This Fellow Looks Famous but Can't Put my Finger on it!

Hello everyone!

Here in New England we are bracing for a bit of a storm. I got out today and bought a couple photos, this was one of them.

He looked familiar to me. Like I'd seen his photo before.
Now, I could be totally wrong and he may just be a victorian man... but figured I'd ask all of you lovely people. The photographer in Cleveland who took this photo was well known for taking photos of famous individuals.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Not Edison

 

Nor Alexander Graham Bell.

But seriously, there seems to be some pencil writing on the back you didn't mention. What does it say? May not seem important, but you never know.

 

Haha! Ops! Yes there is some writing on the back.

It looks to say "E. S. L---" Something.
Dated March 27th

The writing under it is unidentifiable. I colored the pics to get a better pic of the writing. what do you think?

 

Hmmm. Looks like the second is N (to me) and the first letter of the last name could be a T.

There also looks (oddly) like there is a lower case m (or something else) between the E and the N - they are all connected. There's no period after the E.

All the lines and curlicues in the design is sure making it tough to see what is writing and what is design, isn't it.

 

You are right! It is in an N! The last name looks to be 4-5 letters.

 

I decided that the last name was Sill and did a quick search on Ancestry for E. N. Sill living in or near Cleveland in 1880.

Voila! Elisha N. Sill, age 79, a very wealthy banker, lives in Cuyahoga Falls. (same county as Cleveland)

I'll look further.

 

That's got to be him.

Hon. Elisha Noyes Sill, born to a prominent family in CT, 1801. Graduate of Yale 1820, removed to Ohio 1828. Was in "milling" for some time, served several terms as State Senator, President of Summit County Bank.

 

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6444859

 

Ta Da!

https://books.google.com/books?id=n...AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=elisha noyes sill&f=false

 

girl....u r tenacious !!!

wow !

 

Incredible, isn't she!

 

You are amazing!! I can't believe you found that!!

You ever considered being a detective? lol
Thank you so much for the help!!!

 

I don't know what to say. It sure helps to have worked with old records a lot for several years and to have an Ancestry subscription that I make very good use of.

I'm just glad I could solve your mystery, Scantic.

 

Good detective work, Bakersgma!

 

Thank you, Fig and Skeezix.

You realize I would never have figured this out without the writing on the back. You just have to be open to clues, however small.