ザクセン＝マイニンゲン公国
Breitung, the son of John M. Breitung, a Lutheran minister, was born in the city of Schalkau in the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen, Germany (now in Sonneberg District, Thuringia). He attended the College of Mining in Meiningen, then one of the celebrated schools in Germany for scientific and classical studies.