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Archiver > BELGIUM-ROOTS > 1998-08 > 0902084801


From: Picavet <>
Subject: Re: Anton DIETRICH (part 2)
Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 20:06:41 +0100


=4=

So, I gave her my theory. Is this a theory? In difficult situations, one
has to "invent" a certain approach.

To: "Alonzo Orosco" <>
From: Picavet <>
Subject: Re: DIEDRICK? DUTCHOVER?
Cc:
Bcc:
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A very good morning to you, Sonja

Life can be fun. I love this. I piqued your curiosity.

Unfortunately, Antwerp is not in my own area of research, and since my own
research is already taking every minute of my "free" time, the only thing I
can do for Belgian descendants is to refer to my web site, which hopefully
contains all information to start their own research. I also throw in of
course my ideas based on my knowledge.

When I read the story in "The Belgian Texans", I asked myself if indeed the
soldiers who enlisted him would have recognized the language the young man
was speaking. Dutch is a language spoken today by some 20 million people; I
don't have the figures at hand here, but I guess that in those days the
Dutch speaking population amounted to some 10 million. Moreover, the way
Dutch is spoken in the south of Belgium differs a lot from that spoken in
Holland. The best comparison I can make is with the English spoken in
London and that in Texas. The Antwerp dialect is very specific. The young
man would probably have said that he spoke Flemish, not Dutch.

I already mentioned before that DIEDRICK is not a common spelling of the
name here. Some variants of the name are: DIEDERICKX, DIERICKX (the name
may end in -CKX, -CX, CKS, ...). Some more German sounding variants are
DIEDRICH, DIEDERICH.

In Texas, the family name was/became DUTCHOVER.

This name very much looks like a family name we have here: DUYTSCHAEVER.
Pronounced in the local dialect, it sounds like DUTCHOVER. The CH is
pronounced here as a soft guttural "G", as the J in Spanish.

Therefore, Sonja, my theory is that Anton Diedrick's family name was in
fact DUYTSCHAEVER. Some other spellings are: DE DUYTSCHAEVER, DUYTSCHAEVE,
DUYTSCHAEVEN, DUITSCHAEVER, DUYSHAVER, TUYTSCHAVER, TUYTSCHAEVER(S),
TUIJTSCHAEVER, TUYS(S)CHA(E)VER, TYTSCHAEVER.

Sonja, my contribution will have to be limited to this theory. Although I
would love to find his origins, I really can't afford to spend time on it.

Where do you go from here? The best way to tackle the problem is to write
to the Registrar's office of the City of Antwerp, I know that they don't
easily give access to researchers, and that they will only do genealogical
research against payment. If you are lucky, the registers of those years
have already been transferred to the City Archives.

An alternative is to write to Gaston Roggeman, a professional researcher,
whose address you will find on the Research page of my web site. If he
doesn't find it, nobody will.

Your best bet however would be to just follow the guidelines in my research
page. There are not too many DUTYSCHAEVER, DE DUYTSCHAEVER, etc. in
Belgium. GeoNome will show you where they are located: the area of Gent, to
the southeast of Gent, Antwerp, and to the north of Antwerp. Infobel will
give you the addresses. So, start writing to a dozen of them. I prefer this
approach because I love it when genealogy brings together some long lost
(distant) relatives.

I didn't find any DIEDRICK on Geonome, but you could try out other
spellings as well. You could of course also write to some of them.

Because the subject looks so interesting, I am even prepared to assist you
with your letters to the City of Antwerp, to Roggeman, or to the
DUYTSCHAEVERS and DIEDRICK of Belgium.

I would love to hear from you again.

Good luck!

Georges

====

Georges PICAVET | Listowner BELGIUM-ROOTS-L
Doorn 9 | Phone & Fax 32-3-774.10.11
BEL-9150 Kruibeke | mailto:
Belgium (Europe) | http://www.ping.be/picave

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