The riddle Thomas De Klerck

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The riddle Thomas De Klerck

We are situated in the early eighteenth century in Dunkerque, France, Departement du Nord.

In April 1704 Thomas De Klerck and Marie Hondemarcq married in Dunkerque (deed 64).

The couple is labeled by the pastor as 'boy and girl, my parishioners', so you can assume that they are minors (under 21) from Dunkerque, but otherwise the deed does not reveal any other reference to age or origin.

Based on the names of the witnesses and some detective work, we can trace the origin of Marie, Arnéke, so not in Dunkerque after all. Marie was born there on September 5 in1683 as the daughter of Joannes Hondemarck and Christine De Wilde.

Thomas is unable to find his baptismal registration, not in Dunkerque, not in Arnéke, nowhere in the wider area or environs. The witnesses don't betray anything.

Marie and Thomas have three children together. In 1705 their first daughter was born, Petronille Françoise (deed 337), in 1707 their son Matthieu François (deed 302), and in 1709 daughter Marie Godelieve (deed 689).

Apart from the slightly nuanced spelling of the surname, and the usual parochial formulations, the baptism records contain nothing special. Half of the respective witnesses confirm the link with Arnéke, but no name leads to a possible family connection with Thomas.

Somewhere in 1715 (deed 206) we suddenly find a marriage registration of a certain Marie Hondemarcq with Nicolas Gasse. And this Marie is listed as widow Thomas Klerck. It must be our Marie, widowed, three young children, remarried.

The name Thomas Klerck or De Klerck is so specific and rare that it must be our Thomas. And later, the names of witnesses in the marriage records of their children will also confirm the connection with the Gasse family.

So looking for an obituary of our Thomas between 1709 and 1715, maybe we can find his age, year of birth and origin.

But nowhere, in any registration does Thomas De Klerck appear, until ….
Until 1728, there we find an obituary of one Thomas De Klerck (deed 281), exactly the same spelling, who died in his home in Dunkerque.

However, there is no reference or connection to our Marie and her children.
Are there then two Thomas De Klerck?
Our Thomas would have died before 1715, by the way, …. Or not?

The riddle is forming. Are there circumstances, possibilities, of being a widow without being it? Were there one or two Thomas De Klerck? How come we can't find any family connection or lineage of even one Thomas?
Who was/were Thomas De Klerck?