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.
