Friedrich Weyer - Help with photo

B

bmes

New member
I was referred to this website for assistance from a posting I have on the German Military message board at Ancestry.com. Here is the text of the posting.

I have attached the front and back of a photo of my ancestor Christian Friedrich Weyer in what appears to be a military uniform. Can anyone provide any information on what type of uniform it is? What military unit did he belong to? What are the significance of the medals on his chest?

Christian Friedrich Weyer was born 3/19/1841 in Grünow by Prenzlau, Brandenburg, Preußen. He and his wife and child emmigrated to Michigan, USA in 1869 so the photo had to be taken prior to that. He lived in Drense, Brandenburg, Preußen at the time he emmigrated.

You will need to follow this url to see the photo. The quality of the photo is not real sharp so the detail may not be good enough to provide me any help, but I thought I would give it a try.

http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.Military.german/287.1/mb.ashx
 
Hello Bill,

First off, I congratulate you on being so fortunate that you have a photo of Christian Friedrich Weyer. it is a wonderful photo.

Christian Friedrich was in the Infantry, as he is wearing what appears to be a M1842 Waffenrock. He has no NCO lace, or a Corporal's button on the collar, so he is a Private. He is also wearing a foot-troops buckle on his belt, and the bayonet knot for a Private.

If he was garrisoned in Prenzlau, then we can assume (!) that he was with the III Btln of Infanterie-Regt. General-Feldmarshchall Prinz Friedrich Karl von Preußen (8.Brandenburgisches) Nr.64 in the III Armee Korps.

The photo was taken before 1869 you say? That matches well with his Model 1860 Preußen Mannschaften (Other Ranks) Pickelhaube on the table beside him. You can clearly see the square front visor, Preußen eagle Wappen (front plate) and the cruciform spike base. Photo below of my example.

His Waffenrock was Dunkelblau, prior to 1878, the vertical panel on his Brandenburg cuffs were piped in white and he wore red shoulder straps with a yellow "64". Buttons were gilt/copper.

Hope this was of use to you. Tony


dbh01.jpg
 
Tony, thanks for the reply. Your answer and website are very informative.

Any guesses on what the medals may be from? Reading a little bit on Prussian history I do see there were a few wars during the mid-1860's so I would guess they are related to that. Are there any records that show medals issued to people?
 
I cannot respond to the medals I am not famailiar enough with them. But there were a couple of notable wars, pretty good article here on them >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussia

Imperial German Service records, including the personnel rosters and card indexes (Stammrollen und Karteimittel) of the Prussian Army, the transition army (Ubergangsheeres), the Army Reichswehr, and the Imperial Navy (Kaiserlichen Marine) were burned in an air raid on Berlin in February 1945. Obtaining German records is futile due to this loss.
 
Bill,

I hate to refer you off to another forum, but there are some great medal guys on the Gentlemen's Military Interest Club that might be able to help you with the medals. There's a specific section on the forum relating to imperial Germany.

http://gmic.co.uk/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top