August 11 1777

Philippe Pierre Jacques Colins died on that day and was buried in the church at Lieferinge, where his tombstone reportedly can be seen to this day, although I haven't checked that yet.

According to local lore his tombstone was ready long before his death and was placed a couple of centimeters above the church floor, so that no one should ever step on it. Not exactly a sign of humility ... He married Marie Anne de Schrevel who died in 1747 and they had three children : Maximilien, Philippe and Marie Antoinette.

He was lord (heer, seigneur) of Lieferinge and Heetvelde and lived in the "Waterkasteeltje" in Oetingen. He was a knight of the "cour souveraine" of Hainaut and "gentilhomme à la noblesse du pays et comté du Hainaut".

He distributed his possessions among his three children in 1764, and by the later years of the Ancien Régime, they had blown it all. Local folklore still tell some stories about their extravagant, degenerate squanderings and their contempt for ordinary people. Some memories survived in my family too, although in family lore the miscreants incorrectly were named Timmermans, not Colins.

From what I learned about the last two generations at least, they were typical exemples of very minor nobility who misbehaved tragically. But they paid the price ...

I still have a lot of resarch to do on this branch of my ancestors, but Philippe Maximilien Sigmonde Cornille (De) Colins was born in Mons ca 1757 and died, probably pennyless, in Lieferinge ca 1800. He married Petronilla Van den Houte (who died in Lieferinge in 1818).

Their daughter Anna Maria (De) Colins (Lieferinge 1780 - 1839) married Philippus Van den Houte (Lieferinge 1779 - 1849), and their daughter Maria Anna Van den Houte (Lieferinge 1825 - Meerbeke) married my great-great-grandfather Charles Timmermans (Meerbeke 1812 - 1883). This link has been documented in the article "July 11 1839".