Genealogical Oddities (XLII): A Flemish Gardener's 1807 Marriage in Catalonia

On 25 December 1807 at the parish of St Peter in the Catalan city of Reus, 'Benito' Vandenboske, a gardener, stated to be from Liedekerke in the Diocese of Mechelen in Flanders, married Francisca Girardi y Ripoll, native of Reus. The groom's parents were named as Judocus Vandenboske and Francisca Gilis.

I am unsure what the original form in Flemish would be for this surname: van den Bossche, Van den Bosch, van de Boske?

SOURCE: Parish of Sant Pere, Reus, Marriages 1805-1820, P. 125: Arxiu Històric Arxidiocesà de Tarragona.

Genealogical Oddities (XXIII): A Belgian Baptism in Seville, 1868

A baptism recorded at Seville's parish of San Roque in December 1868 must have tested the limits of the priest's ability to spell phonetically - in the effort to detail so many foreign names and places, the child's name seems to have been omitted from the entry, unless the name 'Eduardo' scribbled in the margin, when taken with the godparent's name, can be held as sufficient identification.

The child was born on 10 Dec 1868 to Eugène Robelus [sp?] and his wife Constance Doquier, both Belgians, he a native of Heer, she of Brussels. Paternal grandparents were 'Adverto' Robelus (Albert? Adalbert?) and Caroline Hensyn, of Heer; Maternal grandparents, Jean Doquier, of Constance, and Constance Calbaerts, said to be of the same [I'm a bit concerned by this profusion of the word 'Constancia' and wonder if this may not simply be the point at which the priest gave in to exhaustion!]. The godparents were Eduardo Linsser and Concepción Quintanilla - relationship between these two, if any, not specified.

SOURCE: Archivo Municipal de Sevilla, Baptism Duplicates, Book 210, P. 578

Genealogical Oddities (XII): A Flemish Lady's 1717 Last Will in Madrid

On 10 November 1717 a lady made her will before Madrid notary Domingo de Munilla y Zuazo. He wrote that she identified herself as Doña Guillerma Bambec, though she said that she was commonly - and mistakenly - known here as Doña Catalina. The notary said that she was a native of 'Bucsel, Jurisdiction of Brabant, Flanders' - perhaps an error for Brussels or even a phoneticisation of Bruxelles, as we cannot be sure of her linguistic skills (or of the notary's). She had been married twice, both husbands having predeceased her; the first is named as Santigo de Acota [possibly a Spanish version of a Flemish name] by whom she had a son, Juan de Acota, and through him a granddaughter, Catalina de Acota. Guillerma's second husband had been Guillermo Bomal. The testator also left 25 gold ducats to her niece, Guillerma Fandastorma, resident of Antwerp, daughter Adrian Bandastorma and Maria Bambec. Unfortunately all of these names seem to have been rendered by a scribe entirely unfamiliar with Flemish spelling but, perhaps, someone with knowledge of the area and its families can make sense out of it all.

SOURCE: Records of Notary Domingo Munilla y Zuazo, 1717, P. 188; Archivo Histórico de Protocolos, Madrid.