The Knegtel family
The complete family tree of the Knegtel family goes back to about 1100, but for the story about Theo and his garage we limit ourselves in this chapter to his grandparents, uncles and aunts, parents, brothers and sisters and children.
Grandparents
Uncles and aunt
Father of Theo
Father of Theo
Brothers and sister
The grandparents:
Henricus and Cornelia Knegtel-van Loon
On November 9, 1808 Henricus Gerardus (Hein) Knegtel, Theo's grandfather, was born in Tilburg. Hein became an apprentice baker with Petrus Cornelis van Loon at 44 Heuvel and fell in love with his daughter, Cornelia. They married in 1834 and at the same time Hein took over his father-in-law's bakery. This is how the bakery was renamed HG Knegtel. It is very probable that it went well for him because in 1840 he bought the other half of the building on the Heuvel and a piece of land from his sister-in-law, Johanna van Loon.
On the old photo of the Heuvel on the left, you can see the bakery to the left of the Lindeboom around 1850-1860. The striking bell gable of the building, which can be seen in the drawing on the right, was later added to it.
1910: Back of bakery Hein Knegtel at the Heuvel
Until his death in 1877, Hein bought an enormous amount of land (more than 31 ha worth
fl. 40,000) in and around Tilburg. It was mainly farmland on which he grew different types of grain, such as wheat, rye and so on. He also had pastures on which he kept horses and cows for milk production. Furthermore, also woods and peat fields for heating his house and the ovens of his bakery. In addition to being a baker, Hein was also a farmer in order to keep the costs of his bakery as low as possible. He has also bought many houses, possibly including house number 43 on the Heuvel next to his own home. His shop had a three-sided extended display cabinet containing glass jars, which must have been filled with sweets. A well-known delicacy of his was a special kind of home-baked cinnamon rusk, which sold very well. The building also had a beautiful wrought iron sign and a door decorated with wrought iron. Cornelia dies in 1857 and twenty years later, on March 19, 1877, Hein dies. The inventory shows that he has household effects, houses, plots of land and forest, money and securities worth fl. 69,400. The five heirs each receive fl. 13,880. His two sons Joseph and Alphons both became bakers and were assigned the houses and land.
Uncles and aunt
Hein and Cornelia had 8 children of which 5 reached adulthood:
Josephus Petrus Vincentius (Joseph PV) Knegtel
(14-12-1834 - 03-04-1926)
The eldest son was only 130 cm tall so was exempted from conscription. He and his brother Alphons ran his father's bakery after his death. After the death of his brother Alphons, he went to live with his sister-in-law.
In the municipal elections of 1893/1894 he was elected as a member of the Tilburg city council after a second ballot. He died at the age of 91 and remained unmarried.
Johanna Rosalia (Johanna) Knegtel
(16-05-1841 - 20-10-1914)
Johanna married Johannes Baptist van Enschot from Goirle. He was a manufacturer of linen and traded under the company name Fa. Wm. Van Enschot & Sons in Goirle. He owned half of this company and was Mayor of Goirle. When he died in 1885, her brother Alphons becomes the guardian.
Alphonsus Johannes Maria (Alphons) Knegtel
(07-20-1843 - 23-12-1898)
Alphons had to do military service in 1863. At the age of 31, he married the 20-year-old Adriana Beijsens, daughter of Bakker Beijsens from Roosendaal. After the death of his father, Alphons took over the bakery together with his brother Joseph. They employed seven male servants and two maidservants. Alphons died on 23-12-1898 at the age of 55.
Theodorus Josephus Hubertus (Theo) Knegtel
(13-08-1845 - 15-06-1915)
Theo was ordained as a priest by Bishop Diepen in 1872. He belonged to the congregation of the Holy Martyrs of Gorkum. After being a chaplain in Made, he left for America in 1882 where he was appointed pastor in the Diocese of Green Bay in Preble, Wisconsin. After completing the church here, in 1890 he was appointed pastor of St John Nepomucene Catholic Church in Little Chute, Wisconsin. During the 25 years he worked here, he has done a tremendous amount of work in his fast-growing parish. He died on June 15, 1915 at the age of 69 after a long illness. He is buried at the foot of Calvary in Little Chute Cemetery.
Petrus Hubertus (Piet) Knegtel
(09-25-1847 - 07-04-1921)
Piet was the youngest son and unlike his brothers Alphons and Joseph, he decided not to become a baker but to learn the profession of his uncle Charles Louis Knegtel: tobacco churn. After his apprenticeship, he started manufacturing cigars for sale around 1870. He was exempted from military service by changing places with Johannes van Dijck from Uden for 350 guilders. When he was 43, Piet married Antoinette van Loon, then 31 years old, from Lage Mierde. Piet had a house and warehouse located at Heuvelstraat 84. After the death of uncle Charles, he took over the company name Erven Th. Knegtel.
He passed away at the age of 71.
Parents
For the story about Theo Knegtel, the founder of Garage Knegtel, we continue with the family of Alphons Knegtel and Adriana Beijsens, Theo's parents.
Alphons and Adriana were married on October 14, 1874. Alphons worked in his parents' bakery. He died suddenly in 1898 at the age of 55. Adriana then continued the bakery under the name Bakkerij Wed. Knegtel-Beijsens. Adriana died in 1937 aged 84.
Alphons and Adriana Knegtel-Beijsens
brothers and sister
Alphons and Adriana had 11 children of which only 5 reached adulthood:
Henricus Josephus Alphonsus Maria (Harry) Knegtel
(27-09-1880 – 27-02-1929)
Harry Knegtel was born on September 27, 1880 and went to study to become a priest in St. Michielsgestel. He was ordained a priest in Carthage in 1906 and joined the Society of Missionaries of Africa, better known as De Witte Paters. It is a community of apostolic life within the Roman Catholic Church. On 1 August of that year, he left for Congo by boat. His mission area was the area in Upper Congo. From his uncle Theo Knegtel (see page 2) he received $ 4000 from his inheritance. With this money he built a monastery in Lavigerie for the White sisters sent to him by his Bishop. He was known as a real 'building priest'. Once he had established a church community in one village, he was sent elsewhere. He suffered serious brain damage as a result of an accident with his motorcycle. He was carried by porters through the jungle to Boudewijnstad (now Moba) where he died on February 27, 1929, only 48 years old. He was a knight in the 'Ordre Royal du Lion'. This charter was awarded by King Leopold II of Belgium in his capacity as ruler of the Congo Free State to those who had rendered services to the Congo for Belgium.
Josephus Henricus Maria (Joseph) Knegtel
(27-10-1883 - 20-04-1961)
Jozef Knegtel, born in 1883, studied just like Harry in St. Michielsgestel to become a priest. He received his ordination to the priesthood in 1911 and became chaplain in Vonkel, Geldrop and in the Augustine Parish in Nijmegen. From 1931 to 1952 he was Pastor of the Sacred Heart Parish in Helmond. After that he was Rector of St Jozefzorg pension in Tilburg. He died in 1961 at the age of 77.
Maria Cornelia Antonia Paulina (Miet) Knegtel
(23-10-1885 - 12-04-1967)
Miet Knegtel, born in 1885 in Tilburg, married when she was 19 years old with Jan Mandos, 22 years old, also from Tilburg. She and her husband ran a clothing store on 'de Vijfsprong' in Tilburg, ie on the corner of Tuinstraat/Nieuwlandstraat. They sold baby items, including cribs. These cradles were upholstered in their own workshop and the mattresses were also made and repaired there. Alpine grass was used as material for the mattresses. In those years no clothing was manufactured, but it was repaired. This sometimes also involved fur. The fur was stored in chests in the 'fur room'. During the war she wrote a 'Liberation Report in letter form' entitled 'Anny & Han, Joop & Ad, Diary Mandos'. (More info can be found via the QR code on this page). The Mandos-Knegtel couple (married on August 23, 1905) had ten children, eight of whom reached adulthood. Maria died in 1967, at the age of 81.
Scan the code for more information about the Dutch diary on the website of 'the memory of Tilburg'
Antonius Josephus Maria (Show) Knegtel
(11-11-1887 - 06-06-1958)
Toon was born on 11-11-1887. Like his brothers, he was not interested in taking over the bakery. In 1904 he started a laundry and bleaching company under the name: Fa. Steam Washing and Ironing equipment A. Knegtel. Here they could bring the things to be washed and they were washed in the Groenewoud district on the river Ley. After Toon took over the laundry of the Fa. Swagemakers-Litz in Groenewoud (on the current Berglandweg and the current Alpenlaan), he traded under the company name Stoom-, Wasch- en Strijkinrichting "het Groenewoud". In 1915 his younger brother Theo decided to tear down the parental home (the bakery behind which he had a car company). Mother Adriana moved with Toon to de Heuvel no. 84 (the building of his uncle, cigar maker Piet Knegtel), and helped him with his business.
In 1929 the company celebrated its 25th anniversary. Toon's company was the largest and best-known in Tilburg, with an extensive clientele from Tilburg, Breda, Waalwijk and other surrounding places. A regular weekly collection and delivery service was maintained in these places. It was not until the 1940s that the company was transferred to the Vermeulen family. Toon himself died in 1958. He has always remained single.
Theodorus Anthonius Maria (Theo) KNEGTEL
(15-10-1893 - 04-11-1974)
Theo was born on 15-10-1893 in Tilburg as the youngest son of the family
Knegtel-Beijsens. His father died when Theo was 5 years old. At a very young age
(approx. 8 years), Theo had already received a bicycle from his mother. At that time, we're talking about around 1900, this was certainly a rarity for a child. In the spring of 1911
he bought a Hazlewood motorcycle.
​He recognized from the very beginning that the car was going to become one of the most important items on the consumer market. A company that wanted to focus on this had to meet very high standards if it wanted to survive over the years, was Theo's conviction. And he succeeded.
Marriage and children
Theo and Henriette JAC van den Heuvel put up the banns on 7 January 1916, after which the marriage was concluded on 25 January in Veghel.
Together they had six children:
Allegonda Adriana Henriette Maria Knegtel (Gondje)
(08-05-1917 - 17-12-1976)
As the eldest child (25 years old), Gondje took over the tasks of her mother, who died of pneumonia in 1942, to take care of her 5 brothers and sisters, of which the youngest was 5 years old. It was only after all the children had left home that she married Pieter Antonius Pijpers (Piet) in 1952. She had one child with Piet.
From November 1, 1967 she worked as a staff officer at the Catholic Family Care in Haarlem. Under her leadership, the department for the elderly and the long-term sick grew into a department where approximately 700 people were employed in care. She passed away at the age of 59 after a few months of illness in Overveen.
Alphons Johannes Maria Theodorus Knegtel (Fons)
(13-05-1919 – 30-12-1994)
When he was 9 years old, Fons went to boarding school De Ruwenberg in Sint-Michielsgestel. After completing the HBS at the Canisius College in Nijmegen and the MTS in Den Bosch, he started working for Theo in 1939. In 1945 he left for Washington as a member of the Road Transport Purchasing Committee of the 'National Office for Road Traffic Materials'. There he marries Elisabeth Pauline André Maria Steenberghe. After returning from the USA in 1946 he is appointed as Technical Director of Automobiel Mij. Th Knegtel. In 1951 he obtains the VAM Diploma for the Automotive Industry. A middle class diploma that is required to become a Director when the branch on the Ringbaan Oost is opened. From 1968 he works on the Spoorlaan as Technical Director. In 1979 he had to step down for health reasons.
Adriana Henriette Antonia Maria Knegtel (Adje)
(13-10-1921 – 29-07-2012 )
After Adje had won a prize with a statuette of a kissing Churchil, she left for Spain to devote herself to painting. There she married Franciscus Johannes de Swert in 1948 and went to live in San Cugat del Valles in Spain. They had 5 children together. From there she ran a company that initially sold Spanish antiques and later Spanish fashion in Western Europe. She also had a department in the Knegtel garage on Heuvel for her activities.
Johannes Theodorus Maria Knegtel (Jan)
(19-10-1924 – 10-01-2012)
After returning from the Boarding School in Nijmegen, Jan goes to the Odulphus Lyceum in Tilburg and obtained his HBS diploma there. On the advice of Max Steenberghe Sr, he is going to study medicine in Utrecht. Theo didn't like this at all and eventually he managed to get Jan to join the business. In 1943 the then minor Jan was granted permission to enter into a partnership together with Theo and Fons. In 1947 Jan left for Detroit for a year to learn the trade at the Ford Factory. After his return he worked for the Knegtel garage until the end of the business in December 1980. He rented out the real estate that was housed in Heuvel BV until 2000.
Jan married Constance Julia Marie Janssens in 1951 with whom he had five children. After Conny's death he remarried Leontien Berthe Charlotte Marie Steenberghe. She has one daughter from a previous marriage.
Henriette Isabella Adriana Maria Knegtel (Jetty)
(12-10-1930 – 24-01-2012)
Jetty lost her mother at a young age and was raised by nannies and the nuns of a Brussels girl boarding school. She married close to home with the brotherh of Els, the wife of her brother Fons. A later marriage between brother Jan and their sister Tineke resulted in three Knegtel-Steenberghe combinations. From this marriage with Amadee Maximilien Frederique Marie Steenberghe (14-05-1930) came two children, but it ended in divorce.
Following her sister Adje, Jetty also went into fashion and represented a few luxury German brands. On a business trip in 1988 she had a serious accident that paralyzed her for the rest of her life and ended her business.
Henricus Theodorus Alphonsus (Harry)
(14-04-1937 - )
After completing secondary education, Harry went into military service in Oirschot. He then followed training at the IVA (Institute for the Car Trade) in Driebergen. In the mid-1960s he left for the USA with Dorothée Biekens. He worked there for two years as a salesman for Ford Dealers Terry Ford and Powell Motor Company. In 1967, there were protracted strikes at Ford and he decided to say goodbye to the car industry.
He attended Florida Atlantic University and received an Associate of Arts, Bachelor of Science degree, Summa cum laude, and eventually his Master of Business Administration.
During his studies he worked as a Handyman (carpentry and painting). He became an American citizen on January 5, 1972. He went on to work for IBM in 1974 until he took early retirement in 1982. He had since divorced and remarried in 1983 to Ruth Thomas. His marriages were childless.