Once Again….

Once again I went home for the weekend and once I again I’m neglecting my blog when I really shouldn’t be πŸ™‚ So interesting weekend for me. Actually the most interesting part was at my grandfather’s birthday party. I found out a bunch of stuff about my ancestors. I have a great aunt and uncle who are at all the family functions and are not the type that you only see at weddings and funerals and don’t really know. Anyways I was talking with them about Belgium (a little aside, for those of you who don’t know my father’s side of the family came from Belgium, actually my father was born in Belgium and came over when he was around 1 year old so I’m half Belgian in blood). I found out that my great aunt, who is my real grandmother’s sister (another aside, my real grandmother died of cancer when my dad was in his early teens so I never actually knew her, I have a step-grandmother but she is the only grandmother I’ve known so I don’t think of her as a step-grandmother), has a book with the family tree from my great-grandmother back. I’m not sure how far back it goes but I am planning on visting to see it and possibly make a copy for myself.
Anyways some of the interesting stuff I learnt from the day:
– the great-aunt who I was talking was a midwife in Belgium and the last child she delivered was my dad (he was born in an apartment in a town called Jabbake)
– my great-grandfather was involved in both World War 1 and World War 2. In the first one I believe he was a solider and in the second one he worked for the Red Cross
– a relative of mine married someone named Storme, which I initally thought might be Scandinavian but with some research found out it was English (which is alright but not as cool as Scandinavian) πŸ™‚
These were the more interesting points from the conversation. I’m sure there are more stories and I hope to hear them when I visit with them next.

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3 Comments

  1. Firda

    The last time she came to Indonesia, my aunt from England was tracking her family tree (i.e. my mother’s side of the family). I don’t know how far back she could go.
    I know that my grandfather was jailed by the Dutch during the WWII. Not quite sure why. He was a teacher, not a criminal. I was told that he kind of liked it in jail because the food was better πŸ™‚
    My great-grandmother was a noblewoman in West Sumatra. She was wealthy, had a big house, and when she cooked, she cooked a lot using a huge frying pan. And that’s all I know about her πŸ™‚
    West Sumatran families are matrilineal so my grandfather — just like my father — didn’t inherit anything from his parents, being male and all.
    My grandfather and my father were quite similar, but they didn’t get along. I guess he knew from the beginning the he wouldn’t be good for my mother. She should’ve listened to him :-

  2. Gosh, wish I knew more about my ancestors. Don’t think anyone in my family actually tracked down the family tree. I got to meet my great-grandfather who lived to a ripe old age of 101 and died peacefully in his village at Batu Pahat in Malaysia.
    My maternal grandfather who died recently at the age of 91, had some Siamese and Indonesian blood. Both sets of grandparents are Javanese which probably means that my ancestors long ago were from Indonesia as well.
    Later, the ancestors probably migrated to Malaysia, and my grandparents migrated to Singapore after the Japanese Occupation. Oh yes, they somehow survived despite having Japanese soldiers barging into their house almost everyday.

  3. Very cool. Anyone else have an interesting ancestoral story?