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Jean Roemer

Professor of French

Centurion, 1857–1892

Born c. 1815 in England (reportedly)

Died 31 August 1892 in Lenox, Massachusetts

Buried Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York

Proposed by Wolcott Gibbs

Elected 5 December 1857 at about age forty-two

Archivist’s Note: His birth and childhood are shrouded in mystery; the birth year and location in the Century memorial and followed here were likely taken from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography or obituary notices at the time of his death. Other accounts suggest a birth in the Netherlands or in Germany, possibly in 1813, while a death register for Lenox, Massachusetts, gives his age at eighty-years, suggesting a 1803 or 1804 year of birth. It has been speculated that he was the son of Princess Louise of Orange-Nassau (1770–1819), sister of Willem I of the Netherlands (1772–1843).

Proposer of:

Century Memorial

Jean Roemer was born in England in 1815, and was educated in Germany. He was destined for the army, and served throughout the war between Holland and Belgium. He was connected with some of the most distinguished soldiers in the military establishments of France, Prussia, and Austria, and wrote extensively upon military subjects. He resided for a time in Italy, and the liberal tendencies of his mind, as shown in his publications, drew upon him the suspicion of the King of Naples, and caused his expatriation. Since 1846 he has resided in the United States, and has been, since 1848, connected with the College of the City of New York, as instructor in the French language and literature and as Vice-President of the College. He was a voluminous writer, and an accomplished man.

Henry E. Howland
1893 Century Association Yearbook