Today, we are looking at the marriage record of Marie Haverbeke (1910).
Translation
Today, the third of May nineteen hundred ten, appeared before me, civil registrar of the municipality of IJzendijke, in order to marry:
– Petrus Carolus Clement Haverbeke, 24 years old, farmer by profession, born in IJzendijke and living in IJzendijke, adult son of Johannes Josephus Haverbeke and Stephania Clementia de Meijer, farmers by profession, both living in IJzendijke, and
– Marie Haverbeke, 26 years old, without profession, born in Hoofdplaat and living in Biervliet, adult daughter of Julianus Haverbeke and Paulina de Decker, farmers by profession, both living in Biervliet.
Seen the documents that parties submitted.
The proclamations of this proposed marriage took place in this municipality and in Biervliet.
After the future spouses had testified to me that they accepted each other as spouse and that they would faithfully fulfill all the duties attached by law to the married state, I pronounced in the name of the law that Petrus Carolus Clement Haverbeke and Maria Haverbeke were bound together by marriage.
As witnesses were present:
– Leo Haverbeke, 51 years old, farmer by profession, living in IJzendijke, uncle of the husband
– Jules Wijffels, 31 years old, farmer by profession, living in IJzendijke, brother in law of the husband
– Achilles Haverbeke, 31 years old, farmer by profession, living in Biervliet, brother of the wife
– Charles Haverbeke, 25 years old, farmer by profession, living in Biervliet, brother of the wife
Of which this deed, which has been read out in accordance with the law.
[signed by the spouses, their parents, the witnesses and the civil registrar]
Comments
This is a typical two-page marriage record. Records like this provide a lot of information. We get personal details of the two spouses. For example: age, place of birth, profession, place of residence. We also get information about their parents: profession, and place of residence. Although witnesses were not necessarily relatives of the spouses, often they were. In this case we find an uncle, a brother in law and two brothers present. With all this information we can already start a family reconstruction.
In order for the marriage to go on, each spouse had to submit several documents. These are called the marriage supplements (huwelijksbijlagen). What kind of documents can we find in the marriage supplements? For example, birth certificates for both spouses or a military certificate for the husband. Perhaps even death certificates for deceased parents or previous spouses. If both parents were dead we might even find information about the grandparents. Marriage supplements are extremely valuable. Especially when they refer to facts before the commence of civil registration (1811) or to life events in other countries.
We wrote more about marriage supplements in one of our other articles.
