Paul's Modern Day FamilyDescendants of Paul Splingaerd |
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 The biggest event of the year was the August trip to Lanzhou, China. It was a memorable one. Along with seven other descendants of Paul Splingaerd, the subject of my book, The Belgian Mandarin, Anne was invited to the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the "First Iron Bridge Across the Yellow River" that Paul had proposed for the city of Lanzhou. Today it is known as Zhongshan Qiao (Sun Yatsen Bridge). We were given the unexpected honor of being conferred honorary citizenship to the city. The televised event in front of dignitaries, drummers (not as many as at the Olympics, but quite impressive), a full orchestra, and fireworks, made us feel quite special. |
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Here are some links to this wonderful event.
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Of Paul and Catherine Splingaerd’s 13 known children, only 4 had children. They were Alphonse, Remy, Pauline (Muller) and Lucie (Paternoster). |
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 (The graphic above has been provided by Christian Goens) |
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2 - Alphonse Splingaerd - 1877 – 1943. Paul’s eldest son, known in China as Lin Ah De, Married Anna Colette Chang of Lanzhou. The surname has been lost in this branch as female offspring dominated. The known surnames now associated with Alphonse Splingaerd are Keet, Cox, Laheurte, Roth and Nadeau. |
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3 -Remy Splingaerd - 1879 – 1931. Paul’s middle son married Anna Zhang of Lanzhou, the niece of Alphonse’s wife. The surname Splingaerd has been carried down in Remy’s family, but the only male grandson, Jean-Pierre Splingaerd (Peter), only son of his only son, Joseph, has only produced a daughter, Tamara (Tara), so this may mean the end of the line in the genealogical sense. The new surnames introduced by the predominantly female descendants of Remy are: Agostini, Appoloni, Bertossi, Biesel, de Brouwer, Bourgéry, Caffroni, Gaspard, la Cava, Mavel, May, Megowan, de Micheli, Olds, Ollivier, O’Neil, Pourbaix, Powell, Regout, Rose, de Royer, Zamuner. (It is Remy’s granddaughter who wrote the biography of Paul, The Belgian Mandarin.) |
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1- Pauline Splingaerd - 1883 – 1946. Paul and Catherine’s ninth child married textile engineer Jean-Jacques Muller in China. They returned to Belgium after WWI. This branch can be found predominantly in Belgium and France. Pauline’s children have introduced the new surnames of Jannsens and Jacob. |
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4 - Lucie Splingaerd - 1885 – 1983. The 11th child of Paul and Catherine married Albert Paternoster. To their own patronymic, they have added Anglani, Latartara, Fresia, and Van Hecke. Lucie’s descendants live in Venezuela, Madrid, Italy and Belgium |
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A branch of the Lin (Chinese transliteration of ‘Splingaerd’) family continues in Taiwan and Shanghai. We are awaiting more information of these relatives. 5 - Yu Sheng Lin. |
Click here to see some recently discovered photos of people, maps and artifacts |
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Click here to view photos of some of the precious publications held by |
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Return to Anne's Relation to Paul mem: 8-jun-16 |