Bill Duckett was a friend and helper for Whitman, and he traveled with the poet extensively around this time, escorting Whitman on stage for his Lincoln lecture in New York in 1887, for example. Duckett sometimes served as driver for Whitman's phaeton—a gift from Whitman's prominent friends—which he received in September 1885 and kept until September 1888. There later were troubles with Duckett, but Whitman recalled in 1889 that "he was often with me: we went to Gloucester together: one trip was to New York: . . . then to Sea Isle City once: I stayed there at the hotel two or three days—so on: we were quite thick then: thick: when I had money it was as freely Bill's as my own: I paid him well for all he did for me. . . . I liked Bill: he had good points: is bright—very bright" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Friday, February 1, 1889).

Donald Edge attributes this and another tintype to Lorenzo F. Fisler, a Camden photographer on Federal Street.

See "Notes on Whitman's Photographers."