Of Flanders and Hemeric

While doing a review of my ancestry,  I found that I am related to Hemeric Bibau from Thielt, West Flanders, Belgium circa 1353.  What a cool place to hail from.  What a cool name, Hemeric.  He sounds like a warrior to me!

I was astounded at the huge number of results from a google search, just by entering his name and the date.  Come to find out the original spelling from Belgium is Biebaus.  According to one person they were brewers.  The name changed like this in my family line (according to the records I have found, so far) -Biebaus -Bibau -Bebout -Beabout -Beebout.

Some of the other names are Wouter (as a first name) and his wife Mayke The Dryvere, and they named their son Adrianus.  Wow...can you imagine using these names today?  Adrianus married Cathelyne of New Huus and they named their child Alexander in about 1517.  Alexander married Isabella Tanghe and they named their child Symoen (Simon).

Click on the links below to find out more:

Hemeric Bibau was born before 1353 in Tielt. He died before 1398 in Tielt.  

Posted by Arthur:  I've done some research on my own and have found that Jan Pietersz Bibau that immigrated to new york in 1687 was a brewer. So maybe its not that the French version meant they drank alot but that they were brewers.Because fof others like you, I have traced my family from myself all the way back to Hemeric Bibau in 1377. Thank you so much

From Wikipedia:  Over the course of history, the geographical territory that was called "Flanders" has varied. From around 1000 AD, Flanders historically meant to English-speaking peoples the land situated along the North Sea from the Strait of Dover to the Scheldt estuary with ill-defined southern borders.[1] It came to refer specifically to the County of Flanders, lasting from 862 to 1795, whose territory was situated in the northwestern part of what is now Belgium (the Belgian provinces of West Flanders and East Flanders), with extensive portions in what is now northern France (French Flanders), and a small area that is now part of the Netherlands (Zeelandic Flanders).