Information on the Topic
Do you have an ancestor who seemed to do well for himself? What about a family photo showing a big car or fancy dresses? How about an ancestor with a "prosperous" name like Wealthy or Fortune? Feel free to be creative with the theme!
When I think of someone who people think did well for himself, it would probably be Jules Gauquie who was born Joannes Julius Van Rompaey.
Jules' birth entry and amended entry. Credit
This was due to his mother, Florentia Van Rompaey, was a 25 year old maid-servant in a household in 1871. At the time of Jules' birth, she was living with her sister and brother in law, Joannes Verbert, in St Jans/Josst ten Node(Brussels), Molenbeek, Westerlo in Belgium.
However, on December 11, 1981, Aloysius Gauquie and Florentina Van Rompaye were married which made Jules legitimate (above).
His father had been drafted into the Belgium army. It was only after he had finished serving he found out about Jules and married Florentina and claimed Jules as his own.
What we do know, is Jules (along with his father and siblings) leave Belgium shortly after his mother's death for the US. His father finds work at a creamery, which I think back then was work on dairy farms.
A section of Aloysius' naturalization papers. Credit: Orange County Registrar's
Advertisement in the newspaper from Jules' cousins company. Credit
In the area they settled in, which had many cousins of Jules, was known for their dairy farms or in its transportation as you can see by the above article.
Later the area was also known for ice cream including when I was growing up as there were many farms around the area. but in the 1980s they all started to fold due to costs rising in the area and many were lost including Borden's ice cream which was one of the biggest in NY. The image on the right is from the new Borden company's website.
Jules, by family stories, was not one to go spending money unless it did something for him. This might be giving money, or support, to people and/or organisations so he could be more well known or gain possible business off of it.
He's listed under the committees and transportation section as J Gauquie
No one must have applied because shortly after this is when he got engaged and then married Belle Rue.
Also, it was widely known he owned most of Blooming Grove at one point, because he just kept making money but not spending much of it.
This all made him seem wonderful to so many people. What people didn't realize was behind the scenes he was not very well liked by family. He threw one of his youngest sons, my grandfather, out of the house when he was 15 and another son went with him. He sold his far to 2 of his sons, but they didn't want it. It was put to them they took the farm and they would get the money from it when he passed or they'd get nothing. They took it, figuring they put sweat into the farm for so many years growing up they should get something; however, they were proven wrong after.
Jules went so far to protect his name by leaving lawyers with instructions to make sure obituary instructions were followed and if they weren't then they weren't left with anything - none of the kids, so they went with it because they had to only for no one to get that much anyway and Jules' second wife got most of it. He made sure there was nothing linking this to him because he knew his children would put it out in the public.
Notice how things had a cost and it talked about money and his estate. Nothing about how he was a loving husband, father or grandfather.
You know it's bad when your father tries and leave you out of his will, but somehow, the judge null and voids the will and Jules still ends up with something and his sister nothing.
Part of Jules' father's will where he leaves him nothing. Credit
Even his own daughter was shipped away after his first wife dies of pneumonia because of not having a winter coat on the farm because he says "she doesn't do anything and doesn't need one". The daughter, Mary, had polio when she was young during the outbreak, and he had his first wife take care of Mary. Upon her death Mary was put into the states care and Jules shipped her to the cheapest home he could find for her where she died within a year.
I've written up a post about how Jules' first wife, Annie, took care of their daughter and what happened after Annie dies. You can read about it here.
So to sum up, while Jules seemed to have a rough start, but then came to the US and had all the advantages, which he took advantage of. He made quite a bit of money, so some would term him quite prosperitus.
However, when you take in what he did to his family? To me he was prosperous, he was more of a little boy making anyone in his family suffer while looking like the conquering hero.
It's all in the eye of the beholder and how much research you actually do on a person.
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