The Lighthouse Keeper

Some of you read my Father’s Day post this past week where I describe James Parkinson is a distracted physician who maybe was not all he seemed. Of course I wrote that tongue-in-cheek, but now I have to wonder. I am beginning to think he really is not who he seemed. You see there is one photograph that is used widely in most bios, websites, and blog posts like mine that supposedly portray James Parkinson. It turns out it is not him! It is a James Parkinson, just not “the” James Parkinson. The one portrayed in the picture was a lighthouse keeper in Tasmania. The fact is James Parkinson, the disease guy, died before the advent photography. There are no legitimate images of him on record. I cannot only conclude that he was not who he seemed to be, but he is also not the person I pictured him to be.