Will the real Benjamin Green please ... sit down

Louise Inman, the intrepid amateur history sleuth who solved one of Carson City's most confounding historical puzzles, was surprised when I told her Monday about the latest development.

First, a little background. As we wrote about Sunday in the Appeal, Inman undertook an extensive search for a photograph of one of Carson City's four founders, Benjamin Franklin Green. She began the effort in February after hearing in a lecture by Guy Rocha that Green was the only one of the four for whom no photo was known to exist.

Her hard work paid off in a big way and, in Sunday's Appeal, readers were able to gaze upon the image of Benjamin Franklin Green for the first time.

And that's exactly what they did. The only problem was the person in that group photo she had been told was Benjamin Green " the man standing in the middle of the back row " was actually someone else, Lon Orne. The real Benjamin Green is the man sitting in the front row with the long gray beard.

This revelation came when some of the descendants of Green read the story on the Appeal's Web site and realized the error, which originates from the identities supplied by yet another descendant.

So, today, we present the real Benjamin Franklin Green, one of four founders of Carson City.

Of course, none of this lessens the magnitude of Inman's accomplishment ... she did indeed fill the gap in Carson City's history. But it's interesting to consider that had the story not appeared in the Appeal and on our Web site for the descendants from afar to see, the erroneous identification might never have been discovered. A picture of the wrong person might forever have been presented as Green in discussions of the city's history.

And as for the image of the real Benjamin Green, allow me to say, on a purely superficial level, that I think Carson City is better off in the balance. The new Green is a grandfatherly looking figure who seems to project an aura of gentle wisdom. The man we thought was Green, well ... that guy projects an aura of "ruthless 19th century European dictator."

You have to have a sense of humor about these things, and Inman is taking the latest development in stride. She noted that some of the sources she used in her quest, old timers who live in Downieville, Calif., also wondered if the identities had been botched, but they didn't have any hard evidence to refute it.

Wrote Joni Vella, great great great granddaughter of Benjamin's brother, Robert: "It is interesting that in general we can tell the Ornes from the Greens on looks alone " their eyes. Benjamin Green does look somewhat like my great-great-great-grandfather, Robert."

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The Nevada Appeal switched to a new provider for our weather page beginning July 1, and it's no surprise that several readers have called to tell us what they think about it. Anytime we change something significant in the paper, I know to allot extra time to answer calls, sometimes from people who are not at all happy (I'm sure there are still some cat lovers who have my picture on their dartboards after I replaced the Kit 'N' Carlyle comic strip a few years ago).

Those calls are exactly what we hoped for, however, because we intend to make changes soon that address what people have been telling us. The most common of those suggestions, by the way, was to include the forecasts for more cities around the nation, especially Los Angeles. It's one small way many people like to keep up the lives of family and friends.

Barry Ginter is editor of the Appeal. You can reach him at 881-1221, or via e-mail at bginter@nevadaappeal.com