Turkey Turkish Order of Medjidie membership lists

[KarenKidd]

Greetings!

Please excuse the intrusion and my ignorance.

I am writing a biography of a fellow named Antoine Muzzarelli (1844 to 1908). I've come across a newspaper article (Daily Tribune, Salt Lake City, December 24, 1898) that indicates he was a member of the "Legion of Honor of the Turkish Order of Medjidie". The following year in Portland, Oregon, he apparently reported to police in that city that his medal had been stolen. This is a surprise to me as Muzzarelli's military career was short (1870 to about 1873 or 4). He was wounded at Colmiers, was imprisoned by the Communards and seems to have attained the rank of Captain. I don't have any evidence he fought in the Crimean War or that he did anything that, I would think, would attract the attention of this Order.

I've consulted Google but there seems to be little inforamtion about this.

Is there, anywhere, a list of recipients. If so, how might I access that list and would it include an explanation of why a recipient would have received that award?

Thank you :-)

[demir]

Hi,

Sorry to bring it to your attention the Crimean war lasted from October 4, 1853 to March 30, 1856. According to the dates you gave Muzzarelli was 9 years old when the war started. Still he could have received it for his services in a later date when he was in the military if he ever served the Ottomans.

What is "a member of the Legion of Honor of the Turkish Order of Medjidie" ? Is this a club for those who was awarded the Order or the fans of the Order?

As far as I know there is no list in our hands.

Regards

Demir

[Ulsterman]

It was obviously a newspaper reporters error. I reckon his file is still available in France though. I think they have individual officers files in Departments and also at the archives. Paul Dawson could help you.

[KarenKidd]

Greetings and thank you to you both!

Demir, I agree about the age issue, I felt much the same. It was later pointed out to me that drummer boys were accepted in the US Civil War, later, at even younger ages, so that I should not entirely discount the possibility. I've been trying to keep an open mind about it, though it does seem puzzling.

Just as background, most newspapers and other publications of Muzzarelli's time, when writing about him, claim he belonged to French Legion of Honor. I did consult lists for that honor and he's not included. So when I found this newspaper article, I thought perhaps this is the correct order, though the timing seems odd.

I do not know who Paul Dawson. Is he a member here?

[Ulsterman]

Paul is a PHD (Napoleonic history) student in the UK. He reenacts the Grenadiers A' Cheval and he is in the process of writing a book on the French army at Waterloo. He has turned up some pretty cool stuff. If you look on the project Hougomont page on Facebook he and his brother Leslie show up quite often. I think he checks in here every so often. He is a wizard in the French archives and can find pretty much anything if its in La Belle Republicque'. Last year he turned up the complete personnel files for Napoleons' Imperial Guard-including medals, which is pretty impressive.....especially considering historians like Chandler did not know these papers even existed.

[KarenKidd]

Oh my. I do hope he stops by. I will be in Paris in June trying to locate some very illusive records about Monsieur Muzzarelli. Perhaps he would be willing to make some recommendations? :-)

Thank you all.

By the way, every time I log in, I have to go thru the Password Recovery process. I'm not forgetting my pass word, I just can't seem to get it to work. When I enter the password, the login box disappears and then nothing happens (that is, I'm not logged in). I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I do think the Chaptcha boxes are fun :-)