Verlooy belonged to a family of local notables who owned extensive possessions and of whom some were invested with prominent power. An official document bearing 21 June 1720 as a definite date, bears testimony to the fact that his grandfather, Jan Verlooy (about 1657–1723), was a royal and hereditary notary ("conincklyck ende erfelyck notaris"). Grand father Jan occupied the position of Secretary in Houtvenne. This position might have provided him with a degree of respectability which is proved by the fact that one of his grand children, Jan Frans Verlooy, referred to it when he applied to be a notary in the Chancery of Brabant in 1775. One can read in the assessment preceding his appointment that he descended from respectable parents, that his grand father was Secretary of Oosterwijk and that the family of his mother were one of the most honourable from the Campine ("van treffelijke ouders voortsgecomen, synen grootvader was Secretaris van Oosterwijck ende de familie van sijne moeder is eene van de treffelyckste uyt de Kempen"). Grand father Verlooy was buried in the church of Houtvenne, generally a privilege for the upper class.