated to education of children and good works among the poor. St. Francis Xavier Institute, run by this order, is in Bruges, Belgium and St. Bernard's Institute is in Knokke, Belgium.

Children of Bruno and Florence (Cobert) Dobbelaere, all born in Kaprijke:

1. Jules Joseph⁵ Dobbelaere. b. 3 Feb 1877, d. 24 Sep 1954 in Newark, Wayne, New York, m. in 1899 in Belgium Louise Meulbroeck b. 1878.
2. Charles Louis, b. 22 Dec 1878 and d. 14 Jan 1967 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, m. in 1909 in Kaprijke Julie Pacquet, b. 1888 and d. 1934 in Canada.
3. Maria, b. 26 Mar 1881 and d. 19 Jan 1964 in Eeklo, m. 5 May 1906 in Brussels, Belgium, Josef Richard Cornelis, d. 1964.
4. Elodie, b. 28 Sep 1882 and d. 5 Aug 1955 in Paterson, Passaic, New Jersey, m. 8 Oct 1900 in Kaprijke Peter Bernard Van De Veire, b. 18 Nov 1877 in Sint-Jan-in-Eremo, Oost Vlaanderen, Belgium and d. Oct 1955 in Paterson.
5. Clementina Maria, b. 9 Feb 1885 and d. 9 Mar 1975 in Manitoba, Canada, m. Jan 1906 in Belgium, Nestir Bertouille, b. 29 Nov 1884 in Knesslaere, Belgium, and d. 28 Jan 1969 in Swan Lake, Manitoba, Canada.
6. Emilie Marie, b. 9 Feb 1886 and d. 30 Aug 1886 in Kaprijke.
7. Ivo, b. 27 Feb 1888 and d. 8 Nov 1972 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, m (1) Louise Eeckhout on 14 Oct 1919 in Chateau, Kent, Ontario, Canada, divorced 31 Oct 1939 in Detroit and (2) Lucy Lycke on 3 Jun 1936 in Lucas County, Ohio.
8. Seraphina Alolphina, b. 11 Mar 1892 and d. Sep 1991 in California, m. Edward Neyt, b. 23 Jan 1887 in Lembeke, Oost Vlaanderen, Belgium and d. 24 Jan 1955 in Alameda, Alameda, California.

i“Registers of the Burgerlijke Stand, 1796-1870”, digital images, FamilySearch.org (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 21 Mar 2018), birth of Bruno Dobbelaere, 11 Mar 1849, film #785215, citing Kaprijke, East Flanders, Belgium town records obtained from the Gerechtshof te Gent.

iiFuneral card for Bruno Dobbelaere, 1926, in the possession of the author.

iiiBurgerlijke Stand, Eeklo, East Flanders, Belgium, Marriage of Bruno Dobbelaere and Florence Cobert, marriage certificate # 2 (1876), copy and translation provided by Paul Cornelis.

iv“Registers of the Burgerlijke Stand, 1796-1870”, digital images, FamilySearch.org, Birth of Florence Cobert, 27 Mar 1847, film # 786547.

vFuneral card for Florence Cobert, widow of Bruno Dobbelaere, 1929, in the possession of the author.

vi“Kaprijke (Oost Vlaanderen, Belgium), Bevolkingsregisters, 1847-1910”, digital images, FamilySearch.org (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 2 Mar 2018), household of Francis Dobbelaere 1857-1960, film #1783927, book 2, p. 131, citing Kaprijke, East Flanders, Belgium town records.

vii“Kaprijke (Oost Vlaanderen, Belgium), Bevolkingsregisters, 1847-1910”, digital images, FamilySearch.org ,household of Francis Dobbelaere, 1867-1880, film 1783928, Book 2, p. 393.

viii “Kaprijke (Oost Vlaanderen, Belgium), Bevolkingsregisters, 1847-1910”, digital images, FamilySearch.org ,household of Bruno Dobbelaere, 1867-1880, film 1783928, Book 2, p. 490.

ix“Kaprijke (Oost Vlaanderen, Belgium), Bevolkingsregisters, 1847-1910”, digital images, FamilySearch.org ,household of Bruno Dobbelaere, 1890-1900, film 1783930, Book 3, p. 548.