nobility- the good and bad.

I get it now. If a person was born out of wedlock, and they came from 'blue blood', they could be a liability or in reality, they wouldn't have a place in the 'aristocrat line', which I think is stupid.

She would have no police in society. If she stayed with her birth mother, the birth mother would have been ruined and couldn't marry into a 'good blue blooded' family.

so crazy how the world once worked. Sadly there are people who still think like that.

In truth, what I really want, is to understand the family where my great-great grandmother came from.

I enjoy the mystery, I enjoy the genealogy. I enjoy uncovering the truth.

And thanks to old time photos, I think I might found the family she came from.... but yeah I know, I need that darn paper trail.

which sadly might NOT exist.

Putting pieces of the puzzle together...

So I was thinking about how Coleta Vanthuyne (VanThuine) met that woman...

- the woman paid for her family's way to America, as long as they adopted the baby and called her their own. (i.e. raised her)

- this was supposed to be kept a family secret. When Mary got older, she learned of her secret but, she didn't tell many about it. My great-Uncle only knew bits a pieces.

- I contacted someone with the Tyvaert surname and she knew about baby Mary from her 'great Aunt Sylvia"

- her Great Aunt Sylvia spilled the beans of the secret. The Tyvaert lady didn't know my great-Uncle or Mary's children (she had three)

- A Tyvaert family member, had a baby named 'Mary Josephine'. I assume the Mary was named after her. And Josephine, was born May 9th, 1890. 10 years after my great-great grandmother was born. I am gonna guess , Pauline Tyvaert i.e.  the 'step' sister (or whatever you call it) loved baby Mary. (the whole family must have!)

- The house in Detroit was huge and it went to Mary. Not the Tyvaert family. Very interesting.

So this is what we know.

now here is something else that I am fitting in the pieces within the puzzle.
The mysterious woman.

what we know of her:

- she was royalty. Her daughter was royalty.
- Coleta spoke Flemish AND French and probably German (which is obvious since she lived in Belgium) . The woman probably only spoke French since back in the Victorian time period, French was the common tongue in the nobility household.

- The woman was rich. Since she paid for the Tyvaert family's entire way to America and I am going to guess some money was put away for Mary.

- how did she know the woman? I am going to guess, she either worked for her OR she had a friend who worked for the lady and and her friend told her about the royal woman and she met up with her.

BECAUSE:

Coleta was born on August 5th, 1828 and died May 5th, 1909
That means in 1880, she was 52 years old. She had several children that were all grown up, and most were married.

Now why would a 52 year old take a baby and she was at the same time trying to go to America ??? Granted many Belgians were flooding to come to the New World at that time for many reasons.. But this one, included a baby.

So my quest now takes me to look for documentation for immigration AND baptized.

Mary had a real birth date, she had a name.  The evil grandmother who didn't want to raise a baby because her daughter had a baby out of wedlock, at least knew of the baby's birth date and cared enough to give her to a loving family instead of dumping her or sending her off to an orphanage. In fact, she could have done those two things.

Why didn't she?

Because of a scandal.

I have information where Bruno Tyvaert and Coleta were living before they left Antwerpen (they lived in a small village/town/city), the exact address, which is pretty cool to see. So she had to have lived there for a short time before she left the country.

This is what makes the story so interesting to me. it is like reading a mystery book ; or watching a movie.

But this is real. And it is fun to see if I can uncover the truth, once and for all. To get the mystery solved.

New Clue about Mary - When she Came to America !

New update to Mary Tyvaert:

I know that her 'adoptive' brother,
Denie Tyvaert came to America from Antwerpen (Antwerp) on, according to his passport application, July 1881

Mary was born 10 April 1880

So a clue I have now is, she was just a little over a year old when she came to Detroit, Michigan, USA Or she left and Denie left a year later, once his mother and father and siblings were settled in.

however, there is one for:
Octavia Tyvaert 10 Aug 1864
It is said on the passport application that he came on : 
August 15th 1880 - this date makes more sense. If Mary was born in April of 1880 and the woman gave her to the Tyvaert family and paid their way to come to America than it must have been in 1880.
 

Hopefully there is a passport application for Mary or Coletta in Belgium to help solve this mystery once and for all!

Illegitimate Child of King Leopold II of Belgium ?

Who are Mary's Parents? Here are the clues I  have on her:
Mary 'Tyvaert' was born 10 April 1880 in Germany. Her real surname is NOT 'Tyvaert'.  Her Baptized name is apparently (read full story below) Caroline (could be spelled: Karoline) Marie Von Altenburg..but since Mary's grandmother didn't want to take care of a 'bastard' child, she gave her to a family to be adopted, read the whole story below:

Her mother was a 19 year old Countess who had a liaison with someone in Belgian Royalty. We know that 8 or 9 days after giving birth to 'Mary', she died. And the secret was suppose to stay a secret. After she died, 'Mary's' grandmother gave her to Coleta Vanthuyne (another spelling of the surname: VanThuine . She was married to Bruno Tyvaert)

 Here background story-by one of her 'nieces' from her adoptive family. This is the email that I got from a family member of Mary's adoptive side of the family years ago:
This was emailed to me several years ago by a family member (not related by blood, related by Mary's adoptive family) :

Here is the story:
Sylvia Van Thomme Evans wrote a story shortly before she died because she wanted to share this with future generations. This story was supposed to be kept a secret and most of the Tyvaert (Tivaert) and Van Thomme family doesn't know about it.
But here it goes:
Two uncles of Sylvia's came to America from Belgium to get a new start and find jobs. The uncles were Henricus Tyvaert and Desiderius Tyvaert. They found jobs at the Packard Auto Planet and saved up their money and found a place near St. Charles Church in Detroit, Michigan. Later they sent for their mother, Coletta Vanthuyne - Tyvaert  and sisters, Lucia and Pauline.
The family did not have a lot of money and the brothers, Henry and Desiderius had a hard time obtaining the funds for their mother and sisters. In the meantime their mother, Coleta made an acquaintance with a woman who had a problem... I am not sure if this was in Gent, Bruge or Brussels.. but I know that the woman who had a problem told Coletta (Coleta) that she had a daughter, approx. 19 years in age had given birth out of wedlock. She said she would pay for their passage to America if they would take the baby and adopt her.
The baby became known as Mary Tyvaert b. 10 April 1880

A clue that I received via email a few years ago was her father was indeed King Leopold II of Belgium. Everyone who knows Belgian Royal history is that Leopold II was known to have 'lovers' during his lifetime and he only claimed his male illegitimate children. The male illegitimate children are well-known. As for any other illegitimate children he had, most have been kept a 'secret'; a secret that was suppose to be forgotten.

Another clue was an email sent to me back in 2004, a fellow genealogist said she found information on my great-great-great grandmother, that her name was Caroline Marie Von Altenburg. And her mother was Charlotte Von Altenburg, a Countess. So she was nobility and it said that her father was King Leopold II.
Here is the email:
Charlotte Charlotte Von Altenburg and the child is a parish Register entry dated 10 April 1800 from St. Catherine's Church, Burg Altena, Westphalia, Germany. Because the child was born out of wedlock, the child was baptized and the parents given in the register.
However, the mother died and her death is also recorded and note of her adoption and removal to America is noted by the parish priest.

So if this is true, that means there are documents in Germany or the fellow genealogist knows where they are located.

So the question remains, who were Mary's parents? If it was indeed Charlotte Von Altenburg who sadly died 8 or 9 days after the birth of Caroline (Karoline) Marie Von Altenburg and Charlotte was one of King Leopold II's many 'one time lovers' then knowing the truth puts me at peace.
Fyi, it was rumored that Charlotte was buried in an 'unmarked' grave after she died.