The Parents of Maria (Muijters) Gelis
by Wesley Johnston (last updated 11 Mar 2012 - added Richard Hubert alternate conclusion)
The following records are all from the St. Martinus Roman Catholic Church in Weert, now in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands, except as noted. There Maria Muijters married Antonius Gelis 24 Jan 1700, with witnesses Maria Gelis and Joannes Gelis. The couple's first child, Wilhelmus Gelis, was baptized 6 Nov 1700, with sponsors Joannes Gelis, Joanna Verlinden and Elizabeth Muijters. This document examines the evidence for candidate parents of Maria Muijters.
Baptisms
These candidates for the baptism of Maria Muijters are found in the GenDaLim 7 database (Genealogical Data Limburg of the Stichtung LGGI = Limburgs Genealogisch en Geschiedkundig Informationcentrum), search with MU*TER* as the surname, where * represents an indefinite number of any characters.
1667-03-07 - Maria - to Matthias Muijters & Joanna (no surname), sponsors Livinius Verlinden & Joanna Munsters
1669-05-05 - Maria - at Nederweert, to Matthias Muijters & Dijmphna (no surname), sponsors Matthias Vliegen & Catharina Meijers
1675-09-26 - Maria - at Nederweert, to Matthias Muijters & Christina Wagemans, sponsors Guilielma Wagemans & Jacobus Muijters
1677-10-31 - Maria - to Martinus Mueters & Joanna Bruens, sponsors Joannes Mueters & Maria Knoeps
1689-06-12 - Maria Joanna - to Martinus Muijters & Joanna de Bruijn, sponsors Matthias Muijters & Clara de Bruijn
The 1677 and 1689 baptisms appear to be to children of the same parents, which likely means that the first child had died, and the second was given the name again.
So it appears that one the correct baptism must have been one of the other three: 1667, 1669 and 1675, of which the last two were at Nederweert. All three of these children have a father named Matthias, which was the name given to the apparent third son (and fourth child) of Antonius and Maria.
The fact that one of the sponsors of the 1667 baptism was a Verlinden and that one of the sponsors of the first child of Antonius and Maria (Wilhelmus 1700) was a Verlinden may indicate that the 1667 child (the only remaining candidate baptized in Weert) is the correct Maria.
Here are the details of the baptisms of the children on Antonius Gelis and Maria Muijtens:
1700-11-06 - Wilhelmus - sponsors Joannes Gelis, Joanna Verlinden and Elizabeth Muijters
1703-02-15 - Joannes - sponsors Catharina Houben & Antonius Gielis
1705-07-19 - Joanna - sponsors Catharina Muijters & Henricus Cluijskens
1708-02-24 - Matthias - sponsors Maria Muijters & Aegidius Gelis
1710-08-08 - Joanna - sponsors Martinus Muijters, Margaretha de Bruijn & Catharina Houben
1712-05-13 - Catharina - sponsors Petrus Truijen & Joanna Reijnders
1714-04-10 - Petrus - sponsors Elisabeth Smullenaers & Martinus Muijters
From this list, it seems very likely that the Martinus Muijters and Joanna de Bruijn who were the parents of the two eliminated candidates (1677 and 1689) were closely related to the Matthias Muijters who was the father of Maria Muijters.
Marriages
GenDaLim has the following likely marriages of the parents of the three candidate Marias.
1660-06-12 - in Nederweert - Matthias Blommers & Dimphna Meijers - sponsors Matthias Muijters & Joannes Meijers
Clearly this is not the right marriage, but I cannot find the right marriage, and this one is striking in the similarity of names with the 1669 Maria baptism.
1661-10-04 - Mathias Muijters & Joanna vander linden - sponsors Joannes Linsen & Lucia Duijnen
1669-02-12 - in Nederweert - Matthias Muijters & Christina Wagemans - sponsors Guilielmus Wagemans & Joannes Jacquet
I was able to find only the one child, the 1675 Maria in Nederweert for Matthias & Christina.
So by the Verlinden connection and also by the lack of any other viable candidate, the 1661 marriage and thus the 1667 Maria baptism appear to be the correct ones.
Siblings
The following children were found for Mathias Muijters & Joanna vander linden / Verlinden.
1662-07-20 - Wilhelmus Muijters - to Mathias Muijters & Joanna (no surname) - sponsors Joannes Muijters & Maria Bouwels
1665-12-20 - Joannes Muijters - to Matthias Muijters & Joanna (no surname) - sponsors Dionisius Van Den Kraen & Joanna Knepkens
1667-03-07 - Maria Muijters - to Matthias Muijters & Joanna (no surname) - sponsors Livinus Verlinden & Joanna Munsters
1669-08-22 - Joanna Muijters - to Matthias Muijters & Joanna (no surname) - sponsors Lunnus van der Linden & Henrica Cops
1675-03-28 - Wilhelmus Muijters - to Matthias Muijters & Joanna (no surname) - sponsors Martinus Muijters & Joanna Knepkens
1678-08-30 - Elisabeth Muijters - to Matthias Muijters & Joanna van der Linden - sponsors Martinus Muijters & Maria Daelens
Presumably, the Elizabeth Muijters who sponsored the baptism of Wilhelmus Gelis (to Antonius Gelis and Maria Muijters) was this 1678 sister of the 1667 Maria. And the Joanna Verlinden who was also a sponsor at the same baptism was probably a relative of Maria (Muijters) Gelis through her mother Joanna (vander Linden) Muijters.
Richard Hubert's Alternate Conclusion
Richard Hubert has reached a different conclusion, also based solely on GenDaLim. His web page on the family is at
http://gw5.geneanet.org/rhubert?lang=en&p=maria&n=muijters&oc=1
He believes that Maria was the one born 1675 at Nederweert:
1675-09-26 - Maria - at Nederweert, to Matthias Muijters & Christina Wagemans, sponsors Guilielma Wagemans & Jacobus Muijters
Richard cites these reasons for his conclusion: "1667 would mean Maria would be 47 to have her last child....could be done in our time but not in 1714... Look at the witness Martinus Muijters which I think is her brother baptised 11-11-1670 in Nederweert....."
The baptismal witnessing that Richard is referring to is Maria's son:
1714-10-10 - Petrus - sponsors Elisabeth Smullenaers & Martinus Muijters