Family

The family can be traced back to the 15th century.Some of Beethoven's ancestors came from the Flemish province of Brabant,and on the maternal side from the Rhine and Moselle area.The earliest van Beethovens were from an area bounded by Brussels,Louvain and Mechelen.The family tree here presented is not complete at present as certain names and dates are not known to me.I have not included those children who died in infancy.Beethoven had 4 siblings who died in infancy amongst whom were: A brother, Ludwig maria (1769 April 2-8), and a sister who died in 1787.

Michel Van Beethoven (great-grandfather) appears to have been a colourful character.He was a
master baker in Mechelen;he also dealt in lace and property speculation and eventually had to flee to Bonn to avoid his many creditors!

His son Ludwig (Beethoven's grandfather) had been a choirboy at Mechelen cathedral.The Elector Arch-bishop of Cologne transferred him to the court chapel at Bonn in 1733,(the same year he married Maria Poll).

L.V. Beethoven(grandfather)
Their son Johann (father) was the only one of 3 children to survive.He became a tenor in the court chapel at Bonn and married the 21 year old widow Maria Keverich on 12 Nov 17  
                                            Johann Van Beethoven (father)      Maria .v.Beethoven (mother)
Seven children were born of this union,but only 3 survived - one of whom was the composer Ludwig van Beethoven,who never married.
 
Johann Van Beethoven(brother)
The Beethoven line continued through his brother Kaspar Karl,whose only child Karl was
Beethoven's nephew.Karl.v.Beethoven joined the army (1827) , married in 1832 and had 5
children,who were the last descendents of this line of the family,finally dying out in the early 1900's.
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