Below the De Calonne family history (in short).
French Belgium
So far the earliest known Calonne in a direct line (to the Indische De Calonnes) is Martin Calonne, without the prefix “de”. He died in 1716 at Longueville (Brabant Walloon, Belgium). Where and when he was born, is yet unknown. Same goes for his wife, Elisabeth Thichon, who died in 1722 at Longueville. The parish records at Longueville only go back to 1700, before that year little to nothing was preserved. It will be very difficult to go back any further and find earlier generations.
Martin and Elisabeth had two sons, including Lambert Calonne (born abt. 1700 at Longueville). Lambert married Anne Dupont, also born around 1700 at Longueville. Lambert and Anne had 10 children. One of them was Jean Joseph of Johannes Josephus Calonne. Jean Joseph moved from Longueville to Perwez (Brabant Walloon, België), where he married Marie Catherine | Maria Catharina Thirion (1738-1808) on the 30th of October 1764.
Dutch Belgium, The Netherlands
Looking at the eldest son of Jean and Marie, we see a transition from French to Dutch. Antoine Joseph | Antonius Josephus (de) Calonne (1765-1841) moves from the French-Belgium town of Perwez to the Dutch-Belgium town of Walem (province of Antwerp, Belgium). He was the only one among his siblings, because the other 7 children of Jean and Marie stayed at Perwez. Antoine Joseph was the first person to use the prefix “de” (De Calonne) .
Antoine Joseph and his wife Anna Christina Catharina Renard (1768-1817) had three sons.
One son (Victor Alexandre | Alexander Victor de Calonne) settled at IJsselmonde (province of South Holland, the Netherlands) as a tailor.
The two other sons traveled to the Dutch Indies as military surgeons. One of them was Francois Joseph | Franciscus Josephus de Calonne (1796-1837), who got married but didn’t have any (known) children.
Dutch Indies
All Indische Calonnes descend from the youngest son of Antoine Joseph and Anna Christina Catharina: Jean Baptiste de Calonne.
Jean Baptiste was born on the 24th of June 1806 at Sint-Joost-ten-Node, near Brussels (Belgium). Jean Baptiste went to the ‘s-Rijkskweekschool voor Militaire Geneeskundigen (Royal school for Military Physicians) at Utrecht (the Netherlands). He traveled to the Dutch Indies by boat on the 7th of April and was stationed in the Yogyakartan hospital (Java). He deceased on the 4th of July 1843 at Semarang (Java), after a career as a military surgeon.
Jean Baptiste married the “Inlandsche christenvrouw” (Native christian woman) Maria Smook | Smauck | Smookt (-1870). They had 8 children; two sons with De Calonne descendants.
There were primarily women among the descendants of their son Antonius Victor de Calonne (1837-1893). That’s why Antonius Victor doesn’t have any (known) descendant with the last name De Calonne. Antonius Victor was landmeter (surveyor) at Semarang and Batavia (Java). Among the in-laws of the descendants of Antonius Victor and his wife Johanna Jacoba Meister (1849-1958!) we find last names like Von Raesfeld Meijer, Haspels, Schravesande, Drognat Doeve, Verkruissen and Pareau Dumont.
The son of Jean Baptiste and Maria with De Calonne-descendants was Francois Joseph de Calonne (1836-1906). He worked as surveyor, just like his brother Antonius Victor. On the 4th of May 1866 he married Maria Jacoba Cornelia Knaud (1846-1922) at Batavia, Java. Francois and Maria had 12 children, including the only one with any De Calonne-descendants to this day: August Gerard de Calonne (1879-1943).
August Gerard married twice. The first marriage (1903 at Weltevreden, Java) was with Jenny Emma Rademaker (1884-1944). After he divorced Jenny Emma, he married Saarthe Wilhelmina Isakh (1899-1955) in 1824 at Buitenzorg (Java).
Indonesia, The Netherlands and the US
From the 50s of the 20th century, the 9 children of August Gerard and Jenny Emma settled in The Netherlands and in the US (Antoine de Calonne, 1911-1977).
After the transfer of power, some of the children of August Gerard and Saarthe Wilhelmina (5) stayed in Indonesia, others moved to The Netherlands.
What about “that count”?
A lot of people in our family talk about how we descend from “that (or: a) count”. With that count, they mean Charles Alexandre de Calonne (1734-1802). First of all: he wasn’t a count, he was a viscount. That’s a rank below a count. Charles Alexandre was a Controlle-General of Finances under Louis XVI. He was born in Douai (Northern France), and a son of Louis Joseph Dominique de Calonne and Anne Henriette de Franqueville. Father Louis Joseph Dominique was born in Southern Belgium, in the municipality of Doornik (Dutch)/Tournai (French).
The Indische Calonnes most certainly do not descend from viscount Charles Alexandre de Calonne. He only had one son, who died childless. When Charles Alexandre was born in France, the ancestors of the Indische Calonnes were living further up North, in Belgium. Charles Alexanders ancestors are traced far back and there are not any connections (found yet) between those ancestors and our ancestors. So in short: the Tournai Calonnes and Indische Calonnes aren’t connected. Due to the limited remaining sources, as described above, the chances the branches will ever be connected are slim.
And what about that coat of arms?
The coat of arms hanging in many De Calonne homes, is the coat of arms belonging to the noble Tournai Calonnes. The Indische Calonnes are not allowed to use that coat of arms as long as they are not connected to that Tournai branch.
Until May 2012 the Indische Calonnes did not have a coat of arms. A coat of arms for that branch has been designed/created and is in progress of being registered. All the descendants of Jean Baptiste de Calonne (see above) are allowed to use that newly created coat of arms. Click here for more information about the coat of arms.
But, we owned the famous DeCa-park in Batavia…didn’t we?
The short answer to that is: “No”. For more background, read the article on the DeCa-park and Jules François de Calonne (1883-1930) I wrote and posted before.
