House of Van Belleghem

> *Paternal family of Wilhelmus Adrian Van Belleghem*
>
>

## Dynastia

The coat of arms of Wilhelmus Adrian Van Belleghem and the House of Van Belleghem.

## General Information

### Current Region

Northwestern Europe, Northern America, and South Africa

### Connected Families

* Van Valkenburgh family
* Webster family (by marriage)
* Bismarck family (possibly)
* De Backer family (extinct)
* Bresciano family
* Belshaw family
* Batlokwa family
* Thorbecke family (extinct)
* Barnsley family
* Burton family (by marriage)
* many others

### Ethnicities

Dutch, Belgian, German, Austrian, and Swiss

## Historical Information

### Valued Traits

* Catholicism
* Empathy
* Intelligence
* Affection
* Forgiveness
* Charisma
* Bravery and Valor
* Social democracy
* Intimidation (encouraged by some as a last resort to achieve favors)

The Noble **House of Thaddeus Walraven and Wilhelmus Adrian Van Belleghem** (also known as the **Van Belleghem family** or the **Van Belleghems**, simply) are an aristocratic and political family primarily of Dutch and Belgian descent. The Van Belleghems reside in both the Wolfsberg Empire and the Empire of Chawosauria. The Van Belleghems have a family history as far back as before the 16th century, making them one of the oldest families in both Wolfsberg and Chawosauria, the family is best known for Wilhelmus Adrian Van Belleghem, the progressive leader of the Wolfsberg Empire from 1900 to his death in 1965. The Van Belleghems are Roman Catholics, a reason why the Van Belleghems don't hold any power in the strongly anti-Catholic Chawosaurian world. The Van Belleghems are noted for their reputation of being progressive and noble for their historical openness to LGBT people, the poor, non-whites, and women. Large pools of Van Belleghems can be found beyond their ancestral homeland, they are encountered in Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Switzerland, and South Africa. The Van Belleghems are reportedly but rarely encountered in Australia.

The Van Belleghems were founded at the time of the Holy Roman Empire and the reign of the Habsburg dynasty during or a little before the 16th century. The first documented Van Belleghem was Seuthes Phileas Van Belleghem, who lived before between 1544 to 1600. Perhaps the de-facto founder of the Van Belleghem family was Seuthes' son, Thaddeus Walraven Van Belleghem (1570-1675). The Van Belleghems became a well-documented family in the Netherlands and Belgium, which was Habsburg Netherlands at the time. Over the years, the Van Belleghems expanded and some of their members moved to Colonial America and South Africa, Dutch Americans are one of the oldest white ethnicities in the United States, and South Africa has a strong white Dutch population.

The Van Belleghems became a widely large family, not as large as the Bismarck family who are arguably even larger, but the Van Belleghems became a big extended family by the 19th century. During which, the Van Belleghems staunchly opposed slavery, they favored civil rights for emancipated slaves of African descent in nations that abolished slavery, including in the Van Belleghems' ancestral homeland. The Van Belleghems supported women's rights, advocated for the decriminalization of homosexuality, secular governments, workers' rights, and decolonization. Going into the 20th century, the Van Belleghems helped advanced labor unions, during the Great Depression the Van Belleghems supported a Keynesian approach to economic management, and following World War II, the Van Belleghems supported social democracy. The Van Belleghems clashed with the more conservative Bismarcks, who saw non-white people as inferior and feared the elevation of the working class. The alliance between the Van Belleghems and the Webster family was uneasy at first due to their disagreements on race, but their alliance grew stronger and closer over the years.

Today, the Van Belleghems reside in the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Austria, and Switzerland, with alleged members in Australia.

## Surname

The surname Van Belleghem is a rare Dutch and Belgian surname in terms of famous people. Two famous Van Belleghems who are of no relation to the Van Belleghem family are Canadian politician Joseph Van Belleghem (1901-1967) and Belgian rower Wim Van Belleghem (b. 1963).

## Family History

The House of Van Belleghem has had a history tracing back to the Holy Roman Empire before 1544. The family history of the House of Van Belleghem are divided into three eras, two between the rule of Wilhelmus Adrian Van Belleghem (1900-1965) when he dominated the Wolfsberg Empire from 1900 after a civil war until his death in 1965 to old age complications.

### Pre-Wilhelmus Era (before 1900)

The first well-documented Van Belleghem ancestor was Seuthes Phileas Van Belleghem (1544-1600), born in either Holland or Belgium when it was under the Holy Roman Empire's rule.

After 1600, Thaddeus Walraven Van Belleghem (1570-1675) led the family until he died in 1675, he had three sons, Nikolass, Theodorus, and Cornelius.

After Thaddeus died, the Van Belleghems split into three wings: the Nikolass wing, the Theodorus wing, and the Cornelius wing. Wilhelmus Adrian Van Belleghem was a descendant of Nikolass Van Belleghem, thus making him part of the Nikolass Van Belleghem wing. Among the Theodorus wing, the Theodorus Van Belleghems have joined the first Dutch Americans who came to America during the colonial era of American history. The Cornelius wing are Van Belleghems who became of the Dutch people who moved to South Africa.

In the United States, the Theodorus wing of the Van Belleghems have been mostly concentrated in the Southern United States to benefit from the cotton industry, however, they did not desire to join the chattel slavery sector to achieve their cotton industry, they instead hired white laborers. The American Van Belleghems, like the rest of the Van Belleghem family, opposed slavery and believed African Americans are entitled citizenship and equal rights, those such ideas were universally unpopular in the United States at the time of the pre-civil war days and even after.

During the American Civil War however, the Van Belleghems were southern unionists, they opposed the Confederacy despite the risk of persecution for their beliefs. When the war ended in 1865, along with President Lincoln's life and slavery as an industry, the Van Belleghems directed their family-owned industries to offer newly emancipated Black Americans good paying jobs, but they were targeted by the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist terrorist groups for their openness to black people. When Reconstruction collapsed in 1877, the Van Belleghems were forced to abide by the rules of the Jim Crow south or face economic and legal sanctions.

## Characteristics

The Van Belleghems are united under the values of Catholicism, progressivism, empathy, and affection. There are however divides when it comes to characteristics, especially by gender; females in the Van Belleghem family have a mindset of seriousness and they make decisions based on empirical thinking, while the males are very charismatic and they make decisions based on ambition over empirical thinking, and they are very hyper and energetic when it comes to sex, and seeking to accomplish a goal. Women in the Van Belleghem family have stronger advantages in healthy and safer lives while their male counterparts are vulnerable to arrogance, poorly-executed plans, and refusal to take responsibility. Males in the House of Van Belleghem are not welcoming to criticism nor dissenting opinions, in fact, they're highly resistant and they get combative.

Regardless of these divides, Van Belleghems highly value service, they are hardworking, and they are forgiving of failure that they believe in unconditional room for redemption. Politically, the Van Belleghems are socially progressive minded, and they see conservatism as too insufficient to survive in the modern world, for example, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the Van Belleghems, though they are Roman Catholics and alot of them are extremely uncomfortable with abortion as Roman Catholics, they view abortion bans as pointless because pregnancy does have complications that sometimes may require abortion as a last resort treatment in case of a serious emergency such as a miscarriage, and the Van Belleghems are often disgusted by the prospects of rape victims being legally required to carry their rapist's child to term often against their will, viewing it as a punishment for a victim over a tragedy she did not deserve nor asked for. On the environment, the Van Belleghems are very welcoming to alternative and renewable energy to power themselves, and during the Civil Rights Movement, the Van Belleghems openly criticized segregation and encouraged their children to befriend non-white kids.

Religiously, the Van Belleghems are devout Catholics "to the core" as Wilhelmus Adrian Van Belleghem puts it.

## References and notes

1. ↑ Links lead to references of Joseph G. Van Belleghem: Memorial Manitobans: Joseph Van Belleghem. MB Genealogy: Joseph Gustave VAN BELLEGHEM.