To all van der Dussen and related families worldwide: best wishes for 2026.
The year 2025 saw the publication of the new edition of “History of the VDD”, Book 1, in French. This edition was distributed primarily in Belgium, but also in France and England. There are still about ten copies available; feel free to request one. As a reminder, Book 1 places our ancestors in their historical context, drawing on several famous VDDs, from the knights of the late Middle Ages to the end of the Ancien Régime, around 1800.
Etienne, who oversees the family archives in Ottignies, is preparing the publication of Book 2 of the History of the VDD family. This book will contain the updated genealogy itself, as well as the complete and annotated text of the Boucksken (a family chronicle kept by our ancestors in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries). The order of publication of the different books is not the same as that of JK.
At the same time (nothing daunts him), Etienne is transcribing the war diaries kept by his grandmother, Charlotte de Thomaz (1894-1966, wife of Marcel VDD), during the First World War. Her memories are very vivid and moving; she lost two beloved brothers in this cruel conflict. Our intention is to publish a separate edition that might interest her descendants.
During a trip to Belgium, I had the pleasure of meeting Guy and Martine Deleuze, who gave us a wooden sculpture (a cabinet top?) bearing the lovely VDD coat of arms – see photo. Martine is the daughter of Marthe VDD NXVI 10 c 3, wife of Albert Thibaut de Maisières. She showed us an engraving depicting her grandfather, Ferdinand VDD (NXVI): see photo.
A new branch to explore: shortly before the end of the year, my next-door neighbor in The Jambottries of Saint Martin Lars (South Vendée) asked me if, by any chance, Isabelle van der Dussen, wife of Foullon, one of his ancestors, was among our VDD ancestors. Upon checking, yes, Isabelle VDD NXIII1, daughter of Eugène-François VDD, who later married Constance Thérèse Rubens (great-granddaughter of the painter), is indeed my ancestor. Her husband, François-Joseph Foullon, was Louis XVI’s Minister of Finance before being lynched by a mob during the revolution. See this pathetic story in the article « My neighbor is my cousin! »
Also planning for 2026, we still have the « weak link » in our genealogy to validate (or not…): Pieter VDD, NVII, son of Arent NVI and father of Joost NVIII, who died in 1532. Our archives consider this lineage established; it remains to be validated genealogically. May 2026 be kind to us…
See you soon
Patrick VDD
