These Historical Figures Lived Long Enough To Be Photographed

This means that some well-known historical figures from the 1800s actually lived long enough to have their photograph taken. George Washington only missed the cut by 27 years, but Abe Lincoln and even Uncle Sam were alive to witness photography. For your viewing pleasure, we’ve put together a list of some rare historical photographs of old historical figures.

His sister-in-law inherited his work after her husband, Vincent’s brother, passed away months after the artist. Once properly exposed to the people, the notoriety for his talent started to take off. If only it had happened a little earlier. Even his mom underestimated his talent by throwing out boxes of paintings after his death.

Born in 1774, John Chapman had an obsession. He believed it was important to spread glorious apple trees across the nation. He was welcomed by Native Americans and settlers equally. Johnny Appleseed had a big heart for people and animals, eventually becoming a vegetarian. He was 70 when this photo was taken.

Pictured here at age 46, she took the next decade to make 13 trips back down south after having escaped there herself. It takes a different type of bravery to put yourself back in the fire to help get people to safety. What’s equally as important as Harriet going back is that she shared information on how to follow the Underground Railroad with others. There is no telling how many can attribute her help to their ability to free themselves.

Another decade or so later, the country was embroiled in war circling around the abolitionist movement. He lived to see the government free the slaves across the nation.

Most often, when you think of women from this time period, you imagine hoop skirts, corsets, and updos with dainty hats. Calamity Jane was not that image. A capable woman on the frontier, she wore men’s clothing and fashioned herself as a sharpshooter. While there is a mix of fact and fiction, she was known to have a softer side towards the sick and in need. She’s represented here in her early 30s.

In fact, he’s the only soldier known to have been photographed from that famous moment. Conrad was 103 in this photograph and lived another three years afterward.

Considering the average life expectancy of the time was 40, it really was a feat to celebrate. John lived to the advanced age of 80, which was only five years after this photograph was taken. It was also less than 20 years after he was in charge of the US for four years. Funny enough, he looks pretty much the same as the official White House painting in this image. Not only does it show a president enjoying a nice afternoon, but also the incredible talent of the painter from two decades earlier.

This picture of a man once viewed positively as a military hero was taken shortly before his death at age 78. They say ugly on the inside eventually shows. That might be why he looks so miserable. After all, he is the reason the Native Americans were uprooted from their homes and forced to tread the trail of tears out west.

Founder of the Democratic Party, Martin was the first president to be born on American soil. A proponent of states making up their own rules, he didn’t feel the need to end slavery or stop the removal of Native Americans from their own land. That might have been why he didn’t get reelected.

Afterward, the popular Native American adopted it. Geronimo eventually surrendered three times to the American government. During the last time, he led a group of Native Americans down the aisle for President Roosevelt’s inauguration.

John had a strange rise to power. He’s the first to be president without having been elected. That occurred after the death of president-elect William Harrison, who passed away about a month after taking office. He got fatally sick after not wearing a coat at his inauguration. Speaking of bad luck, John’s wife was the first spouse to pass away during the presidency.

While in office, James annexed Texas, led America through the Mexican-American War, added territory from Mexico that helped fulfill manifest destiny, negotiated the Oregon treaty, and didn’t run for reelection. These were all points he made during his campaign. This photo was taken the year Polk passed away at age 53 from cholera.

A respected veteran of the Mexican-American war, Robert E. Lee was a successful captain who was eventually promoted to general. When tensions were heating out of control between the north and south, war became inevitable. That’s when President Lincoln reached out to Robert in hopes that he would lead the US to victory against the confederate army. The general was conflicted by the request of his commander in chief and loyalty to his home state of Virginia. Ultimately, he chose to represent the south. When he left his home, he was never able to go back.

Yes, he was for slavery, believing it was beneficial to the economy. Even though there was another president between Franklin and Abraham, he went out of his way to smack talk Lincoln before and after the latter was elected. After a long struggle with alcoholism, the former man in charge drank himself to death just four years after the Civil War ended at age 65.

As a well-known lawyer and now congressman, the 37-year-old future abolisher of slavery was sitting for the earliest photo we have of him. Abraham wouldn’t have known at this point, but his life was about to get really busy in the coming years. Oh, the things we could tell him if stepping through the image was possible.

To retain expert-level knowledge in subjects such as math, chemistry, and astronomy is more than enough. However, he wasn’t done. He invented blueprints and systems in astronomy that are still used today.

Was he the inspiration for the character? Well, that was never confirmed by author Washington Irving. However, the two met while Irving was working with the governor of New York. He mentioned how memorable the name was, thus the connection was made.

However, before she traveled the world to show off her skills, she developed them to help her family. Oakley grew up with very little and had to learn how to hunt at an early age. That experience made her the highest paid person in the show.

Imagine all the fantastic images he could have taken while studying nature in the Galapagos. Well, that’s okay, because he is still remembered as one of the most well-known and influential scientists of all time. This image was taken about 28 years before his death, and before his love for long white beards set in. Surely, as the father of evolution, he’d be thrilled to see how photography has evolved.

It was her time with radioactivity, a term that was created by Marie, that propelled her scientific career. Unfortunately, since she was the first to conduct these studies, no one knew the devastating impact of radioactive isotopes. She carried a tube of them in her pocket. To this day, all of her papers are in special containers. In order to handle them, you have to be equipped for dangerous materials with protective gear. Years after her passing, both she and her husband were moved to the Pantheon, which is reserved only for those deemed national heroes. She’s the only woman buried there based on her own accomplishments. They are interred in lead-lined coffins due to contamination.

Against everything that made sense, he forced an attack on Little Big Horn. Subsequently, he was captured and scalped on the battlefield. His wife had a premonition that something horrific would happen to him and when it did, his death destroyed her as well. His wife Libbie was in her mid-30s when her husband met his end. She lived into her 90s. Libbie never remarried and went on a mission to restore her husband’s image.

Finally, she found her strength and independence as a young woman and went on to rule for 63 years. That includes 40 years in mourning after the passing of her husband, Prince Albert.

Today, she’s viewed as a poetry legend. It would be hard to find someone today who hasn’t at least heard of Emily Dickinson, but that was far from the case during her lifetime. She was basically unknown. It wasn’t until after she passed away that over 2,000 poems were discovered. Emily was 17 in the photograph and it’s the only one we have of her.

The only photograph known of the Native American chief was taken when he was 78 years old. He was most known for going out of his way to bring together his people with the European settlers. Understandably, he was up against a lot of difficulty with the mix, but he pushed through nonetheless.

By the time he was 21, he had already taken the lives of eight men. He lived hard and fast for someone whose first crime was stealing clothes just four years before his death. Billy was wanted with a reward of $5,000, around $175,000 today.

Jesse James was a strong supporter of the confederacy and used that momentum to terrorize union soldiers and even participate in their massacres. It wasn’t until years after the war, however, that he started to make a name for himself on the wrong side of the law. This photo was taken a bit before the time he was killed at age 34.

Leo Tolstoy’s works were so important, detailing the life and times during the turn of the century in Russia. In fact, we still study them today. Books such as War and Peace are required reading for many students before graduating. Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that he was nominated several times for a Nobel Prize but did not win due to his controversial views.

As he got closer to the royal family, people on the outside thought he was having a deeper impact on the business of running a nation. This photo was taken around the time of Rasputin’s assassination.

The real Sam used his expertise with meat to feed the troops during the War of 1812. That’s actually how he got his nickname. The barrels containing his meat were stamped with U.S., short for the United States. As a joke, the men took it upon themselves to interpret it as Uncle Sam. We can definitely see the resemblance between the cartoon and this one and only existing photo of Samuel.

Her widely read novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was believed to be the first step toward the Civil War. In it, she depicted what life was like for African Americans held by plantation owners. She helped tremendously change the attitude in favor of the enslaved.

That triumph made him one of the most decorated war heroes in Europe. Eventually, he served as prime minister of Great Britain. This photo was taken of him at 75, eight years before he died.

Butch Cassidy may have been one of the most well-known outlaws in the west, but he didn’t work alone. Robbing as the infamous duo, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, wasn’t enough. There was also the Wild Bunch. Eventually, the law was catching up to him and his group, so it was time to bail. This photo was taken right before he took off to Argentina.

Here he’s shown a handful of years after the Civil War. Daniel is notable, not only for his contribution to our independence, but as the longest-living Revolutionary War veteran. At the time this photo was taken, he was the last survivor. Bakeman was also 109 at the time, and lived for another year on top of that.

He served in the military during the Mexican-American War, represented Mississippi in the Senate, and was given the cabinet position of Secretary of War when Pierce was commander in chief. However, all that went out the window when he decided to make himself the president of the Confederate States.

This was done using light writing aka heliography. The photo depicts the view outside of a window overlooking buildings surrounded by the countryside. This almost missable piece of history changed the world as we know it and gave us all the historical photos within this list.

He is widely recognized as one of the most influential political and spiritual leaders of the 20th century. He was an Indian lawyer, activist, and writer who led the nationalist movement against British rule in India. He is most well known for his practices of peaceful protest and nonviolence.

He was a strong believer in the conservation movement, encouraging policies which made use of natural resources. He also expanded many U.S. national parks and forests. Later in his presidency he changed his priorities to focus on big business and supporting labor unions.

He is only 24 in this image. In most photographs he is seen in his later years with white hair and a fluffy white mustache on his upper lip. In this photo he is barely recognizable as the author of books such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Some of his biggest ideas were that of the conscious vs. unconscious mind and the id, ego, and superego. He is also studied for his ideas on psychosexual development and dream interpretation.

He is probably the most famous British prime minister and is even regarded as one of the greatest Britons of all time. His most famous speech came during the battle of Dunkirk, where thousands of British and French soldiers were saved from the beaches of Dunkirk which were under attack from the Nazis.

He created the phonograph and the motion picture camera as well. So it is only fitting that we include this rare image of him. We might not have the lightbulbs sitting in whatever room you’re in without him!

In addition, the 28 year old woman in this photograph campaigned for the abolition of slavery. Her movements were greatly impactful to the movement and she inspired many others to get involved and fight for their rights.

Hannah Gorby was only in her 30s at the start of the American Revolution! While she may not be a household name it is fascinating to think that someone had to be the earliest born person to be put on camera, and she is the lucky one!

She used her platform to educate people about disability rights and became a very prolific political activist. She is remembered for her strength and perseverance in the face of adversary.

His show was impactful in creating a lasting image of the American west for an audience who did not know much about it. He was also a soldier in the Civil War and the Plains Wars. He was a stagecoach driver, wagon master, trapper, and bullwhacker, amongst many other jobs.

The brothers were also very interested in seeking out the truth so they attacked problems with their planes together to try and create a machine that could fly like none had before. We would likely not have the planes we fly today without the Wright brothers!

When he led the Union army, he was a general and later was elected President of the United States. He spent his presidency attempting to change Congress structure and remove slavery from America.

She lost 2 sons at a very young age, which was impossibly difficult for her to overcome. She tried to fill the void with expensive shopping and lavish parties. She was not well-liked among the American people, but she did help Abe in his political ambition to become the president of the United States.

His efforts helped save millions of people from starving during the first World War. He signed the Agricultural Marketing Act in 1929 to improve the farm crisis. He aimed to have government, business, and labor all work together to improve the economy as well.

He was South Africa’s first Black president and was incredibly influential in black activism. His influence began with nonviolent strikes and protests but he later encouraged Black participants of the movement to violate laws to make more of a stand.