June 15 1833

Ludovicus De Schepper was born in Meerbeke ; a son to Judocus born ca 1788 and to Joanna De Dobbeleer, born ca 1791.

In 1862, Ludovicus married Antonia De Vidts, born in Pamel in 1840, and they had four children at least. One of them was my great-grandmother Joanna Maria (Leontien) De Schepper (Meerbeke 1864 - 1926), the mother of my paternal grandmother Rosalia Margarteha Ravijst (Meerbeke 1892 - Gent 1973).

Ludovicus has been a miller's aid, later probably a farmer, maybe a miller himself and - according to family lore, but as yet unconfirmed - a rural policeman ("petjen de sjampetter").

Antonia most probably was the godmother of her niece, my maternal grandmother Maria Antonia De Vidts (Pamel 1885 - Okegem 1949). My mother once told me that petjen de sjampetter was the godfather of her mother, but that was before I discovered (unfortunately after my mother's death) that his wife was her grandfather's sister.

I haven't yet looked up the ascendancy of this branch of the De Schepper family ; neither do I have the date of death of Ludovicus and Antonia, nor the complete list of their children.

I know I wrote before that my mother knew she and my father were distant relatives, but that she did not know how. It was only after her death that I discovered the link, which was much simpler than some of the suppositions I had concocted before.