Several indirect sources indicate Friederich Schmitt (1800-1880) fought under Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. About 1941 his youngest daughter, Elizabeth Schmitt Hartman offered his military discharge paper to nephew Vernon Schmitt via a family intermediary. Before the transfer occurred, Vernon went to war, and Elizabeth passed away. Vernon's descendants are interested in documenting Friederich's service and are NOT claiming ownership of the actual paper. Surnames of Elizabeth's descendants include HARTMAN, DUBOIS, DEMSON, DAVIS, COCKERILL, TISCH, BEASLEY. Any help would be appreciated.
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I have an exciting update on this. While we haven't located the document in question, I was recently contacted by a descendant of Elizabeth who wrote, "Believe it or not I have heard the story about the Napoleonic discharge. My mother told me on a couple of occasions that there was somewhere in the family this discharge paper from Napoleon's army. I was old enough to be very interested, as I have been a history nut since I was a little kid, but she said that she had never actually seen it. She did not know whom, but seemed to think that her grandmother, Elise (Elizabeth), had it at one time. Of course everyone lived in Columbus, so she could have given it to another Schmitt family member."
Thank you so much to the family member who sent this info. Amazingly, this story from around 1940 is reported in almost the same way by two branches of the family who've had no contact in the intervening 70+ years! For me it seals the deal as to whether Friederich actually served under Napoleon. It also makes me wonder whether the piece of paper was particularly large or impressive, that it would have made such an impression on people.