Who Were They?

 

This fine gentleman is Willis. No other name was noted, and so we shall probably never know exactly who Willis was. Was Willis his first or last name? He was in his middle aged years when he sat for his portrait at the Sherman Vignette Gallery on Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY. Note his full beard, but his hair could have used a trim. You can just see his frock coat tails falling behind him. The photo can be dated to the latter 1860s by the square corners and borders around the image.