December 2 1973

On that day, my grandmother Rosalia Margaretha (Margriet) Ravijst died in the UZ in Ghent. She was born in Meerbeke on March 20 1892 as a daughter of Petrus Joannes Ravijst (Nieuwenhove 1861 - Meerbeke 1944) and of Joanna Maria (Leontien) De Schepper (Meerbeke 1864 - 1926).

She married Pieter Jozef Timmermans (Meerbeke 1886 - 1953) and they had seven children, five of whom survived to adulthood - see post "My paternal grandparents". Most of their married life, they lived on the Hemelrijk in Meerbeke where my grandfather was a carriage maker, carpenter and fruit grower.

.

She has been sickly most of her life, but still survived her husband by twenty years minus a couple of days (he died on December 4 1953 in Ninove) ... and their oldest grandchild was born on December 3 1940.

.

The picture shows my grandmother and me.

***

She was the last of my four grandparents to die ; still I know less about her than about the other three.

The provenance of her great-grandfather Jan Baptiste, born ca 1805 - 1808 remains a mystery to me, as well as the stories surrounding her father Petrus Joannes, who was born out of wedlock while his mother was a servant in a castle (a story told a thousand times in the 19th and early 20yh century).

I know her grandmother married, probably in Tollembeek, but I ignore the name of her husband and of her children. The (few) surviving family members, old enough to know something, cannot help me any further.

There are Ravijst (Ravijts, Ravyts etc ...) families in the region of Asse, Lebbeke and Opwijk, but no link has yet been found ; idem for the region of Tollembeek.

Maybe the family lore that a soldier of Napoleon married a local girl may be true after all : there are very comparable family names in France. And I must confess that the further study of this branch of my family has not been a priority up to now - there was so much to collect elsewhere ... without too much effort.