Thread by @raphink

#AncestryHour paying a tribute to a great-great-great-uncle, Samuel Léon.

I'm currently writing a book about the Grünberg family (Ashkenazi family). My great-grandfather the engineer Léon Grunberg participated in the Boer War, along with his friend and associate Samuel Léon. 1/n

In South Africa, Sam Léon worked closely with French Colonel de Villebois-Mareuil, who was there as a volunteer on the Boer side. Villebois-Mareuil was known at the time as a veteran of the 1871 franco-prussian war, as well as one of the founders of the "Action Française", 2/n

a French royalist and antisemitic association, created during the Dreyfus Affair in 1894.

Villebois-Mareuil & Sam Léon spent a lot of time together in 1900 as Sam Léon accompanied the troops to take care of the Long Tom, a canon he and Léon Grunberg had brought from France
3/n

and sold to the South African government.

Sam Léon & Léon Grunberg made such a positive impression on Villebois-Mareuil that he wrote a letter to a French newspaper praising these men and what an example they were of French presence in South Africa.
4/n

Villebois-Mareuil died in the battle of Boshof in April 1900. His diary was later published as a book in 1902. Upon its publication, the antisemitic extreme-right people in France were shocked to discover in which terms the Colonel described his Jewish friend Sam Léon.
5/n

In particular, Villebois-Mareuil describes in details that event on the 12th of Feb 1900, in Kimberley, when Sam Léon was hit on the forehead by a bullet, which pierced his brains. Thinking Sam was dying, the Colonel went on in his diary praising his friend's intelligence,
6/n

his dedication, and his patriotism towards his country, France (which is interesting considering Sam Léon was born in Izmir).

Sam Léon survived. He went back to France in April 1900 and married Charlotte Goldschmid in Paris, a cousin of my great-grandfather Léon Grunberg
7/n

Sam & Charlotte had (at least) one child who died at 8 years old in 1915. Their marriage didn't survive this and they divorced in 1921. Two years later, in 1923, Sam died. Charlotte's tomb shows her name as "Charlotte Léon, née Goldschmid", in spite of her divorce.
8/8

(picture colorized by #DeOldify after restoration)

This picture featuring Sam Léon in front of a Long Tom cannon was taken at Fort Daspoortrand google.com/maps/place/For…, a fort engineered by Léon Grunberg & Sam Léon in 1897 for the ZAR.

Original pic FTR