Famous Masons
Many men throughout history have been members of our fraternity.
In these pages we will present you with them and try to impress upon you the great men that have been Masons.
Famous Mason Categories
Alphabetical List • Articles of Confederation • Astronauts • Businessmen • Entertainers • Explorers and Frontiersmen • Governors • Military Leaders
Politician • Presidents • Senator • Signer Declaration of Independence • Sports • Supreme Court Justice • US Constitution
American actor, producer and comedian. He is best remembered as the straight man of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Lou Costello.
American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the ?King of Country Music,? Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and ?hoedown? format to the star singer-based format that helped make it internationally successful.
A native of Newport, Charles F. Adams was a successful New England businessman who went on to found the Boston Bruins in 1924, the first American franchise in the National Hockey League. A graduate of Newport High School, Adams’s business career began in his hometown and Springfield, Vermont before moving to the Boston area where he was the founder of the First National Stores grocery chain.…
American silent film director, actor, and screenwriter who was involved in more than 100 productions throughout his career. An early acting credit was in the recently restored 1912 film Robin Hood. His urn at findagrave.com says he was born January 19, 1881.
Former American football player in Armenian origin. He was born in Santa Ana, California. A placekicker, he played college football at the University of New Mexico. He played professionally in the National Football League from 1945 through 1959, then in the newly formed American Football League for the Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers in 1960, 1961, and 1964.…
American engineer and former astronaut, and the second person to walk on the Moon. He was the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history. He set foot on the Moon at 03:15:16 (UTC) on July 21, 1969, following mission commander Neil Armstrong. He is also a former U.S. Air Force officer and a Command Pilot.
American businessman who founded the Dexter Shoe Company and established the first factory outlet store.
American astronaut and the first person to walk on the Moon. He was also an aerospace engineer, naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. Before becoming an astronaut, Armstrong was an officer in the U.S. Navy and served in the Korean War. After the war, he earned his bachelor?s degree at Purdue University and served as a test pilot at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics High-Speed Flight Station, now known as the Dryden Flight Research Center, where he logged over 900 flights.…
American general officer holding the grades of General of the Army and General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps (1938?1941), Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, the only Air Force general to hold five-star rank, and the only person to hold a five-star rank in two different U.S.…
Harry Assu, a Kwagiulth chief, helped lead his people on the journey from a traditional world inhabited by spirits and supernatural beings to the prosperous modernity of today.
American empresario born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. Known as the Father of Texas, he led the second, and ultimately successful, colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States to the region in 1825. In addition, he worked with the Mexican government to support immigration from the United States.
American politician and statesman who served as United States Senator from Vermont and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
Better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as a singing cowboy on the radio, in movies, and on television for more than three decades beginning in the early 1930s. Autry was also owner of a television station, several radio stations in Southern California, and the Los Angeles/California/Anaheim Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997.
Lloyd Bacon is probably best known for his director?s credit on such classic Warner Bros. films as ?42nd Street?, ?Footlight Parade?, ?Knute Rockne ? All American?, and ?Action in the North Atlantic?. Still, other film personalities are better remembered for these films: choreographer Busby Berkeley for the musicals, and actors Pat O?Brien, Ronald Reagan, and Humphrey Bogart for the 1940s films.…
A pioneer polar aviator, navigator, aircraft mechanical engineer and military leader. A Norwegian native, he later became a U.S. citizen, and was a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross. His service in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II made use of his Arctic exploration expertise to help the Allies over Scandinavia and Northern Europe.…
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from January 18, 1830, to April 21, 1844.
Founded as L.G. Balfour Company Friday, June 13, 1913 by Lloyd Garfield ?Bally? Balfour in Attleboro, Massachusetts. Specialized in the manufacturing of sorority and fraternity jewelry and class rings. Later, in the 1970s, the company also began producing sports jewelry.
Meyer Kessler, was an American magician, comedian and actor.
Billing himself as ?The Great Ballantine?, ?The Amazing Ballantine? or ?Ballantine: The World?s Greatest Magician?, his vaudeville-style comedy routine involved transparent or incompetent stage magic tricks, which tended to flop and go ?hilariously awry? to the wisecracking Ballantine?s mock chagrin. He has been credited with creating comedy magic and has influenced both comics and magicians.
Bancroft was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1882. During his early days as a sailor he staged plays on board ship. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy, but left the Navy to become a ?black face? song and dance comedian in revue. After that he turned to melodrama and musical comedy. He later became one of the top Hollywood stars of the 1920s.…
American cinematographer from the era of silent films to the early 1950s. Over the course of his career, he was nominated for an Academy Award eight times, including his work on The Devil Dancer (1927) with Gilda Gray and Clive Brook. However, he only won once, for his work on the Alfred Hitchcock film Rebecca (1940).…
American attorney, politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the 80th Governor of Georgia from 1999 to 2003.
A member of the Georgia Senate from 1974 to 1990, Barnes ran unsuccessfully for Governor in 1990, losing to Lieutenant Governor Zell Miller in the Democratic primary. Barnes then served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1992 to 1998.…
American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. His mother taught him to play the piano and he started performing in his teens. Dropping out of school, he learned to operate lights for vaudeville and to improvise accompaniment for silent films at a local movie theater in his home town of Red Bank, New Jersey. By 16 he increasingly played jazz piano at parties, resorts and other venues.…
Older brother of Edward Bates and James Woodson Bates, was an American attorney and politician. He was elected in 1824 as the second governor of Missouri and died in office in 1825. Before that he had served as a Justice of the Territorial Supreme Court for Michigan Territory, was appointed by Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of the Louisiana Territory and started to build his political base in St.…
American illustrator, author, youth leader, and social reformer who founded the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905, which Beard later merged with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA).
Joined the circus as a cage cleaner as a teen and became famous as a lion tamer and animal trainer. He also became a circus impresario who owned his own show that later merged with the Cole Bros. Circus to form the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus.
American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He served in the Delaware General Assembly, as a Continental Congressman from Delaware and as a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787. He is often confused with his cousin, Gunning Bedford, Sr. an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution and Governor of Delaware.
He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 movies in a 36-year career.…
Canadian newspaper publisher, race horse owner and philanthropist. He was best known as the co-founder of FP Publications, Canada?s largest newspaper syndicate in the 1960s. He built his newspaper empire after inheriting the Calgary Albertan, and its $500,000 debt, from his father in 1936. He repaid debt by 1945 and proceeded to purchase papers across the country, including the Ottawa Journal and the Globe and Mail.…
William Andrew Cecil Bennett, PC, OC was the 25th Premier of the Canadian province of British Columbia. With just over 20 years in office, Bennett was and remains the longest-serving premier in British Columbia history. He was usually referred to as W.A.C. Bennett, although some referred to him either affectionately or mockingly as ?Wacky? Bennett. To his close friends, he was known as ?Cece?.
Nicknamed ?Old Bullion?, was a U.S. Senator from Missouri and a staunch advocate of westward expansion of the United States. He served in the Senate from 1821 to 1851, becoming the first member of that body to serve five terms. Benton was an architect and champion of westward expansion by the United States, a cause that became known as Manifest Destiny.
A four-term United States Senator (1971?1993) from Texas and the Democratic Party nominee for Vice President in 1988 on the Michael Dukakis ticket. He also served in the House of Representatives from 1948 to 1955. In his later political life, he was Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and the U.S. Treasury Secretary during the first two years of the Clinton administration.
Russian-born Jewish-American composer and lyricist. Widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history, his music forms a great part of the Great American Songbook. He published his first song, ?Marie from Sunny Italy?, in 1907, receiving 37 cents for the publishing rights, and had his first major international hit, ?Alexander?s Ragtime Band? in 1911.…
Pulitzer Prize?winning cartoonist with the Washington Star newspaper from 1907 to 1949. He was also a cartoonist for The Washington Post from 1891 to 1907.
Berryman was born on April 2, 1869, in Clifton, Kentucky, to James Thomas Berryman and Sallie Church Berryman. He married Kate Geddes Durfee in July, 1893, and they had three children: Mary Belle (died as an infant), Florence Seville (an art critic), and James Thomas (a Pulitzer Prize?winning cartoonist).…
American football player, coach of football, basketball, and baseball, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Mississippi College (1913?1915), Louisiana State University (1916), Texas A&M University (1917, 1919?1928), the University of Nebraska (1929?1936), and the University of Texas (1937?1946), compiling a career college football record of 198?72?23.
Bible was also the head basketball coach at Texas A&M from 1920 to 1927 and the head baseball coach there from 1920 to 1921.…
American politician and jurist. A member of the Democratic Party, Black represented Alabama in the United States Senate from 1927 to 1937, and served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1937 to 1971.
Black was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Black is widely regarded as one of the most influential Supreme Court justices in the 20th century.
Blair was one of the best-trained jurists of his day. A famous legal scholar, he avoided the tumult of state politics, preferring to work behind the scenes. But he was devoted to the idea of a permanent union of the newly independent states and loyally supported fellow Virginians James Madison and George Washington at the Constitutional Convention.…
American actor, comedian, and radio personality. Although he began his sixty-plus-year career performing in radio, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros. as the voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Marvin the Martian, Pepé Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, Wile E. Coyote, the Tasmanian Devil and many of the other characters from the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon short films, produced during the golden age of American animation.…
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from April 3, 1882 until his death.
Movie actor who began his career as a romantic leading man in the silent film era, and later progressed to character roles.
American sculptor, photographer, author and engineer; he was best known for overseeing the completion of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial after the death in 1941 of the project?s leader, his father Gutzon Borglum.
American artist and sculptor famous for creating the monumental presidents? heads at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota; the famous carving on Stone Mountain near Atlanta; and other public works of art, including a head of Abraham Lincoln, exhibited in Theodore Roosevelt?s White House and held in the United States Capitol Crypt in Washington, D.C.
American film and television actor whose career spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1955 for Marty. On television, he played Quinton McHale in the 1962?1966 series McHale?s Navy and co-starred in the mid-1980s action series Airwolf, in addition to a wide variety of other roles.…
He was born in Chinquapin North Carolina. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a member of the Philanthropic Society, and attended the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
United States Army field commander in North Africa and Europe during World War II, and a General of the Army. From the Normandy landings through the end of the war in Europe, Bradley had command of all U.S. ground forces invading Germany from the west; he ultimately commanded forty-three divisions and 1.3 million men, the largest body of American soldiers ever to serve under a U.S.…
38th Mayor of Los Angeles, serving from 1973 to 1993. He was the only African-American mayor of that city, and his 20 years in office mark the longest tenure by any mayor in the city?s history. His 1973 election made him the second African-American mayor of a major U.S. city. Bradley retired in 1993, after his approval ratings began dropping subsequent to the 1992 Los Angeles Riots.…
Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York, who was closely associated with Great Britain during and after the American Revolution. Perhaps the American Indian of his generation best known to the Americans and British, he met many of the most significant Anglo-American people of the age, including both George Washington and King George III
Delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention and signed the U.S. Constitution on behalf of New Jersey
British Columbia, Canada. Brewster arrived in British Columbia in 1893, and had various careers working on a ship and then in a cannery. He eventually became owner of his own canning company. He was elected to the provincial legislature in the 1907 election, and was one of only two Liberals elected to the legislature in the 1909 election.
American actor and comedian most famous for his portrayal of a lovable drunken man in nightclub performances and television programs.
American businessperson and politician from Wilmington, in New castle County, Delaware. As a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, he was a signer of the United States Constitution. He was also appointed as a delegate to the Annapolis Convention (1786) but did not attend, and he served in the Delaware General Assembly. He was the father of Congressman James M.…
American actor and comedian, remembered for his amiable screen persona, comic timing, and enormous smile. He was one of the most popular American comedians in the 1930s and 1940s with successful films like A Midsummer Night?s Dream, Earthworm Tractors and Alibi Ike. In his later career Brown starred in Some Like It Hot as Osgood Fielding III, in which he utters the famous punchline ?Well, nobody?s perfect?.
Fifth president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), serving from 1952 to 1972. The only American to attain that position, Brundage is remembered as a zealous advocate of amateurism, and for his involvement with the 1936 and 1972 Summer Olympics, both held in Germany.
Dominant force in the populist wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as the Party?s candidate for President of the United States (1896, 1900 and 1908). He served two terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Nebraska and was United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson (1913?1915), resigning because of his pacifist position on World War I.…
American actor with a long career in both film and television, most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the Petticoat Junction, Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies television sitcoms of the 1960s. As Uncle Joe, he took over as proprietor of the Shady Rest Hotel following the 1968 death of Bea Benaderet, who had played Kate Bradley.
Tall, stately, stiffly formal in the high stock he wore around his jowls, James Buchanan was the only President who never married.
Presiding over a rapidly dividing Nation, Buchanan grasped inadequately the political realities of the time. Relying on constitutional doctrines to close the widening rift over slavery, he failed to understand that the North would not accept constitutional arguments which favored the South.…
PC, QC Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 20th Premier of Nova Scotia from 1978 to 1990 and as a member of the Senate of Canada from 1990 to 2006.
Admiral Arleigh Albert ?31-knot? Burke was an admiral of the United States Navy who distinguished himself during World War II and the Korean War, and who served as Chief of Naval Operations during the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations.
American right-handed pitcher and umpire in Major League Baseball. From 1945 through 1949 he played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1945?48) and Cincinnati Reds (1948?49), and he served as a National League umpire from 1957 to 1973.
Lobbyist and former United States Senator from Montana. He is only the second Republican to represent Montana in the Senate since the passage in 1913 of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and is the longest-serving Republican senator in Montana history.
American politician and lawyer. He served as the 45th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, as a U.S. Senator from Ohio, and as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was known as a dispassionate jurist who prized equal justice under the law.
American politician from the state of South Carolina. During his career, Byrnes served as a U.S. Representative (1911?1925), a U.S. Senator (1931?1941), a Justice of the Supreme Court (1941?1942), Secretary of State (1945?1947), and 104th governor of South Carolina (1951?1955). He is one of very few politicians to serve in all three branches of the American federal government while also being active in state government.…
Edward Israel Iskowitz, was an American ?illustrated song? performer, comedian, dancer, singer, actor and songwriter. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie and early television audiences, this ?Apostle of Pep? was regarded almost as a family member by millions because his top-rated radio shows revealed intimate stories and amusing anecdotes about his wife Ida and five daughters. Some of his hits include ?Makin?…
Melvin Eugene ?Mel? Carnahan was an American politician. A Democrat, he served as the 51st Governor of Missouri (1993-2000) and was elected posthumously to the U.S. Senate. Carnahan?s political career started as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives representing the Rolla area. In 1980, Carnahan was elected Missouri State Treasurer. He served in that post from 1981 to 1985.…
A politician and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a prominent member of one of the United States? great colonial Catholic families, whose members included his younger brother, Archbishop John Carroll, (1735-1815), the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States (1790), (as Archbishop of Baltimore) and founder of Georgetown University; and their cousin Charles Carroll of Carrollton, (1737-1832), who signed the Declaration of Independence.…
American frontiersman. The few paying jobs he had during his lifetime included mountain man (fur trapper), wilderness guide, Indian agent, and American Army officer. Carson became a frontier legend in his own lifetime via biographies and news articles. Exaggerated versions of his exploits were the subject of dime novels. Carson left home in rural present-day Missouri at age 16 to become a mountain man and trapper in the West.…
J.R. ?Johnny? Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Although primarily remembered as a country music icon, his genre-spanning songs and sound embraced rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk and gospel. This crossover appeal won Cash the rare honor of multiple inductions in the Country Music, Rock and Roll and Gospel Music Halls of Fame.…
American military officer and politician. During his long political career, Cass served as a governor of the Michigan Territory, an American ambassador, a U.S. Senator representing Michigan, and co-founder as well as first Masonic Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Michigan. He was the losing nominee of the Democratic Party for president in 1848. Cass was nationally famous as a leading spokesman for the controversial Doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, which would have allowed voters in the territories to determine whether to make slavery legal instead of having Congress decide.
American politician of Czech origin who served as the mayor of Chicago, Illinois from 1931 until his assassination in 1933.
Albert Benjamin ?Happy? Chandler, Sr. was a politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He represented the state in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions, he also served as the second Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1945 to 1951 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982.…
American military aviator best known for his leadership of the American ?Flying Tigers? and the Republic of China Air Force in World War II. Chennault was a fierce advocate of ?pursuit? or fighter-interceptor aircraft during the 1930s when the U.S. Army Air Corps was focused primarily on high-altitude bombardment. Chennault retired from the United States Army in 1937, and went to work as an aviation adviser and trainer in China.…
Chiang Wei-kuo was an adopted son of President Chiang Kai-shek, adoptive brother of President Chiang Ching-kuo, and an important figure in the Kuomintang (KMT). His courtesy names were Jianhao (??) and Niantang (??).
Larry Richard ?L.C.? Christenson, is a former professional baseball pitcher who played his entire career for the Philadelphia Phillies from 1973?1983. Christenson made his major-league debut on April 13, 1973, and beat the New York Mets 7?1, pitching a complete game. At the time, he was the youngest player in the Major Leagues at 19; he would remain so until 18-year-old David Clyde debuted for the Texas Rangers on June 27 of that same season.…
American automotive industry executive and founder of Chrysler Corporation, now a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Chrysler?s automotive career began in 1911 when he received a summons to meet with James J. Storrow, a banker who was a director of ALCO and also an executive at General Motors. Storrow asked him if he had given any thought to automobile manufacture.…
Roy Linwood Clark is an American country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969 to 1992. Roy Clark has been an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and helping to popularize the genre. During the 1970s, Clark frequently guest-hosted for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show and enjoyed a 30-million viewership for Hee Haw.…
American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in prestatehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Missouri. Clark was a planter and slaveholder. Along with Meriwether Lewis, Clark helped lead the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803 to 1806 across the Louisiana Purchase to the Pacific Ocean, and claimed the Pacific Northwest for the United States.…
American lawyer and judge who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1916 to 1922. Born in New Lisbon, Ohio, Clarke was the third child and only son of John Clarke, a lawyer and judge, and his wife Melissa Hessin. He attended New Lisbon High School and Western Reserve College, where he became a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity.
American lawyer, politician, and skilled orator who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives. He served three different terms as Speaker of the House of Representatives and was also Secretary of State from 1825 to 1829. He lost his campaigns for president in 1824, 1832
Tyrus Raymond ?Ty? Cobb, nicknamed ?The Georgia Peach,? was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the last six as the team?s player-manager, and finished his career with the Philadelphia Athletics. In 1936 Cobb received the most votes of any player on the inaugural Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, receiving 222 out of a possible 226 votes.
American film and theater actor. Best known for his work in comedies, Coburn received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for 1943?s The More the Merrier. Coburn was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of Scots-Irish Americans Emma Louise Sprigman and Moses Douville Coburn. Growing up in Savannah, he started out at age 14 doing odd jobs at the local Savannah Theater, handing out programs, ushering, or being the doorman.…
Black Mike, was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and Detroit Tigers. Cochrane was considered one of the best catchers in baseball history and is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
American scout, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), in Le Claire but he grew up for several years in his father?s hometown in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill started working at the age of eleven after his father?s death, and became a rider for the Pony Express at age 14.…
Known professionally as George M. Cohan, was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and producer. Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudeville act known as ?The Four Cohans.? Beginning with Little Johnny Jones in 1904, he wrote, composed, produced, and appeared in more than three dozen Broadway musicals.…
Known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. He was widely noted for his soft, baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres and which he used to become a major force in popular music for 3 decades producing many hit songs for Cole.…
God made man, Sam Colt made them Equal? He was an American inventor and industrialist from Hartford, Connecticut. He founded Colt?s Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company (today, Colt?s Manufacturing Company), and made the mass production of the revolver commercially viable.
American professional baseball player who played his entire career for the New York Yankees (1924?1935). Combs batted leadoff and played center field on the Yankees’ fabled 1927 team (often referred to as Murderers’ Row). He is one of six players on that team who have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame; the other five are Waite Hoyt, Herb Pennock, Tony Lazzeri, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth.…
(Col, USAF), better known as Gordon Cooper, was an American aerospace engineer, test pilot, United States Air Force pilot, and one of the seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the first manned space program of the United States. Cooper piloted the longest and final Mercury spaceflight in 1963. He was the first American to sleep in space during that 34-hour mission and was the last American to be launched alone to conduct an entirely solo orbital mission.…
19th-century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet ?King of the Wild Frontier?. He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives, served in the Texas Revolution, and died at the Battle of the Alamo. Crockett grew up in East Tennessee, where he gained a reputation for hunting and storytelling.…
Norman Lawrence ?Norm? Crosby is an American comedian sometimes associated with the Borscht Belt who often appeared on television in the 1970s. He is known for his use of malapropisms and is often called The Master of Malaprop. He was born in Boston.
United States Navy admiral who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, and as the ambassador to the United Kingdom under President Bill Clinton.
Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, from its inception to his death. He was the longest-serving of the Court?s original members, sitting on the bench for 21 years. Had he accepted George Washington?s appointment, he would have become the third Chief Justice of the United States.
Born in New York and drawn to the theatre from his youth, Dano was a tall and rugged supporting actor with piercing blue eyes and deep resonant voice. His career spanned the years from 1950 to 1993. He appeared in over 80 feature films including ?The Red Badge of Courage?, ?Moby Dick?, ?The Trouble With Harry?, ?King Of Kings?, ?The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid?, ?Electra Glide in Blue?, The Outlaw Josie Wales?…
American politician from the U.S. state of New Jersey. He was the youngest person to sign the United States Constitution and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, serving as the fourth Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and later the U.S. Senate. Dayton was arrested in 1807 for treason in connection with Aaron Burr?s conspiracy, he was never put on trial, but his national political career never recovered.
Professional baseball player who played third base in the Major Leagues from 1912 to 1921. He would play for the Chicago Cubs, Boston Braves, St. Louis Browns, St. Louis Terriers, and Detroit Tigers. In 1914, Deal was a member of the Braves team that went from last place to first place in two months, becoming the first team to win a pennant after being in last place on the Fourth of July.…
Prominent American actor-manager. He is associated with operating a major theater in St. Louis, and for portraying the role of Falstaff. He was also connected by marriage with the Booth family of actors.
American film, radio, and television actor. DeFore is best known as Erskin ?Thorny? Thornberry, the Nelson family?s neighbor on the long running sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and as George ?Mr. B.? Baxter on the 1960s sitcom Hazel. From 1961 to 1965, DeFore was a co-star of the television series Hazel as ?Mr. B.?…
American filmmaker. Between 1913 and 1956, he made seventy features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the Hollywood film industry, the most commercially successful producer-director in cinema history. DeMille began his career as a stage actor in 1900. He later moved to writing and directing stage productions, some with Jesse Lasky, who was then a vaudeville producer.…
Known as ?Kid Blackie? and ?The Manassa Mauler?, was an American professional boxer, who became a cultural icon of the 1920s. Dempsey held the World Heavyweight Championship from 1919 to 1926, and his aggressive style and exceptional punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history. Many of his fights set financial and attendance records, including the first million-dollar gate.…
French-born British natural philosopher, clergyman, engineer and freemason who was elected to the Royal Society in 1714 as experimental assistant to Isaac Newton.
Irish-born American actor. He appeared in 205 films between 1915 and 1948. He was nicknamed ?The King of the Silent Serials.? Born William Mannion in Dublin, Ireland, he was raised in New York City. He later changed his surname to a stage name. He started out in vaudeville and the legitimate stage before making his film debut.…
Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, January 3, 1911 to June 2, 1937. On February 4, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt nominated Van Devanter to a seat on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals created by 32 Stat. 791. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 18, 1903, and received his commission the same day.
Dewey earned a BA from Princeton University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He has been a member of Dewey, Devlin, Metz & King LLC, which helped to co-found, since 1994
Mexican soldier and politician, who served seven terms as President of Mexico, totaling three and a half decades between 1876 and 1911. A veteran of the Reform War and the French intervention in Mexico, Díaz rose to the rank of General, leading republican troops against the French-imposed Emperor Maximilian. Seizing power in a coup in 1876, Díaz and his allies ruled Mexico for the next thirty-five years, a period known as the Porfiriato.
James Cecil Dickens, better known as Little Jimmy Dickens, was an American country music singer famous for his humorous novelty songs, his small size, 4?11? (150 cm), and his rhinestone-studded outfits (which he is given credit for introducing into country music live performances). He started as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1948 and became a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1983.…
Founding Father of the United States, was a solicitor and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Wilmington, Delaware known as the ?Penman of the Revolution? for his twelve Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, published individually in 1767 and 1768. As a member of the First Continental Congress, where he was a signee to the Continental Association, Dickinson drafted most of the 1774 Petition to the King, and then as a member of the Second Continental Congress wrote the 1775 Olive Branch Petition, two attempts to negotiate with King George III of Great Britain.…
13th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 21, 1957, to April 22, 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative (PC or Tory) party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an election victory, doing so three times, although only once with a majority of seats in the Canadian House of Commons. Diefenbaker was born in southwestern Ontario in 1895.…
Diemer served, on a piece-work contract basis, as the University Photographer and/or Director of the Photographic Laboratory from 1920 to 1932. His lab and three assistants were housed in the Old Soils Building. In addition to providing various photographic services to university faculty and departments, Diemer operated a commercial photographic business from the same facilities.
American sound engineer. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Sound Recording for the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He worked on 100 films between 1958 and 1990.
Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, Territorial Governor of Wisconsin and a veteran of the Black Hawk War. His son was Augustus C. Dodge with whom he served in the U.S. Senate, the first, and so far only, father-son pair to serve concurrently. Henry Dodge was the half brother of Lewis F.…
American politician who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996 and in the House of Representatives from 1961 to 1969. In the 1976 presidential election, Dole was the Republican Party nominee for Vice President and incumbent President Gerald Ford?s running mate. In 2007, President George W. Bush appointed Dole and Secretary Donna Shalala as co-chairs of the commission to investigate problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.…
American aviation pioneer. Doolittle served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his valor and leadership as commander of the Doolittle Raid while a Lieutenant Colonel.
Waldo Brian Donlevy, later known as Brian Donlevy, was an American actor, noted for playing dangerous tough guys from the 1930s to the 1960s. He usually appeared in supporting roles. Among his best-known films are Beau Geste (1939) and The Great McGinty (1940). For his role as Sergeant Markoff in Beau Geste he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.…
Served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Douglas was confirmed at the age of 40, one of the youngest justices appointed to the court. His term, lasting 36 years and 209 days (1939?75), is the longest term in the history of the Supreme Court.…
Herbert?s son, assumed control of the company. Under new leadership, the company continued to lead chemical production in the United States. William Dow?s major achievement, during his tenure as company president, was to extract bromine and other chemicals from seawater. In the year 2000, Dow Chemical was the fifth largest chemical firm in the world.
Also known as Colonel Drake, was an American oil driller, popularly credited with being the first to drill for oil in the United States.
Better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler and writer. Fields?s comic persona was a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist, who remained a sympathetic character despite his snarling contempt for dogs and children. His career in show business began in vaudeville, where he attained international success as a silent juggler. He gradually incorporated comedy into his act, and was a featured comedian in the Ziegfeld Follies for several years.…
American producer, director, production manager and assistant director. He was best known for his films produced for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Dull was nominated during the 6th Academy Awards for the short lived Best Assistant Director category and won during the 1948 Oscars for the film The Secret Land in the category of Best Documentary He worked on over 40 films from 1925 to 1951
American attorney and Republican politician who represented Tennessee’s 2nd Congressional District in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1965 until his death in 1988.[1] He also served as Mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee, from 1959 to 1964, and as assistant attorney general of Knox County, from 1948 until 1956. He is the father of Congressman Jimmy Duncan, who currently represents the 2nd District.
Representative for Tennessee’s 2nd congressional district, serving since 1988. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district is based in Knoxville. He was first elected to Congress in 1988, in a special election to succeed his late father, John Duncan, Sr. and elected to the seat for a full term in his own right the same day.…
American gambler, Pima County, Arizona Deputy Sheriff, and Deputy Town Marshal in Tombstone, Arizona, who took part in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which lawmen killed three outlaw Cowboys. He is often regarded as the central figure in the shootout in Tombstone, although his brother Virgil was Tombstone City Marshal and Deputy U.S. Marshal that day, and had far more experience as a sheriff, constable, marshal, and soldier in combat.…
(Col, USAF), was an United States Air Force officer, test pilot, and later a NASA astronaut. He occupied the Command Module Pilot seat during the flight of Apollo 7 in 1968. After retiring from both NASA and the Air Force, he became the Peace Corps country director for Thailand, before moving into private business.
Brother of President Eisenhower In 1905 he secured a job with a predecessor bank of the Commerce Trust Co. and eventually worked up to become the Executive Vice President and Director of the Commerce Trust Co. He was married twice and had no children. First wife was Alida Hamilton and second wife was Louise Grieb.
Member of: First Lodge of Boston, 1748
BeWilliam Ellery was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Rhode Island. In 1764, the Baptists consulted with Ellery and the Congregationalist Reverend Ezra Stiles on writing a charter for the college that became Brown University. However, Ellery and Stiles attempted to give control of the college to the Congregationalists, but the Baptists withdrew the petition until it was rewritten to assure Baptist control.…
Edward Kennedy ?Duke? Ellington was an American composer, pianist and bandleader of jazz orchestras. He led his orchestra from 1923 until his death, his career spanning over 50 years. Born in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s onward, and gained a national profile through his orchestra?s appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem.…
American lawyer and politician, a revolutionary against British rule, a drafter of the United States Constitution, United States Senator from Connecticut, and the third Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. While at the Federal Convention, Ellsworth moved to strike the word National from the motion made by Edmund Randolph of Virginia. Randolph had moved successfully to call the government the National Government of United States.…
John Albert ?Jack? Elway, Sr. was an American football player and head coach. He was the father of John Elway, a Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback.
American politician who is the senior United States Senator from Wyoming, serving since 1997. He is a member of the Republican Party. Raised in Thermopolis, Wyoming, Enzi attended George Washington University and the University of Denver. He expanded his father?s shoe store business in Gillette before being elected mayor of Gillette in 1974. In the late 1970s he worked in the United States Department of the Interior.…
American politician; a Democrat, he served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 1954 to 1974. A native of Morganton, he liked to call himself a ?country lawyer?, and often told humorous stories in his Southern drawl. During his Senate career, Ervin was a legal defender of the Jim Crow laws and racial segregation, as the South?s constitutional expert during the congressional debates on civil rights.…
John James ?Jim? Exon was an American Democratic politician. He served as the 33rd Governor of Nebraska from 1971 to 1979, and as a U.S. Senator from Nebraska from 1979 to 1997. Exon was a Nebraska Democrat who never lost an election, and the only Democrat to hold Nebraska?s Class 2 U.S. Senate seat. He was elected and re-elected governor in 1970 and 1974, elected to the Senate in 1978, and re-elected in 1984 and 1990.…
Was born in the village of Stein, near the city of Nuernberg, Germany. His father, George Leonard Faber, was a descendant of the famous Faber family, one of ancient lineage in Bavaria engaged in the profession of manufacturing lead pencils.
A recipient of the Order of Canada, was one of six children born in Gladstone, Manitoba to Christian Fahrni and Priscilla Hyndman.
American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro but spent the early part of his career making comedies.
American jurist. He was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from March 10, 1863, to December 1, 1897. Prior to this, he was the 5th Chief Justice of California.
Nicknamed Charlie O or Charley O, was an American businessman who is best remembered for his tenure as the owner of Major League Baseball?s Oakland Athletics. Finley purchased the franchise while it was located in Kansas City, moving it to Oakland in 1968.
American inventor, clockmaker, entrepreneur and engineer. He was most famous for operating the first steamboat service in the United States.
FRSE, FRS, FRCS was a Scottish biologist, pharmacologist and botanist. He wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy. His best-known discoveries are the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 and the antibiotic substance penicillin from the mould Penicillium notatum in 1928, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain
When Gerald R. Ford took the oath of office on August 9, 1974, he declared, “I assume the Presidency under extraordinary circumstances…. This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts.”
It was indeed an unprecedented time. He had been the first Vice President chosen under the terms of the Twenty-fifth Amendment and, in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, was succeeding the first President ever to resign.…
Canadian-born American actor from Hollywood?s Golden Era with a career that lasted over 50 years. Despite his versatility, Ford was best known for playing ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford interrupted his film career to volunteer for duty in World War II with the United States Marine Corps Reserve on December 13, 1942. He was assigned in March 1943 to active duty at the Marine Corps Base in San Diego.…
American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production.
Joseph Jacob ?Joe? Foss was the leading fighter ace of the United States Marine Corps during World War II and a 1943 recipient of the Medal of Honor, recognizing his role in the air combat during the Guadalcanal Campaign. In postwar years, he achieved fame as a General in the Air National Guard, the 20th Governor of South Dakota, President of the National Rifle Association, and the first commissioner of the American Football League, as well as a television broadcaster.
Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A renowned polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity.…
Isadore ?Friz? Freleng, often credited as I. Freleng, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, and producer famous for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros. He introduced and/or developed several of the studio?s biggest stars, including Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Yosemite Sam (to whom he was said to bear more than a passing resemblance), and Speedy Gonzales.…
American film actor, often referred to as ?The King of Hollywood? or just simply as ?The King?. Gable began his career as a stage actor and appeared as an extra in silent films between 1924 and 1926, and progressed to supporting roles with a few films for MGM in 1931. The next year he landed his first leading Hollywood role and became a leading man in more than 60 motion pictures over the next three decades.…
As the last of the log cabin Presidents, James A. Garfield attacked political corruption and won back for the Presidency a measure of prestige it had lost during the Reconstruction period.
He was born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in 1831. Fatherless at two, he later drove canal boat teams, somehow earning enough money for an education.…
American inventor best known for his invention of the Gatling gun, the first successful machine gun.
American businessman. He invented a best selling version of the safety razor. Several models were in existence before Gillette?s design. Gillette?s innovation was the thin, inexpensive, disposable blade of stamped steel
American football player, coach, executive, and innovator. Gillman?s insistence on stretching the football field by throwing deep downfield passes, instead of short passes to running backs or wide receivers at the sides of the line of scrimmage, was instrumental in making football into the modern game that it is today. Gillman played football as an end at Ohio State University from 1931 to 1933.…
Benjamin Arthur ?Ben? Gilman is a former Republican United States Representative from New York. Born in Poughkeepsie, New York, Gilman graduated from Middletown High School in Middletown, New York in 1941 and received a B.S. from the Wharton School Finance at the University of Pennsylvania in 1946. He also earned an LL.B. from New York Law School.…
A soldier in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, a delegate to the Continental Congress, and a signer of the U.S. Constitution, representing New Hampshire. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives during the first four Congresses, and served in the U.S. Senate from 1804 until his death in 1814.…
(Col, USMC, Ret.), is a former U.S. Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut and United States senator. He was selected as one of the ?Mercury seven? group of military test pilots selected in 1959 by NASA to become America?s first astronauts and fly the Project Mercury spacecraft. On February 20, 1962, Glenn flew the Friendship 7 mission and became the first American to orbit the Earth and the fifth person in space, after cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov and the sub-orbital flights of Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom.…
American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname, The Old Redhead. No TV personality in 1950s America enjoyed more clout or fame than Godfrey until an infamous on-air incident undermined his folksy image and triggered a gradual decline. At the peak of his success, Godfrey helmed two CBS-TV weekly series and a daily 90-minute television mid-morning show, but, by the early 1960s, his presence had been reduced to hosting the occasional TV special.…
Businessman and five-term United States Senator from Arizona (1953?65, 1969?87) and the Republican Party?s nominee for president in the 1964 election. Goldwater is the politician most often credited for sparking the resurgence of the American conservative political movement in the 1960s. He also had a substantial impact on the libertarian movement. Goldwater returned to the Senate in 1969, and specialized in defense policy, bringing to the table his experience as a senior officer in the Air Force Reserve.…
Field Marshal of the Russian Empire. He served as one of the finest military officers and diplomats of Russia under the reign of three Romanov Tsars: Catherine II, Paul I and Alexander I. His military career was closely associated with the rising period of Russia from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century.…
30th Governor of the US state of Illinois, serving from 1941 to 1949. In 1940, a backlash against the New Deal and the U.S. Democratic Party had begun to affect Illinois and many other states, especially in the Midwest. The Republican Green, with his record as a prosecutor and established opposition to the big-city Chicago political machine, was elected governor of Illinois.…
(Lt Col, USAF), better known as Gus Grissom, was one of the original NASA Project Mercury astronauts, test pilot, mechanical engineer, and a United States Air Force pilot. He was the second American to fly in space, and the first member of the NASA Astronaut Corps to fly in space twice. Grissom was killed along with fellow astronauts Ed White and Roger Chaffee during a pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (then known as Cape Kennedy), Florida.…
(aka Eddie Guest) was a prolific English-born American poet who was popular in the first half of the 20th century and became known as the People?s Poet. In 1891, Guest came with his family to the United States from England. After he began at the Detroit Free Press as a copy boy and then a reporter, his first poem appeared 11 December 1898.…
French physician and freemason who proposed on 10 October 1789 the use of a device to carry out death penalties in France, as a less painful method of execution. While he did not invent the guillotine, and in fact opposed the death penalty, his name became an eponym for it. The actual inventor of the prototype was Antoine Louis.
American aeronautical engineer, former test pilot, and NASA astronaut. He is one of only 24 humans to have flown to the Moon, as Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 13. He was to have been the sixth human to land and walk on the Moon, but the mission had to be aborted due to a spacecraft failure.…
American front-office executive in Major League Baseball. A longtime employee of the New York Yankees, he reached the pinnacle of his career when he was appointed the general manager of the Yanks in November 1960. Although he inherited a pennant winner from his predecessor, George Weiss, Hamey maintained the Yankee standard. He produced three additional American League champions and two World Series champions in his three full seasons in the GM chair, before retiring in the autumn of 1963.
Became a Mason in Merchants Lodge No. 277 in Quebec, affiliated with Saint Andrew’s Lodge in Boston, 1762
A merchant, smuggler, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He is remembered for his large and stylish signature on the United States Declaration of Independence, so much so that the term “John Hancock” has become, in the United States, a synonym for a signature.…
American third baseman, manager, coach and executive in Major League Baseball. As a manager, he won two pennants and a world championship with the Milwaukee Braves and, as an executive, he was the first general manager of the expansion Los Angeles Angels of the American League. Indeed, for years Haney was one of the most popular baseball figures in Los Angeles.…
Before his nomination, Warren G. Harding declared, “America’s present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not experiment, but equipoise; not submergence in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality….”
A Democratic leader, William Gibbs McAdoo, called Harding’s speeches “an army of pompous phrases moving across the landscape in search of an idea.” Their very murkiness was effective, since Harding’s pronouncements remained unclear on the League of Nations, in contrast to the impassioned crusade of the Democratic candidates, Governor James M.…
American comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy, the classic double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted 25 years, from 1927 to 1951. He was credited with his first film, Outwitting Dad, in 1914. In some of his early works, he was billed as Babe Hardy, using his nickname.
American lawyer and politician from Kentucky who served as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. He is best known for his role as the lone dissenter in the Civil Rights Cases (1883), and Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which, respectively, struck down as unconstitutional federal anti-discrimination legislation and upheld southern segregation statutes. These dissents, among others, led to his nickname of ?The Great Dissenter?.…
American merchant, farmer, and statesman from Wilmington, North Carolina. He was a leading American Revolutionary in the Cape Fear region, and a delegate for North Carolina in the Continental Congress from 1777 to 1779.
Harnett was born to Cornelius and Elizabeth Harnett in Chowan County, North Carolina. Soon after he was born, his parents moved to Wilmington.…
American lawyer and builder from Virginia. He was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in 1777 and 1778, where he signed the Articles of Confederation.
American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served for 30 years as a United States Senator from Oregon, and also as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. A native Oregonian, he served in the United States Navy in the Pacific Theater during World War II after graduating from Willamette University. After the war he earned a graduate degree from Stanford University before returning to Oregon and Willamette as a professor.
Mr. Hayes was president of the Chicago Motor Club in the 1920s when several children at a school crossing were killed by a speeding car. Horrified by the incident, Mr. Hayes pledged to help prevent such a tragedy from happening again. Two dozen boys were trained, and the first safety patrol was established with Mr. Hayes?…
American silent film actor, director, and screenwriter. He was involved in well over 60 films either as an actor or director or both in his twenty-year career, between 1914 and 1934 when he retired from filmmaking.
American attorney, planter and politician who became known as an orator during the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia, from 1776 to 1779 and from 1784 to 1786.
Militia Brigadier General during the American Revolutionary War, who died of wounds after the Battle of Oriskany.
Hewes was a member of Unanimity Lodge No. 7, visited in 1776, and was buried with Masonic funeral honors.
Native of Princeton, New Jersey, where he was born in 1730. Hewes’s parents were members of the Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers. Immediately after their marriage, they moved to New Jersey, which became Joseph Hewes’s home state.…
Hoe was born in New York City. He was the son of Robert Hoe (1784?1833), an English-born American mechanic who, with his brothers-in-law, Peter and Matthew Smith, established a steam-powered manufactory of printing presses in New York City, which Richard joined at fifteen. He became a senior member of his father?s firm in 1833. On his father?s death, he became head of the R.…
American football coach, the head coach at the State College of Washington, now Washington State University, for 17 seasons. He served from 1926 to 1942 and compiled a record of 93?53?14 (.625). Hollingbery?s 93 wins are the most by any coach in the history of the Cougar football. He was named to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979.
After working for A & P, Hollis joined All American grocery stores in 1928. All American was bought by Publix founder George W. Jenkins in 1944 and merged with the chain, which today has 370 stores in the state.
Member of Hanover Lodge in Masonborough, N.C.
American lawyer, physician, politician, and a member of the Continental Congress representing North Carolina from 1774 through 1777. Hooper was also a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, along with fellow North Carolinians Joseph Hewes and John Penn.
Hooper’s support of the colonial governments began to erode, causing problems for him due to his past support of Governor Tryon.…
The first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation?predecessor to the FBI?in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972 at age 77. Hoover is credited with building the FBI into a larger crime-fighting agency, and with instituting a number of modernizations to police technology, such as a centralized fingerprint file and forensic laboratories.
KBE, KC*SG, KSS, was an English-born American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer, dancer, athlete, and author. With a career spanning nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in over 70 films and shorts, including a series of ?Road? movies co-starring Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. In addition to hosting the Academy Awards fourteen times (more than any other host), he appeared in many stage productions and television roles and was the author of fourteen books.…
American auto racing driver. He currently competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 9 Ford Fusion for Richard Petty Motorsports. Hornish first competed in the World Karting Association. Hornish begin to compete the U.S. F2000 National Championship in 1996 and the Atlantic Championship in 1999. Hornish began to compete in the Verizon IndyCar Series in 2000 for PDM Racing.…
Nicknamed ?The Rajah?, was an American baseball infielder, manager, and coach who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1915?1926, 1933), New York Giants (1927), Boston Braves (1928), Chicago Cubs (1929?1932), and St. Louis Browns (1933?1937). Hornsby had 2,930 hits and 301 home runs in his career; his career .358 batting average is second only to Ty Cobb?s average.…
(born Erik Weisz, later Ehrich Weiss or Harry Weiss) was a Hungarian-American illusionist and stunt performer, noted for his sensational escape acts. He first attracted notice in vaudeville in the US and then as ?Harry Handcuff Houdini? on a tour of Europe, where he challenged police forces to keep him locked up. Soon he extended his repertoire to include chains, ropes slung from skyscrapers, straitjackets under water, and having to escape from and hold his breath inside a sealed milk can.…
American politician and soldier, best known for his role in bringing Texas into the United States as a constituent state. His victory at the Battle of San Jacinto secured the independence of Texas from Mexico. The only American to be elected governor of two different States (as opposed to territories or indirect appointments), he was also the only Southern governor to oppose secession (which led to the outbreak of the American Civil War) and to refuse an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, a decision that led to his removal from office by the Texas secession convention
Served as a Democratic Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1975 to 1995, representing New Jersey?s Second Congressional District which includes major portions of the Jersey Shore and Pine Barrens, the cities of Vineland and Atlantic City, and the counties of Salem, Cumberland, Atlantic, Cape May and part of Gloucester. After retiring from Congress in 1995, Hughes was appointed by President Bill Clinton as United States Ambassador to Panama, a post he held until October, 1998 leading up to the historic turnover of the Panama Canal to Panamanian control.…
The 28th mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, from 1951 to 1958. He was born in New Westminster, British Columbia, where he served as mayor from 1933 to 1942. Although he was living in West Vancouver, he won election as Vancouver?s mayor. Hume owned the WHL Vancouver Canucks, and was an active supporter of the NHL expansion to Vancouver.…
American politician who served as the 38th Vice President of the United States under President Lyndon B. Johnson, from 1965 to 1969. Humphrey twice served in the United States Senate, representing Minnesota from 1949 to 1964 and 1971 to 1978. He was the nominee of the Democratic Party in the 1968 presidential election, losing to the Republican nominee, Richard Nixon.…
American politician and businessman. He was the first Governor of Arizona, serving a total of seven terms, along with President of the convention that wrote Arizona?s constitution. In addition, Hunt served in both houses of the Arizona Territorial Legislature and was posted as U.S. Minister to Siam. Calling himself the ?Old Walrus?, Hunt was 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) tall, close to 300 pounds (140 kg), bald, and had a drooping handlebar moustache.…
Ingalls knew Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry from their days as officers of the Los Angeles Police Department in the early 1950s. The following decade, Ingalls wrote two episodes for Roddenberry’s Star Trek: The Original Series, the first being the first season’s “The Alternative Factor”. This was followed in the second season by “A Private Little War”, for which he chose to be credited under the pseudonym Jud Crucis.…
American actor, writer, and folk singer. As an actor, Ives?s work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures. Music critic John Rockwell said, ?Ives?s voice ? had the sheen and finesse of opera without its latter-day Puccinian vulgarities and without the pretensions of operatic ritual. It was genteel in expressive impact without being genteel in social conformity.…
More nearly than any of his predecessors, Andrew Jackson was elected by popular vote; as President he sought to act as the direct representative of the common man.
Born in a backwoods settlement in the Carolinas in 1767, he received sporadic education. But in his late teens he read law for about two years, and he became an outstanding young lawyer in Tennessee.…
Congressman and Senator from the state of Washington from 1941 until his death. Jackson was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972 and 1976. The political philosophies and positions of Jackson, a Cold War anti-Communist Democrat, have been cited as an influence on a number of key figures associated with neoconservatism, including Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle.…
United States Solicitor General (1938-1940), United States Attorney General (1940?1941) and an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1941?1954). He is the only person in United States history to have held all three of those offices. He was also the chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials.
English physician and scientist who was the pioneer of smallpox vaccine, the world?s first vaccine. He is often called ?the father of immunology?, and his work is said to have ?saved more lives than the work of any other human?.
With the Assassination of Lincoln, the Presidency fell upon an old-fashioned southern Jacksonian Democrat of pronounced states’ rights views. Although an honest and honorable man, Andrew Johnson was one of the most unfortunate of Presidents. Arrayed against him were the Radical Republicans in Congress, brilliantly led and ruthless in their tactics. Johnson was no match for them.…
American motion picture star of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, known for his work starring in many popular western movies. In his early film appearances, he was billed as Charles Jones. Charles Frederick Gebhart was born on the outskirts of Vincennes, Indiana on December 12, 1891. In 1907, Jones joined the US Army a month after his sixteenth birthday: his mother had signed a consent form that gave his age as eighteen.…
Scottish American sailor and the United States? first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolutionary War
David La?amea Kamanakapu?u Mahinulani Nalaiaehuokalani Lumialani Kal?kaua and sometimes called The Merrie Monarch (November 16, 1836 ? January 20, 1891), was the last reigning king of the Kingdom of Hawai?i. He reigned from February 12, 1874 until his death in San Francisco, California, on January 20, 1891. A Hawaiian song about Kal?kaua can be heard in the Disney movie “Lilo & Stitch”, it is heard when Lilo is introduced in the movie.…
American sculptor from New York City, New York. Keck studied at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League of New York with Philip Martiny, and was an assistant to Augustus Saint-Gaudens from 1893 to 1898. He also attended the American Academy in Rome. In 1921 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member and became a full Academician in 1928.…
American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1939 to 1949 and in the Senate from 1949 to his death in 1963. After leading a much-publicized investigation into organized crime in the early 1950s, he twice sought his party’s nomination for President of the United States.…
American politician and a collegiate and professional football player. A Republican, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, having previously served nine terms as a congressman for Western New York’s 31st congressional district from 1971 to 1989. He was the Republican Party’s nominee for Vice President in the 1996 election, where he was the running mate of presidential nominee Bob Dole.…
Commander in Chief, United States Fleet (COMINCH) and Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) during World War II. As COMINCH-CNO, he directed the United States Navy?s operations, planning, and administration and was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the U.S. Navy?s second most senior officer after Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, and the second admiral to be promoted to five star rank.…
United States march music bandmaster and composer. He is best known as the composer of “Barnum and Bailey’s Favorite”. King the composer published more than 300 works: galops, waltzes, overtures, serenades, rags, and 188 marches and screamers. It could be said that King did for the circus march what Sousa did for the patriotic march. He seemed to like composing under pressure and often composed in tight spots (such as by oil lamp in cramped circus tents).…
American lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was a delegate for Massachusetts to the Continental Congress. He also attended the Constitutional Convention and was one of the signers of the United States Constitution on September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He represented New York in the United States Senate, served as Minister to Britain, and was the Federalist candidate for both Vice President (1804 and 1808) and President of the United States (1816).
American merchant, shipbuilder, army officer, and statesman from Bath, Maine. A proponent of statehood for Maine, he became its first Governor when it separated from Massachusetts in 1820.
Scottish traveller and travel writer who spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia, where he traced the origins of the Blue Nile.
American newspaper editor and publisher. He was also the Republican vice presidential candidate in 1936, and Secretary of the Navy under Franklin D. Roosevelt during most of World War II. During the Spanish?American War, he joined the Army, and served in Cuba with Theodore Roosevelt’s famous Rough Riders, the 1st US Volunteer Cavalry Regiment. He was a member of Troop D commanded by Captain Robert Huston.…
American singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and former soldier. He is known for writing and recording such hits as “Me and Bobby McGee”, “For the Good Times”, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night”. Kristofferson is the sole writer of most of his songs, and he has collaborated with various other figures of the Nashville scene such as Shel Silverstein.[1] In 1985, Kristofferson joined fellow country artists Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash in forming the country music supergroup, The Highwaymen.…
American politician. He is most well-known for being the 99th Mayor of New York for three terms from 1934 to 1945 as a Republican. Previously he had been elected to Congress in 1916 and 1918, and again from 1922 through 1930. Irascible, energetic, and charismatic, he craved publicity and is acclaimed as one of the three or four greatest mayors in American history.…
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette in the U.S. often known simply as Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer who fought for the United States in the American Revolutionary War. A close friend of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson, Lafayette was a key figure in the French Revolution of 1789 and the July Revolution of 1830.
Quaker American mechanical engineer and naval architect who obtained over two hundred patents for advances in naval design and competed with John Philip Holland to build the first submarines for the United States Navy.
Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court appointed by President William Howard Taft. A cousin of former associate justice Lucius Lamar, he served from 1911 until his death in 1916.
A business and community leader in Kansas City, Land served as Imperial Potentate of the Shriners and is revered today as the Founder of the Order of DeMolay.
Magician, master of ceremonies, clown, worldwide; Organizer annual magic show to raise funds for neuromuscular disease research.
Canadian Arctic explorer. Larsen was born in Norway, like his hero, Roald Amundsen. Like Amundsen, he became a seaman. Larsen immigrated to Canada, and became a British citizen in 1927 (Canadian citizen in 1947). In 1928, he joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
After graduating from North Side High School in 1949, he attended Texas A&M University, where he was a standout in football and baseball. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the third round in the 1952 NFL Draft. Lary was a superlative defensive back from 1956 to 1964, with time out for a tour of Army duty in 1954-55.…
American merchant and rice planter from South Carolina who became a political leader during the Revolutionary War. A delegate to the Second Continental Congress, Laurens succeeded John Hancock as President of the Congress. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and President of the Continental Congress when the Articles were passed on November 15, 1777.
From Australia. Moved to Ontario at age 30 in 1950 and remained here until his death in 1984. A giant at around 6’5″, he frequently used “judo chops” through his career. Began wrestling in 1948. In North America, Layton worked as an wrestler and TV commentator — primarily with Frank Tunney in Toronto and The Sheik in Detroit.…
American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark. Their mission was to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase, establish trade with, and sovereignty over the natives near the Missouri River, and claim the Pacific Northwest and Oregon Country for the United States before European nations.…
Born Otto Elmo Linkenhelt, the actor is best known in his silent movie role as the first Tarzan in 1918?s Tarzan of the Apes as an adult?(Gordon Griffith played him as a child in the same movie). He portrayed the character twice more?in The Romance of Tarzan (also 1918) and in the 1921 serial The Adventures of Tarzan.
Scotsman of Ulster-Scots parentage who was a self-made man, merchant, and yachtsman. He created the Lipton tea brand and was the most persistent challenger in the history of the America?s Cup.
American actor, comedian, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and stunt performer who is most famous for his silent comedy films. Harold Lloyd ranks alongside Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton as one of the most popular and influential film comedians of the silent film era. Lloyd made nearly 200 comedy films, both silent and ?talkies?, between 1914 and 1947.…
United States Senator from Mississippi, who served in numerous leadership positions in both the United States House of Representatives and the Senate. He entered Congress as one of the first of a wave of Republicans winning seats in Southern states that had been solidly Democratic. He became Senate Majority Leader, then fell from power after praising Strom Thurmond’s 1948 segregationist Dixiecrat presidential bid.
Professionally as Charlie Louvin, was an American country music singer and songwriter. He is best known as one of the Louvin Brothers, and was a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1955.Born in Section, Alabama, Louvin was one of 7 children. He started singing when he was 8 years old. Louvin began singing professionally with his brother Ira as a teenager on local radio programs in Chattanooga, Tennessee.…
American professional baseball starting pitcher, manager and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played MLB seasons, all with the Chicago White Sox. He is the franchise leader in wins. Lyons won 20 or more games three times (in 1925, 1927, and 1930) and became a fan favorite in Chicago. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955.…
American five-star general and Field Marshal of the Philippine Army. He was Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines Campaign, which made him and his father Arthur MacArthur, Jr., the first father and son to be awarded the medal.…
Canadian publisher. He founded Maclean?s Magazine, the Financial Post and the Maclean Publishing Company, later known as Maclean-Hunter
American carpenter and sawmill operator, who reported the finding of gold at Coloma on the American River in California on January 24, 1848, the impetus for the California Gold Rush.
Fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1801?1835). His court opinions helped lay the basis for United States constitutional law and made the Supreme Court of the United States a coequal branch of government along with the legislative and executive branches. Previously, Marshall had been a leader of the Federalist Party in Virginia and served in the United States House of Representatives from 1799 to 1800.…
Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991. Marshall was the Court?s 96th justice and its first African-American justice.
Alvin Morris, was an American actor and singer who was married to performer Cyd Charisse for 60 years. In films, he was first cast in a number of bit parts, including a role as a sailor in the movie Follow the Fleet (1936), starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. He eventually signed with 20th Century-Fox and then Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in which he starred in a number of musicals.…
Canadian businessman and philanthropist born in Haldimand Township (now Alnwick/Haldimand, Ontario) in what was then known as Upper Canada. His parents were Daniel Massey and Lucina Bradley. The doorstep of the original Massey homestead can still be found behind the current farmhouse on the farm, still in the Massey family.
Republican member of the United States Senate, representing Maryland from 1969 to 1987. He was also a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1959 to 1960, and of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 6th congressional district of Maryland from 1961 to 1969. After studying law and serving in the United States Navy during World War II, Mathias worked as a lawyer and was elected to the state legislature in 1958.…
Stanley Matthews, was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from May 1881 to his death in 1889. Matthews was the Court?s 46th justice. Before his appointment to the Court by President James A. Garfield, Matthews served as a senator from his home state of Ohio.
An officer in the United States Army and a pioneer aviator. His career began during World War I, and spanned the period in which military aviation developed from a minor arm of the Army Signal Corps to the huge Army Air Forces on the verge of becoming a separate service. Maughan became a pursuit pilot and served in combat in France in 1918 with the United States Army Air Service.…
Louis B. Mayer, born Lazar Meir, on July 4, 1885, in Minsk, present-day Belarus, was an American film producer and co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios (MGM) in 1924
American motion picture stuntman and actor. Maynard was born in Vevay, Indiana, one of five children, another of whom, his lookalike younger brother, Kermit, would also become an actor; most audience members assumed that Kermit was his brother’s identical twin. Ken Maynard began working at carnivals and circuses, where he became an accomplished horseman. As a young man, he performed in rodeos and was a trick rider with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.…
American medical practitioner and was one of the founders of the Mayo Clinic along with his brother, William James Mayo, Augustus Stinchfield, Christopher Graham, E. Star Judd, Henry Stanley Plummer, Melvin Millet and Donald Balfour.
A physician and surgeon in the United States and one of the seven founders of the Mayo Clinic. He and his brother, Charles Horace Mayo, both joined their father?s private medical practice in Rochester, Minnesota, USA, after graduating from medical school in the 1880s. In 1919, that practice became the not-for-profit Mayo Clinic.
F. L. Maytag, founded the Maytag Company, which eventually became the Maytag Corporation which was acquired by the Whirlpool Corporation in 2005
British Columbia politician and is often considered the founder of the British Columbia Conservative Party. McBride was first elected to the provincial legislature in the 1898 election, and served in the cabinet of James Dunsmuir from 1900 to 1901. McBride believed that the province’s system of non-party government was unstable and hindered development. After the lieutenant-governor appointed him the 16th premier in June 1903 and McBride announced that his government was a Conservative Party administration and would contest the upcoming election along party lines.…
Irish-born American statesman. McHenry was a signer of the United States Constitution from Maryland and the namesake of Fort McHenry. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress from Maryland, and the third United States Secretary of War (1796–1800), under the first and second presidents, George Washington, (administration: 1789-1797) and John Adams, (administration: 1797-1801).
At the 1896 Republican Convention, in time of depression, the wealthy Cleveland businessman Marcus Alonzo Hanna ensured the nomination of his friend William McKinley as “the advance agent of prosperity.” The Democrats, advocating the “free and unlimited coinage of both silver and gold”–which would have mildly inflated the currency–nominated William Jennings Bryan.
While Hanna used large contributions from eastern Republicans frightened by Bryan’s views on silver, McKinley met delegations on his front porch in Canton, Ohio.…
Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He started the McLaughlin Motor Car Co. in 1904, one of the first major automobile manufacturers in Canada, which evolved into General Motors of Canada. Born near Bowmanville in the hamlet of Enniskillen, Ontario, the son of Robert McLaughlin, he started working in 1887 for his father’s company that opened in 1867, McLaughlin Carriage Works, at one time the largest manufacturer of horse-drawn buggies and sleighs in the British Empire.…
Founder of State Farm Insurance, headquartered in Bloomington, Illinois. Mecherle, a farmer who became an insurance agent also, founded State Farm after becoming dissatisfied with the insurance rates charged to farmers, as those rates included the risks of city drives as well. Mr. Mecherle was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1985.
American banker, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom and United States Secretary of the Treasury from March 4, 1921 to February 12, 1932, from the wealthy Mellon family of Pennsylvania. He and his brother Richard Beatty Mellon and (independently) Andrew Carnegie founded two institutes of higher education that would eventually merge to form Carnegie Mellon University.
German physician with an interest in astronomy, who theorised that there was a natural energetic transference that occurred between all animated and inanimate objects that he called animal magnetism, sometimes later referred to as mesmerism. The theory attracted a wide following between about 1780 and 1850, and continued to have some influence until the end of the century.…
American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Texas Christian University from 1934 to 1952, compiling a record of 109?79?13. His TCU Horned Frogs football teams of 1935 and 1938 have been recognized as national champions. Meyer was also the head basketball coach at TCU from 1934 to 1937, tallying a mark of 10?37, and the head baseball coach at TCU (1926?1934, 1945, 1956?1957), amassing a record of 111?83?1.…
American physicist known for his work on the measurement of the speed of light and especially for the Michelson?Morley experiment. In 1907 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics. He became the first American to receive the Nobel Prize in sciences.
Democratic United States Senator from Indiana and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
(Capt, USN, Ret.), is an American former naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aeronautical engineer, and NASA astronaut. As the Lunar Module Pilot of Apollo 14, he spent nine hours working on the lunar surface in the Fra Mauro Highlands region, making him the sixth person to walk on the Moon.
American film actor and the star of many early Western movies between 1909 and 1935. Mix appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were silent movies. He was Hollywood?s first Western megastar and is noted as having helped define the genre for all cowboy actors who followed.
English-born brewer and entrepreneur in colonial Quebec and Lower Canada. He was the founder of Molson Brewery.
On New Year’s Day, 1825, at the last of his annual White House receptions, President James Monroe made a pleasing impression upon a Virginia lady who shook his hand:
“He is tall and well formed. His dress plain and in the old style…. His manner was quiet and dignified. From the frank, honest expression of his eye ……
American politician and jurist, who held positions in all three branches of the Government of the United States.
Was a prominent American poet and Freemason. He also created the first ritual for what was to become the Order of the Eastern Star.He later served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky
Better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director, and producer. An Academy Award-winner, Wayne was among the top box office draws for three decades. An enduring American icon, he epitomized rugged masculinity and is famous for his demeanor, including his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height. He was also active as a member of the Order of DeMolay.
One of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II. At the age of 19, Murphy received the Medal of Honor after single-handedly holding off an entire company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France in January 1945, then leading a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition.…
American screen actor and matinee idol of the silent film era and beyond. He was also a well-known television actor and radio performer. Nagel was immediately cast in film roles that cemented his unspoiled lover image. His first film was the 1918 retelling of the Louisa May Alcott classic, Little Women, which quickly captured the public’s attention and set Nagel on a path to silent film stardom.…
Canadian American sports coach and innovator. He invented the sport of basketball in 1891. He wrote the original basketball rulebook, founded the University of Kansas basketball program, and lived to see basketball adopted as an Olympic demonstration sport in 1904 and as an official event at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, as well as the birth of both the National Invitation Tournament (1938) and the NCAA Men?s Division I Basketball Championship (1939).
American Major League Baseball catcher and manager. He currently serves as the bench coach of the Milwaukee Brewers. During an 8-year playing career, he played from 1979 to 1987 for three different teams. During a 7-year managing career, he managed from 2001 to 2007 for the Texas Rangers and the Cincinnati Reds. He went to college at East Carolina University.…
American politician, author, consultant, columnist and commentator. Nethercutt is the founder and chairman of The George Nethercutt Foundation. He was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2005, representing Washington’s 5th congressional district. Born in Spokane, Washington, and a graduate of North Central High School, Nethercutt earned a B.A. in English from Washington State University and a law degree from Gonzaga University.…
U.S. politician, journalist, and Spanish?American War veteran. Harry Stewart New was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on December 31, 1858
First officer commissioned in the United States Continental Marines (now the United States Marine Corps) and by tradition is considered to be the first Commandant of the Marine Corps. On 5 November 1775, Nicholas was commissioned a ?Captain of Marines? by the Second Continental Congress
Second baseman in Major League Baseball who played for four different clubs between the 1913 and 1918 seasons. He batted and threw right-handed. A native of Louisville, Colorado, Niehoff entered the majors in 1913 with the Cincinnati Reds, playing for them two years before joining the Philadelphia Phillies (1915?1917), St. Louis Cardinals (1918) and New York Giants (1918).…
American football middle linebacker who spent his entire 15-year National Football League (NFL) career with the Green Bay Packers. Growing up in the outskirts of Chicago, Nitschke had idolized the Bears and he hoped to be chosen by them in the 1958 NFL draft. However, on December 2, 1957, Nitschke was chosen by the Green Bay Packers as the second pick of the third round of the 1958 NFL Draft in what is considered the greatest drafting year in the history of the franchise.…
U.S. politician from the state of Nebraska and a leader of progressive and liberal causes in Congress. He served five terms in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from 1903 until 1913 and five terms in the United States Senate from 1913 until 1943, four terms as a Republican and the final term as an independent.…
American lawyer and politician. Currently the co-chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a charitable organization working to reduce the global threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, Nunn served for 24 years as a United States Senator from Georgia (1972 until 1997) as a member of the Democratic Party.…
Was an Italian-born American businessman and philanthropist. He founded the Planters Peanut Company.
A pioneer of the American automotive industry, for whom both the Oldsmobile and REO brands were named. He claimed to have built his first steam car as early as 1894, and his first gasoline?powered car in 1896. The modern assembly line and its basic concept is credited to Olds, who used it to build the first mass-produced automobile, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash, beginning in 1901
Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia from 1973?1978. In his youth, Owen was the first premier of the British Columbia Older Boys’ Parliament, which later became the British Columbia Youth Parliament. He became a prominent lawyer in Vancouver. He was called to the Bar of British Columbia in 1928 and in 1933 was named the youngest crown prosecutor in Canada at that time.…
Attended Massachusetts Grand Lodge in 1759
Massachusetts lawyer and politician, best known as a signer of the Declaration of Independence as a representative of Massachusetts. He served as the state’s first attorney general, and served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the state’s highest court.
American country music singer-songwriter and musician. Starting with his 1999 debut album, Who Needs Pictures, he has released 10 studio albums and a Christmas compilation on the Arista Nashville label, with all of his albums certified Gold or higher by the RIAA. He has scored 32 Top 10 singles on the U.S. Billboard Country Airplay chart, 19 of which have reached #1.…
American professional golfer, who is generally regarded as one of the greatest players in men?s professional golf history. He has won numerous events on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour, dating back to 1955. Nicknamed ?The King?, he is one of golf?s most popular stars and its most important trailblazer, because he was the first superstar of the sport?s television age, which began in the 1950s.…
The alleged first use of the term ?athlete?s foot? was in December 1928, in an article in the Literary Digest, prompted by reports from Dr Charles F. Pabst, of Greenpoint Hospital Brooklyn.23 Pabst claimed that the condition was already well-known in the United States, with an estimated ten million sufferers, three quarters of whom were unaware of the infection.
American country music disc jockey and singer. Parker was named Disc Jockey of the Year by the Country Music Association in 1974 and by the Academy of Country Music in 1975, 1977, 1978 and 1984. He was inducted into the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame in 1992, the Western Swing Hall of Fame in 1993, and received the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.…
New Jersey statesman, a signer of the U.S. Constitution, and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, who served as the 2nd governor of New Jersey, from 1790 to 1793.
William Paterson was born in County Antrim, now in Northern Ireland, moved to what is now the United States at the age of two, and entered the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) at age 14.…
Minister and author (most notably of The Power of Positive Thinking) and a progenitor of “positive thinking”. His ideas were not accepted by mental health experts. Peale started a radio program, “The Art of Living,” in 1935, which lasted for 54 years. Under sponsorship of the National Council of Churches he moved into television when the new medium arrived.…
American stock car racer from Spartanburg, South Carolina. Pearson began his NASCAR career in 1960 and ended his first season by winning the 1960 NASCAR Rookie of the Year award. He won three championships (1966, 1968, and 1969) every year he ran the full schedule in NASCAR’s Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup Series). NASCAR described his 1974 season as an indication of his “consistent greatness”; that season he finished third in the season points having competed in only 19 of 30 races.
American explorer who claimed to have reached the geographic North Pole with his expedition on April 6, 1909. Peary?s claim was widely credited for most of the 20th century, rather than the competing claim by Frederick Cook, who said he got there a year earlier. Modern historians generally think Cook did not reach the pole. Based on an evaluation of Peary?s records, Wally Herbert (also a polar explorer) concluded in a 1989 book that Peary did not reach the pole, although he may have been as close as 60 miles (97 km).…
Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Peck was one of the seven Canadians to be awarded the Victoria Cross for their actions on one single day, 2 September 1918. The other six were Bellenden Hutcheson, Arthur George Knight, William Metcalf, Claude Joseph Patrick Nunney, Walter Leigh Rayfield and John Francis Young.
American businessman and entrepreneur who, in 1902, founded the J. C. Penney stores. Penney was a Freemason most of his adult life, being initiated into Wasatch Lodge No. 1 Free and Accepted Masons of Utah, on April 18, 1911. A member of both the Scottish and York Rites, Penney was coroneted a 33rd Degree on October 16, 1945, and received the Gold Distinguished Service Award by the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, in Kansas City, Missouri in 1958.…
American singer-songwriter who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning in 1954. His best-known song is “Blue Suede Shoes”. According to Charlie Daniels, “Carl Perkins’ songs personified the rockabilly era, and Carl Perkins’ sound personifies the rockabilly sound more so than anybody involved in it, because he never changed.” Perkins’ songs were recorded by artists (and friends) as influential as Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Johnny Cash, which further cemented his place in the history of popular music.…
General in the United States Army who led the American Expeditionary Forces to victory over Germany in World War I, 1917?18. He rejected British and French demands that American forces be integrated with their armies, and insisted that the AEF would operate as a single unit under his command, although some American divisions fought under British command, and he also allowed all-black units to be integrated with the French army.…
United States Army officer who became a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He is best remembered for his participation in the futile and bloody assault at the Battle of Gettysburg that bears his name, Pickett?s Charge
American brigadier general and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. As a United States Army captain in 1806?1807, he led the Pike Expedition, sent out by President Thomas Jefferson, to explore and document the southern portion of the Louisiana territory and to find the headwaters of the Red River, during which he recorded the discovery of what later was called Pikes Peak.
American actor who played Balki Bartokomous in the ABC sitcom, Perfect Strangers (1986?93). In 2012, he starred in his own reality series, The Bronson Pinchot Project on the DIY Network. He also starred in feature films, such as Risky Business (1983), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), True Romance (1993), Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), It?s My Party (1996), Courage Under Fire (1996) and The First Wives Club (1996), as well as on television in roles such as classic comic book villain The Prankster on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.…
American jurist and Republican Party politician from New Jersey, who served in the United States Congress and as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
Often referred to as the first “dark horse” President, James K. Polk was the last of the Jacksonians to sit in the White House, and the last strong President until the Civil War.
He was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, in 1795. Studious and industrious, Polk was graduated with honors in 1818 from the University of North Carolina.…
American aviator during the period known as the Golden Age of Aviation, the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Also known for his work in high-altitude flying, Post helped develop one of the first pressure suits and discovered the jet stream. On August 15, 1935, Post and American humorist Will Rogers were killed when Post’s aircraft crashed on takeoff from a lagoon near Point Barrow in the Territory of Alaska.…
American singer, actor, film producer, film director and studio head. Though he came to stardom as a musical comedy performer, he showed versatility and successfully transformed into a hardbitten leading man starring in projects of a more dramatic nature.
American engineer and industrialist. He designed and manufactured the Pullman sleeping car and founded a company town, Pullman, for the workers who manufactured it. His Pullman Company also hired African-American men to staff the Pullman cars, who became known and widely respected as Pullman porters, providing elite service.
A colonial military officer during the French and Indian War, and a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.[1] As an organizer of the Ohio Company, he was instrumental in the initial settling of the Northwest Territory in present-day Ohio following the war.
American politician and soldier. He served as Governor of Mississippi from 1835 to 1836 as a Whig and again from 1850 to 1851 as a Democrat and one of the leading Fire-Eaters.
United States Navy officer, the leader of the project to develop the Polaris missile system, and the 7th Director of Central Intelligence as well as the 5th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
American politician from Tennessee. He served in the United States House of Representatives for all but six years from 1921 to 1961. In 1920, Reece won the Republican nomination for Tennessee’s 1st Congressional District, based in the Tri-Cities region in the northeastern part of the state. The region had voted not to secede at the state convention in 1861.…
American attorney who served as United States Solicitor General from 1935 to 1938 and as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1938 to 1957. He was the last Supreme Court Justice who did not graduate from law school (though Justice Robert H. Jackson, who served from 1941 to 1954, was the last such justice appointed to the Supreme Court).
American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, and a patriot in the American Revolution. He is most famous for alerting the Colonial militia to the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow?s poem, ?Paul Revere?s Ride?.
49th mayor of Seattle, Washington, serving two terms from 1989-1997. Rice was Seattle’s first and, as of 2015, only African-American mayor.
American actor, writer and television producer, best known for his portrayal of Cosmo Kramer on the television sitcom Seinfeld, for which he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series three times.
American fighter ace in World War I and Medal of Honor recipient. With 26 aerial victories, he was America’s most successful fighter ace in the war. He was also a race car driver and automotive designer, a government consultant in military matters and a pioneer in air transportation, particularly as the longtime head of Eastern Air Lines.
Born 1952 – Died 1916
The sons of German-born harness maker August Rüngeling, the Ringling brothers founded the Ringling Brothers Circus in 1884. Conceived by Albert and headed by John, August T. had little involvement in the circus.
They were all members of Baraboo Lodge No. 34 in Baraboo Wisconsin. The minutes of a special meeting on April 8, 1891 show the regular officers opening the lodge then the following taking the chairs: WM: Af T.…
Born 1861 – Died 1919
He was a juggler. He had a son Richard Ringling. He also had a granddaughter Mabel Ringling who married Richard Durant, an elephant trainer.
The sons of German-born harness maker August Rüngeling, the Ringling brothers founded the Ringling Brothers Circus in 1884. Conceived by Albert and headed by John, August T.…
Born 1854 – Died 1907
The sons of German-born harness maker August Rüngeling, the Ringling brothers founded the Ringling Brothers Circus in 1884. Conceived by Albert and headed by John, August T. had little involvement in the circus.
They were all members of Baraboo Lodge No. 34 in Baraboo Wisconsin. The minutes of a special meeting on April 8, 1891 show the regular officers opening the lodge then the following taking the chairs: WM: Af T.…
One of the Ringling brothers, who owned the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was in charge of production and greatly admired by the employees, who called him “Mr. Charlie” and sought his advice and help even for personal problems.
The sons of German-born harness maker August Rüngeling, the Ringling brothers founded the Ringling Brothers Circus in 1884.…
The sons of German-born harness maker August Rüngeling, the Ringling brothers founded the Ringling Brothers Circus in 1884. Conceived by Albert and headed by John, August T. had little involvement in the circus.
They were all members of Baraboo Lodge No. 34 in Baraboo Wisconsin. The minutes of a special meeting on April 8, 1891 show the regular officers opening the lodge then the following taking the chairs: WM: Af T.…
The most well-known of the seven Ringling brothers, five of whom merged the Barnum & Bailey Circus with their own Ringling Brothers Circus to create a virtual monopoly of traveling circuses and helped shape the circus into what it is today. He was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 1987.
Ringling’s brother Otto died unexpectedly in 1911, and Al died in 1916.…
American Circusman, businessman, and the third oldest of the Ringling brothers. He was the co-founder of the Ringling Brothers Circus, which eventually became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was called the “Lieutenant General” of the Ringling family. Upon his death, the New York Times described him as “a man of great ideas and ambition, and an executive of force and character.” He was nicknamed “The King” in the circus business.…
American merchant residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the time of the American War of Independence. He represented Pennsylvania from 1777 to 1779 in the Continental Congress. Roberdeau served as a brigadier general in the Pennsylvania state militia during the war. He was a signer of the Articles of Confederation.
American professional boxer. Frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, Robinson’s performances in the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create “pound for pound” rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.
American country singer in the early 20th century, known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling. Among the first country music superstars and pioneers, Rodgers was also known as “The Singing Brakeman”, “The Blue Yodeler”, and “The Father of Country Music”.
Interim president of Mexico from 1932–1934. He completed the term of Pascual Ortiz after his resignation.
American singer and cowboy actor who was one of the most popular Western stars of his era. Known as the ?King of the Cowboys?, he appeared in over 100 films and numerous radio and television episodes of The Roy Rogers Show. In many of his films and television episodes, he appeared with his wife Dale Evans, his golden palomino Trigger, and his German Shepherd dog Bullet.…
Part Native American cowboy, vaudeville performer, humorist, social commentator and motion picture actor. He was one of the world?s most famous stars in the 1920s and 1930s. Known as ?Oklahoma?s Favorite Son?, Rogers was born to a prominent Cherokee Nation family in Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma)
In June of 1908 the first gasoline station in Canada and, allegedly in the world, was opened in Vancouver on the southwest corner of Smythe and Cambie streets. The creation of Gizeh Shriner Charles M. Rolston, who received his degree’s in Acacia Lodge in 1902, and Major James S. Mathews, a member of Western Gate Lodge.…
Assuming the Presidency at the depth of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt helped the American people regain faith in themselves. He brought hope as he promised prompt, vigorous action, and asserted in his Inaugural Address, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Born in 1882 at Hyde Park, New York–now a national historic site–he attended Harvard University and Columbia Law School.…
With the assassination of President McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, not quite 43, became the youngest President in the Nation’s history. He brought new excitement and power to the Presidency, as he vigorously led Congress and the American public toward progressive reforms and a strong foreign policy.
He took the view that the President as a “steward of the people” should take whatever action necessary for the public good unless expressly forbidden by law or the Constitution.” I did not usurp power,” he wrote, “but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power.”
Roosevelt’s youth differed sharply from that of the log cabin Presidents.…
Politician who represented Kansas after the American Civil War and was later governor of the New Mexico Territory. His vote against convicting President Andrew Johnson of “high crimes and misdemeanors” allowed Johnson to stay in office by the margin of one vote. As the seventh of seven Republican U.S. Senators to break with his party, Ross proved to be the person whose decision would result in conviction or acquittal.…
Mexican politician and the President of Mexico from 1930 to 1932. He was born in Morelia, Michoacán, as the son of Pascual Ortiz de Ayala y Huerta and Lenor Rubio Cornelis. He served as president from 1930 to 1932, having previously served as Governor of Michoacán from 1917 to 1918 and as secretary of communications from 1920 to 1921.…
American educator, lawyer, and justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1943?1949).
American businessman, best known for founding Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), and later acting as the company?s goodwill ambassador and symbol.
American businessman and pioneer of American radio and television. Throughout most of his career he led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in various capacities from shortly after its founding in 1919 until his retirement in 1970.
Greek-American film and television actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Perhaps best known for playing the title role in the 1970s crime drama Kojak, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962).
Belgian musical instrument designer and musician who played the flute and clarinet, and is well known for having invented the saxophone. He also invented the saxotromba, saxhorn and saxtuba.
As a young man, Brother Schaefer yearned to fly. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1917, was assigned to the 46th Infantry, and was detailed from it to the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps (predecessor of today?s U.S. Air Force). He received his training at the University of Texas, Kelly Field, and Post Field at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.…
American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and one of the original seven astronauts chosen for Project Mercury, America’s first effort to put humans in space. He flew the six-orbit, nine-hour Mercury-Atlas 8 mission on October 3, 1962, becoming the fifth American, and the ninth human, to ride a rocket into space. In the two-man Gemini program, he achieved the first space rendezvous, station-keeping his Gemini 6A spacecraft within 1 foot (30 cm) of the sister Gemini 7 spacecraft in December 1965.…
Born in Hafford, Saskatchewan, Sekora served as mayor of Coquitlam, British Columbia, from 1983 to 1997. He was first elected to city council in 1972. A series of acting mayors replaced him, eventually followed by Jon Kingsbury who served from 1998 to 2005. Sekora resigned to run in a 1998 by-election and was elected to the House of Commons of Canada as a candidate of the Liberal Party of Canada, representing the riding of Port Moody?Coquitlam.…
Ken Self was a prime mover in the development and growth of Freightliner from a small group of engineers and mechanics to a leading North American heavy-duty truck manufacturer,” said Rainer Schmueckle, president and CEO of Freightliner. “Our company is what it is today largely thanks to Ken’s leadership. Ken will be missed by his many friends at Freightliner, in the trucking industry and in the Pacific Northwest.…
British film actor, comedian and singer. He performed in the BBC Radio comedy series The Goon Show, featured on a number of hit comic songs and became known to a world-wide audience through his many film characterizations, among them Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther series of films.
American inventor and businessman who developed the first commercially successful lever-filling fountain pen and founded the W.A. Sheaffer Pen Company.
American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Washington State University (1976), the University of Pittsburgh (1977?1981), Texas A&M University (1982?1988), and Mississippi State University (1991?2003), compiling a career college football record of 180?120?4. Sherrill is currently a studio analyst for Fox Sports Net’s college football coverage and a writer for Texags.com all the while being a leading member of #TheNetwork.
USN, Retired, son of the Grand Executive Director, RADM William G. “Gene” Sizemore, 33°, GC, USN, Retired. “Admiral Bill” reported for duty in December, with a calm, unassuming presence that belied the depth of his abilities. He brings with him years of practical leadership in the US Navy plus an MBA from the College of William and Mary-a combination of hands-on experience and business skills that will serve the Supreme Council well.
American entertainer best known for his national radio and television acts between 1937 and 1971 and as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. Skelton, who has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, also appeared in vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist.…
He was the main force that brought the then Dominion of Newfoundland into the Canadian confederation in 1949, becoming the first Premier of Newfoundland, serving until 1972. As premier, he vigorously promoted economic development, championed the welfare state, and emphasized modernization of education and transportation. Smallwood abandoned his youthful socialism and collaborated with bankers, turning against the militant unions that sponsored numerous strikes.…
American merchant from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He served as a delegate for Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress in 1777 and 1778. Smith was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation.
American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known primarily for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as “The March King” or the “American March King” due to his British counterpart Kenneth J. Alford also being known by the former nickname. Among his best-known marches are “The Liberty Bell”, “The Thunderer”, “The Washington Post”, “Semper Fidelis” (Official March of the United States Marine Corps), and “The Stars and Stripes Forever” (National March of the United States of America).
American real estate developer and self-made billionaire who founded the A. G. Spanos Companies and owns the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League (NFL).
?The Grey Eagle?, was an American baseball player. Considered one of the best offensive and defensive center fielders in the history of Major League Baseball (MLB), he compiled a career batting average of .345 (sixth all-time). His 792 career doubles represent an MLB career record. His 3,514 hits are fifth in all-time hits list. Defensively, Speaker holds career records for assists, double plays, and unassisted double plays by an outfielder.…
Lt Gen, USAF, Ret. is an American former Air Force officer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. He flew aboard two Gemini space flights; and in 1969 was the Commander of Apollo 10, the second manned mission to orbit the Moon and the first to fly a Lunar Module there.
In 1975, Stafford was Commander of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project flight, the first joint U.S.-Soviet space mission.…
American actor, singer/guitarist and songwriter. He is the younger brother of Sylvester Stallone.
American tycoon, industrialist, politician and founder of Stanford University. Migrating to California from New York at the time of the Gold Rush, he became a successful merchant and wholesaler, and continued to build his business empire. He served one two-year term as governor of California after his election in 1861, and later eight years as senator from the state.…
Frederick Stanley until 1886 and as Lord Stanley of Preston between 1886 and 1893, was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom who served as Colonial Secretary from 1885 to 1886 and the sixth Governor General of Canada from 1888 to 1893. An avid sportsman, he built Stanley House Stables in England, and is most famous for presenting the Stanley Cup in Canada.…
American football player and coach. He wore #15 and he was the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers from 1956 to 1971, during which time he became the only quarterback in NFL history to lead a team to five championships (1961?62, 1965?67) as well as Super Bowls I and II. He was less successful as the Packers?…
Harold Ray Ragsdale Known professionally as Ray Stevens, is an American country and pop singer-songwriter and comedian. Ray Stevens was born Harold Ray Ragsdale in Clarkdale, Georgia on January 24, 1939. Clarkdale was a small cotton mill town twenty miles north of Atlanta. Ray?s early influences came from the radio and the jukebox at the village swimming pool where Ray and most kids spent their summers.…
Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. During his tenure, he made, among other areas, major contributions to criminal justice reform, civil rights, access to the courts, and Fourth Amendment jurisprudence.
The founder of osteopathy and osteopathic medicine. He was also a physician and surgeon, author, inventor and Kansas territorial and state legislator. He was one of the founders of Baker University, the oldest four-year college in the state of Kansas, and was the founder of the American School of Osteopathy (now A.T. Still University), the world?s first osteopathic medical school, in Kirksville, Missouri.
Charter Master of St. John’s Lodge in Princeton NJ 1765
American lawyer, jurist, legislator, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
In 1776, Stockton was elected to the Second Continental Congress, where he took a very active role. That August, when elections were held for the state governments of the new nation, Stockton and William Livingston each received the same number of votes to be the Governor of New Jersey on the first ballot.…
Democratic politician from Ohio. He served in the United States House of Representatives. Stokes’ tenure in the House of Representatives included service on the House Appropriations Committee, where he was influential in bringing revenue to Cleveland. He was particularly interested in veterans’ issues and secured funds for health-care facilities for veterans in Cleveland. In the 1970s, Stokes served as Chairman of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, charged with investigating the murders of President John F.…
General Tom Thumb was the stage name of Charles Sherwood Stratton, a dwarf who achieved great fame as a midget performer under circus pioneer P.T. Barnum. Stratton became a Freemason on October 3, 1862. Stratton, by now 2 feet 11 inches (89 cm) tall, was Initiated with a man 6 feet 3 inches (191 cm)
United States automobile entrepreneur, engineer, and innovator in the automobile industry. Stutz was born in 1876 to John and Wilma Stutz, on a farm a few miles outside of Indianapolis, Indiana. Stutz grew up caring for and repairing agricultural machinery on the family farm. Automobiles and engines fascinated him. Stutz built his first car in 1897, and then a second auto using a gasoline engine of his own design and manufacture.…
United States automobile entrepreneur, engineer, and innovator in the automobile industry. Stutz was born in 1876 to John and Wilma Stutz, on a farm a few miles outside of Indianapolis, Indiana. Stutz grew up caring for and repairing agricultural machinery on the family farm. Automobiles and engines fascinated him. Stutz built his first car in 1897, and then a second auto using a gasoline engine of his own design and manufacture.…
Canadian researcher and developer, and is credited with the invention of the first five and six-chime air horns for use on locomotives. Swanson had worked as the chief engineer of a company called Victoria Lumber Manufacturing in the 1920s, when he developed a hobby for making steam whistles for locomotives. Eventually, Swanson designed and built a large steam whistle for the mill where he worked.…
American jurist and politician. He was the first Republican appointed as a justice to the United States Supreme Court.
American actor, professional dog breeder and hunting guide. Switzer began his career as a child actor in the mid-1930s appearing in the Our Gang short subjects series as Alfalfa, one of the series? most popular and best-remembered characters. After leaving the series in 1940, Switzer struggled to find substantial roles due to typecasting. As an adult, he appeared mainly in bit parts and B-movies.…
American businessman and politician from Missouri. He served as the first Secretary of the Air Force from 1947 to 1950 and was a Democratic United States Senator from Missouri from 1953 to 1976.
American businessman and politician from Missouri. He served as the first Secretary of the Air Force from 1947 to 1950 and was a Democratic United States Senator from Missouri from 1953 to 1976.
Distinguished jurist, effective administrator, but poor politician, William Howard Taft spent four uncomfortable years in the White House. Large, jovial, conscientious, he was caught in the intense battles between Progressives and conservatives, and got scant credit for the achievements of his administration.
Born in 1857, the son of a distinguished judge, he graduated from Yale, and returned to Cincinnati to study and practice law.…
Major League Baseball first baseman and manager. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, Terry was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1954. In 1999, he ranked number 59 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. The Giants retired Terry’s uniform no.…
American nightclub comedian and television and film actor and producer, whose career spanned five decades. Thomas was best known for starring in the television sitcom Make Room for Daddy (also known as The Danny Thomas Show). He was also the founder of St. Jude Children?s Research Hospital. He was the father of Marlo Thomas, Terre Thomas, and Tony Thomas.
American writer, broadcaster, and traveler, best known as the man who made Lawrence of Arabia famous.
American businessperson and philanthropist. Thomas was the founder and chief executive officer of Wendy?s, a fast-food restaurant chain specializing in hamburgers. He is also known for appearing in more than 800 commercial advertisements for the chain from 1989 to 2002, more than any other company founder in television history
Danish sculptor of international fame, who spent most of his life (1789?1838) in Italy. Thorvaldsen was born in Copenhagen into a Danish/Icelandic family of humble means, and was accepted to the Royal Danish Academy of Art when he was eleven years old. Working part-time with his father, who was a wood carver, Thorvaldsen won many honors and medals at the academy.…
American politician who served for 48 years as a United States Senator from South Carolina. He ran for president in 1948 as the States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes. Thurmond represented South Carolina in the United States Senate from 1954 until 2003, at first as a Democrat and, after 1964, as a Republican.
Stage magician from Columbus, Ohio, United States. His childhood was unhappy and he ran away to join the circus, where his future partner Harry Kellar also performed. Thurston was deeply impressed after he attended magician Alexander Herrmann’s magic show and was determined to equal his work. He eventually became the most famous magician of his time.…
American country music singer and songwriter. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s, with a long list of Top 10 hits. Tillis’s biggest hits include “I Ain’t Never”, “Good Woman Blues”, and “Coca-Cola Cowboy”. On February 13, 2012, President Barack Obama awarded Tillis the National Medal of Arts for his contributions to country music.[1] He also has won the CMA Awards’ most coveted award, Entertainer of the Year.…
American attorney and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Raised in the Colony of Virginia, he studied law and later participated in the founding of Kentucky, where he served as a clerk, judge, and justice. He was married twice and had a total of eight children. Todd joined the U.S. Supreme Court in 1807 and his handful of legal opinions there mostly concerned land claims.
Claimant to being the world’s tallest individual. Tomaini claimed a height of 8 feet, 6½ inches; however, Guinness World Records stated he was really 7 feet, 11 inches. Tomaini was the son of Santo Tomaini and Maria Bossone. He was one of seven children. At the age of 12, he was taller than his father, who stood 6 feet, 1 inch tall.…
15th President of George Washington University, serving from 1988 to 2007. On August 1, 2007, he retired from the presidency and became President Emeritus and University Professor of Public Service.
19th-century American lawyer and soldier. At the age of 26, he was a lieutenant colonel in the Texas Army. He died at the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution.
Detroit lawyer and businessman best known as the producer of the Lone Ranger radio and television programs along with The Green Hornet. He is entombed in Detroit’s Woodlawn Cemetery. During the 1920s, George W. Trendle was a Detroit, Michigan, lawyer who had established a reputation as a tough negotiator specializing in movie contracts and leases. Trendle became involved in the Detroit area entertainment business in 1928 when local motion picture theater owner John H.…
American country music instrumentalist currently performing in Branson, Missouri. He invented the electric banjo and also plays the five-string banjo, dobro, steel guitar, mandolin, electric bass and guitar.
Attorney, judge, and a justice of the United States Supreme Court. In 1803, Trimble was elected to represent Bourbon County in the Kentucky House of Representatives. During his single term in the legislature, he found that he disliked the life of a politician, and thereafter refused election to any public office, including two nominations to the U.S.…
During his few weeks as Vice President, Harry S. Truman scarcely saw President Roosevelt, and received no briefing on the development of the atomic bomb or the unfolding difficulties with Soviet Russia. Suddenly these and a host of other wartime problems became Truman’s to solve when, on April 12, 1945, he became President. He told reporters, “I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me.”
Truman was born in Lamar, Missouri, in 1884.…
American automobile designer and entrepreneur. He is most remembered for his 1948 Tucker Sedan (known as the “Tucker ’48” and initially nicknamed the “Tucker Torpedo”), an automobile which introduced many features that have since become widely used in modern cars. Production of the Tucker ’48 was shut down amidst scandal and controversial accusations of stock fraud on March 3, 1949.…
President of Mexico from 1946 to 1952. His administration was characterized by Mexico’s rapid industrialization, but also for a high level of personal enrichment for himself and his associates. Alemán was inaugurated as President of the Republic on December 1, 1946 and served until 1952. He was enormously popular prior to his presidency and in his early years as president, but lost support in the waning days of his term.
Republican Senator from the U.S. state of Michigan who participated in the creation of the United Nations. On March 31, 1928, Governor Fred W. Green appointed 44-year-old Vandenberg, a Republican, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Senator Woodbridge Nathan Ferris, a Democrat, from pneumonia. Green made the appointment reluctantly under considerable political pressure.…
American politician who served the United States in all three branches of government and was the most prominent member of the Vinson political family. In the legislative branch, he was an elected member of the United States House of Representatives from Louisa, Kentucky, for twelve years. In the executive branch, he was the Secretary of Treasury under President Harry S.…
Known as the Alton Giant and the Giant of Illinois, is the tallest person in recorded history for whom there is irrefutable evidence. The Alton and Illinois monikers reflect the fact that he was born and grew up in Alton, Illinois. Wadlow reached 8 ft 11.1 in (2.72 m) in height and weighed 439 lb (199 kg) at his death at age 22.…
American army officer and the commander of Allied forces in the Philippines at the time of their surrender to the Empire of Japan during World War II. Wainwright was a recipient of the Medal of Honor for his courageous leadership during the fall of the Philippines. In September 1940, Wainwright was promoted to Major General (temporary) and returned to the Philippines, in December, as commander of the Philippine Department.…
American country musician born in Copeville, Texas. He held membership in the Grand Ole Opry from 1967, and was inducted into the Country Radio DJ Hall of Fame in 1981. Walker worked as a disc jockey in the early 1950s at KENS in San Antonio, Texas before signing with Decca Records. His first hit, “Only You, Only You” was co-written with Jack Newman and reached No.…
American politician and the 45th Governor of Alabama, having served two nonconsecutive terms and two consecutive terms as a Democrat: 1963–1967, 1971–1979 and 1983–1987. Wallace has the third longest gubernatorial tenure in post-Constitutional U.S. history at 5,848 days. After four runs for U.S. President (three as a Democrat and one on the American Independent Party ticket), he earned the title “the most influential loser” in 20th century U.S.…
American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, governor of the New Mexico Territory, politician, diplomat, and author from Indiana. Among his novels and biographies, Wallace is best known for his historical adventure story, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880), a bestselling novel that has been called ?the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth century.?…
German-American high wire artist and founder of The Flying Wallendas, a daredevil circus act which performed dangerous stunts, often without a safety net. He was the great-grandfather of current performer Nik Wallenda. The Great Wallendas were noted throughout Europe for their four-man pyramid and cycling on the high wire. The act moved to the United States in 1928, performing as freelancers.…
Solomon’s Lodge No. 1, in Savannah GA
Signed the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Georgia and also served as the second Chief Executive of that state.
He became an advocate of the patriot cause and was elected Secretary of the Georgia Provincial Congress and became president of the Council of Safety.…
Born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, was a Canadian-born American film executive who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Warner?s career spanned some forty-five years, its duration surpassing that of any other of the seminal Hollywood studio moguls
American jurist and politician, who served as the 30th Governor of California (1943?1953) and later the 14th Chief Justice of the United States (1953?1969).
American doctor who played a leading role in American Patriot organizations in Boston in the early days of the American Revolution, eventually serving as president of the revolutionary Massachusetts Provincial Congress. Warren enlisted Paul Revere and William Dawes on April 18, 1775, to leave Boston and spread the alarm that the British garrison in Boston was setting out to raid the town of Concord and arrest rebel leaders John Hancock and Samuel Adams.…
On April 30, 1789, George Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, took his oath of office as the first President of the United States. “As the first of every thing, in our situation will serve to establish a Precedent,” he wrote James Madison, “it is devoutly wished on my part, that these precedents may be fixed on true principles.”
Born in 1732 into a Virginia planter family, he learned the morals, manners, and body of knowledge requisite for an 18th century Virginia gentleman.…
American lawyer, politician and elected in 1983 as the 51st Mayor of Chicago. He was the first African-American Mayor of Chicago, serving from April 29, 1983 until his death on November 25, 1987. He was also a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 1983 representing the Illinois first district, and also previously served in the Illinois State Senate and the Illinois House of Representatives.
Oldest of the Wattis Brothers and founders of the Utah Construction Company. Wattis was born in Uintah, Utah Territory, the second of seven children born to Edmund Orson Wattis and Mary Jane Corey. Edmund was 21 when he left his home in Uinta to start a career in heavy construction, working on bed grading for the Canadian Pacific and Colorado Midlands.…
John Wayne, was an American film actor, director, and producer. An Academy Award-winner, Wayne was among the top box office draws for three decades. An enduring American icon, he epitomized rugged masculinity and is famous for his demeanor, including his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height. He was also active as a member of the Order of DeMolay.
Retired American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and former NASA astronaut, who flew into space twice. He was a member of the three-man crew who flew on Skylab 2, the first manned Skylab mission. He was also Commander of the STS-6 mission, the first of the Space Shuttle Challenger flights.
Charles Adrien Wettach, was a Swiss clown, composer and musician. Called ?the king of clowns? and ?the greatest of Europe?s clowns?, Grock was once the most highly paid entertainer in the world
St. John’s Lodge, Portsmouth NH 1752
Signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of New Hampshire. Whipple was a member of the Continental congress from 1776 through 1779. Before becoming a politician, Whipple worked as both a ship’s captain and a merchant. He became a prominent and wealthy member of society until he became a member of the new Hampshire Provincial congress.…
American bandleader, composer, orchestral director and violinist. Leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s, Whiteman produced recordings that were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the “King of Jazz”. Using a large ensemble and exploring many styles of music, Whiteman is perhaps best known for his blending of symphonic music and jazz, as typified by his 1924 commissioning and debut of George Gershwin’s jazz-influenced “Rhapsody in Blue”.…
American film and television actor and a singer in the Avalon Boys Quartet. Wills was born in 1902 in Seagoville near Mesquite in Dallas County, Texas. He was a performer from early childhood, forming and leading The Avalon Boys singing group in the 1930s. After appearing in a few westerns, he disbanded the group in 1938 and struck out on a solo acting career.…
American composer, songwriter, flutist, conductor and playwright, best known for writing the book, music and lyrics for the hit Broadway musical The Music Man. He wrote three other Broadway musicals, composed symphonies and popular songs, and his film scores were twice nominated for Academy Awards.
American engineer and businessman who served as United States Secretary of Defense from 1953 to 1957 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Known as “Engine Charlie”, he previously worked as CEO for General Motors. In the wake of the Korean War, he cut the defense budget significantly. Wilson’s nomination sparked a controversy that erupted during his confirmation hearings before the Senate Armed Services Committee, based on his large stockholdings in General Motors.…
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, a U.S. Senator, Governor of New Hampshire and cabinet member in three administrations. He was the first Justice to have attended law school.
Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court as well as an Ohio politician and soldier in the Civil War.
American film director, producer and screenwriter. Notable works included Ben-Hur (1959), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and Mrs. Miniver (1942), all of which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, as well as Best Picture in their respective years, making him the only director of three Best Picture winners. Wyler received his first Oscar nomination for directing Dodsworth in 1936, starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton and Mary Astor, ?sparking a 20-year run of almost unbroken greatness.
American Major League Baseball pitcher. During his 21-year baseball career (1890?1911), he pitched for five different teams. Young established numerous pitching records, some of which have stood for a century. Young compiled 511 wins, which is most in Major League history and 94 ahead of Walter Johnson who is second on the list. Young was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937.
Major League Baseball pitcher, professional magician, and head coach of the University of California baseball and soccer teams. Zamloch also worked as a magician for many years. In the off-season, he toured the country performing a magic act. His father was Anton Zamloch, who was one of the most famous magicians (performing under the name “Zamloch the Great” and “Professor Zamloch”) in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century.
American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors (the length of his career was rivaled only by that of Adolph Zukor). He earned three Academy Awards during his tenure.
American manufacturer of women’s clothing, but was best known for his home movie documenting the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. At the time of the assassination, Zapruder was an admirer of President Kennedy and considered himself a Democrat. Zapruder had originally planned to film the motorcade carrying President Kennedy through downtown Dallas on November 22 but decided not to film the event as it had been raining that morning.…