The
Oldest Known Photograph of a Buermeyer
In 1839 French painter and inventor Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre patented the first commercially viable instrument for capturing still images; the daguerreotype. The same year, Henry (Harry) Buermeyer was born and 22 years later, in June, 1861, he posed in his finest suit a few days before enlisting in the Union Army's 83rd New York Regiment. Seven years later, he and his colleagues would organize the New York Athletic Club to promote "lives of self-restraint and regularity", an organization that continues to this day.
Henry was a celebrated athlete, winning national boxing, running
and swimming championships. Harry Buermeyer was the first recorded national winner of the 100 yard dash in America. As a major promoter of amateur sport, he
was a judge and referee in the 1904 St. Louis Olympic Games.
His
father, Ernst Heinrich, emigrated to New York in the 1830's . He ran
the "Broad Street House", known today as Fraunce's Tavern,
a heritage site where George Washington bid farewell to his Generals at the end of the American Revolution.
In
his autobiography, written shortly before his death in 1921, he states,
"To my mind, now that the race has been run and it is all behind,
it seems to me as I am drawing nearer to the night of Eternal Silence
I am still interested in all that passes around me and will be to the
end."
Do you have old photographs of family members linked with the Buermeyer Lineage? If you do, please contact me: Contact Eric
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