52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Ancestor # 30

Jan Baptiste Cobert (1817-1890)

Jan Baptiste Cobert was born in Eeklo, Oost Vlaanderen (East Flanders), Belgium on 19 May 1817¹ and died in Lembeke, Oost Vlaanderen, Belgium on 30 April 1890². He was the son of Bernardus and Caroline Therese (Van De Velde) Cobert. He married (1) on 6 May 1846 in Eeklo Sophie De Vriese³ born on 10 June 1818 in Kaprijke, Oost Vlaanderen, Belgium and died in Eeklo on 1 January 1857 and (2) on 7 October 1857 in Eeklo Seraphina Saffryn⁴ born 11 January 1824 in Adegem, Oost Vlaanderen, Belgium.

I decided to try and find the entry in the population registers for this family. I hoped to find evidence of when and where Jan Baptiste died. Population registers list every member of the household, when and where they were born, the date they left this household and where they went, and a death date is given for anyone who died during the period. These registers cover a 10 year period and start in 1847. The period beginning in 1866 went all the way to 1880 so that the registers could start and end on the decade.

Eeklo is a fairly large town which made finding an entry for one family a challenge. For the period beginning in 1847 there are a total of 10 books of records encompassing approximately 2500 images. Add to this the persnickety document viewer available on Family Search and it took me about a week to find this family. I finally found them in book 7. Fortunately, all other 10 year periods had a table so it was possible to locate the family by book and page number.

In 1847⁵, Jan Baptiste is living with his first wife, Sophie De Vriese and their four children. Three of their four children died as infants or toddlers, a sad fact of life in the nineteenth century. Jan Baptiste is a weaver and Sophie is a spinner. Sophie died on 1 January 1857 and this is noted in the book. Before the year ended Jan Baptiste had remarried and his new wife is listed there as well.

In 1857⁶ Jan Baptiste, Sophie and Florence are listed as well as Seraphina and their 5 children. It is noted that Florence moved to Knesselaere on 12 January 1866. Before her marriage, Florence was a maid. The 1880⁷ book lists Jan Baptiste’s occupation as farmer and notes that the family moved to Lembeke on 19 January 1884. In Lembeke for the 1880⁸ period, I noted that the Coberts arrived on 20 January 1884 and that Jan Baptiste is still a farmer. His death in Lembeke is noted on 30 April 1890. The family began to go their own ways in the 1880’s. Amelia was the first to leave moving to Kaprijke on 23 January 1886. Desire moved to Oosteeklo on 24 January 1891 and married there. Petrus married in 1890 and moved to Kaprijke. In April 1891 Seraphina, Auguste and Emma Marie moved back to Eeklo. All of these places are close together in Oost Vlaanderen.

Children of Jan Baptiste and Sophie (De Vriese) Cobert, all born in Eeklo:

i. Florence Cobert. b. 27 Mar 1847, d. 29 May 1929 in Kaprijke, m. on 19 Apr 1876 in Kaprijke Bruno Dobbelaere b. 11 Mar 1849 in Kaprijke, d. 16 Nov 1926 in Kaprijke.

ii. Maria Victoria Cobert b. 8 Oct 1850, d. 23 Apr 1851.

iii. Charles Louis Cobert b. 9 Jul 1852, d. 16 May 1856.

iv. Petrus Bernardus. Cobert b. 9 Jul 1852, d. 11 Jul 1852.

Children of Jan Baptiste and Seraphina (Saffryn) Cobert, all born in Eeklo:

1. Auguste Cobert, b. 14 Jul 1858.
2. Amelia Cobert, b. 16 Feb 1860, m. on 13 Jan 1886 Charles Louis Van De Voorde, b. 19 Mar 1862 in Lembeke.
3. Desire Cobert, b. 29 Mar 1862.
4. Emma Marie Cobert, b. 16 Apr 1864.
5. Petrus Cobert, b. 24 Sep 1866, m. on 24 Apr 1890 in Lembeke Emma Marie Engels, b. there on 3 Nov 1866.

1 Town clerk, Eeklo, Oost Vlaanderen, Belgium, birth certificate no. 104, dated 19 May 1817, Jan Baptiste Cobert, supplied and translated by Paul Cornelis.

2 “Lembeke Burgerlijke Stand (Oost Vlaanderen, Belgium), 1803-1920”, death of Jan Baptiste Cobert, 30 Apr 1890, digital images, FamilySearch.org (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 15 Aug 2018), FHL film #5205644, image 167.

3 “Registers van de Burgerlijke Stand, 1795-1870, Eeklo”, certificate 15, dated 6 May 1846, Cobert - De Vriese marriage, digital images, FamilySearch.org (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 15 Aug 2018), FHL film # 786554, DGS # 4785191, image #361.

4 “Registers van de Burgerlijke Stand, 1795-1870, Eeklo”, certificate 53, Cobert – Saffrain marriage, FHL film #771947, DGS #4771350, image #381.

5 “Bevolkingsregisters, 1847-1910, Eeklo”, Jan Baptiste family,1847 Book 7, digital images, FamilySearch.org (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 15 Aug 2018), FHL film #1784058, DGS # 8374298, image #726.

6 “Bevolkingsregisters, 1847-1910, Eeklo”, Jan Baptiste family,1856 Book 7, film #1784061, DGS # 8374301, image #145.

7 “Bevolkingsregisters, 1847-1910, Eeklo”, Jan Baptiste family, 1880 Book 7, film #1784290. DGS # 8374306, image #221

8 “Bevolkingsregisters, 1881-1910, Lembeke”, Cobert family, 1880, digital images, FamilySearch.org (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 15 Aug 2018), FHL film #1783932, DGS # 8195283, image #450.