Louis Rodolphe Germain (1827–1912)
Apparently, he was first incorrectly registered as "Louis Adolphe", then had to ask for a correction, and to produce a birth certificate to prove his names were Louis Rodolphe. See images 14-15, which show a letter from the Minister of War to the Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honour -
Thanks Laurent! Now it makes sence.
And, all in all; wow! That´s what I would call a surprising development ...
?!?
If 'Xbre' is to be read as
Decembre [as in X (
decem/10) + -bre], how would they (or that single clerk) have written October ... as VIIIbre? As in VIII (
octo/8) + -bre, ending up in/to be read as:
Octobre/October? Would that mean that any possible 'IXbre' is equal of November (IX/
novem/9) and that September (in this somewhat Cryptic system) would have been written VIIbre (VII/
septem/7)? How (on Earth) would they have written (the/our eighth Month) August?
Either way, it sure got me fooled. In my mind, 'Xbre' is not the most obvious way to write
Decembre (nor
Octobre, for that matter).
Though; to me it does look like Laurent is fully correct (as usual), sorry Martin, as we (in the
Leonore database) also find a guy by the name "Stephane Marie Alphonse Germain de Saligny" [
not to be involved in any bird name etymology, in this context only mentioned as an example]; born "1846/12/05" (
here), in the original document (the first one, out of 21), written (
né le) "5 X bre 1846". In that case 'X bre' is/was clearly equal of December.
As if this wasn't/isn't convincing enough; if one compare Rodolphe Germain's document No. 1 with No.14 [in the same
Leonore, Summary of his
Cote (Case/file) LH/1123/75 (
here)], we find that he was elevated from
Chevalier to
Officier (
de la Légion d'honneur) in/on "
28 Décembre 1883" resp. "
du 28 Xbre 1883". Same event, same date, same year, written in two different ways, for the same thing (if I understood it correct, not knowing French).
Thereby, as of now (contrary to my old post #1, from back in 2014), I´d go for:
Rodolphe Germain, whose full name was
Louis Rodolphe Germain, born 13 April
1827, in Givet (Ardennes), ... veterinary surgeon, in the French colonial Army, ... and onwards ... until he died, 26 December
1912, in Brantôme (Dordogne), France – at the age of 85.
Though, as usual,
don't hesitate to prove me (us)
wrong!
Anyone who have found his death mentioned/written elsewhere (in an all unambiguous way)?
This far I haven't seen any other text/document (other than the ones pointed at in this thread) that reported of his Death. Any additional verification, confirmation (of 1912) would be warmly welcomed, simply to be on the safe (very safe) side.
Björn
PS. I assume the claim of him having died in 1917 origins from,
Bulletin du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, 1950, (
here), which gave his years as: "(1827-? 1917)". Why Beolens
et al decided to disregard of that question mark, in their Eponym dictionaries... (of Mammals/Birds), is all unknown to me [since then, unfortunately this/their claim have been quoted and requoted in various texts, articles, scientific papers, and all over the "net". As of now we suddenly know it's clearly false – thanks to Martin, we´ve got the proper date and year (and thanks to Laurent, also the proper Month).
Thanks guys! Well done! :t:
--