William H. Calbreath claimed to have been the model for the Cream of Wheat

Cream of Wheat

Cream of Wheat is a porridge-type breakfast food invented in 1893 by wheat millers in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The cereal is currently manufactured and sold by B&G Foods. Until 2007, it was the Nabisco brand made by Kraft Foods. It is similar in texture to grits, but made with farina instead...

 trademark

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

, one of the most enduring images in the history of American advertising.

Early years

Calbreath was born in Detroit, Michigan

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

, to a former slave who had been freed about 15 years before the outbreak of the Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. Several years after the war, he took a position as a cook at a Detroit restaurant. From there, he served as a chef at Put-in-Bay, Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island is an island and resort area covering in land area, part of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in Lake Huron, at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac, between the state's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The island was home to a Native American settlement before European...

, the Detroit's Star Island

Star Island

Star Island is one of the Isles of Shoals that straddle the border between New Hampshire and Maine, seven miles from the mainland in the Atlantic Ocean. Star Island is the largest of the four islands in the group that are located in New Hampshire...

 clubhouse. His skills as a chef also earned him a stint at New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

's famed Delmonico's.

Contested claim

Calbreath claimed that he served as the model for the original Cream of Wheat trademark, which was used by the company from the early 1900s to about 1925. At that point, the original trademark was modified. Calbreath's claim has never been officially confirmed, though it has been widely reported in newspapers in northeastern Ohio, where he settled later in life.

Later years

Calbreath spent his last years in Struthers, Ohio

Struthers, Ohio

Struthers is a city in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States. The population was 12,036 at the 2000 census. Struthers is served by a branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County. It is part of the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :John...

, a town located near the industrial center of Youngstown

Youngstown, Ohio

Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Mahoning County; it also extends into Trumbull County. The municipality is situated on the Mahoning River, approximately southeast of Cleveland and northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...

. Until his retirement, he was employed as a coal dealer. Calbreath died at the age of 93, surviving his wife, Addie, and a daughter, Mrs. B. Graves, of Detroit.