## Letter 12 — Poplitz, February 17 [1877]

One historical translation page compared, also duplicated in Letter 11's third translation image. Its separate handwritten editorial note is useful but is not part of Friedrich's letter.

**Corrections:** The surviving sons are better read [Eduard], Karl/Carl and Franz, rather than Ernst, Karl and Franz. The manuscript and historical version favor Eduard, although the handwriting is compressed. The regiment is preferably [30th], not [20th]; retain brackets and do not use the France reference to force a new date. Karl is married in Alsleben, not Erxleben. The niece addressed with Reinhold is SELMA, not Paulina. Emilie is described as the youngest of the recipient's godchildren, adding a godparent relationship to the sister addressed. Her reported death at twelve and a half and the loss of four children remain; these do not safely identify the Halle child born in November 1865.

The support payment is translated as a pension in the historical version and as poor-relief money in the earlier reading. Use “support payment [exact type uncertain]” until the term is settled. The letter describes work, failing health and hardship, but does not establish a particular pension scheme or relief entitlement. A difficult sentence discusses the war; another says David has withdrawn his hand from Friedrich, supporting a complaint about lost contact without proving why it happened.

**Editorial family tradition:** The added note identifies the sister as Gotthold Leukroth's widow and says her Reinhold and Selma were the namesakes of David's Reinhold and Selma. This is an important research lead, explicitly attributed to the later annotator. It is not said in the letter. The note's gloss of “Daviden” as “little David” should not be adopted: the ending is not proof of a diminutive or a second David.

**Still open:** The year remains provisional; military chronology, the daughter's identity, and exact names/terms require independent evidence. Do not turn the revised Eduard reading into a change to the user-supplied sibling list: this is Friedrich's son, a different generation.

Reviewed September 24, 2026. See the consolidated historical translation comparison and revised connected narrative in Research. Original source files are unchanged.