Ferdinand became a merchant in Soldin., As a soldier in the war of 1813 he fell in love with the daughter of Monsieur Hubert the Burgermeister or Mayor of a little town in France. At the end of war the she left by coach over the mountains to marry Ferdinand in Germany. But, on the way the coach fell over a cliff and everyone was killed including his fiancee.
When Ferdinand marched against France a second time in 1815 he returned to the same town. He found Prussian soldiers arguing with the mayor. He approached the group immediately. Both he and the mayor recognized each other and embraced to the amazement of the bystanders. When the incident about the old friendship was made known, everyone was touched and the argument was settled in a most friendly way. The name Hubert was given to his first son in memory of his fiancee and her father, Monsieur Hubert, who would have been his father-in-law.
He married a women who was his nurse during his illness at age 60.
