Jan-Pieter Cassiers (Antwerp, May 25, 1788 - Klerken, March 12, 1870) was a Belgian Catholic politician and trader, important for the development of the Houthulst parish in the second half of the 19th century. Lifecycle
Cassiers was a son of Pierre Joseph Cassiers and of Petronilla Tuymans. He, when he was fifty five, married the thirty years younger citizen Caroline de Patin (Langemark, 1823 - Klerken, 1882), owner of hundreds of hectares of forests and farms in the center of West Flanders. The family remained childless. He was the uncle of Eugene de Decker.
Initially, he was the Inspector of Registration and Domains. In 1835 he was elected Catholic unionist senator, for the Saint-Niklaas district. He fulfilled this mandate until 1863.
This did not prevent him from living in West Flanders for a large part of the year. In 1838 he bought a part of the Houthulst Forest, which was for sale by the State. After being married in 1843, he built a castle. He became the owner of hundreds of hectares of forest and farmland in West Flanders. In the park, the couple built the first Lourdes cave in Belgium in 1860. In 1854 he bought another remaining piece of forest land, making him the most important landowner of the municipality.
He was Mayor of Klerken, from 1848 to 1860, and assisted in the development and separation of an independent parish of Houthulst. In 1848 he appointed himself as Mayor of Klerken. One of his concerns was to improve road infrastructure in the area of the later Houthulst, especially in view of the accessibility of the mills, the carpentry and brewery of the hamlet of Hoogkwartier and the bose operation.
In 1853 rumors were already circulating for the creation of a new parish on the grounds of Cassiers. After the first road, Cassiers can further develop the infrastructure later. Bishop Malou asked Cassiers to impose two more ways, to make it easier for Malou to defend the parliamentary direction with the minister. Eventually Cassiers also paid for the costs. The two streets that were built are the Kerkstraat and the Jonkershovestraat. In 1857 this led to the Houthulst parish after the clergy parish had left the poorest part of its territory.
The castle, which was taken over by their stewardess Raymond De Groote after the death of the couple, became the main residence of several generations De Groote, including Eugène De Groote, the national representative and Senator Hubert De Groote. During the First World War, the castle suffered greatly and was largely rebuilt.
Cassiers was also active in a few companies:
He was the director of the National Society for the Proliferation of the Good Book.
In Houthulst is a Living and Care Center Cassiers. Literature
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