Meiseniers ... again

For the earliest generations of the De Vidts family in Pamel, the church registers leave us in the "mist of history". Some genealogists have tried to extend the line one or two generations farther back in time, but not always successfully or convincingly.

An alternate source, typical for the region, is the list of meiseniers.

The first De Vidts to become a meisenier was a Catherijne De Vidts, daughter of Rombouts. She did so in 1566 - no location was given.

The first Jan De Vidts appears in July 1596 : Jan (Antwerp) and Nicolaes (Brussels), sons of Coenraets and Cathelijne Reymers. There are some other meiseniers De Vidts who originated in the region of Brussels in those early times.

The first De Vidts meisenier of whom we know he lived in Pamel is Nicasius, son of Posschier en Joanna De Beer (Pamel) in 1656. From then on, almost all the family members - or rather name bearers - who became meiseniers were located in Pamel and its wider region. Posschier and Joanna were direct ancestors of mine. Nicasius (Pamel 1624 - 1677) was their eldest son. Their second son, Judocus - Joos (Pamel 1627 - 1694), from whom I descend, became a meisenier in 1669.
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Remark : most of the De Vidts name bearers, who live in Belgium at the present time, retrace their origin to the two (most probably) related families who lived in Pamel in the late 16th century.