William Gillette (1853 - 1937)

Actor, playwright, “Sherlock Holmes.”  Family links:  Parents:  Francis Gillette (1807 – 1879)  Elisabeth Hooker Gillette (1813 – 1893)  Spouse:  Helen Nichols Gillette (1860 – 1888)*  Siblings:  Frank Ashbel Gillette (1836 – 1859)*  Elizabeth H Gillette Warner (1838 – 1915)*  Edward Hooker Gillette (1840 – 1918)*  Robert Hooker Gillette (1842 – 1865)*  William Gillette (1853 – […]

William Glackens (1870 - 1938)

Artist. A member of the “Ashcan School” of modern American art, he is best known for a number of realist paintings, including “East River Park” (1902) and “At Mouquin’s” (1905). He served as an European agent for millionaire art enthusiast Albert C. Barnes, and purchased for Barnes dozens of paintings that helped make up the […]

William Goscombe John (1860 - 1952)

Sculptor.

William H. Abendroth (1895 - 1970)

William Henry Abendroth, Jr., nicknamed Harry, was the son of a career soldier who served in the American Indian Wars and the Spanish-American War before retiring as a First Sergeant and becoming an instructor in military studies at the University of Idaho. The younger Abendroth was born in Fort Meade, South Dakota, on December 24, […]

William H. Crane (1845 - 1928)

Actor. He was a popular theatre star of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, notably as part of the comedy duo Robson & Crane. Born William Henry Crane in Leicester, Massachusetts, he began performing in light opera in 1863 and first appeared on Broadway in the operatic spoof “Little Faust!” (1870). In 1877 he […]

William H. Parker (1905 - 1966)

Police chief of the Los Angeles City Police Department (LAPD). He was called “… Los Angeles’s greatest and most controversial chief of police”. The former headquarters for the LAPD, the Parker Center, was named after him. He served 15 years as an LAPD officer before taking a leave to fight in World War II. He […]

William Haade (1903 - 1966)

Actor. He appeared in 27 television series/shows, including “The Lone Ranger,” “Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok” and “The Range Rider.”  Haade also appeared in over 225 films from 1937 to 1957 including: “Bulldog Drummond’s Peril,” “The Gracie Allen Murder Case,” “Reap the Wild Wind,” “Fallen Angel,” “Knock on Any Door,” “Flamingo Road,” “The Asphalt Jungle,” […]

William Hanna (1910 - 2001)

Animation mogul. Born to William John and Avice Joyce (Denby) Hanna in Melrose, New Mexico.  He was the third of seven children and the only boy.  In 1922, while living in Watts, he joined Scouting. He attended Compton High School from 1925 through 1928, where he played the saxophone in a dance band. His passion […]

William Harold “Baldy” Cotton (1902 - 1984)

Professional Hockey Player. Cotton was a native of Nanticoke, Ontario. He played the position of Left Wing for teams in the NHL and the IAHL Hockey Leagues. At 5’10”, and 155lbs, Cotton played for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1925 to 1929, Toronto Maple Leafs from 1928 to 1935, New York Americans from 1935 to 1937, […]

William Harry Brown (1856 - 1921)

Businessman. He and his brothers organized the firm of Wm. H. Brown & Sons of Pittsburgh in 1876.  They were the largest shippers of coal on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.  Mr. Brown’s private mausoleum, the Pyramid, was built in 1898-99. It is the only one of its type in Homewood Cemetery and has become […]

William Hart (1823 - 1894)

Artist. William Hart was brought to America by his parents, James and Marion Robertson Hart, from Scotland in February, 1830.  William Hart began his career as a coach and ornamental painter in Troy, New York.  For several years he traveled throughout Michigan as an itinerant painter doing portraits before going to Europe to study.   […]

William Hartnell (1908 - 1975)

William Hartnell was born in St Pancras, London, England, the only child of Lucy Hartnell, an unmarried mother. He was brought up partly by a foster mother, and also spent many holidays in Devon with his mother’s family of farmers, where he learned to ride. He was the second cousin of fashion designer Norman Hartnell. Hartnell […]

William Hayes Perry (1970 - 1906)

William H. Perry was a Los Angeles lumber baron and the first president of the Department of Water and Power.  He was close frineds with William Mulholland.  His former home, a Greek Revival, is on display at Heritage Square Museum in Highland Park. (bio by: Joe Walker)

William Henry Abstein (1883 - 1940)

Major League Baseball Player. Known as “Big Bill,” he played Major League baseball as first baseman for three seasons (1906, 1909 to 1910) for the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Browns. A career minor leaguer who never could permanently break into the Major League (he was considered a top first baseman when he played for […]

William Henry Aspinwall (1807 - 1875)

Businessman. In 1832 William joined Howland & Aspinwall, a New York merchant firm founded by his cousins that specialized in trade with the Caribbean. He assumed control of the firm in 1835 and expanded trade to South America, China, Europe, the Mediterranean, and the East and West Indies. In 1840 his younger brother, John, began […]

William Henry Crocker (1861 - 1937)

Businessman Magnate. William Crocker founded and later became president of Crocker National Bank. When much of San Francisco was destroyed by the quake and fire of 1906, Crocker and his bank were major forces in financing reconstruction. Crocker was a University of California regent for nearly thirty years and funded the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory’s second […]

William Henry Harrison (1773 - 1841)

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison was born February 9, 1773, the youngest of Benjamin Harrison V and Elizabeth (Bassett)’s seven children. They were a prominent political family who lived onBerkeley Plantation in Charles City County, Virginia. He was the last president born as a British subject before American Independence. His father was a planter and a delegate to the Continental Congress (1774–1777), who signed […]

William Henry Herndon (1819 - 1891)

Lawyer. He is remembered as the law partner of Abraham Lincoln when he practiced law in Springfield, Illinois, prior to Lincoln’s election as the 16th US President. The oldest son of a businessman, his family moved to Macon County, Illinois in 1820 and the following year they relocated to Sangamon County, Illinois and eventually settled […]

William Henry Mathews (1838 - 1932)

Newspaper innovator. During his 50-year tenure as President and co-publisher (with Colonel Nathan Pond) of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, he introduced linotype machines to the American press, which eliminated typesetting by hand and produced faster and more accurate newspaper production.  (bio by: Mount Hope NY)  Family links:  Spouse:  Frances Augusta Walbridge Mathews (1845 – […]

William Henry Smith (1792 - 1865)

His mother founded the chain of stationery shops which still bear his name. W.H.Smith is Britain’s leading High Street stationery store. (bio by: Kieran Smith)

William Henry West Betty (1791 - 1874)

Child actor, starred in “The Young Roscius.” Perhaps the first, and certainly one of the brightest, of the child prodigies whose brief careers reflect their dependence on fashion. Building public anticipation with a series of highly successful provincial appearances, theYoung Rosciusâ burst on the London stage in 1804 aged thirteen. Within weeks he was heading […]

William Herbert “Buck” Dunton (1878 - 1936)

Artist. He spent his childhood in the woods of Maine which solidified his love of animals and the outdoors placing this focus on his art. Dunton ventured to the west making many summer trips hunting, fishing and cowboying.He was already an accomplished artist submitting pen and ink drawings to local newspapers. He became prosperous as […]

William Hewitt (1875 - 1966)

Businessman, Hockey Pioneer and Innovator. Hewitt served as the President of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, Vice President of the International Ice Hockey Federation from 1925 to 1926, and 1928 to 1931, and led Canada as a team leader in the Olympics of 1920, 1924, 1928, and 1936. From 1919 to 1920 he was Secretary […]

William Hoare (1970 - 1792)

Artist. Painter noted for his pastels and a leading portraitist in his home city of Bath, until the arrival of Gainsborough in 1759. His work has often been described as serious and dreary. His father apprenticed him to Guiseppi Grisoni with whom he travelled to Rome in 1728. On returning to England in 1738, he […]

William Holden (1918 - 1981)

William Holden Born William Franklin Beedle in O’Fallon, Illinois, he initially followed in his father’s footsteps by studying chemistry at Pasadena Junior College before he signed a contract with Paramount in 1937. His first role was an unaccredited appearance 1938’s “Prison Farm” but he became a star almost effortlessly by virtue of his starring role […]

William Holman Hunt (1827 - 1910)

Pre-Raphaelite artist and founder of the Pre-Raphaelite School. Eventually entering the Royal Academy art schools, having initially been rejected, William rebelled against the influence of its founder Sir Joshua Reynolds. He formed the Pre-Raphaelite movement in 1848, after meeting the poet and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Along with John Everett Millais they sought to revitalise […]

William Holmes McGuffey (1800 - 1873)

Author, Educator. With his Brother Alexander, he wrote the “McGuffey Readers”, while a professor at Miami (Ohio) University from 1823-1836. He served as President of Cincinnati College from 1836- 1839, and President of Ohio University from 1839 to 1843. From 1843 to 1845 he served as President of Woodward College in Cincinnati, Ohio. He became […]

William Hootkins (1948 - 2005)

Hootkins was born in Dallas, Texas. At the age of 15, Hootkins found himself caught up in the FBI’s investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy when he was interviewed about Mrs. Ruth Paine, the woman “harboring” Marina Oswald, the Russian wife of the presumed assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. He had been studying […]

William Hope “Coin” Harvey (1861 - 1936)

Businessman. Known as “Coin” Harvey, he was an influential businessman of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He built a resort in northwestern Arkansas near the town of Rogers and called it Monte Ne. He funded a railroad spur from Rogers to the resort, and in later years, as automobile use grew and railroad […]

William Hopper (1915 - 1970)

William DeWolf Hopper, Jr., was born January 26, 1915, in New York City. He was the only child of noted actor, singer, comedian and theatrical producer DeWolf Hopper and his fifth wife, actress Hedda Hopper. William Hopper had one older half-brother, John A. Hopper, from his father’s second marriage in the 1880s. Hopper made his […]