Editing Wilhelm von Humboldt (section)

== Biography ==
Humboldt was born in [[Potsdam]], [[Margraviate of Brandenburg]], and died in [[Tegel]], [[Province of Brandenburg]].

His father, Alexander Georg von Humboldt (1720–1779), belonged to a prominent [[German nobility|German noble family]] from [[Pomerania]]. Although not one of the titled gentry, he was a major in the [[Prussian Army]], who had served with the [[Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick|Duke of Brunswick]].{{sfn|de Terra|1955|pp=4–5}} At age 42, Alexander Georg was rewarded for his services in the [[Seven Years' War]] with the post of royal [[Chamberlain (office)|chamberlain]].<ref name="EB1911">{{cite EB1911| wstitle=Humboldt, Friedrich Heinrich Alexander von |volume=13 |pages= 873–875 |first=Agnes Mary |last=Clerke |author-link=Agnes Mary Clerke}}</ref> He profited from the contract to lease state lotteries and tobacco sales.{{sfn|de Terra|1955|p=5}} 

Wilhelm's grandfather was Johann Paul von Humboldt (1684–1740), who married Sophia Dorothea von Schweder (1688-1749), daughter of Prussian General Adjutant Michael von Schweder (1663–1729).<ref name="Klencke-1853">{{cite book |first1=Hermann |last1=Klencke |first2=Gustav |last2=Schlesier |title=Lives of the brothers Humboldt, Alexander and William |location=New York | publisher = Harper and Brothers |year=1853 |page=13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.von-humboldt.de/michael-von-schweder.html | title=Michael von Schweder (10) und Elisabeth Blomenfelt, gen. Persdotter (11) - von-Humboldt_de }}</ref> In 1766, his father, Alexander Georg married [[Marie-Elisabeth von Humboldt|Maria Elisabeth Colomb]], a well-educated woman and widow of Baron Friedrich Ernst von Holwede (1723–1765), with whom she had a son Heinrich Friedrich Ludwig Ferdinand (1762–1817). Alexander Georg and Maria Elisabeth had four children: two daughters, Karoline and Gabriele, who died young, and then two sons, Wilhelm and Alexander.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Daum | first=Andreas W.|author-link=Andreas Daum | year=2024 | title=Alexander von Humboldt: A Concise Biography | location=Trans. Robert Savage. Princeton, N.J. | publisher=Princeton University Press |pages=8‒12 | isbn=978-0-691-24736-6 }}</ref> Her first-born son Heinrich, Wilhelm and Alexander's half-brother, [[Rittmaster]] in the [[Gendarme (historical)|Gendarme regiment]] was something of a ne'er do well, not often mentioned in the family history.{{sfn|de Terra|1955|pp=6–7}}

In June 1791, Humboldt married [[Caroline von Humboldt|Caroline von Dacheröden]]. They had eight children, of whom five (amongst them [[Gabriele von Bülow|Gabriele von Humboldt]]) survived to adulthood.<ref>[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wilhelm-humboldt/ Kurt Mueller-Vollmer "Wilhelm von Humboldt", ''The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'']</ref>