Elisa De Keyser Dury, Daughter of Walter De Keyser

RIGHT:  Elisa (or Alice) De Keyser was the third child of Walter and Josephine De Keyser.  She married August Dury on June 10, 1879.  The De Keysers were Catholic when they immigrated to America, but in the 1880s there was a lot of religious rivalry in the Belgian community.  Many of the people joined the Spiritualist Circle at that time.  Alice was one of the many converts to spiritualism, as were other members of the family.  She was also a midwife.  It was Alice who delivered Bernice Dury, her son Edmond’s daughter.  Bernice only weighed one-and-a-quarter pounds at birth and no one expected her to live.  Alice put her in a warming oven and somehow managed to save her.  She must have been a very good midwife.

BOTTOM:  Left to right are Herbie and Elmer DeNamur, sons of Alice’s sister, Mathilde, with Alice’s husband, August Dury.  These Dury photos are from Bernice Dury Barrett.  Thank you, Bernice!