For those of you who are exploring your ancestral origins in Belgium a book I would advise you to read is A Family from Flanders by John Peters.1 You might be saying to yourself: Flanders! I thought this was a book about Belgium. Modern-day Belgium did not exist until 21 July 1831, Belgium National Day—the day Leopold I, a German prince, was installed as King of Belgium after having refused the crown of Greece. Before this day Belgium was what was known as the Low Countries—an area made of modern-day Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands and a portion of Northern France and Western Germany. Flanders is generally considered the area framed by the North Sea, the River Scheldt(or Schelde or Escaut, depending upon your orientation) and the area known as Artois in northern France.
lost: (past and past part. lose) become unable to to find1
found: (past and past part. find) discover by change or effort2
Herman Elsholtz (1863-?) and his wife, Delilah Elizabeth (Merville) (1867-?) and Richard Earnest Merville (1877-?) cannot be found. By their birthdates their physical beings are surely lost to us forever. Alonzo Brink Merville (1875-1953), Delilah and Richard's brother was also lost but found a long way from his Pennsylvania birthplace in New Mexico - his final resting place under a city-provided, plain cement, broken headstone inscribed only with his name and date of death which is probably incorrect.3 In the beginning my interest focused solely upon how many lost souls I could find to populate a family tree. Not any more. Genealogy is more than names and vital statistics.