Text 43618, 42 rader
Skriven 2006-12-03 21:47:05 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
     Kommentar till en text av Michiel van der Vlist
Ärende: Re: Calling names? (was: Insults)
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Michiel,
 
> WD> The history of family-names can be intriguing.
 
> Anything meaningfull to say about yours? Derived from a profession maybe?
 
My ancestors some centures ago came from the east ... in the east was the
German/Austrian empire in those days. I don't think they were refugees but just
came along as part of "the household" of empress Maria-Theresia.
 
They settled in the area of Diest-Scherpenheuvel-Hasselt ... In that area they
were called "De Dosschen" ... derived from "De Duitsers" (The Germans) but
pronounced in their own dialect.
 
In the Flemish heimat-literature of Ernest Claes he describes the advance of
the German armies in 1914 and also calls them "De Dosschen".
 
In the 19th century my ancesturs moved to just across the Dutch border, others
settled at Waterlandskerke (then called Mariawaterlandskerke) in Zeeland where
they distinguished themselves during one or the other calamity and earned an
eternal right of free burial for anyone with the family name 'Dossche'. It is
entered there in the church register.
 
Later on they migrated south again towards Antwerp and the many jobs provided
in the harbour. My grandfather while keeping his Dutch nationality worked a
team of Belgian horses to pull wagons. When the first world war broke out he
was requisitioned by the military to pull guns with his horses and as a result
spent 4 years at the front-lines while the Netherlands remained neutral.
 
As a Dutchman he was decorated and received an invalid's pension for the
duration of his life. After he was cought in a gas-attack in early 1918 he
never fully recovered and kept coughing-up blood for the years that he had
left. In 1944 he died in the military hospital after such a coughing-session
during which parts of his lungs came out through his mouth and nose. So he
died, a casualty of the war aged 52, 26 years after that same war had ended.
 
Take care,
 
 \%/@rd

--- D'Bridge 2.55
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