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The Nieuwkapelle family
Remigius and his children and grandchildren |
Married to Johanna van KempenFrom 1751 to 1754 and from 1758 to 1761 the regiment of Remigius Beyen, who was mentioned on the previous page, was stationed in Nijmegen. In 1753 he married there the Nijmegen-born Johanna van Kempen. She was much younger than Remigius, perhaps only 16 years old. Although the bride and groom were both Catholic, their marriage was to be performed in a Reformed church, according to the regulations at the time. The Dutch text reads: Remisius Beijns, bachelor, soldier in the Regiment of the Prince of Baden Durlach, with Johanna van Kempen, bachelor-girl, from Nijmegen. After a month, the first child of Remigius and Johanna was born. It was baptized Catholic.  Four years later, the marriage of Remigius and Johanna was still concluded with a Catholic clergyman. The Latin text reads: In the month of February, on the 19th day, after a three-fold call at the non-Catholics four years ago, Remigius Beijen and Catharina van Kempen renewed the marriage according to the Catholic rites, with Vraun van Nesterick and Anna Helmes as witnesses. That's how it is. It is striking that this time the bride was called Catharina instead of Johanna. That must have been a mistake, firstly because it referred to the marriage four years earlier, and secondly because all baptismal registrations, both before and after 1757, included the mother's name as Johanna. Seven childrenRemigius and Johanna had seven children, born in 1753, 1756, 1758, 1761, 1763 and 1766 (the last two were twins). Despite Remigius's different locations, all children were baptized in Nijmegen. The baptismal registrations never mentioned that Remigius was stationed elsewhere in the Netherlands. Nor did it explicitly state that Remigius himself was present at the baptisms.Three of the children reached marriageable age. Nothing is known about the other four, apart from the baptismal entry. They probably died young. Joanna Huberta (3.3) (1758-1829) was widowed three times. She was first married to Johannes Peter Wassing, then to Philips Christiaan Hartman and then to Gijsbert Hopman. She lived her entire life in Nijmegen. More about Henricus (3.5) and Gerardus (3.6) is said below. The death of RemigiusOn the previous page it is mentioned that Remigius was discharged from the army in April 1779 in Axel (Zeelandic Flanders) at the age of 61. Nothing is known about what he did after that.A note in the Reformed burial register of Nijmegen shows that he died on 22 July 1799. He was 81 years old at the time. It is not known when Johanna died. She was mentioned in December 1799 at the marriage of one of her sons. Henricus BeijenHenricus Beijen (3.5), the eldest adult son of Remigius and Johanna, was born in 1763. He enlisted in the army for eight years in February 1782. In September 1789, slightly earlier than the agreed term, Henricus was 'passported'. This meant that he received a declaration that he had completed his service. In 1799 he married Margaretha Slims (probably originally Schlimgen), who came from Cologne, in Nijmegen. They had two sons. Margaretha died in 1814, Henricus in 1815, both in Nijmegen. According to the death certificate, Henricus had been a shoemaker by trade. Antonius Beijen, soldier in the Netherlands and the Dutch East IndiesThe first son of Henricus and Margaretha died when he was only two years old.The second son, Antonius (4.2), was born in January 1804. In 1821, when he was only 17, he entered service for eight years as a gunner in the field artillery. He was also a corporal there for a while. 
After his term, Antonius reported for the troops in the Dutch East Indies. The ship that transported him arrived in Batavia in January 1830. Although he had a contract for six years, he was already 'passported' in November 1833. Perhaps he was in poor health. Antonius died in July 1835 in Makassar on Celebes, aged 31. Gerardus BeijenGerardus Beijen (3.6) was the other adult son of Remigius Beyen and Johanna van Kempen. He was born in 1766. He was often called Gradus. He was a bricklayer by trade and lived almost his entire life in Nijmegen. In 1795 he married Theodora Helena Grevers, who also came from Nijmegen. They had seven children.Theodora died in 1834. Gerardus then lived for many years in the Oud Burgeren Gasthuis in Nijmegen. Older single Nijmegen residents who were in possession of the citizenship of Nijmegen had the right to spend their last years there. Gerardus had purchased that citizenship, which until the French period was in principle reserved for Protestants, in 1797. He died in 1850 at the then high age of 84. Of the children of Gerardus and Theodora, three became voluntary or conscript soldiers. They are mentioned below. A fourth son did not join the army. He is mentioned last. Remigius Adolphus Beijen, participant in the Battle of WaterlooThe eldest son of Gerardus and Theodora, Remigius Adolphus (4.3), was born in 1795 in Wamel near Nijmegen. In 1815 he participated in the Battle of Waterloo as a conscript soldier in the infantry, and survived the battle.
Remigius later became a shoemaker's apprentice in Nijmegen. In 1819 he married Maria Catharina Gertrudis Theunissen there. They had five children, three of whom died at a very young age and the other two shortly after their twentieth birthday. Remigius and his wife did not grow old either: 34 and 44 years old, respectively. Gerardus Theodorus Beijen, twice to the Dutch East IndiesThe second son of Gerardus and Theodora, Gerardus Theodorus (4.5), was born in 1800 in Nijmegen. He joined the army's field artillery corps in 1817. He first rose to corporal and then to sergeant. In 1826 he joined the troops for the Dutch East Indies for six years. After that term he returned to the Netherlands. He arrived there in 1833, and then joined the artillery again. In 1836 he signed a new contract for six years with the Indian army. However, he died in Palembang on Sumatra in 1838.In January 1836 Gerardus reported the birth of a daughter, Elisabetha, in Nijmegen. The child's mother was a certain Hendrina van Heumen. The birth certificate stated that the girl was born 'out of wedlock'. Because Gerardus presented himself as the father, Elisabetha was given the name Beijen. Shortly afterwards Gerardus left for the Indies again. It is not known where Hendrina lived with her daughter after that. The next mention of Elisabetha is from January 1857: she had a daughter Johanna Hendrina. The father was unknown. Johanna Hendrina was also given the name Beijen. Elisabetha died eleven days later. Johanna Hendrina was admitted to the Catholic orphanage in Nijmegen. She died there in 1867, aged ten. Benjamin Lambertus BeijenThe youngest son of Gerardus and Theodora, Benjamin Lambertus (4.8), voluntarily enlisted in the army in February 1831, during the Belgian Revolt. He probably did not actually participate in the Ten Days' Campaign. His career in the army was not a success: according to his superiors, he was repeatedly guilty of misconduct and in February 1832 he deserted. Nothing is known about what happened to him after that. Henricus Hubertus BeijenAll current members of the Nieuwkapelle family descend from yet another son of Gerardus and Theodora, Henricus Hubertus (4.7). He is discussed on the next page. |
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