The MARISSEN in my family tree originate mainly from the village Zoersel in the province of Antwerp in Belgium, this area is also called "The Kempen".  The earliest ancestor I could trace back to date is Antonius MARISSIS who married Catharina GIJSELS 22 February 1626 in Zoersel.  There are no parish registers for Zoersel for the period around 1600, so I did not get any further.  The Marissen's of my family have all lived till today in the "corner of Zoersel" where the villages St.Antonius, Halle and Zoersel form a corner.  

In the meantime some MARISSEN from the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, New Zealand and one from Germany got in contact with me through this home page.  It turned out that they are all related and originate from the area Borger and Odoorn in the Netherlands.  This trace goes back to about 1730.  But a connection to the Belgian MARISSEN originating from Zoersel ± 1600 still needs to be searched for.  Unfortunately the Belgian Government decided to close all archives during the weekends as from 1 Janary 2000... So this puts an end to all research work for people working during the week !  

Are you a MARISSEN or do you find a surname on the index list that is of interest to you, let me know and I will email you the details.

I also researched the following families :

• KNAEPKENS
• BAUWEN
• MOORKENS
• VAN DE VELDE
• WALTER-BIHARY ( Hungary )
• other...

For more information on genealogy in Belgium go to Genealogy in Belgium or post your question to the Benelux news group.

My genealogical database I create with Generations Grand Suite, a programme originating from Reunion 4.08 from Leister Productions.  Leister sold the PC version to Sierra, from the Cendant Software Group, Sierra sold the programme in its turn to Paris-based Havas SA a subsidiary of Vivendi SA...  Mac users can still find this fine product, Reunion with Leister Productions...  There is also a very good news group for Reunion users !        Generations Grand Suite is distributed by TWR Computing 

Other interesting and useful genealogy links are :

Genealogy Benelux Web Ring, links a lot of Benelux genealogy home pages, which makes it easier to find them.

Geneanet, check whether someone has already researched the surname you are interested in.  Fill in your family name and let the system do the rest. 

The Surname Web.

Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet useful hints and tips for beginners and advanced genealogists.  One of the best genealogy sites on the Web !!

Rootsweb

And this is a great tool too to tune up your web site :