Category: Family

Horse pulling stone mill in traditional grain processing setting with workers and barns
DeBacker

Agreement Between Andreas De Backer and Andreas Molleart (1788)

About twenty years ago, I corresponded with a fellow researcher over in Belgium. He was a descendent of Andreas Mollaert, the brother of Marie Catherina Josepha Mollaert, first wife of my 4x great-grandfather, Andreas De Backer. (I am a descendent of Andreas and his 2nd wife). In one email he sent to me the images of a three page document written Flemish and explained to … Continue reading Agreement Between Andreas De Backer and Andreas Molleart (1788)

Unknown's avatarD. M. DeBackerLeave a comment
Couple in historical clothing walking through crowd celebrating at village wedding
DeBacker

DeBacker Cousins

I believe this information will be of great interest to my DeBacker cousins. I recently discovered that there was a much higher frequency of intermarriage among cousins within our Belgian lineage than I had previously realized. Currently, I am working on a video series intended for my grandchildren to watch when they grow older. These videos feature me walking them through our family tree on … Continue reading DeBacker Cousins

Unknown's avatarD. M. DeBackerLeave a comment
Man in historical clothing chained before a pile of wood with crowd behind
Knox

Rev, John Rogers, Proto-martyr

I asked Google Gemini to tell me about an ancestor on my mother’s-side of our family, the Rev, John Rogers, Proto-martyr of the Marian Persecution in 1555, and here is their response: The Reverend John Rogers was indeed the “proto-martyr” of the Marian Persecutions—the very first person executed under the revived heresy laws of Queen Mary I. His execution on February 4, 1555, at Smithfield … Continue reading Rev, John Rogers, Proto-martyr

Unknown's avatarD. M. DeBackerLeave a comment
DeBacker

David DeBacker Draft Registration (1948)

I went looking for my father’s military records thinking that I won’t learn anything new. I found his draft registration from 1948, two years before the start of the Korean War. To put things into perspective the Korean War began on 25 June 1950 when the Korean People’s Army (KPA), equipped and trained by the Soviets, launched an invasion of the south. In the absence … Continue reading David DeBacker Draft Registration (1948)

Unknown's avatarD. M. DeBackerLeave a comment
DeBacker

From Montecheroux to Massilion: A Journey to Freedom

Why the Gaume family and other collateral families left northeastern France to settle in northeast Ohio is not entirely clear. The economic and political climate in post-Napoleonic France in the 1830s has been described as humdrum. Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the Bourbon monarchy was restored, and Charles X became king in 1824. He tried to restore the throne to its former level … Continue reading From Montecheroux to Massilion: A Journey to Freedom

Unknown's avatarD. M. DeBackerLeave a comment
Dobbs

The Making of ‘Night Gallery’

Faced with an early termination fee for my mistakenly purchased annual Adobe Premiere Pro subscription (that is, annual paid monthly), I decided on a new video project instead of canceling. I’ve dubbed it “A Plan 9 From Outer Space”—If you know, you know.. The project involved restoring and then animating a series of old photographs using Adobe Firefly, with the final video edited in Premiere … Continue reading The Making of ‘Night Gallery’

Unknown's avatarD. M. DeBackerLeave a comment
Dobbs

A Problem Timeline

I have written about my great-grandfather’s family and their experiences at the tail end of the Civil War in a number of blog posts on this site. In the construction of the book, Gathering More Leaves, those blog posts became the foundation of a chapter that detailed the events experienced by my great-great grandparents in the final year of that horrible war. While reviewing the … Continue reading A Problem Timeline

Unknown's avatarD. M. DeBackerLeave a comment