Michael Gorey

I’ve been browsing tonight for information about my grandmother’s family. She was a Zelen from Helden, Limburg, in the Netherlands.

I haven’t been able to find much so far, I’m afraid. Please contact me if you can help.

I did learn however, that this is the flag of the municipality of Helden. The municipality includes Panningen, where my mother’s Wassenberg family came from.

The larger stripes stand for the six main villages and the smaller stripes for the six communes.

Because of the alternating colours in the flag a vertical line is created. This line represents the language (or dialect) border that crosses the municipality. North of the line Weert-Venlo a Brabants-Gelders dialect is spoken, and south of this line the real Limburgs dialect is spoken (my family’s language).

The patron saint is Lambert (left). His feast day is September 17.

Lambert received instruction from St Theodardus (668 or 669), whom he succeeded in 670 as Bishop of Maastricht.

I’ve been to Panningen and Maastricht. It’s a beautiful part of the Netherlands and boasts some of the few hills in that country.

These articles might be of interest:

• Looking for Dutch ancestors
• The Groote Beer
• St Barbara’s Festival