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General History and Origins in France and The Netherlands
Descendants of the CABRI family, as per research by Eric Cabris and others.
The family name was spelled in different ways but the most common spelling for the earliest ancestors was CABRIT, the T being dropped later in Holland. Also several spellings may be found for Isaac/Ysac/Isac/Yssach/Isack. Starting in the region of Saint-Jean-du-Gard, Languedoc, France.
Isaac II CABRIT left France for Holland, most probably soon after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 by Louis XIV as they were Protestants (Huguenots). We don’t know the exact date or how Isaac (II) travelled to Holland but it must have been before he married Jeanne MAZELLE on 29 August 1696 in the French Protestant Church (Waalse Kerk), Amsterdam. Note that Mazel/Mazelle is also a common surname from the Languedoc of that period.
The early Cabri ancestors were weavers and sheep herders in the Languedoc, probably with little to no formal education, and it was only in The Netherlands that they became more educated and prosperous, with Isaac II and III working as merchants, and Johannes (I) was a schoolteacher.
Johannes (II) Casparus CABRI was born on 22 October 1806 in 's-Hertogenbosch, Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands and baptized in the Grote Kerk (Sint-Janskathedraal) in the Nederlands Gereformeerde community. His godmother was Johanna SINGELS and he was christened in April 1827 at the Nederlands Hervormde Kerk in 's-Hertogenbosch, Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands. The orphaned Johannes (II) Casparus became a master carpenter and was later considered a prosperous architect (hence the portraits).
Johannes (III) Jacobus married Jacoba Louisa Rek on 11 October 1873; she was from a Roman Catholic family. It is possible that the Cabri family became Roman Catholic at that time. Soon after the marriage in 's-Hertogenbosch, the couple moved to Antwerp, Belgium, to seek business opportunities. Johannes (III) Jacobus was a diamond broker, member of the Diamond Club and a shareholder of the Antwerp Zoo. My paternal grandfather, Johannes (III) Jacobus’ eldest son (Jan (IV) Felix Jacobus), also was a diamond broker in Antwerp, as was my father and late brother.
Records have been found as follows regarding the male line: 1. CABRIT, Jean b. probably before 1608 in area of Saint-Jean-du-Gard, France (there are records of an Isaac CABRIT from the late 1300s to early 1400s in Perpignan and Barcelona but no direct linkage has so far been found). The combination of Isaac and CABRIT is rare in all of the Languedoc-Roussillon area, whereas there are many notarial records of other members with that surname. 2. CABRIT, Isaac (also Ysac, Isac); b. est. 1628 Saint-Jean-du-Gard, † 18 January 1666, Ste-Croix-de-Caderle, France. Notarial records of his marriage 18 April 1648 to Marie ROSSEL [2E 58/361 p.1471] and his will [2E 31/206 p. 2088]. Note her name is also spelled “ROSSELLE” in [2E 58/361 p.1471], but in Languedoc-Roussillon area ROSSEL is more common and currently. 3. CABRIT, Isaac (II) b. 7th November 1649 (eldest of 5 children) in Saint-Jean-du-Gard, France (pdf of baptismal record scan); † 14th January 1721 in 's-Hertogenbosch, Holland 4. CABRI, Isaac (III) b. 23 June 1697 in 's-Hertogenbosch; † 28 January 1777 in 's-Hertogenbosch 5. CABRI, Isack (IV) Abel b. 3 November 1728 (eldest of 6 children) in 's-Hertogenbosch; † 24 January 1799 in 's-Hertogenbosch 6. CABRI, Johannes b. 26 July 1776 in 's-Hertogenbosch; † 23 August 1813, in 's-Hertogenbosch 7. CABRI, Johannes (II) Casparus b. 22 October 1806 in 's-Hertogenbosch; † 12 February 1891 in ‘s-Gravenhage (The Hague). 8. CABRI, Johannes (III) Jacobus (seventh child) b. 13 February 1849 in 's-Hertogenbosch; † 6 May 1902 in Antwerp, Belgium 9. CABRI, Jan (IV) Felix Jacob (eldest of 13 children) b. 8 May 1874 in Antwerp, † 30 Dec 1960 in Antwerp, Belgium 10. CABRI, Ludovicus Petrus Maria (youngest of 3 children) b. 30 May 1906, in Borgerhout, Antwerp, † 19 Apr 1985 in Cape Town, South Africa 11. CABRI, Louis (II) Jean-Pierre Marie Leopold (eldest of 3 children) b. 23 February 1934 in Cairo, Egypt 12. CABRI, Louis (III) Andrew De Meillon b. 10 April 1960 in Montreal, Canada
Because Johannes Casparus Cabri’s father died when he was 7 years old and his mother when he was ten, he and his two brothers (Isaac Leonardus & Johannes Philipus Jacobus) were raised in the Reformed Orphanage of 's-Hertogenbosch. Johannes Casparus died on 12 February 1891 at the age of 84 in 's-Gravenhage (Den Haag), Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands. Johannes was a “Meester Timmerman” (Architect). He held the title of Sieur and served in the local Militia as Sergeant ("Mobiel Schutter Sergeant"), retiring in 1839. It is likely that he was awarded the Hasselt Cross (Hasselt Kruis) since it was awarded to everyone under arms during the 1830-31 war regardless of rank, but no record was found in the Dutch national archives: http://www.gahetna.nl/collectie/index/nt00302.
Strangely, there is also no record of the men from 's-Hertogenbosch in the book by D. de Wolff (1856): Het Metalen Kruis, Naam- en ranglijst der leden en afdeelingen van de vereening “Het Metallen Kruis”.
Johannes Casparus CABRI and Maria Jacoba BLASKENS were married on 13 July 1837 in Bergen-op-Zoom, Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands. Maria Jacoba BLASKENS, daughter of Adrianus BLASKENS and Johanna BEUN, was born on 21 July 1812 in Bergen-op-Zoom, Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands. She died in labour of a stillborn daughter (her ninth child) on 4 July 1852 at the age of 39 at her house on Verwerstraat 12 in 's-Hertogenbosch, Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands.
Johannes Casparus CABRI was obviously wealthy enough to have individual oil portraits (67.4W x 79.4H cm inside the frame) commissioned of himself and his wife, which is significant since he was essentially raised in an orphanage. From viewing the portraits one might guess that he was 40 and she was 36, so that the portraits were possibly painted around 1848, but not later than 1852, the year she died.
I inherited the portraits from my father (Louis P. Cabri), who in turn inherited them from his father. At the time, I was told that my father’s older brother (Johannes (V )Jacobus Philipus Cabri) did not want them (or maybe it was his wife that did not want them). I do not know if they were passed on from Johannes Casparus to my grandfather [Jan (IV) Felix Jacob Cabri] or first to Johannes Casparus’ seventh child [Johannes (III) Jacobus] instead of his eldest son Adrianus Johannes. One can speculate that because Adrianus sent most of his life in the military in Batavia, and because he died in 1885, six years before his father, that the portraits were inherited by the next male in line that was the seventh child, Johannes (III) Jacobus.
These portraits have, as far as I know, travelled extensively: first from ‘s-Hertogenbosch to Antwerp, then to Cairo (Egypt) before WWII, to Scarsdale (NY, USA) after WWII, then to Johannesburg, South Africa, then back to Antwerp, and finally in 1970 to Ottawa, Canada. I do not know where the paintings were during WWI because, I believe that my father’s family were refugees in the UK during the war, going there after first fleeing to Holland where many of the Belgian Cabri family went. Regardless, they were preserved and were often subjected to several long sea voyages.
A link to the Museum in 's-Hertogenbosch, Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands gives a historical account during the life of Johannes (II) Casparus CABRI and his two brothers [Johannes and Isaac (V)]: http://www.bhic.nl/ontdekken/verhalen/bossche-bijdrage-aan-de-tiend...
A link to the Dutch National Archives also has the geographical distribution of CABRI families in The Netherlands: http://cbgfamilienamen.nl/nfb/detail_naam.php?gba_naam=Cabri&nfd_na...
DNA research Geni gives the familial relationship as per linked profiles. Raw DNA can be uploaded to GEDMATCH for comparison on the GEDMATCH database as well as for making comparisons to one or more other DNA profiles previously uploaded onto GEDMATCH.
For those related to the paternal side of the CABRI family, to date, we have confirmed the following based on total matching cM using the 2017 data compilation by Betty Bettingher, see: https://thegeneticgenealogist.com/
As of 02 Dec 2018, the following have been confirmed.
Louis J. Cabri and Micheline Bosman (Cabri): 2487.6 compared to average 2629 (2209 to 3384) for siblings
Louis J. Cabri and Edouard BOECKX: 115.8 cM compared to average 123 (0 to 316) for 2c1R on Geni
Louis J. Cabri and Louise REK: 23.5 compared to average 48 (0 to 173) for 3C1R on Geni