<b>1860 Tongres, Rue des Sarraux, "Café Suisse"</b> Charles François, ° 26.9.1828; + 8.12.1880. Recorded as a house painter domiciled in Mechelen at the occasion of his wedding in Gheel on 19.11.1857. On the premises of Mr Cordie: "American Photography. Mr Verbaet informs the public that he will stay a while in Tongres and take photographic portraits at moderate prices. Resemblance guaranteed. Price with frame from 1 fr. 50 c. to 20 frs" (De Postrijder, 22.9.1860). The mentions of frames and American photography indicate that Verbaet was principally an ambrotypist here. <b>1869 * - 1875 Charleroi, [Boulevard de] l'Entre-Deux-Villes, 36</b> CV, c. 1864, no place indicated but possibly Hasselt, bearing a pictorial lithographed backmark of one putto behind a studio camera photographing another putto. Arrived here from Hasselt on 24.9.1869 and was registered as a photographer. The studio at this address, situated on the thoroughfare linking the upper and lower towns, was variously described in advertisements as "between the two gates of the upper town" or "on the mountain". Known as the "Birdman of Charleroi", Verbaet also ran an avian menagerie and pet shop here and organised occasional animal performances. His display of Wowo-Wowo-Nina, a domesticated female orang-outan, caused some stir in Charleroi in March 1874. But even when selling "six magnificent laurel trees" (Journal de Charleroi, 10.1.1875), Verbaet styled himself a photographer. The Charleroi population register records two subsequent addresses in the 1870s but omits precise dates: Rue de l'Hôpital, 17 and Chemin de [illegible], 9. Verbaet's death certificate gave his profession as photographer.