cahn

SD picking the wife of a retired French Captain (likely, though not necessarily, a Frenchwoman herself) reminded me again that French really was the primary language for these kids. (Remember, Ferdinand was Quecke - "Qu'est-ce que ce?".) Also: given just a few entries later, when Ferdinand is born, you get the story of Amalie's nurse telling her to petition FW for a job for her husband, it's clear these women, while not the peasants they tended to be in France (if her husband was a Captain, in this age and before the revolution, he was probably minor nobility), still weren't into this job not just for the prestige but because they did want the income and the connections for further employment.