"Mystery Photos" Taken by H.J. Epler

The photographs below were taken by photographer H.J. Epler in Sandusky, Ohio. Unfortunately we are not sure of the identity of these two individuals. All we know is that H. J. Epler took photographs of the men in Sandusky sometime between 1869 and 1873.

In the 1869 Sandusky City Directory, Harry J. Epler was listed as a photographer. He worked for A.C. Platt. In 1873 H.J. Epler was working on his own as a photographer. His studio was located at the northeast corner of Columbus Avenue and Water Streets in downtown Sandusky.

Erie County Probate Court records show that H.J. Epler married H. L. Agard on June 25, 1872. Helen L. Agard’s  father, Dr. Aurelius Homer Agard, was a well known physician in Sandusky, Ohio from 1856 to 1875, when he moved to California.

According to the book Artists in Ohio, 1787-1900, from 1876 to 1880, Harry J. Epler worked with Edwin J. Howard in the Akron area. By 1900, H. J. Epler was living with his wife Helen and their two children Charlotte and Don in Saratoga Springs, New York. City directories there, published in 1888 and 1892, list Harrison J. Epler as a photographer with Thomas J. Arnold in Saratoga Springs. Census, vital records, and directories have listed  H. J. Epler’s first name as Henry, Harry, or Harrison. Records from Greenridge Cemetery in Saratoga Springs indicate that Harrison J. Epler died in 1909, and his wife, Helen Agard Epler died in 1931. They are both buried in the East Hillside section of Greenridge Cemetery.