One of the major challenges when establishing a family tree in Europe is to get past the barrier of the French Revolution, because a lot of parish birth, marriage and death certificates were destroyed at that time. Even so, Ed. H. Joseph Hamels (the author of "La famille Hamels") succeeded to go back to the second half of the seventeenth century where he unfortunately got stuck, leaving Daniel Hamels as our oldest "certified" ancestor.
To go back further will not be easy. It will take a lot of time and effort browsing through archives in libraries, such as (in Belgium):
During one of my visits to the S.C.G.D., I had the opportunity to find a document relating the history of the "della Faille" family and mentioning a Josine Hamels, born in 's Hertogenbosch (capital of North Brabant, south east of the Netherlands) around 1560 and deceased around 1630. The della Failles are a prosperous trader family living in Antwerp (Belgium).According to a 17th century legend, the della Faille family originated in the kingdom of Naples and were connected with the Leopardis, a family of Constantinople. Referring to later research (1965), they came from Kortrijk (south-west Belgium)and their original name was 'van der Faelge'. At the start of the 15th century, a Sobier van der Faelge lived there, who was the father of Oste, who was the ancestor of Gilles van der Faelge, van der Failge or van der Faille, an importantlandowner and usher of arms of the city of Kortrijk. His eldest son, Pierre (1478-1546) was a foreign burgess of Kortrijk, living in Wevelgem. He has four sons, Bernard, Jean, Pierre and Jacques (the last three are nicknamed 'le Vieil' to distinguish them from homonyms of later generations. Jean le Vieil is at the origin of the power of the della Faille family.
He starts a commercial career with the 'Martin de Hane & Son" company in 1530 in Venice where he lives for a period of ten years. There he composes all his commercial documents in Italian and writes his letters in the same language and in Flemish as well. He is the first of his lineage to Italianise his name into "della Faille".
Step by step and through a series of lawsuits against the de Hane descendants he builds a powerful business concern with subsidiaries in England, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany and even in Poland and Russia. He settles in Antwerp, then already one of the largest ports of the continent and one of the most cosmopolitan towns of Europe. He was conferred the honorary title of Great Almoner and is assigned the administration of the assistance of the poor of the city of Antwerp.
In 1562, he is awarded armorial bearings by imperial licence. Jean della Faille le Vieil lives in a large mansion in the "rue des tanneurs" (tanner street) and owns two country-houses: "ter Beke" in the "Markgravelei"(close to where my grandparents lived one hundred years ago) and "het Berckenrys" in Wilrijk.
Jean le Vieil married de Hane's granddaughter, Cornélie van der Cappelle, with whom he had five sons and four daughters. He dies in Antwerp in 1582. One of his sons,Jacques della Faille "le Jeune" (the young one), was born in 1549 or in the early days of 1550, under the reign of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, King of Burgundy, The Netherlands and Spain, who abdicated in 1555 in favour of his son Philip II, King of Spain and The Netherlands. He will die in 1615 under the reign of the Archduke Albert and Archduchess Isabella, daughter of Philip II. During his lifetime, numerous rebellions of Protestants against the Catholic King took place, which ended in the de facto separation of the Northern Netherlands (currently The Netherlands) and the Southern Netherlands (currently Belgium). The fierce Counter-Reformation battle conducted by Philip's Governors made a lot of people flee from the Southern to the Northern Netherlands, amongst them a lot of scientists, philosophers, artists and writers. Even under the reign of Albert and Isabella (1600 - 1625), which is otherwise known as a remarkable peaceful period, a witchcraft purge raged for twenty years.
Jacques le Jeune was the fourth son of Jean "le Vieil" (the old one). Much like his older brothers, he starts with his education as a trader very early, at the age of seventeen at the London subsidiary of the family enterprise and later in Frankfurt. In 1580, Jacques is thirty years old when he marries Josine Hamels. She is a sensitive and charitable young woman. Some of her letters were preserved, all of them written in Dutch (as the della Failles are bilingual with respect to French and Dutch, it is supposed that Josine very soon acquired at least a knowledge of spoken French). In her letters she expresses her concern to help her husband, whom she informally calls "Faille", and her desire to assist her fellow beings. In a touching letter of July, 29th 1600 she solicits succour for the mother of a large poverty-stricken family. Also, her vulnerable and scrupulous disposition appears in another letter, where she declares herself ill and considers her disease as a punishment of God for her sins.. She always signed her letters by "Josina Hamels". Josine lost her father as she was young. Her mother, Aleyde van Liberghen (also from 's Hertogenbosch), remarried with a tradesman, Willem Monincx, from whom she gave birth to several children.
There is little known about the marriage of Jacques and Josine. Where did it take place? How old was Josine? No trace of the wedding was found, neither in Antwerp or in Den Bosch (other name for 's Hertogenbosch), where marriages were not yet recorded at that time. Only a copy of their marriage settlement has been preserved:
"On December 7th 1580, in Antwerp before notary Henry van Uffele, was concluded the marriage settlement of Jacques della Faille, son of Jean, tradesman, future husband and the bride, Miss Josine, only daughter of late Joos Pieter Hamels, whose mother was Mrs Aleyde van Liberghen, remarried to Mr Willem Monincx, from whom she had several daughters. The future husband is assisted by his father. In the absence of the bride appeared Mr Willem Conincx, assisted by Mr Henri Pelgrom, son of Francois."
On the occasion of their marriage, Jacques and his wife have their portrait made by the celebrated Dutch painter and engraver, Hendrik Goltzius (1558 - 1616). To start with, the artist makes sketches of the spouses' heads. The two beautiful drawings are currently exposed in the Teyler Museum of Haarlem (The Netherlands). Then he composes the two complete engravings. The one that represents Josine, her hand resting on a skull laid on a table, bears the Hamels coat of arms: a ram's head ("hamel") and a (personal) motto: Segni Parata, sive te bello ducem seu pace civem postulabit patria. Rebecca qualis, qualis aut parens Sara. Hac una lex est conjugi virum sequi, which translates into: "I am ready to follow you, whether the fatherland will require you as a lord of war or as a citizen in time of peace. I am similar to Rebecca, similar to her parent Sara. To follow her husband is the only woman's rule".
The young couple takes up residence in the Antwerp "rue des Tanneurs" (Tanner Street) in the house next to the father's residence. Between 1581 and 1584, they will have their first child, a daughter named Cornelia, in remembrance of her father's mother.
UPDATE 10/03 from Wilfried Taeymans of BE: Jacobus della Faille le jeune born about 1549-1550 and died about 1615
in Antwerp. He was maried with Josine Hamels. He was colonel of Antwerp. They had at least 7 children : Cornelia °1581 +1642 Joannes °1584 + 1603 Ferdinand °1586 +Rouen Jacques °1588 + before 1615 Marie °1589 +1603 Hester °1596 +1622 (religieuse, nun) Justinius °1600 + 1603
Isn't that a beautiful story? I feel that Josine Hamels must be one of our ancestors (the ram, connections with North Brabant and Antwerp, etc). It's up to us now to establish the links...
(As soon as I have connected a scanner to my computer, I will send a copy of the engraving to our Web Master!)
Michel Hamels.