1. François Fauvel GOURAUD was buried on 17 Jun 1847 in
Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY, USA.
The Times, Wednesday, Oct 24, 1838; pg. 4; Issue 16868; col D
M. Fauvel Gouraud, Vice-Consul of France in the State of Rhode Island...
The following notice appeared in the "Boston Daily Evening Transcript" Vol.
11, No. 2941 (27 February 1840):
M. GOURAUD--the pupil of M. Daguerre--arrived in town this morning, and is preparing to
lecture, as early as possible, on the daguerreotype system of transferring images of
objects, without the intervention of any other agent than light, to plates previously
prepared for the purpose. He has a choice selection of the most beautiful specimens of the
art, prepared by M. Daguerre and himself, which the public will, in a few days, have an
opportunity to examine, with no little wonder and astonishment.
From the Courier des Etats Unis:
DEATH OF PROFESSOR F. F. GOURAUD.
It is with profound regret that we announce the death of our countryman Fauvel Gouraud,
and this regret will be shared by all who knew him. The number of these mourners is great,
for rarely has a foreigner gained in America a reputation and popularity equal to those
enjoyed by Professor Gouraud. He arrived in the United States in December, 1839, bringing
with him, as its introducer to this country, the magnificent discovery of Daguerre, whose
pupil he had been. This discovery, which has since proved a mine of wealth to thousands of
American operators, was unproductive to Mr. Gouraud, who was indeed familiar rather with
its theory than its practice. At that time, moreover, the Daguerreotype was but in its
infancy, and had not been developed in the practical sense which could only make it
lucrative in the United States, its application to portraiture. Professor Gouraud was to
win his fame in another career.
After studying the English language, which he enabled himself to read and write, in a
few years, with the facility and elegance of one to whom it is native, he published his
work on phreno-mnemotechny, some chapters of which have been compared, by the American
press, to the most brilliant pages in English literature. He also developed his ingenious
theory of artificial memory in oral lectures, which had a prodigious success. More than
15,000 pupils attended these lectures in New York and other cities, and the professor,
become an American orator in a manner so facile and remarkable, gained $20,000 in a single
winter. But unsuccessful speculations and a long illness, which, moreover, deprived him of
the power to continue his labors, entirely exhausted this little fortune, and our
unfortunate countryman has died in a condition bordering on indigence.
His last days were surrounded by afflicting circumstances. His young wife, who, for
more than a year, had been, like himself, confined to a bed of sickness, died, only a
month ago, by his side, of pulmonary consumption, and the effect of her death upon the
sorrowing Gouraud no doubt hastened his end, for until that event he seemed to be
recovering. His remains will be deposited in the Greenwood Cemetery, beside those of his
companion in suffering, which seem to have awaited this reunion, for her coffin was
temporarily deposited in a vault until the widowed husband could select its last resting
place, in compliance with her wish; and one of the dying man's most poignant regrets was
that he could not fulfil this desire of her who has only gone before him to the tomb.
Professor Gouraud was a man of studious habits and pleasing manners. His knowledge was
various and extensive. He leaves two young children and an unfinished work on which he had
bestowed three years of labor and built the most exalted hopes. It is a universal grammar,
in which he completes his system of mnemotechny, and applies a uniform arrangement to the
orthography and pronunciation for the seven principal languages of the civilized world.
This work, assimilated to that of the Benedictines by the patience and research which it
exacted, will probably not be lost to science. Three fourths of it are printed, and we
hope that this offspring of Gouraud's genius, this orphan of his thought and his toil,
will no more be abandoned than the two orphans of his affections.
His funeral will take place this day, at 4 o'clock P.M., from his late residence, 282
Columbia street, Brooklyn, near the South ferry.
[We can add nothing, at present, to the obituary notice we have copied from the
Courrier, except that a severe pecuniary disappointment, to himself and his children, was
added to the long list of suffering attending Mr. Gouraud's protracted illness. More than
a year ago he received advices that a considerable legacy had been provided for him, by
the will of an aged relative in France, but with a condition that he should appear in
person, by a specified time, to undertake the performance of certain trusts also
designated in the will. The time expired, we believe, in March, when his wife was dying
and he was himself unable to rise from his bed. In all our interviews with him he spoke of
this with the deepest anxiety and chagrin, on account of his children, for whom the legacy
would have made an adequate provision.]--Commercial Advertiser.
Fauvel-Gouraud, Francois Description of the Daguerreotype Process, or a Summary of M
Gouraud's Public Lectures, According to the Principles of M. Daguerre. (Boston: Dutton and
Wentworth's Print, 1840.)
