John H. Fitzgibbon

(1819-1882) Born in England, the son of Michael Fitzgibbon, he arrived in the United States in 1825 as a ship's chandler. He was apprenticed to John Kelch of Philadelphia, to learn the trade of a saddler. In 1841, he learned daguerreotyping in Lynchburg, Virginia, and from 1841 to 1846 operated in Lynchburg as a daguerreian and hotel keeper. In 1846 he opened his first daguerreian gallery in St. Louis, Mo., on Fourth Street, between Market and Chestnut Streets. In 1847 he trained Peter Britt as photographer; Britt later became a noted Oregon photographer.