Conrad Heyer (April 10, 1749 – February 19, 1856) was an American farmer, veteran of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, and centenarian who is notable for possibly being the earliest-born person to have ever been photographed.

Biography

Heyer was born in the village of Waldoboro, then known as "Broad Bay" and part of the

Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in British America which became one of the Thirteen Colonies, thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III of England, William III and Mary II ...

. The settlement had been sacked and depopulated by Wabanaki attacks and resettled with German immigrants recruited from the

Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

. Among these settlers were the parents of Conrad Heyer, who also may have been the

first white child The birth of the first white child is a concept that marks the establishment of a European colony in the New World, especially in the historiography of the United States. Americas Canada Snorri Thorfinnsson, born around 1010 in the Viking settle ...

born in the settlement. During the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, according to the New Market Press, Heyer fought for the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

under the command of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

and participated in Washington's famous crossing of the Delaware before the

Battle of Trenton The Battle of Trenton was a small but pivotal American Revolutionary War battle on the morning of December 26, 1776, in Trenton, New Jersey. After General George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American m ...

in December 1776. He was discharged in December 1777. After the war, he returned to Waldoboro, where he made a living as a farmer until his death in 1856. He was buried with

full military honors A military funeral is a memorial or burial rite given by a country's military for a soldier, sailor, marine or airman who died in battle, a veteran, or other prominent military figures or heads of state. A military funeral may feature guards ...

. However, Don Hagist wrote an article in ''The Journal of the American Revolution'' disputing that he crossed the Delaware with Washington because, according to Heyer's own pension deposition, he enlisted "about the middle of December AD 1775 ... I did actually serve said term of one year in the army ... The place of my discharge was on the North River at Fish Kilns and the time I received it about the middle of December AD 1777"; the crossing took place on the night of December 25–26, 1776. In 1852, at the age of 103, Heyer posed for a

daguerreotype Daguerreotype (; french: daguerréotype) was the first publicly available photographic process; it was widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process. Invented by Louis Daguerre an ...

portrait. He may therefore be the earliest-born person of whom a photograph taken while alive is known to exist. The claim is not without dispute, however; at least four others were photographed who may have been born earlier. These include a woman named Hannah Stilley Gorby, who may have been born in 1746; a shoemaker named John Adams, who claimed to be born in 1745; a Revolutionary War veteran named Baltus Stone, with a claim of 1744; and an enslaved man named

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caes ...

who, according to the inscription on his marble tombstone, was born in 1737 and died in 1852 — which would mean he lived to be 115 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heyer, Conrad 18th-century American military personnel 1749 births 1856 deaths American centenarians Men centenarians American people of German descent Farmers from Maine History of photography Military personnel from Maine People from Waldoboro, Maine People of Maine in the American Revolution