Jean Jacques Lannois and James Fernand Andris: Eighth Falleur Cousins Once Removed

On March 29, 2003, I received an email from Jean Jacques Lannois which said (translated) in part:

Visiting your site I see that you have a ANDRE, ANDRIS........The ANDRES are a very large family of glass-makers. Perhaps we would have a connection, because I have a Jean ANDRES (1658) X Marie FALLEUR (1665) (or FALER). I am descended from Pierre FALLEUR [Marie's brother]. See if required on my site: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/tourfl/ Friendships, Jean Jacques Lannois

There follows from this contact a cordial email dialog between us. I put the data from Jean Jacques into my genealogy program, which tells me that we are eighth cousins, once removed. I find out that he lives in a suburb of Valenciennes, France, just across the border from Belgium. He is less than an hour's drive from Binche, Belgium, where many of my Andris relatives still live.

In the course of the conversation, he also asks me if I can verify if Jean Andres, b. 1712, is the son of Joseph Andres (1681) and Ursula Hocquemiller (1684). I tell him that my information comes from André Darquennes, and he should check with André. Later, André confirms the information to him and to me. So here we have another "Internet miracle."

This Jean Andres, b. 1712, that Jean Jacques and I had been discussing, is the great great grandfather of Arthur Andris(se), b. 1845. And this Arthur Andris is my own great grandfather.

Jean Jacques also gives to me an article entitled Great Families of Glass-makers: The "Andres." I have been able to translate all but the last paragraph of this article. I learn from this article that Jean Andres went to work as a glassmaker in the business establishment of Guillaume of MOREAU. He arrived there in the area of Charleroi in 1734 with his brother, Balthasar. Their brother, Melchior, had arrived in 1729, and they were joining him there.

Moving from the Eighteenth Century to the Ninteenth Century, I was reminded that this Arthur Andris, b. 1845, had at least two sons who preserved the tradition of glassmaking. One son was my own grandfather, Arthur Louis Nicolas Andris, b. 1873, about which I have written a lot. You can also read about my father's recollections of the family's glassmaking when he was a child around 1920. The other son of my great grandfather was Louis (Bronzé). My brother, Tom, visited the children of Bronzé in Waterloo, Belgium, the year after Bronzé's death in 1969. You can read about his adventure as well as see pictures of Bronzé and his daughter, Yvonne and his wife Marie. We know that Bronzé made colored glass canes, angels and teakettles.

Finally, regarding the "cousinage" of myself and Jean Jacques, we are related, not through the Andris line, but through the Falleur line. Marie Falleur is the wife of Jean Andres, b. 1658, that is the connection. This Jean Andres is the grandfather of the Jean Andres born in 1712.

It is through the parents of Marie Falleur, that Mr. Lannois and I are related. They are Martin Falleur, b. 1620 and Marguerite Siegler, b. 1625. Jean Jacques is a direct descendant of these parents through their son, Pierre Falleur, b. 1653. You can read about it at his website at http://perso.wanadoo.fr/tourfl/

Incidentally, the Falleur line has been traced by Jean Jacques back to Jean Mathis Faler in 1590. This was the father of Martin Falleur.