Introduction
It was 1959, the year of my first son's birth. In the firm where I was employed, I've had a colleague who had already been working on his family tree for years. His experience and enthusiasm have resulted in 40 years of investigation, with ups and downs and this publication of our family tree on the Internet as one of the results.
The names Relecom, Relekom and (Van) Releg(h)em occur very little and they all originate from the tiny village Relegem near Brussels. During many centuries this family has lived round Brussels. Here you can also find an overview of the different notations of our family name we could retrieve in the archives. You'll even find a family with 6 children, where each child has got a different surname.
Today I'm still looking for the connection between the Relekom branch and the Relecom / Van Releg(h)em one. I really hope the missing link will turn up here soon.
There is also a number of names in Belgium of which you can think they are related to our family name somewhere. Let's consider e.g. Kelecom and Van Pellekom. But we can't find any traces on this anywhere.
Existing parts of the family tree:
I've found quite quickly that everything the archives and literature could offer concerning the names Relec(k)om and Van Releg(h)em, is very scattered and mostly formulated in French. The necessity to bundle this all in one volume forced itself.
In the journal "De Middelaar" or "Intermédiaire" number 131 from September 1974, I've read this:
"Misschien zal ooit een lezer, wiens nieuwsgierigheid, net als de onze, gericht op de afstammelingen van de familie Van Relegem, een laatste steen bijdragen aan dit bijna voltooid geheel." (Maybe ever a reader, whose curiosity is, just like ours, aimed to the Van Relegem family descendants, will do his part on this almost complete entity)
So, am I maybe the person who's meant here? Anyway, I want to make an attempt, first of all in Dutch, to make our family's origin and our family tree more clear.
So on the millennial eve, I think I can say: "Dr. Spelkens, your wish has come true."
Names that appear in acts must be respected: they cannot be translated. Contrary to Dr. Spelkens and Dr. Van Schijndel, who actually did it with our family tree. While drawing up a family tree, neither Joannes is translated as John nor Petrus as Peter. However, this is my point of view.
Also names like Giellielmus and Angelus mustn't be translated in Dutch as Willem and Engel. Names in an act must stay authentic.
In 1959 I began looking for our family name's origin and drawing up our family tree.
Dr. B.W. Van Schijndel made a partial family tree on August 22, 1954, while Dr. E. Spelkens published his (also incomplete) family tree in "De Middelaar" in 1967.
Due to the rather French pronunciaton of our family name I was almost convinced it's had its orgins in the Spanish or French rules. Later the surprise would be the bigger when I found our family's name is very tied up with Brabant's history.
Sometimes the search operations have been at a standstill for weeks, even for months. The days the archives were opened had to match my days off and in those days you had to request the acts you wanted to consult in advance and in writing. Then they had to be picked up by truck at the depot during your visit!
In those days nothing was stored on film neither and the church registers I consulted then, were 550 years old. Today these books aren't available to the general public anymore.
It would still take until 1997 before I'd receive an indication that referred to our name's origin and its meaning.
Due to the dimensions the family tree had taken in the meanwhile, at the end of 1998 I was bound to store all data on PC. The program I chose for this purpose was "Brother's Keeper"; quite simple, but complete and user-friendly software. The program's trial version can be easily downloaded from the Internet at http://www.bkwin.net. The final prime cost for the registered version amounts about EUR 37.
I've sent a few letters to persons named Relecom. These were addresses I obtained via the Internet.
On February 26, 1997, I received a letter from Emile Gustave Xavier Relecom (293), son of Xavier Gustave Emile Relecom (no 291).
Xavier Gustave Emile had ever been a representative of the people for the Communist Party, elected for the city of Brussels. In the Chamber he made strong pleas for the democratic forces' union. Stimulated by him the socialist and the communist youth factions in Wallonia had been merged. Relecom embodied that new sincerity wonderfully well. Indeed he was on good terms with several leftist movements. (Knack)
This accountant by profession had been a member of the socialist "Young Guards" in his youth. (see article Knack 10/30/1985)
His son didn't write me anything about this, but however I got a very interesting letter from him. He wrote me e.g. this: "Ceci n'est pas pour vous étonner, monsieur. Tous les 'Relecom' seraient les décendants des Seigneurs de Relegem." (This is not to surprise you, sir. All 'Relecom' should be the descendants of the Lords of Relegem.)
Finally! I really did it then? A first indication in the direction of "Our family name's origin" on 11/04/1999.
In the family name dictionary written by prof Frans De Brabander (Brussels, 1993) I found this:
Releg(h)em - Van Releg(h)em - Relecom - Relekom, (PIN) Relegem (B) but also in Zemst (B) because the Lords of Relegem's castle has been in Zemst since the 15th century.
1278 Daniel Van Redelgem - 1369 Geeraert van Redelgem - J. Van Redelghem, Brussels (Midd) - 1406 die Jan Redelgems Sammans Cnape waren = dat Jan van Redelgem Ammans Cnape waren, Brussels (peene 324) - 1407 Daneel van Redelghem - 1414 Daneel Van Relegeem Antw (ANP 208 - 235) - 1781 JB.
Relicom, Vilvoorde - Antw. (AP)
Lit: Généalogie de la famille Relegem Midd XXII (1967 pp 257 - 295)
Abbreviations according to Frans De Brabander:
PIN = place-name - region - city - municipality - hamlet - field.
B = province of Brabant.
Midd = Mediators between genealogical researchers.
Peene 324 = L. Peene: Middelnederlandsche persoonsnamen uit het archief van het Sint-Janshospitaal te Brussel (doct. diss. Leuven, 1954)
ANP = F. de Nave: Oudste Antwerpse lijsten van nieuwe poorters. 1390 - 1414. Hand Kon Comm gesch 139 (1973) 67 - 309.
AP = F. Melis Taymans - Antwerpse Poortersboeken 1533-1608, volumes 1 and 2, Antwerp 1978.
According to Spectrum Encyclopedie an "Amman" is:
An official appointed by the Lord, who took care of the administration of justice and other administrative matters in a certain territory. He can be compared more or less with Reeve or Bailiff, although sometimes higher or lower in rank.
The name occurred in regions like Flanders, Brabant and Gelre. Gelre is a medieval county that contained parts of the actual country along the Rhine. Its name is derived from the town of Geldern.
In an article from Andre Van Steenbergen in "De Kempische Genealoog, volume 12, numbers 3 - 4", I've read this: the bailiff of Brabant, he was the chief officer of Justice, six important officers of Justice were under him, namely: the Bailiff from Leuven, the Amman from Brussels, the Reeve from Antwerp, the Reeve from 's-Hertogenbosch, the Bailiff from Tienen and the Bailiff from Brabant.
So the Amman from Brussels reported directly to the Bailiff from Brabant, who reported to the Duke of Brabant himself. (Middelnederlandsch handwoordenboek by J. Verdam)
At the moment of writing (September 1998) the Relecom and Van Releg(h)em family tree is almost completed, as for the relationships. On several places dates are still missing, but they can still be filled up later.
The Relecom families are settled round the cities Brussels and Antwerp.
Emigrations are very sporadic, but the name occurs with emigrants in Canada, France and Switzerland. These families are also included in the family register.
On March 18, 1997, I sent a letter to the municipality of Zemst to obtain some information about a Antonetta Van Relegem. Just imagine my surprise when I noticed that the reply to my letter was signed by Mr Van Releghem, the municipality of Zemst's town clerk and also a distant relative.
Several contacts followed and Mr Van Releghem helped me very well during my further researches about our family tree.
The researches about the name Van Releg(h)em pass off smoothly and we find that the names Relecom and Van Releg(h)em often occurred side by side and distorted around the 16th century. Watch the changing family names in the next examples:
Jan Van Relegem marries Barbara Hinnebeen (no 458 and 459); children are born with the names Relecoms (no 462), Van Rellecom (no 463), Relegoms (no 469), Relecom (no 465) and Van Rele (no 467), AO 1596-1607.
Born as Dominicus Vanrelecom (no 2044) this man marries as Dominicus Van Reyseghem in Vilvoorde on 07/02/1613.
Born as Petrus Reregoms on 05/09/1654 in Vilvoorde, he marries with Maria Pepermans in Weerde on 09/15/1697 as Petrus Relegem.
Maria Pepermans, Petrus Van Relecom's wife, dies in Weerde on 01/29/1710 (no 755 and 756). So one and the same person gets three different names here: first at his birth, then at his marriage and finally at his wife's death.
From this marriage: Joanna Van Relegem (no 757), born in Weerde on 07/07/1698.
Elisabeth Van Relegem (no 758), born in Weerde on 08/06/1700.
Concerning Mr Petrus Reregoms and Mrs Maria Pepermans, I think I found a link between:
1. The families who emigrated to Vilvoorde.
2. Those who settled in Zemst and environs.
Maria Pepermans is together with Petrus Vinckx (susceptores) at Anna Maria Relegoms' birth (no 67) in Vilvoorde on 03/07/1706.
Anna Maria Relegoms is the daughter of Joannes Relecom (no 63) and Catharina Vinckx (no 64).
So Maria Pepermans (no 756) is the wife of father's brother (aunt) and Petrus Vinckx (uncle) is the brother of the mother.
Petrus Relegem (no 755) marries Barbara Lauwers (no 745) in Eppegem on 08/21/1710, seven months after his first wife's death. A new marriage during the same year was usual at that time. It's also remarkable that both wives lived in the same village (Eppegem).
The fact that his first wife's mother was a Lauwers, is also important. In other words: he was familiar with this family, which made a marriage with a Lauwers obvious.
Henricus Lauwers Van Relecom (no 1011) is born in Weerde on 05/13/1712, as the first child of Petrus Van Relegem (no 755) and Barbara Lauwers (no 745).
All Van Releg(h)em from Zemst and environs will descend from this Henricus Van Relecom. So we can deduce from this that many Van Releg(h)em from Zemst and environs are descendants from the families who settled in Vilvoorde around 1450.
Anyway, Dr Spelkens writes in "Intermédiaire", p 268: "Et il semble qu'il eut la, comme nous le verrons encore plus loin entere les communes un continuel va et vient." (And it appears that, like we will still see, there had been a continuous to-and-fro between the municipalities.)
The name Relekom:
Concerning the name Relekom the researches are still in the egg. The name occurs quite often round the city of Namur, e.g. in Vedrin, La Bruyère, Eminne, Egezée Longchamps, Gembloux, Méhaigne, Naninne, etc.
It's also curious that the name written like this, has a rather Dutch-speaking character.
Now we're at the end of 1999 and the researches progress unexpectedly good. I hope I will be able to find a connection with a family in Flemish Brabant soon.
Concerning our family name's pronunciation, a clear difference between the Dutch-speaking and the French-speaking community can be noticed.
The Dutch-speakers say "Rélecom", as if there would be an acute accent on the first "e" (but there isn't any), while they clearly pronounce the last "m".
The French-speakers pronounce the first "e" like "eu", and they pronounce the last syllabe like "con".
Up till now I still got no indication at all, but I suppose a relative from Vilvoorde emigrated to the environs of Namur around 1600, just like Joannes Baptist (no 49) who emigrated from Vilvoorde to Antwerp. The future will need to tell this further.
Several relatives from the environs of Namur tell me, when they have to mention their family name at some instance, they always have to point out Relekom is not written with a "c". Rather an odd aspect of our family name.
In order to use the newest technologies I take the decision to place all data about the family name on the Internet.
That way all information is available for everybody who's interested in genealogy and genealogical science in the broadest sense. Colleague genealogists can also find a number of relatives here, who were married with someone from our family. Completions or corrections are appreciated greatly.
These are the results of many years of researches, completed with Dr E. Spelkens' family tree from 1967 on the one hand, supported by Dr B.W. Van Schijndel's work from 1954 on the other hand, and further my own researches since 1959.
Concerning the "Relekom" family branch from the environs of Namur, Joannes Baptista Relekomme, born around 1680, is the oldest known ancestor.
Linking this large family branch, concentrated round the city of Namur, will be the biggest challenge during the next year.