# Earliest photo of famous person?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-photo-of-famous-person/986920>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 12, 2023, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-photo-of-famous-person/986920 "2023-07-12T03:46:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-photo-of-famous-person/986920/21 "2023-07-15T10:14:53Z")

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Maria Edgeworth is still a well known writer, in Ireland at least. I don’t know how widely her name would be recognised elsewhere.

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**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-photo-of-famous-person/986920/22 "2023-07-15T14:58:39Z")

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From your link, it appears Pierre Stephen Du Ponceau (1760–1844) was the earliest born person in a photograph. A linguist who correctly refuted European myths about Chinese writing, he was famous enough to have a Wikipedia article.

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**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-photo-of-famous-person/986920/23 "2023-07-15T15:13:27Z")

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Conrad Heyer was born either in 1749 or 1753. In the early 1850s a few Revolutionary war vets were photographed. Not famous though.

> **[Conrad Heyer](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Heyer)**
>
> Conrad Heyer (April 10, 1749 or 1753\[Note 1\] – February 19, 1856) was an American farmer, veteran of the American Revolutionary War, and centenarian who is notable for possibly being the earliest-born person to have ever been photographed.
> Heyer was born in the village of Waldoboro, then known as "Broad Bay" and part of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The settlement had been sacked and depopulated by Wabanaki attacks and resettled with German immigrants recruited from the Rhineland. Among t...

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