Januari 9 1788

Adrianus Neukermans was born in Okegem. In 1815 he married Anna Catharina De Doncker (Okegem 1791 - 1865). He was a millers helper (molenaarsgast) and lived on the Rattenberg, where three generations after him continued to live. Adrianus died on Januari 28 1860.

Short lived Amandus Neukermans (Okegem 1824 - 1857) was the fourth of six children. He married Catharina Asselman (Okegem 1823 - 1892). They were the parents of Hermilianus (Okegem 1855 - 1932), my great-grandfather.

I wrote before that Catharina had to raise her five children all by herself - see previous blogs on the Neukermans family.

This is the type of situation where one would dearly like to know more : how did she cope ? how did she do it ? who helped her ? and most of all : why didn't I ask my grandfather more questions about his family ?
I remember he knew a lot, but I clearly was too young and not interested enough. And my grandfather himself was only six when his grandmother passed away.