BIOGRAPHY

Reyskens was born in Gelieren, a small hamlet in Genk, Limburg, Belgium, on 11 May 1878 as the son of farmer Michael Reyskens, born 1811, and Marie-Agnes Hamal, born 1848. His father died in 1886, and his mother remarried to Pieter Jan Jansen. He had three full siblings and two half-siblings. His mother died in childbirth in 1892, along with his youngest sister.

Orphaned at 11 years old, Reyskens did not enjoy living with his stepfather. He was declared exempt from military service at 19, and was ready to leave his family in search for employment. His dream was to cross the border and live in the neighbouring Netherlands.

Before Reyskens was able to emigrate for good in 1897, he worked as a miner and then a housekeeper in Brussels, later finding a job in Eindhoven after crossing the border. In 1917, he moved to Dordrecht, South Holland, and lived there for the remainder of his life. He was married and had a son and a daughter. Both children would later emigrate to Australia, and Reyskens would never see them again. He never knew if he had any grandchildren.

Reyskens was widowed in 1964. The following year, he briefly went back to Belgium to see his half-brother Jules, who died two years later. Following his funeral, Reyskens’ family did not hear from him until a newspaper reported him as the oldest living person in the Netherlands nearly 20 years later.

Reyskens had moved into a nursing home in 1977. On his 110th birthday, he reported that he had not smoked since he was 28, citing a “stabbing pain” in his chest as his reason. The monarchs of Belgium and the Netherlands sent their congratulations.

Reyskens died on 7 January 1990 at the age of 111 years, 241 days. He had retained his Belgian citizenship throughout his entire life.

RECOGNITION

After the death of Clement de Vos, 108, on 24 January 1983, Reyskens, then aged 104, became the oldest living man born in Belgium. Following the 9 June 1985 death of Marie Lambert, 107, Reyskens became the oldest living Belgium native. He later became the first Belgian-born supercentenarian in May 1988.

On 12 January 1987, following the death of 109-year-old Albert Geerlings, Reyskens became the Netherlands’ oldest living man. Later that year, on 8 December, he became the oldest living person in the country upon the death of Christina van Druten-Hoogakker, 111.

Reyskens became the oldest man ever to live in the Netherlands after surpassing the 80-year standing record of Geert Boomgaard (1788 – 1899) in 1988. The following year, he surpassed the age of the aforementioned Christina van Druten-Hoogakker to become the Netherlands’ oldest resident ever.

As of 2024, Reyskens still holds the records of oldest man from both Belgium and the Netherlands.

ATTRIBUTION

• Jan-Machiel Reyskens (1878 België-1990), de 111-jarige uit Dordrecht

GALLERY