Unidentified Young Man, But I Have a Theory

The seller on Ebay described this item as "Carte de Visite Gentleman Crazy Eyes." The subject of the photo was not identified, but the photographer was — Blackhall of Hobart — and that got my attention. As we know, John Blackhall was one of Hobart's earliest professional photographers. A photo by him would date prior to the mid-1890s, and perhaps as early as 1873.


(Click on image to enlarge)

The young man does have a piercing gaze, doesn't he? — although I wouldn't go so far as to call it "crazy." I can't even guess as to the year of the photo — men's fashions are so much harder to date than women's. This photo could have been taken anytime during Blackhall's career.



Once I received the original photo and started studying it, I began to feel that there was something familiar about this man. And then I began thinking about Fred Rose, Sr.

Fred Sr.'s presence in Hobart coincided with the later years of Blackhall's photography business. According to the earliest census records we have of Fred, he came to this country from Germany in 1882,[1] and his 1942 obituary states that he arrived in Hobart that same year,[2] at which time he was about 16 years of age.

Here is our unidentified young man side-by-side with a circa-1921 portrait of Fred Rose, Sr. (which I'm using because both photos were taken from nearly the same angle).


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image on the right courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

Here I've taken a colorized copy of the young man and superimposed it on the Chief of Police:



There are remarkable similarities about the nose and mouth. There are also remarkable dissimilarities about the crown of the head, the eyes and the ears. I am aware that different cameras can produce surprising differences in a subject's face, but could that, or a 30-year time lapse, explain the differences we see here?

In an earlier photo of Fred, taken circa 1891, his eyes look more like the unidentified subject's.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

The crown of the head is hidden in this one. But the ears! How can I explain away those ears?

So, as fond as I am of my theory that the unidentified subject could be a young Fred Rose, Sr., I have to admit that there's good evidence that it's wrong. Perhaps what we're seeing here is a general family resemblance, in some relative of Fred's who came to visit him in Hobart and sat for a photograph by John Blackhall.

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[9/17/2022 update] Hobart historian Suzi sends me this photo of Fred Rose, Sr. to show me that my theory is totally off the rails.


(Sorry, it doesn't get any bigger than this)

Since the photo was taken at Showman's Gallery, it would date between 1893 and 1899. (The descendants' faces were a later addition to the image, I'm sure.)

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[1] The 1900 Census and the 1910 Census record 1882 as his year of immigration; the 1920 Census says 1885, the 1930 Census 1883; and the 1940 Census does not include that information.
[2] "Last Rites Held for Hobart's Fire Chief, F. Rose Sr.," Gazette, 26 Mar. 1942.