Petrus Jacobus Beyen and his family

On April 20, 1698 a certain Petrus Jacobus Beyen (1.1) married Jacoba Stoet in Nieuwkapelle. Petrus (also called Pieter) and Jacoba had no less than nine children. On September 30, 1717 their youngest child, Remigius (2.1), was born. He was baptized on October 1. His first name is most likely derived from Saint Remigius of Reims, whose feast is celebrated on October 1 as well.
Jacoba died at Remigius' birth. In the next year Pieter married Jacoba Snick in the neighbouring town of Oudekapelle. From his second marriage he had four other children. In 1730 Pieter died in Nieuwkapelle.

Six of Pieter's thirteen children died in infancy. Some of his other children had many offspring. Many Belgians who have the name Beyen descend from them. A separate page deals with the surname Beyen in Belgium.

Remigius moved to the (Northern) Netherlands and had many descendants there. He is the ancestor of what is called on this site the Nieuwkapelle family.

Remigius Beyen in the Dutch army

When the war began the garrisons had to be reinforced. On April 9, 1742 Remigius Beyen joined a Dutch regiment in Veurne.
The barrier towns had little effect. In 1744 and 1745 most of the fortresses were conquered by France without much effort. The Dutch troops withdrew to the north.
In the autumn of 1745 nearly 6000 Dutch soldiers, including the regiment in which Remigius served, were transported to England. They were there to help the English king who was threatened by a revolt from Scotland. After the Battle of Culloden in 1746 the revolt failed and the Dutch regiments turned back to the Netherlands.

In 1748 the war ended with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Remigius continued to serve in the Dutch army. The regiment in which he served was stationed in many different garrison towns in the (Northern) Netherlands. It was only in 1779, after a period of service of as many as 37 years, that Remigius retired and received his pension.
Below is the registration of Remigius in a military register. His name is written there as Remisius Beijens.

During his military career, Remigius had founded a family in Nijmegen. The next page gives more details.