How prevalent is Ploegmakers and Ploeghmaekers in Noord-Brabant, Netherlands?

Question

There is a stalemate in my research regarding my 4th great-grandmother and my 4th great- grandfather. I know through archives on WieWasWie that my 4th great-grandfather's surname was Ploegmakers. However, I am having problems with finding my 4th great-grandmother. There is conflicting information on the web that her surname was both Johanna Maria Ploegmakers and Johanna Maria Ploeghmaekers. I can not fine any information confirming either of these records. Through research her date-of-birth could possibly be 7 Sep 1796. There are also certain record that show that he first name was possibly Joanna. I have a couple questions for the community:

1) Is Ploegmakers so prevalent in the Noord-Brabant, Netherland ls that they both had the same surname at marriage.

2) Is Ploeghmaekers also a prevalent name in Noord-Brabant, Netherlands and that they both had similar surnames at marriage.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I have no idea how prevalent the surname Ploegmakers/Ploeghmaekers is. Spelling during that time period can very wildly anyway.

In Johanna's marriage record ( https://www.wiewaswie.nl/nl/detail/31707092 ) it states that Johanna Maria is 37 years old and born in Heesch, with parents Francis Ploegmakers and Ida van den Akker.

This means that the baptism record from 7 September 1796 ( https://www.wiewaswie.nl/nl/detail/11819814 ) is almost certainly hers.

There is a Joanna Maria Petri Ploeghmaekers who is a witness at the baptism of her sister Petronilla ( https://www.wiewaswie.nl/nl/detail/12172747 ), so maybe that is her grandmother or an aunt.

Comments

Joke, thank you for the quick response and research. This is all the information I was using as well. Do you think it is possible that the two surnames are one in the same? I have found her on several research sites with both surnames (I have linked one below) It's seems strange to me that two people with the same surname would marry each other, unless there is a secret in the family.

https://www.genealogieonline.nl/en/stamboom-geurts/I9283.php

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Yes, it's very possible the surnames are the same. It was not that uncommon for 2nd or 3rd cousins to marry each other, especially in smaller villages.

BTW here's her parent's marriage record (they were related to each other): https://www.wiewaswie.nl/nl/detail/10619315

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It also seemed wierd to me that all of Franciscus's children had a baptismal register with the surname Ploeghmaekers except for Johanna. Thank you for clearing some of this up. It was confusing to me the two surnames possibly being the same.

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Ploeghmaekers seems to be an older spelling of the name. It's probable that since Maria was the last child baptized she was the first to get the newer spelling. If you look at the marriages of the other children, they have the name Ploegmakers there as well.

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In this region it is very common to have a Roman Catholic/Roman spelling and a Dutch version. Her husband is called Petrus and Peter.

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Michel, would Ploeghmaekers be the Roman surname and Ploegmakers be the Dutch surname?

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Yes, gh and ae combinations are more often found in the church records than in Dutch spelling. They are also more common on current Belgian Flanders.

As a guideline for Dutch naming: the post 1811 era uses Dutch spelling from the Civil Registrations (Burgerlijke Stand).

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So, it is definitely possible the family surname was Ploeghmaekers and then was clerically switched to Ploegmakers in the 1800?

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It was changed due to Napoleon enforcing the Civil Registration in 1811... and we kept it.

I would check all spelling variants, and make sure that full names seem to match. As states, this is a large name group, so you need to work precisely.

Answer 2

See

https://www.cbgfamilienamen.nl/nfb/detail_naam.php?info=kaart2007&t=abs&zw=cs&gba_naam=Ploegmakers&nfd_naam=Ploegmakers&operator=cn&taal=#kaartweergave

Comments

And a simple search in wiewaswie generates > 7K hits for Ploegmakers alone.