Pardaens

My ancestor Judocus Pardaens (Paridaens) lived in Pamel from March 1 1627 to March 10 1693. He married Catharina Wijns (Weyns ?), sometimes called Mertens. Catharina died in Pamel on December 9 1697.

They are reported to have had seven children :

their eldest child, Petrus, lived in Pamel from September 15 1655 to November 29 1728. He married Catharina Van Opdenbosch in 1678 and Gerardina Clement in 1695. Petrus and Gerardina are ancestors of mine.

The youngest child, Maria, also survived (Pamel 1671 - 1747) and married.

The other children died young :

-- Catharina was born in 1657 and died eleven years later from the plague.

-- Joanna was born in 1660 and died nine years later from the plague, some seven months after Catharina.

-- There was another Catharina. It was quite common that two children in one household had the same christian name, but generally the second child only got that name when it was born after the first one had died. According to our source, the second Catharina was born in 1663 - while the first one was still alive. The second Catharina is reported to have died in 1668 ; no cause of death was given. She died four months before the first one ... Has there been some confusion about dates and was there only one Catharina in the household ; or was one of them a daughter of another couple alltogether? In those days of pestilence, such an error could be made quite easily ...

-- And then there were twins, born late in February 1670. Leonardus lived for just over a week ; Egidius died two days later. In those days, the outlook for the survival of twins was grim.

Good old times, indeed ...

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