We have heard about certain historical figures since we were little. Just about every single person who went through the American educational system knows about presidents, abolitionists, and even iconic people like Annie Oakley and Johnny Appleseed. But we do not really give them a lot of thought since they are just names on a page to most of us. A photograph tends to leave a more striking impression! You might not know this, but photography has been in existence since the 1820s. Can you believe that our photographic documentation goes back to almost two centuries? In those days, there were no modernization, women’s suffrage, and electric lights just yet. We bet that you did not expect that the following famous people had photos of them taken! If you ask us, learning history would have been easier and more fun if our teachers showed these to us in the classroom.
President Abraham Lincoln (c. 1846)
Many people would agree with us when we say that Abraham Lincoln might just be the most celebrated American historical figure. He became the President of the United States during a particularly difficult time. This meant that he presided during the reunification and abolishment of slavery. The Library of Congress had this to say about the photo: “This daguerreotype is the earliest-known photograph of Abraham Lincoln, taken at age 37 when he was a frontier lawyer in Springfield and Congressman-elect from Illinois.” It is said to have been shot by Nicholas H. Shepherd, “based on the recollections of Gibson W. Harris, a law student in Lincoln’s office from 1845 to 1847.”
President Abraham Lincoln (c. 1846)
President Andrew Jackson (c. 1844-1845)
Was there a figure in American history more controversial than Andrew Jackson? We doubt it. He came from a poor family and made a name for himself as a war hero, lawyer, and then President of the United States. He claimed to be a man of the people, although his critics said that he was a tyrant. He treated Native Americans horribly and ignored the way Georgia seized land that the Supreme Court granted the Cherokee. In the end, it resulted in the Trail of Tears and the death of thousands of indigenous people. The daguerreotype below is said to have been shot by Edward Anthony in either 1844 or 1845.
President Andrew Jackson (c. 1844 1845)
Annie Oakley (c. 1899)
The truth is that her name was not Annie Oakley, but we all know that she was a great markswoman. At the age of 15, she managed to outgun a professional sharpshooter by the name of Frank Butler. They ended up getting married, and he hired her as his assistant and eventual partner. When her fame overshadowed his, he supporter her and even switched roles with her! Oakley attained worldwide acclaim as a member of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and demonstrated her skills by shooting glass balls in the air, knocking a cigarette out of her husband’s mouth, and playing cards. Chief Sitting Bull dubbed her “Little Sure Shot,” while Queen Victoria said that she was a “very clever little girl.”
Annie Oakley (c. 1899)
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke Of Wellington (1844)
He has a ton of formal titles, but we will stick to the 1st Duke of Wellington and the commander of the British army amidst the Napoleonic Wars. According to Britannica, his Battle of Waterloo victory “established the duke as Europe’s most renowned… hero.” Later in life, Arthur Wellesley served as the prime minister of Britain. He was in office from 1828 until 1830.
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke Of Wellington (1844)
Billy The Kid (1878)
Like a lot of Old West historical figures, Henry McCarty earned a reputation thanks to the legends that cropped up about him instead of his real exploits. Also known as Billy the Kid and William H Bonney, he did not live to see past his 21 years. Sheriff Pat Garett took him out in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. You are looking at the second photo of him in existence. The tin type was found “among a pile of photos inside a cardboard box at a junk shop in Fresno, California, unearthed by a collector in 2010.” Taken in the summer of 1878, this shows the outlaw with the Regulators and their loved ones after a wedding.
Billy The Kid (1878)
Buffalo Bill Cody (1911)
Better known as Buffalo Bill, William Frederick Cody was a Pony Express rider, a frontiersman, and the organizer of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World. Thanks to the Wild West show, he became “one of the world’s first global celebrities.” According to History, his moniker goes back all the way to 1867 “when he signed on to provide buffalo meat for the workers of the Eastern Division of the Union Pacific Railroad construction project.” Even though he is known for his performances, his riding skills and marksmanship were said to have been topnotch. This must be true, based on the four years that he served as a scout for Lieutenant General Philip Sheridan of the US Army.
Buffalo Bill Cody (1911)
Butch Cassidy (1900)
Robert LeRoy Parker, better known as Butch Cassidy, is considered one of the most charming Old West outlaws. John D. Barton of the Utah State University shared, “Operating around the turn of the century, Cassidy and his partners put together the longest sequence of successful bank and train robberies in the history of the American West.” The photo shows a cropped image of him with the “Wild Bunch” in what people now call the Fort Worth Five photograph. This was shot by John Swartz in his studio in Fort Worth, Texas back in 1900. The members went by the nicknames News Carver, Tall Texan, the Sundance Kid, Elzy Lay, Flat-Nose Curry, Bob Meeks, Kid Curry, Laura Bullion, and Deaf Charley.
Butch Cassidy (1900)
Calamity Jane (1901)
Do you know who Martha Jane Cannary is? If not, you might know her as Calamity Jane instead. She was an American frontierswoman who has appeared in a lot of Wild West legends and tall tales alike. The photo below was taken in 1901, not long before her demise. It shows her in the kitchen of her home in Livingston, Minnesota. History said, “The myths and fabrications concerning the life of Calamity Jane are so numerous it is difficult to discover her true story. Legend has it that at various times Jane worked as a dishwasher at Fort Bridger, a laborer on the Union Pacific, a scout for General Custer, and a teamster.”
Calamity Jane (1901)
Charles Darwin (1869)
Is there a scientist with a bigger impact on our culture? Charles Darwin was an English naturalist who has greatly influenced science as we know it. Britannica said that “[his] scientific theory of evolution by natural selection became the foundation of modern evolutionary studies…. and by the time of his death evolutionary imagery had spread through all of science, literature, and politics.” The Victoria and Albert Museum said this of the photo: “The naturalist Charles Darwin and his family rented a cottage on the Isle of Wight from the Camerons in the summer of 1868. By 27 July, Colnaghi’s was advertising, ‘We are glad to observe her gallery of great men enriched by a very fine portrait of Charles Darwin.’ Due to the sitter’s celebrity, Cameron later had this portrait reprinted as a more stable carbon print.”
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Daniel F. Bakeman, The Last Surviving Soldier Of The Revolutionary War (1868)
It is said that Daniel F. Bakeman was one of the last fourteen Revolutionary War survivors, as well as the last veteran to collect a pension. He supposedly served under Colonel Willett and Captain Van Arnum in the last four years of the conflict. One account said, “His presence was always sought on all important political occasions. Always on “Independence Day,” as he called it, he arose very early and shouldering his old musket, would make the rounds of the neighborhood firing a salute, exclaiming, ‘Hurrah!’”
Daniel F. Bakeman, The Last Surviving Soldier Of The Revolutionary War (1868)
Emily Dickinson (c. 1847)
When she was alive, Emily Dickinson suffered from agoraphobia and poor health. Only a couple of her poems had been published back then, but her legacy lives on. The writer left behind an expansive body of work and has since become one of the most famous American poets in history. Amherst College said that the daguerreotype below is “the only currently authenticated photograph of Emily Dickinson.” In 1956, the college received it as a gift from a person by the name of Millicent Todd Bingham.
Emily Dickinson (c. 1847)
President Franklin Pierce (c. 1851-1860)
According to the National Constitution Center, Franklin Pierce led “a difficult presidency.” The 14th President of the United States was clearly a handsome fellow, but this is the only good thing that people can say about him. His party denied him a second term in the end. He was a Northerner who upheld slavery and even signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. It overturned a slavery ban in territories further north of a latitude of 36 degrees. He had been critical of the Lincoln presidency and allegedly “had to persuade a mob not to destroy his house after Lincoln’s assassination.”
President Franklin Pierce (c. 1851 1860)
Frederick Douglass (c. 1847-1852)
This abolitionist escaped slavers in Maryland and went on to be an important social reformer of his era. You are looking at a daguerreotype produced by Samuel J. Miller anywhere from 1847 to 1852. This was what the Art Institute of Chicago had to say: “Northeastern Ohio was a center of abolitionism prior to the Civil War, and Douglass knew that this picture, one of an astonishing number that he commissioned or posed for, would be seen by ardent supporters of his campaign to end slavery. Douglass was an intelligent manager of his public image and likely guided Miller in projecting his intensity and sheer force of character. As a result, this portrait demonstrates that Douglass truly appeared “majestic in his wrath,” as the nineteenth-century feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton observed.”
Frederick Douglass (c. 1847 1852)
George Armstrong Custer At West Point (1859)
The image below was taken before George Armstrong Custer grew out his mustache and curly hair! He had been a cadet at West Point at the time. Even though he was at the bottom of his graduating class, he became famous as a cavalry officer during the Civil War. He has been described as an “Indian fighter” with a “theatrical presence and sensibility.” In 1864, he oversaw the Sand Creek Massacre and earned criticism for his tactics. It was mostly fought against children, women, and the elderly! These days, he is best known for his defeat at the 1876 Battle of the Little Big Horn.
George Armstrong Custer At West Point (1859)
Geronimo Or Goyahkla (1887)
Also known as Goyakhla, Geronimo was an Apache medicine man and leader. There was a time when a quarter of the whole US standing army pursued him. History called him the “last Native American leader to formally surrender to the US military.” He was a prisoner of war during the last two decades of his life. He was allowed to go to the Wild West shows and world’s fair, even the inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt. Sadly, the POTUS turned down his request about the return of his people to Arizona. About this, the Smithsonian said, ‘Through an interpreter, Roosevelt told Geronimo that the Indian had a ‘bad heart.’ ‘You killed many of my people; you burned villages… and were not good Indians.’ The president would have to wait a while “and see how you and your people act” on their reservation.”
Geronimo Or Goyahkla (1887)
Grigori Rasputin With His Wife And Daughter (1911)
A lot of people find it hard to separate the real man from the myth! Grigori Rasputin was a mystic thought to be the secret power behind the monarchy. There were a couple of assassination attempts on him, but the only one to succeed was a team of conservative conspirators led by Prince Feliks Yusupov. This shows Rasputin with his wife Praskovia Dubrovina and his child Maria in St. Petersburg.
Grigori Rasputin With His Wife And Daughter (1911)
Harriet Beecher Stowe (c. 1870)
You probably know Harriet Beecher Stowe as the person who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin. She was an abolitionist and Christian, who believed that slavery was sinful. Her work was a success, and she toured the country to promote the book and abolition. While slavery was coming to an end, women’s rights had been a different matter altogether. “…it was considered unbecoming for women of Stowe’s era to speak publicly to large audiences of men. So, despite her fame, she seldom spoke about the book in public, even at events held in her honor. Instead, [her husband] Calvin or one of her brothers spoke for her,” said History. The photo shows her with her brother Henry Ward Beecher in 1870.
Harriet Beecher Stowe (c. 1870)
Harriet Tubman (c. 1868)
Did you know that Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross? Her life story is simply incredible. She escaped slavery, became a nurse, worked as a Union spy, advocated for women’s suffrage, and served as the “conductor” of the Underground Railroad. You are looking at a photo of her taken by Benjamin F. Powelson in Auburn, New York in 186, if not 1869. The original copy of this photo was once owned by a philanthropist by the name of Emily Howland.
Harriet Tubman (c. 1868)
Helen Keller (c. 1904)
At only 19 months old, Helen Keller lost both her hearing and sight. She went on to be one of the best-known high-profile activists for women’s suffrage, labor, and people with disabilities. Despite various setbacks, she made a name for herself as both a lecturer and writer. History explained, “Widely honored throughout the world and invited to the White House by every U.S. president from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson, Keller altered the world’s perception of the capacities of the handicapped.”
Helen Keller (c. 1904)
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1857)
This 19th century engineer was voted the second “greatest Briton” in history! Isambard Kingdom Brunel, in many ways, is credited for the transformation of the United Kingdom. London’s Design Museum said that he “built twenty-five railway lines, over a hundred bridges, including five suspension bridges, eight pier and dock systems, three ships and a pre-fabricated army field hospital.” This was shot by Robert Howlett and shows Brunel standing before an iron steamship that he designed called the Great Eastern. He called it the “Great Babe,” and it was bigger than any other ship built at around the same time!
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1857)
President James K. Polk (1849)
Even though he was a pretty obscure figure during the modern era, he is said to be “the most successful President since George Washington in the accomplishment of his goals.” The Miller Center said that James K. Polk “accomplished nearly everything that he said he wanted to accomplish as President and everything he had promised in his party’s platform.” This includes lower tariffs, the settlement of a dispute at the Texas border, a stronger executive branch, the creation of a federal depository, and the acquisition of territories in New Mexico, Oregon, and California.
President James K. Polk (1849)
Confederate President Jefferson Davis (c. 1861)
A Mexican War veteran, a former Secretary of War, and a Mississippi senator, Jefferson Davis is best-known as the Confederacy president during the Civil War. After it surrendered in 1865, he was sent to jail on charges of treason. However, he was not tried. If he went to court, he would have defended the right of states to leave the Union. He did not get the chance to make a case for the legality of secession. The Smithsonian said that President Andrew Johnson pardoned Confederates on Christmas day of 1868.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis (c. 1861)
Jesse James (c. 1876-1882)
Unlike other Old West folks on the list, Jesse James used his real given name. After he and his stepfather were ambushed by Union militia looking for his Confederate guerilla brother, he became involved in the Civil War. They executed his stepfather, and he joined the Confederacy. Union troops shot James a month after the war came to a close. He later teamed up with other former Confederates to rob trains, stagecoaches, and banks. In the end, he was taken out by a new recruit called Bob Ford.
Jesse James (c. 1876 1882)
John Chapman AKA Johnny Appleseed (c. 1840s)
Are you surprised to learn that he was a real person? Born John Chapman, Johnny Appleseed grew up in Leominster, Massachusetts and actually planted apple seeds in the Midwest. However, the apples were for alcoholic cider, not for eating. History explained that “[c]ider was an essential at the American dinner table at the time, so most homes had their own small orchard.” He was a good businessman who traded seeds with other people he met on the road. On top of that, he gave away free seeds to people in need!
John Chapman AKA Johnny Appleseed (c. 1840s)
John Brown (c. 1846-1847)
An abolitionist, John Brown militantly opposed slavery. He is probably most famous for leading a raid on Harpers Ferry in West Virginia in October 1859. It failed, and he was executed on December 2, 1859. The Smithsonian said that the daguerreotype by an African-American photographer called Augustus Washington is “[t]he earliest known likeness” of John Brown. “In a pose that dramatizes his antislavery activism, Brown stands with one hand raised as if repeating his public pledge to dedicate his life to the destruction of slavery. With his other hand, he grasps what is believed to be the standard of his “Subterranean Pass Way” – the militant alternative to the Underground Railroad…”
John Brown (c. 1846 1847)
John Herschel (1867)
Sir John Frederick William Herschel was an astronomer and polymath, who was an important figure in photography. He might not have invented the term “photography,” but he did make bring it to popular use. Julia Margaret Cameron took his portrait in 1867. She said, “From my earliest girlhood I had loved and honoured him, and it was after a friendship of 31 years’ duration that the high task of giving his portrait to the nation was allotted to me.” The Met said, “Of the four exposures Cameron made in April 1867, Herschel preferred this one, which portrayed him, he thought, as an ‘old Paterfamilias.’”
John Herschel (1867)
President John Quincy Adams (1843)
According to History, President John Quincy Adams was farsighted but underrated” and “the first president not to have been a founding father.” On top of that, he was “[t]he first son of a president to be elected,” and “[t]he first to marry a woman born outside the United States.” Even though he was not the first sitting POTUS to have his portrait taken, he is the earliest one to be photographed. It was shot by Philip Haas in 1843. Sadly, there is not a lot of information known about when the photo was taken.
President John Quincy Adams (1843)
President John Tyler (c. 1845)
After President William Henry Harrison died a month into his term, John Tyler succeeded him as the Vice President. He made history as the first Vice-President to do so! This was also the reason his critics called him “His Accidency.” In general, presidential historians do not rank the Tyler administration highly. At the moment, he is survived by a single grandchild by the name of Harrison Ruffin Tyler.
President John Tyler (c. 1845)
Mark Twain (1908)
Born Samuel Clemens in Florida, Missouri, Mark Twain is now known as one of the most celebrated American writers. He is best known for writing “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” and “The Prince and the Pauper.” His books are satirical works about the hypocrisies of the social mores of the period. Laure Trombley called him “America’s first celebrity.” The Los Angeles Times described this portrait of him like this: “In the rare color photograph above of the author – a chromograph, actually – taken at the end of 1908, he is said to have put on a red dressing gown at the request of photographer Alvin Langdon Coburn, whose new color process wouldn’t pop much if he was only wearing his classic white suit.”
Mark Twain (1908)
President Martin Van Buren (c. 1852)
Martin Van Buren became the eighth President of the United States. He was the first one to be born not a British citizen but an American. The Miller Center said that his time in office had been divided, with scholars saying that “between Van Buren’s presidency, which they often judge lacking and troubled, and his contributions to the development of the American political system, which they find singular and significant.” There are clearer photos of him available, but we picked this for its story. The Smithsonian said, “By one account, Van Buren kept his portrait appointment with Brady even though a terrible storm was raging. When Brady asked the former president why he had braved such weather to come to the gallery, Van Buren declared that he never broke an engagement if it were at all possible to keep it.”
President Martin Van Buren (c. 1852)
Robert Cornelius, The First Person To Photograph Themself (1839)
This photograph is special for a good reason. After all, the 1839 daguerreotype by Robert Cornelius is considered the first “selfie” ever taken. He was an amateur chemist who shot this in the back of the family store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Public Domain Review said, “Cornelius took the image by removing the lens cap and then running into frame where he sat for a minute before covering up the lens again. On the back of the image he wrote ‘The first light Picture ever taken. 1839.’”
Robert Cornelius, The First Person To Photograph Themself (1839)
Robert E. Lee And His Son William Henry Fitzhugh Lee (c. 1845)
Even though he led the Confederate military in the Civil War, he was considered highly honorable and respected. Robert E. Lee was not a secessionist but thought he had to defend Virginia after it decided to leave the Union. His biographer Roy Blount Jr. said, “To me it’s slavery, much more than secession as such, that casts a shadow over Lee’s honorableness.” This daguerreotype was taken by Michael Miley in 1845 or so. It shows Lee with his son Rooney Lee. The younger man joined the Confederate cavalry and rose to the rank of general during the Civil war.
Robert E. Lee And His Son William Henry Fitzhugh Lee (c. 1845)
Daimyo Shimazu Nariakira, Subject Of The Earliest Surviving Japanese Photograph (1857)
Japan got its hands on photographic technology through the Dutch merchants trading in Nagasaki Bay. In 1854, Kawamoto Komin published “Ensei-Kikijutsu,” the first Japanese book on the matter. Three years after that, this photo of Shimazu Nariakira is said to be “the first successful photograph in Japan.” The subject of the daguerreotype was a “daimyo” or feudal lord of the Satsuma fiefdom. Britannica said that his “adoption of Western military techniques and armaments helped make Satsuma one of the strongest fiefs in the country and put the han in a position to play a leading role in the overthrow of the Tokugawa state and the establishment of a new imperial central government in 1868.”
Daimyo Shimazu Nariakira, Subject Of The Earliest Surviving Japanese Photograph (1857)
Queen Victoria (1857)
Royal.uk said that Queen Victoria is “associated with Britain’s great age of industrial expansion, economic progress and, especially, empire. At her death, it was said, Britain had a worldwide empire on which the sun never set.” Shot in April 1857, this photo used to be attributed to a photographer called J. Mayall, but the credit goes to Leonida Caldesi. In the following years, he worked on more photos of various members of the royal family.
Queen Victoria (1857)
Vincent Van Gogh (1873)
People now think of him as a visionary post-Impressionist artist, but Vincent van Gogh did not see a lot of success when he was still alive. He suffered from depression and took his life at only 37 years old. He owes a lot of his fame to Jo van Gogh-Bonger, his sister-in-law who took over ownership of his paintings after the death of his brother Theo. History said, “She made it her mission to help promote van Gogh’s work, in part by loaning it out for various exhibitions.” There are a few alleged photos of the painter, although none of them have been authenticated. Some even claim this photo is of his brother.
Vincent Van Gogh (1873)
Wild Bill Hickok (c. 1860s)
Born James Butler Hickock, this American lawman and frontiersman was better known as “Wild Bill.” He inspired a number of legends in the Wild West during his heyday. The Heritage Auction site does not give it a date, but this photo was probably from the 1860s. He met his demise in Deadwood, South Dakota while working as a peace officer. Jack McCall blindsided him during a poker game as revenge for his brother, who allegedly died at the hands of Hickock. McCall was tried for this and later executed.
Wild Bill Hickok (c. 1860s)
Wyatt Earp (c. 1868)
You might know Wyatt Earp as an Old West lawman who took part in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. The photo was said to have been shot in Lamar, Missouri in 1868. At the time, he would have been either 21 or 22. His life has been embellished both during his lifetime and later by Hollywood. History said, “In his later years, he’d consulted on Hollywood westerns and gotten to known various actors and directors. His funeral was attended by such celebrities as Western film star Tom Mix, who served as a pallbearer.”
Wyatt Earp (c. 1868)
Conrad Heyer, The Earliest American To Be Photographed (1852)
During the American Revolutionary War, Conrad Heyer fought under George Washington. Some sources say that he had been present at the crossing of the Delaware river, although this has been disputed. Aside from that, it is said that Heyer is the earliest-born person to have his photograph taken. This daguerreotype of him was taken in 1852. At the time, he was 103 years old!
Conrad Heyer, The Earliest American To Be Photographed (1852)
Wilbur And Orville Wright (1909)
Known as the fathers of modern aviation, Orville and Wilbur Wright made history as the first people to sustain a flight with an aircraft. The first successful flight took place at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903. Forty years later, Orville was asked about his feelings about the evolution of the aircraft and how it was used in the Second World War. He replied, “We dared to hope we had invented something that would bring lasting peace to the Earth. But we were wrong. We underestimated man’s capacity to hate and to corrupt good means for an evil end…. No, I don’t have any regrets about my part in the invention of the airplane, though no one could deplore more than I the destruction it has caused.”
Wilbur And Orville Wright (1909)
M. Lefebre, One Of The Last Surviving Veterans Of Napoleon’s Army (1858)
There is scant information about Monsieur Lefebre. However, we do know that he served as a sergeant in the 2nd Regiment of Engineers under Napoleon in 1815. Brown University said, “Some of the earliest photographs of veterans are a series of 15 original sepia views of members of Napoleon’s army taken when these old soldiers were well into their 70s and 80s. […] These remarkable photographs provide probably the only surviving images of veterans of the Grande Armée and the Guard actually wearing their original uniforms and insignia, although some of the uniforms have obviously been recut by tailors of the 1850s.” Their photos were believed to have been taken on May 5, 1858. This was the anniversary of the death of Napoleon.
M. Lefebre, One Of The Last Surviving Veterans Of Napoleon’s Army (1858)