Mary Vande Casteele
Born: September 6, 1861
Died: April 14, 1925
Family Tree
Marriage: Mathias Martens on April 8, 1881
PIONEER OF COLEMAN DIES
MRS. M. MARTENS, CHURCH ORGANIST FOR 50 YEARS PASSES AWAY TUESDAY.
Coleman, Wis.- Mrs. Mary Martens, wife of Mathias Martens of Coleman, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Ben Simono, Two Rivers, Wis., Tuesday morning. She had been ill for over two months with a heart ailment and was under treatment at Two Rivers.
Mrs. Martens was sixty-three years old last September. She was born in Belgium and came to this country at the age of five, with her parents, who settled at DePere. She was married forty-four years ago this month to Mathias Martens at De Pere, coming to Coleman about twenty-eight years ago. Mrs. Martens was an organist and had presided at the organ in churches of De Pere and Coleman for about fifty years. She was a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters and the Royal Neighbors. She is survived by her husband, leading business man of Coleman, six sons and four daughters. The latter are Louis, Charles, Harry, Clement of Coleman, George of Stevens Point, Ray of Pound, Elizabeth and Esther and Mrs. Edward Daley of Coleman and Mrs. Ben Simono of Two Rivers. Among the survivors are included twenty-one grand children. Two sisters, Mrs. John Roffers and Mrs. Henry Albers of De Pere, also survive her.
The first and only death among the children in this family of eleven children did not occur until after the couple were married forty-one years. The deceased is Edward Martens, who died at St. Vincent's hospital, Green Bay, after an operation, at the age of thirty-seven years.
The funeral will occur Friday morning at ten o'clock from the St. John's Baptist church, Coleman.
Vande Casteele History
You may be interested in these tidbits. In the early 1960's I wrote a paper about the Catholic Dutch settlements in the Fox River valley. I did a lot of research at that time and even got a book from the University of Michigan on the Dutch in America written by a man whose last name was Lucas. This book described the Catholic Dutch as fun-loving people who enjoyed the good things of life while the Protestant Dutch were more austere and rigid. Since the Catholic Dutch were members of a universal Church, they were assimilated into American life more rapidly than the Protestant Dutch who were more isolated by their religion. But what I found most fascinating was the allusion to Louis Vande Casteele, my great grandfather and your great great grandfather. The Vande Casteeles were from Bruges in the Flanders part of Belgium, so they spoke Dutch. Louis Vande Casteele is described in this book as a man who wore a frock coat and a top hat to work every day; he was the editor of the Dutch language newspaper published in DePere at that time. I understand that the Vande Casteele's felt Mary had married beneath her when she fell in love with and accepted Mathias Martens as her husband. Yet the story is that after their marriage, whenever she was noticeably pregnant, she walked behind Grandpa when they went to Mass. She played the organ at Mass from the time she was an adolescent until her death. After her death, Uncle Louie played the organ at Mass. As regards the article I wrote on the Dutch, I am afraid I may have destroyed it. However, if I do find it, I shall send you a copy.
Fr. Francis Louis Vande Casteele was born in Bruges Belgium October 4, 1870 was ordained a priest September 14, 1898 in Green Bay. Became the pastor of Institue May 1, 1899 and the pastor of Wrightstown April 9, 1908 where he built the parish church. He died May 8, 1924.
Raymond Vande Casteele was born at De Pere August 31, 1886. He died August 6, 1932.
Lucy Vande Casteele was born in Moerkerke Belgium on Spetember 24, 1859 and died in De Pere. Mary Vande Casteele was born in Moerkerke Belgium on Spetember 6, 1861 and died in Two Rivers WI on April 14, 1925
Rev. Henry Vande Casteele was born in De Pere WI on September 8, 1895, became paster of St. Augustine's Church in Chilton WI on June 15, 1939. He was ordained in 1921. He died February 18, 1942.
Bede Vande Casteele O. Praem, was ordained August 31, 1938 at St. Joseph's church in West De Pere. Sr. Mary Christine knew him.
