Lincoln Discussion Symposium
Is This Abraham Lincoln? - Printable Version

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Is This Abraham Lincoln? - RJNorton - 06-20-2017 05:18 AM

Marsha (wcvet6 on the forum) sent this photo. She would like to know if folks think this is/is not Abraham Lincoln.

[Image: isthisabrahamlincoln.jpg]


RE: Is This Abraham Lincoln? - Gene C - 06-20-2017 06:56 AM

I will say no, for starters the hair color is wrong. Lincoln had coarse black hair with just a "touch of gray".
This gentleman's hair appears to almost totally gray or white.

RE: Is This Abraham Lincoln? - RJNorton - 06-20-2017 08:15 AM

IMO, Gene is correct. I am posting the last picture of Lincoln in life, as well as the only photo in death, and the hair/beard color does not match up with Marsha's photo.

[Image: last.jpg]

[Image: lid.jpg]


RE: Is This Abraham Lincoln? - L Verge - 06-20-2017 08:50 AM

This may sound strange, but the head of the man shown in this photo could almost be photo shopped from a stone monument to Mr. Lincoln.

RE: Is This Abraham Lincoln? - Thomas Kearney - 06-20-2017 09:58 AM

I'm with Gene on this one

RE: Is This Abraham Lincoln? - Eva Elisabeth - 06-20-2017 02:14 PM

I'm afraid I don't even see a striking resemblance other than another tall, lean gentleman. The entire physiognomy seems different to me. If I had come across this photo I wouldn't have thought of the gentleman looking like Abraham Lincoln.
[attachment=2615]

RE: Is This Abraham Lincoln? - Steve - 06-20-2017 03:06 PM

I agree with the above, but also like to add that the older gentlemen in the photo is using a cane.

RE: Is This Abraham Lincoln? - Eva Elisabeth - 06-20-2017 03:51 PM

Abraham Lincoln did own and probably use canes (not in photos though), I think it was a gentleman fashion in those days.
His favorite one at least Mary gave to Frederick Douglass:
https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/douglass/exb/visionary/FRDO1898_caneLincoln.html
Here's F. D.'s "thank-you" letter to Mary:
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/african-americans-and-emancipation/essays/%E2%80%9Cyour-late-lamented-husband%E2%80%9D-letter-from-fr

RE: Is This Abraham Lincoln? - Steve - 06-20-2017 05:10 PM

Did Marsha say where the photo came from or why she thinks it might be associated with Lincoln?

RE: Is This Abraham Lincoln? - RJNorton - 06-20-2017 05:13 PM

(06-20-2017 05:10 PM)Steve Wrote:  Did Marsha say where the photo came from or why she thinks it might be associated with Lincoln?

Steve, I am hoping she will post what she knows.

RE: Is This Abraham Lincoln? - wcvet6 - 06-20-2017 05:47 PM

(06-20-2017 05:18 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Marsha (wcvet6 on the forum) sent this photo. She would like to know if folks think this is/is not Abraham Lincoln.

[Image: isthisabrahamlincoln.jpg]

this is a post mortum abe Lincoln , compare his facial features , ears ,hands arms shoulders, the hair color could be the lighting or flash,
check the hairline , the embalmers report says he set his lips in a slight smile my photo shows that , he was clean shaven except a tuft on his chin ,
(06-20-2017 08:15 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  IMO, Gene is correct. I am posting the last picture of Lincoln in life, as well as the only photo in death, and the hair/beard color does not match up with Marsha's photo.

[Image: last.jpg]

[Image: lid.jpg]

that death photo shows a full beard , the embalmer shaved him, no slight smile as per embalmers report , in fact I believe it to be a bust of his 1861 life mask, abe looked much older at death.

RE: Is This Abraham Lincoln? - L Verge - 06-20-2017 07:39 PM

Those in the "know" on this forum know that I am now out of this discussion the minute the words "post mortum" appeared...

RE: Is This Abraham Lincoln? - Susan Higginbotham - 06-20-2017 07:49 PM

Not a postmortem of Lincoln or of anyone else.

RE: Is This Abraham Lincoln? - Steve - 06-20-2017 09:05 PM

(06-20-2017 05:47 PM)wcvet6 Wrote:  
(06-20-2017 05:18 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Marsha (wcvet6 on the forum) sent this photo. She would like to know if folks think this is/is not Abraham Lincoln.

[Image: isthisabrahamlincoln.jpg]

this is a post mortum abe Lincoln , compare his facial features , ears ,hands arms shoulders, the hair color could be the lighting or flash,
check the hairline , the embalmers report says he set his lips in a slight smile my photo shows that , he was clean shaven except a tuft on his chin ,
(06-20-2017 08:15 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  IMO, Gene is correct. I am posting the last picture of Lincoln in life, as well as the only photo in death, and the hair/beard color does not match up with Marsha's photo.

[Image: last.jpg]

[Image: lid.jpg]

that death photo shows a full beard , the embalmer shaved him, no slight smile as per embalmers report , in fact I believe it to be a bust of his 1861 life mask, abe looked much older at death.

Marsha,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on your photo. However, it is not a postmortem photograph. The posing stand behind the man would not have been able to support the weight of a dead body keeping it upright. The stand was used to help keep the person still for an exposure time that could take as long as a minute. If you look at the top of the man's cane, you'll notice that its top is blurred while its bottom is not. This is because the man in the photo is leaning on the cane for support and is moving his hand slightly.

RE: Is This Abraham Lincoln? - RJNorton - 06-21-2017 06:37 AM

(06-20-2017 05:47 PM)wcvet6 Wrote:  that death photo shows a full beard , the embalmer shaved him, no slight smile as per embalmers report , in fact I believe it to be a bust of his 1861 life mask, abe looked much older at death.

Offhand I cannot think of a single historian who has ever questioned the legitimacy of Dr. Ron Rietveld's magnificent find.