early life and education Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, born April 2nd, 1834, in Colmar, Alsace (then part of France), was the son of Jean Charles Bartholdi, a civil servant, and Augusta Charlotte Beysser, née Dubois. His family’s Protestant heritage instilled in him a deep appreciation for tradition and intellectual rigor. Tragically orphaned at just two years old when his father succumbed to illness, Bartholdi's mother relocated her chi…