List of the earliest-born people to be photographed
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When photography became widespread in 1839, there were several centenarians and supercentenarians who had their photographs taken. The oldest subjected with a confirmed dated photograph was John Adams who was 100 when he was photographed in 1845. However, the oldest unconfirmed photograph was Caesar, who was either 113 or 114, which if confirmed would make him one of the oldest Americans to ever live.
| Image | Name | Age when photographed | DOB | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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John Owen | 107 | April 16, 1735 | John Owen was a veteran of both the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. | [1] |
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Caesar | 113-114 | 1737 | Caesar was a slave who worked for 3 or 4 generations of the Nicoll family in New York. He retired in 1817, and was given his freedom in 1841. | [5] |
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Hannah Stilley Gorby | 94 | 1746 | Hannah was born in 1746 to Swedish immigrants in Delaware. | [8] |
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John Adams | 100 | February 1, 1744 or 1745 | John Adams was a shoemaker, veteran of the Revolutionary War and a widow. He was photographed in 1845 on his 100th birthday. | [11] |
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Dr. Ezra Green | 101 | June 23, 1746 | Dr. Green was a Harvard University alumni, a surgeon during the American Revolutionary War, Member of the Constitutional Convention, and a deacon for a congregational church. His original photograph is lost but a pencil sketch was made of it after his death. | [14] |
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Baltus Stone | 99 | June 7, 1747 | Baltus was a Revolutionary War veteran who fought at Battle of Long Island and married a Native American woman after the war. | [17] |
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Mary Munroe Sanderson | 104 | October 10, 1748 | Mary was born in Lexington, to Scottish immigrants. In October of 1772, Mary married Samuel Sanderson who worked as a cabinetmaker and later a corporal in the Continental Army. During the war, Mary begrudgingly took care of a wounded British soldier who she discovered in her bed. | [21] |
 |
Aunty Moser | 103 | 1749 | Aunty Moser was 103 when she was first photographed. | [24] |
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Conrad Heyer | 103 | April 10, 1749/1753 | Conrad Heyer was an American farmer, veteran of the American Revolutionary War, who allegedly took part in the crossing of the Delaware River. In 1852, he posed for a daguerreotype at the age of 103. | [25] |
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Samuel Sprague | 89 | December 22, 1753 | Samuel was a mason, father of Charles Sprague, and took part in the Boston Tea Party in 1773 at the age of 19 and fought in the Revolutionary War and saw combat at the siege of Boston and fought at Trenton and Princeton. | [29] |
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Dr. Joseph Souberbielle | 91 | March 18, 1754 | Joseph Souberbielle was a French surgeon who served as chief surgeon for the victors of the Bastille (1789) and in 1793, he was a juror of the Revolutionary Tribunal. The photograph is believed to be of him or French doctor François-Victor Bally. | [30] |
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Martin Routh | 99 | September 18, 1755 | Martin Routh was an English scholar and was President of Magdalen College, Oxford from 1791-1854. | [33] |
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Ralph Farnham | 102 | July 7, 1756 | Ralph was a Revolutionary veteran who was supposed to participate in the Battle of Bunker Hill but arrived later due to an error in his colonel's orders. | [36] |
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Abraham Wheelwright | 93 | July 26, 1757 | Captain Abraham Wheelwright was a soldier in the Revolutionary War who was present at the Battle of Trenton and later at Princeton, finally wintering at Morristown before his discharge in 1777. | [36] |
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Lemuel Cook | 105 | September 10, 1759 | Lemuel was a farmer who fathered 10 children and fought at Brandywine and in the Virginian campaign, and was wounded several times. He was present at Charles Cornwallis' surrender in October 1781. | [40] |
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Daniel F. Bakeman | 109 | October 9, 1759 | Daniel was a farmer, fathered 8 children, and was a veteran of the Revolutionary War and possibly fought at the Battle of Johnston. | [44] |