Roeliff Brinkerhoff's contribution to the founding of the Ohio Historical Society is the subject of my latest post on the Oak Hill facebook page. In addition to his role in establishing the state organization, he was also the first president of the Richland County Historical Society (Oak Hill's parent organization). This summer while going through some things in Oak Hill Cottage's attic I noticed this photographic portrait of a well-tailored old gentleman and automatically assumed it was Roeliff Brinkerhoff. It was also circumstantially situated on a shelf along with another past Society president, Kenneth Dirlam, and a portrait of James G. Blaine, a Maine senator who ran for president and was a close friend of Brinkerhoff's. Nevertheless there was no identification on the photo to firmly establish who it was. Here is the photo, followed by a couple of other known photos of Brinkerhoff for comparison. The group picture is the 1907 photo at the dedication of the blockhouse, which established that Brinkerhoff had adopted the bushy haired and whiskered look in his later years as in the portrait. I'm convinced it's Brinkerhoff. How about you?
5 comments:
I look at the eyes and think,"yes" but the nose is throwing me off a little. The nose of the man in the top photo seem shorter and wider but may be hard to tell without looking at the originals. It will be interesting to see what other responses you receive.
The original posting wouldn't click to a larger photo, so I re-uploaded it.
Hi, Alan! It doesn't look like the same man to me, although for some reason I'm not able to enlarge the two ID'd photos of Brinkerhoff. The first man's eyes are farther apart and his nose is wider than Brinkerhoff's. Just out of curiosity, are the other men in the blockhouse picture identified?
Peggy Mershon
Butler-Clear Fork Valley Historical Society
Peggy! Peter Bissman is standing to Brinkerhoff's left and Baughman is the far right of the photo in front slouching with his coat open. Those are the ones I know. The original photo may exist at the Memorial Museum, which would be interesting to enlarge for a good look, and also to i.d. each one.
Looks like him to me!!!
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