Another team effort here! I’m so touched every time my fellow-genealogy-detectives on Instagram and Facebook help me solve a photo mystery. My special thanks goes out to Maud! My gratitude is endless and the interaction is one of the reasons I keep digging and recording the family stories of strangers of the past.
I’ve never seen a "padded" CDV like this one. It actually feels soft underneath the baby's image while it's flat in the corners. I asked around on Instagram and apparently it was indeed a thing. The cabinet card was pressed and with a unique technique the centre was raised to give the image this elevated effect. Photographers were experiencing, trying to stand out and offer something unique. And apparently Mr. Brezinski was one of the innovative photographers in Saint-Denis who offered this unique touch. I can imagine it was not for everyone's wallet. Maybe that explains why this type of a CDV is not so commonly known nowadays.
I had no difficulty reading the first name: “Marcel”. But I was not 100% sure what the surnames were, so again I turned to my Instagram and Facebook community and within minutes we had solved the surname mystery, thanks to Maud!
Next, I was wondering about the date underneath the name and if it read “1881”, But why does the second “1” look so different, I wondered? Until I was informed on Instagram by one Italian follower that this was an old way of writing the number “5”. So this photo dates to 1885.
So here we go - this little pumpkin was Marcel Son Dumarais, or officially Jacques Joseph Eugène Marcel Son Dumarais, born on New Year’s Eve of 1884 in Saint-Denis in France. His father Joseph Jean Baptiste Georges Son Dumarais was a man of the law, a notary public. And apparently, his son was to become one too. In the early 1900s, Marcel was a student of law in Paris.
Marcel was one of 10 children born to Léonie Louise Son Dumarais between 1879 and 1898. The family trees I’ve found on FamilySearch, Geneanet and MyHeritage are pretty detailed, if you want to know about the lives of Marcel's siblings.
Marcel was about 1m 73cm tall (about 5’7”), had brown hair and grey-blue eyes. Marcel joined the military in 1904. He was assigned to the 4th artillery corps in Laon. In 1906, he was awarded the certificate of excellent conduct.
I did not want to believe the twist in the story. Young Marcel died on May 5, 1908! His death was recorded in the 10th arrondissement in Paris. He died at home where his widowed mother cared for him. We don’t know what the cause of his early death was.
Sadly, this was not the first death in the Son Dumarais family, and was not to be the last. Four more Son Dumarais children died before they could celebrate their 25th birthday, among them two brothers who died for France in 1917 ("mort pour la France"). Moreover, mother Léonie had been widowed just a year before Marcel died as well as lost her 9-year-old daughter the same year. Heart-breaking!
Marcel’s life was over before it really began. I hope his life was packed with as many experiences as possible in those short years on Earth. I hope he experienced love, true friendships. What path would he have chosen, if life had not turned off his lights so soon? Would he have graduated from his law studies? Followed in his father's footsteps to honour his memory? Or did his passions lie somewhere else? Would he have fought in the WWI alongside his brothers? And survived, unlike his brothers?
Rest in peace, Marcel Son Dumarais. I hope to return your photo to the descendants of your siblings.
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