Conrad Heyer

Conrad Heyer (1749–1856) was an American farmer and veteran of the Revolutionary War who is notable for possibly being the earliest-born American to have been photographed alive.

Biography
Heyer was born in the village of Waldoboro, Maine, then known as "Broad Bay" and part of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The settlement had been sacked and depopulated by Wabanaki attacks and resettled with German immigrants recruited from the Rhineland. Among these settlers were the parents of Conrad Heyer, who also may have been the first white child born in the settlement.

During the American Revolution, Heyer fought for the Continental Army under the command of George Washington. He was discharged in December 1776. 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.

In 1852, at the age of 103, Heyer posed for a daguerreotype portrait. He thereby became the earliest-born person of whom a photograph is known to exist. The claim is not without dispute, however, as the following men were also photographed: 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 a slave named Caesar, with a claim of 1738.