William Herman Rulofson

William Herman Rulofson (September 27, 1826 – November 2, 1878) was a Canadian-American photographer, who along with his partner, H. W. Bradley, was considered one of the leading photographers in the city of San Francisco, California. He was also the brother of Edward H. Rulloff, a notorious murderer who was hanged for his crime in 1871.

Early life Rulofson was the youngest of six brothers in Hampton, New Brunswick, Canada, three of whom survived past childhood. His father, also named William Herman, died while Rulofson was still an infant, and his mother, Priscilla Amelia Howard, was the granddaughter of Hannah Lightfoot, who was alleged to have been the first wife of King George III. The Rulofson family had emigrated from Denmark to New York in the early 18th century. Loyalists during the American Revolution, they relocated to New Brunswick in 1781. As a teenager, Rulofson learned how to take daguerreotypes as an apprentice to a relative who was one of the earliest daguerreotypists in Saint John. and plied his trade with a traveling daguerreotype wagon with partner John B. Cameron, taking portraits of miners. His work was highly regarded, with newspaper articles praising his skill. In 1857, he bought out Cameron to become the sole proprietor of his business, which was destroyed in another fire in 1860. However, he had been successful enough to be able to afford to rebuild it.

Rulofson's photographic talent was renowned. In 1873, he won gold prize at a competition in Vienna, and he was also elected president of the National Photographic Association in 1874. He was also a founding member as well as the official photographer of the Bohemian Club.

Rulofson also gained notoriety for his role in the publication of the satirical The Dance of Death. Written by Ambrose Bierce with Rulofson's son-in-law [mThomas A. Harcourt and released under the pseudonym "William Herman", the book describes the "intolerable nastiness" of the waltz. A man engaged in the dance is described: "his eyes, gleaming with a fierce intolerable lust, gloat satyr-like over [his partner]." Bierce later said, "Rulofson ... suggested the scheme and supplied the sinews of sin." Rulofson himself said of the book, "I have shown society what a loathsome ulcer festers in its midst."

Rulofson was rumored to have a vicious temper. He became estranged from his second son, who went to sea after Amelia's death "to escape the severity of his father's punishment". Upon his return at age 19, father and son agreed that the boy would be adopted by the ship's captain. The children from his first marriage did not appear to take well to his second marriage, as Morgan was of their generation. During one dispute, the youngest daughter of his first marriage died, apparently killed by her half-brother Charles.