Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: Winter 2004 Volume 41 Number 1, Page 14

PAUL HAGEMANS

Page 14

Paul Hagemans was Consul General for Belgium in the United States from 1889 to 1924. During this time he and his family lived in Devon, Rosemont, Overbrook Farms in Philadelphia, and Haverford.

He was born Paul Mathieu Gustave Marie Hagemans on November 7, 1853 in Liège, Belgium. A brother, Maurice Gustave J. M. Hagemans, was an internationally known painter of pastoral scenes in watercolors.

Paul was educated as a mining engineer at Liège University.

He began his diplomatic career in 1880 in the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1882 he was Belgian Consul in Tiflis, Russia. In 1885 he was Belgian Consul and then Belgian Consul General in Odessa, Russia. On December 29, 1889 he became Belgian Consul General in Philadelphia. His primary responsibility in Philadelphia was to supervise the operations of the Honorary Belgian Consuls elsewhere in the United States. On April 1, 1919 his business address was known to be the Consulate in Philadelphia, Room 304, Westerly Building, 1627 Sansom Street. He retired from the Belgian Diplomatic Corps in 1924.

He was a Commander of the Order of the Crown, a Commander of the Order of Leopold, and a Grand Officer of the Order of Leopold II.

He married Caroline Marguerite Georgette Renoz, known to the family as “Mika,” on May 15, 1880 at Ixelles, Belgium. She died on April 22, 1939 at Haverford, Pa.

They had two children. Jacques René Alexandre Hagemans, better known as “Jack,” was born on September 14, 1883 at the Belgian Consulate in Tiflis, Russia. He was an alumnus of The Haverford School. He enrolled in the engineering school at the University of Pennsylvania and held positions as civil engineer, supervisor of naval construction, and, at Pottsville, Pa., assistant city engineer. He married Elinor Cullinane Worthington on June 22, 1911 at the First Presbyterian Church in West Chester, Pa. He died on September 5, 1943 in West Chester.

Paulette Amelie Nadejda Hagemans was born on April 2, 1888 at the Belgian Consulate in Odessa, Russia. She married James McFadden Carpenter, Jr. on August 25, 1915 at the Overbrook Presbyterian Church. She taught conversational French and died on February 26, 1969 in Bryn Mawr.

After living in Dr. Richardson B. Okie's apartment in Devon for a short while and then at a larger house at an unknown address in Rosemont, the Hagemans returned to Devon and lived in the Paiste house at 236 Berkeley Road from April 1894 to April 1901. The family had 3 different addresses in Overbrook Farms, living mostly at 6357 Woodbine Avenue. The 1910 U. S. Census lists the 4 family members living at this address as well as Bettie Harris, a Black female servant, and Katherine Waldron, an Irish female servant. In April 1919 Paul and Mika relocated to Haverford.

Paul died on June 3, 1926, after a short illness, at the home of his daughter in Haverford. He was 72.

SOURCES

Daily Local News, June 4, 1926, Obituary. Evening Public Ledger, June 4, 1926, Obituary. The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 4, 1926, Obituary.

The Editors wish to thank Françoise Peemans and Michel Erkens, Archivist and Librarian, of the Belgian Federal Public Service, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation in Brussels and Linda Edwards of the Consulate General of Belgium in New York for information about Paul Hagemans. And most of all, thanks go to Eric H. Archer of Walnut Creek, California, who forwarded much useful information about his great-grandfather, Paul Hagemans.