4 ANCESTORS. 



time in a dragoon regiment, and was then made major, 

 and finally adjutant to Duke Frederic of Brunswick, 

 wlio often sent him on embassies to Frederic the Great. 

 This was in the famous seven years' war. When the 

 war was over, in 1765, the great Frederic made him one 

 of his chamberlains ; he was also attendant chamberlain 

 on Elizabeth, the newly-married princess of Prussia. 

 His official duties compelled him to reside in Potsdam, 

 where he probably met the lady who became his wife. 

 A descendant of the family of Colomb, which emigrated 

 from Burgundy, where it was celebrated for its glass 

 works, she was the widow of a Baron Yon Holwede 

 Major Yon Humboldt persuaded her to change her 

 weeds for the orange wreath, so they married and settled 

 in Potsdam. Their first child, WilHam, was born there 

 on the 22d of June, 1767. They lived in Potsdam but 

 a short time, two or three years at most, for the marriage 

 of the princess being at length dissolved, she had no fur- 

 ther need of an attendant chamberlain, consequently 

 Major Yon Humboldt was at liberty to change his resi- 

 dence, if so inclined. He exchanged Potsdam for Berlin, 

 and lived partly there, and partly in his castle at Tegel. 

 How he became possessed of the castle is not stated. It 

 was originally a hunting seat of the great Elector, and a 

 hunting establishment was kept up there under Frederic 

 the Great. The Major's second son, Frederic Henry 

 Alexander, was born at Berlin on the 14th of September, 

 1769. It was principally at Tegel, however, that his 

 childhood passed. 



Of the first years of his life nothing remarkable has 

 been related. There is a sameness in the lives of chil- 

 dren, no matter what their rank or talents. If they 



