This project aims at finding common ancestral connections between Verelstfamilies (and alternative spellings of this surname). The name “Verelst” hasbeen derived from “van der Elst”, which meant “from the alder forest” in medievalDutch.

There is no doubt that this surname has originated multiple timesindependently, as it refers to a widespread toponym. In the Middle Ages, manyvillages in Brabant and Flanders had their own location named “Elst”,which was typically a swampy place where alder coppices dominated the landscape.Some of these toponyms have survived until the present day, but most have beenlong forgotten. In many cases "van der Elst" families must have takentheir hereditary surname from an estate named "Ter Elst", of whichthey were either owners or tenants. A considerable number of medieval estatescarried this name all across Brabant and Flanders (e.g. in Antwerp, Duffel,Melsele, Bazel, Elversele, etc). The Latin word for "Elst" is"Alnetum", and the Latin translation of the surname istherefore "de Alneto" (which was often used in documentsduring the 12th - 14th centuries). In French this has e.g. evolved into thesurname "d'Aulnay".

Another source of the surname Verelst, however, seemsto be the medieval name "van der Espt" (from a place where aspentrees grow). In the village of Schelle, near the confluence of the Schelde andRupel rivers, we encounter a "van der Espt" family since ca. 1400.Within only a few generations' time, the family became known as "van derEst", "van der Elst", and ultimately Verelst. The reason forthis change was very simple: when spoken, one can hardly hear a difference between"Espt" and "Est", and the clerks of Antwerp were unfamiliarwith these names, so they usually wrote down "van der Elst", whichwas a prominent name in their own city. In some instances this was still corrected into "van der Est" after reading out the text to the involved parties, but by the second half of the 15th century this no longer occurred.

An important goal of this project is to confirm genealogical paper trailsfor Verelst families, and to reveal old family connections for which no writtenevidence can be found. However, due to the expected independent origin ofdifferent Verelst families, it is very unlikely that a common ancestry will befound between all tested Verelst men in this project. It will rather lead tothe identification of various independent, genetically distinct familiescarrying the same surname. This may ultimately make it possible for Verelst mento connect to one of the reference families (each one having a solidgenealogical paper trail) on the basis of genetic matches, even if they are completely unfamiliar with their own genealogy. Of course it is more interesting for all participants if genealogical information is available for each family.