POTTER United Families

Brewers Rodenbach, friends of family de Potter Roulers
In and around Roulers, Louis had family (in the castle of Oyghem
lived his said cousin Joseph) and several friends like the most famous
four-star general Jean van der Mersch (Menen 1734 - Dadizele 1792)
who had known Louis’ father too.
General baron van der Me(e)rsch was a leading figure in the Brabant
Revolution best known for his victory against Austrian forces of
Joseph II at the Battle of Turnhout in 1789. He was the hero of a
regional sovereignty after the Dutch Austrian Low Countries united
into a confederation under the name: “United Belgian States”
(11/01/1790) which even influenced the American constitution.
Alexander Rodenbach was another old friend of Louis’. He was born
September 28, 1786, in Roeselare and died 17 August, 1869, in
Rumbeke. So he was 44 in 1830. He was a member of the Congress
(1830-1831) for Roeselare. He was a Catholic, elected in the district
of Roeselare (1831-1868), a politically active journalist, and a
philanthropist. His family originated from the Grand Duchy of
Hessen. He was the second son of Pierre Rodenbach and a brother
of Ferdinand, Constantijn François, Raymond and Pieter.
Alexander was blind at the age of 11. His father, who was a famous
business and political negotiator in Roeselare, had nevertheless
obtained four surgical interventions by the best specialists of the
century, amongst them Dubois, Napoleon’s renowned surgeon.
Nothing helped and he had a lot of admiration for the “Dumb of
Portici” who launched the Italian revolution. He also raised the
Institute for Blinds and Dumbs in Brussels.
The catholic opposition had doubled its attacks against the
government of king William around the year 1826, specifically against
the laws on education. From the start on, Alexander and Constantijn
Rodenbach cooperated with the Catholics and contributed to the
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