Franz Maret, son of Carl Friedrich Maret from Berlin
- Photos Without Families
- 9. Okt.
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This old photograph came to me from an online shop in Germany. Although it doesn't include the location of the photo studio, there are some valuable clues on the back. The text is written in modern German handwriting, so it’s possible that the names were added much later. It reads:
“Franz Maret
Son of Karl Friedr.
Maret, Berlin,
and Dorothea née Lerchen”

I found the Maret family in the early 19th-century Berlin, then part of Prussia. According to the records, Carl Friedrich Maret was a Seifensieder Meister by profession - I had never heard of that profession before. A Seifensieder (soap boiler or soap maker) was a traditional craft profession until the early 20th century. Soap was produced by boiling animal fats or vegetable oils with lye, a hot and often dangerous process. Soap makers produced different kinds of soap: hard soap, soft soap, laundry soap, and scented toilet soaps.
The craft was usually organized in guilds, and becoming a master soap maker required apprenticeship, years of practice, and passing a master’s examination. In the 19th century, soap was not only important for body care but also essential for washing textiles and cleaning. With industrialization, large factories gradually replaced many small-scale soap makers.
A Seifensiedermeister (master soap maker) in a city like Berlin was a respected craftsman. The records also noted that he was an Eigenthums-Bürger (property-owning citizen), which means he also held a recognized social status as a homeowner. I find the family in the 1830 Berlin city directory, living at 18 Klosterstr.

He and his wife Dorothea Charlotte née Lerchen had 13 children between 1817 and 1835. Sadly, over half of them died in childhood:
Wilhelmine Charlotte Maret (born in 1820; married Franz Friedrich August Grubitz in 1841 in Berlin)
Sophie Friederike Dorothea Maret (born in 1822; married Ferdinand Franz Karl Jansen, died in 1904 in Berlin)
Charlotte Dorothea Margaretha Maret (born in 1825)
Hans Jacob Friedrich Georg Franz Maret (born in 1826, died in 1831)
Caroline Luise Maret (born in 1828; married royal architect Gustav Adolph Edouard Kraemer in 1860 in Berlin)
Carl Julius Maret (born in 1829; married Bertha Caroline Dorothea Richter, Councillor of Commerce and Senator in Hamburg, died in 1904 in Hamburg)
Georg Friedrich Franz Maret (born in 1835)
So, of the six siblings who survived, only two were sons: Carl Julius Maret and Georg Friedrich Franz Maret (who I assume is the Franz Maret in my found photo).
I find both the father and the older surviving son, Carl Julius, in the 1850 Berlin city directory. Both were listed as "Partikulier", meaning "private citizen of independent means".

Between 1860 and 1870, I only find the father living at the same address. The eldest son, Carl Julius, had moved to Hamburg, where he built a good life for himself and his family as a Councillor of Commerce and Senator.

Franz’s mother, Dorothea, had passed away in 1851, and his father, Carl Friedrich Maret, in 1873. Both were buried at the St. Marien- und St. Nikolai Cemetery in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin. It seems that Franz’s unmarried sister, also named Dorothea, continued to reside in the Maret family house at 17 Klosterstr. during the 1880s and 1890s as the new head of the family.

While I’ve found plenty of information on the older brother, Carl Julius, and his children, I’ve come across nothing about the man in the photo, Georg Friedrich Franz Maret. If the image is from the early 1860s, as his outfit suggests, he would have been in his late twenties at the time. But I’ve found nothing. Did he stay in Berlin? Did he die young? Did he marry and have children? Let me know if you have any more clues!
I've added Franz' photo to FamilySearch.
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