I recently purchased a CDV of a Marine Corps officer. It was a written name on both the front and back identifying him as a lieutenant but I cannot make out the name either in the front or back. The back is dated 1872 so I tried to track it by using 1872 period rosters without ant luck. I was hoping someone could make out the name better than I could so I could identify the officer images are attached.

Really nice CDV. Don't know who this Lt. is but I believe its a Matthew Brady. Also try to move this to the Ephemera section. As this section is for testing photos. Looking foward to the ID! jeff

Looks like Berlin to me

Zeilin, W.F.
Second Lieutenant, 19 December, 1871. First Lieutenant, 6 December, 1879. Died 4 June, 1880.

 

Scott

Scott thanks for the fast reply. I tried to identify this for over a week and finally looked for help. Guess I didn't reading the name very well I wasn't even close.

 

Malas

Glad to help out.

 

I am a Civil War/ antique photograph dealer and through the years have gotten fairly good a reading 19th century writing!

 

 

Scott

Zeilin was on the USS Constitution for the Paris Expostion 1879

Don't know how I overlooked this...incredible early photo!

Great image, I suspect he may be the son of Gen Jacob Zeilin, the first Commandant to be appointed a General Officer and the one who approved the eagle, globe and anchor.

Wonder what was the cause of death in 1880?

I asked the same question since in 1877 he was still a young man. My other question is his last name is the same as the 7th commandant of the Marine Corps I wonder if they were related. So far no luck getting anymore information.

Yes, turns out this is him, William Freeman Zeilin is the son of the General. He was buried in the same cemetery, laurel Hill in Philly. And presently four period porcelain portrait miniatures of the Zeilin family are on display in the recently renovated Commandants residence in DC.

Thanks for the information, I really lucked out when I bought this one.

William Freeman Zeilin attended West Point. He died 4th June 1880 while stationed aboard the ship Franklin.

 

 

 

 

 

A Brady photo of one of the few Marine officers of that period, and the son of a Commandant to boot... I think we can call this one "rare."

 

During the period he was in the Corps, there were only about 75 officers at any one time.

 

 

the date kind of throws me, I thought that style cover was authorized starting in 1875

 

That image is actually in Alec Tulkoff's 'Equipping the Corps', and is credited to NARA...so must have been his official portrait, as well

Thanks everyone for your help the mystery is solved and all the questions answered. Boy am I happy I decided to buy it just before leaving the show. If it wasn't for the CW Shako he was selling I probably never would have went to the table.

Good catch, sure enough the exact image is in Alec's book. Now for the date? Maybe the 2 is a 7?

It is a "2" - so the photo either disproves what was thought was true, or it was dated by someone guessing at the to date the photo was taken,

 

Mystery solved. Sad end to a young man's life, that's for sure. Thanks for sharing all this great research.

It is a "2" - so the photo either disproves what was thought was true, or it was dated by someone guessing at the to date the photo was taken,

 

cdv.jpg

I'm guessing the latter, unless maybe it was test fielded first, as Alec has a lot of original letters and orders in his research for his work