Family/Spouse: Husband Overmyre. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

# 1). Source: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2874.htm
HISTORY Belgium: derives its name from the Belgae, a Celtic tribe. TheBelgae were forced to yield to Roman legions during the first centuryB.C. For some 300 years thereafter, what is now Belgium flourished asa province of Rome. But Rome's power gradually lessened. In about A.D.300, Attila the Hun invaded what is now Germany and pushed Germanictribes into northern Belgium. About 100 years later, the Germanictribe of the Franks invaded and took possession of Belgium. Thenorthern part of present-day Belgium became an overwhelminglyGermanized and Germanic-Frankish-speaking area, whereas in thesouthern part people continued to be Roman and spoke derivatives ofLatin. After coming under the rule of the Dukes of Burgundy and,through marriage, passing into the possession of the Hapsburgs,Belgium was occupied by the Spanish (1519-1713) and the Austrians(1713-1794).
Under these various rulers, and especially during the 500 years fromthe 12th to the 17th century, the great cities of Ghent, Bruges,Brussels, and Antwerp took turns at being major European centers forcommerce, industry (especially textiles), and art. Flemishpainting--from Van Eyck and Breugel to Rubens and Van Dyck--became themost prized in Europe. Flemish tapestries hung on castle wallsthroughout Europe.
Following the French Revolution, Belgium was invaded and annexed byNapoleonic France in 1795. Following the defeat of Napoleon's army atthe Battle of Waterloo, fought just a few miles south of Brussels,Belgium was separated from France and made part of the Netherlands bythe Congress of Vienna in 1815.
In 1830, Belgium won its independence from the Dutch as a result of anuprising of the Belgian people. A constitutional monarchy wasestablished in 1831, with a monarch invited in from the House ofSaxe-Coburg Gotha in Germany.
Belgium was invaded by Germany in 1914 and again in 1940. Thoseinvasions, plus disillusionment over postwar Soviet behavior, madeBelgium one of the foremost advocates of collective security withinthe framework of European integration and the Atlantic partnership.
Since 1944, when British, Canadian, and American armies liberatedBelgium, the country has lived in security and at a level of increasedwell-being.
Language, economic, and political differences between Dutch-speakingFlanders and Francophone Wallonia have led to increased divisions inBelgian society. The Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and the19th century accentuated the linguistic North-South division.Francophone Wallonia became an early industrial boom area, affluentand politically dominant. Dutch-speaking Flanders remainedagricultural and was economically and politically outdistanced byBrussels and Wallonia. The last 50 years have marked the rapideconomic development of Flanders, resulting in a corresponding shiftof political and economic power to the Flemish, who now constitute anabsolute majority (58%) of the population.
Demonstrations in the early 1960s led to the establishment of a formallinguistic border in 1962, and elaborate rules made to protectminorities in linguistically mixed border areas. In 1970, Flemish andFrancophone cultural councils were established with authority inmatters of language and culture for the two-language groups. Each ofthe three economic regions--Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels--wasgranted a significant measure of political autonomy.
Since 1984, the German language community of Belgium (in the easternpart of Li?ge Province) has had its own legislative assembly andexecutive, which have authority in cultural, language, andsubsequently educational affairs.
In 1988-89, the Constitution was again amended to give additionalresponsibilities to the regions and communities. The most sweepingchange was the devolution of educational responsibilities to thecommunity level. As a result, the regions and communities wereprovided additional revenue, and Brussels was given its ownlegislative assembly and executive.
Another important constitutional reform occurred in the summer of1993, changing Belgium from a unitary to a federal state. It alsoreformed the bicameral parliamentary system and provided for thedirect election of the members of community and regional legislativecouncils. The bilingual Brabant province, which contained the Brusselsregion, was split into separate Flemish and Walloon Brabant provinces.The revised Constitution came into force in 1994.
A parliamentary democracy, Belgium has been governed by successivecoalitions of two or more political parties. The centrist ChristianDemocratic Party often provided the Prime Minister. The June 13, 1999general election saw a significant drop in overall ChristianDemocratic support. Driven in part by resentment over a mishandleddioxin food-contamination crisis just before the June 1999 election,Belgian voters rejected Jean Luc Dehaene's longstanding coalitiongovernment of Christian Democrats and Socialists and voted into powera coalition led by Flemish Liberal Leader Guy Verhofstadt. The firstVerhofstadt government (1999-2003) was a six-party coalition betweenthe Flemish and Francophone Liberals, Socialists, and Greens. It wasthe first Liberal-led coalition in generations and the first six-partycoalition in 20 years. It also was the first time the Greens hadparticipated in Belgium's federal government. In the most recentgeneral election in May 2003, the Greens suffered significant loses,while the Socialists posted strong gains and the Liberals also hadmodest growth in electoral support. Liberal Prime Minister GuyVerhofstadt reconstituted the coalition as a four-party government inJuly 2003, with only the Liberals and Socialists in power. DateObtained: 22 September 2006--SLJuhl, compiler

# 2): Sources:
Internet Source/s: (Copy & Paste into your browser.)
http://www.genlias.nl/en/search.jsp
http://www.zeeuwengezocht.nl/
http://geneaknowhow.net/digi/bronnen.html
Details/Death duty
Date: Friday, March 17, 1905, Sint Marguerite, Belgie
Number: 4/5611
Name: Pretus Bernardus Dumoulin
Inventory #: 914
Filmbox #: 160
Memories van successie kantoor Oostburg 1901 - 1927

# 3). Source: Dumoulin
French: from du moulin ?from the mill?, applied as a topographic namefor someone who lived at a mill, or, by extension, as an occupationalname for a miller. In North America this name is particularlyassociated with Fonteneau ( Fontenot). See also Demoulin.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN0-19-508137-4

*Petrus married Sophia about 1865 in Sint Margriete, Belgie, Flanders; Dutch. was born about 1845 in Belgie (Belgium), Flanders - Dutch; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]