Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931)

Francis Julius Bellamy was born in Mount Morris, NY. His family was deeply involved in the Baptist church and they moved to Rome, NY when Bellamy was only 5. Here, Bellamy became an active member of the First Baptist Church; which his father was minister of until his death in 1864. He attended college at […]

Edward Bellamy (1850 - 1898)

Author. Edward Bellamy worked briefly in the newspaper industry in New York City, New York and in Springfield, Massachusetts. He left journalism to devote himself completely to literature, writing both short stories and novels. His books include “Dr. Heidenhoff’s Process” (1880), “Miss Ludington’s Sister” (1884), “The Duke of Stockbridge” (1900), and the novels “Looking Backward: […]

John Anthony Bellairs (1938 - 1991)

John Anthony Bellairs (January 17, 1938 – March 8, 1991) was an American author, best known for his fantasy novel The Face in the Frost and many gothic mystery novels for young adults featuring the characters Lewis Barnavelt, Anthony Monday, and Johnny Dixon. After earning degrees at University of Notre Dame and the University of Chicago, […]

James Warner Bellah (1899 - 1976)

James Warner Bellah (September 14, 1899 in New York City – September 22, 1976 in Los Angeles, California) was a popular American Western author from the 1930s to the 1950s. His pulp-fiction writings on cavalry and Indians were published in paperbacks or serialized in the Saturday Evening Post. Bellah was the author of 19 novels, including […]

Jeremy Belknap (1744 - 1798)

Jeremy Belknap was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of a tanner. His uncle was Mather Byles, one of New England’s intellectual leaders. Belknap was baptized by the historian Thomas Prince, another leading figure of 18th-century New England. He was educated at the Boston Latin School and Harvard College, where he graduated in 1762. In […]

Alexander Beliayev (1884 - 1942)

Alexander Beliayev was born in Smolensk in the family of an Orthodox priest. His father, after losing two other children (Alexander’s sister Nina died at childhood from sarcoma and his brother Vasiliy, a veterinary student, drowned during a boat trip), wanted him to continue the family tradition and enrolled Alexander into Smolensk seminary. Belyaev, on […]

Archie “Grey Owl” Belaney (1888 - 1938)

Conservationist, colorful writer. British-born, Belaney came to Canada as masqueraded as a Native Indian. Popularized conservation theme in his books and lecture tours, especially in Britain. In Canada he was appointed to run beaver preservation programs in Riding Mountain and Prince Albert national parks. His ruse was uncovered three years before his death, but no […]

Aphra Behn (1970 - 1689)

Aphra Behn (/ˈæfrə bɛn/;[a] 14 December 1640? – 16 April 1689) was a British playwright, poet, translator and fiction writer from the Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writing, she broke cultural barriers and served as a literary role model for later generations of women authors. […]

Isabella Mary Mayson Beeton (1836 - 1865)

Author. British writer of cookery articles and books such as “The Book of Household Management” and “Mrs Beeton’s Cookbook.”  Family links:  Spouse:  Samuel Orchart Beeton (1830 – 1877)* *Calculated relationship

Michael Beer (1800 - 1833)

Michael Beer was born to a wealthy Jewish family. His elder brother was the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer; another brother was the astronomer Wilhelm Beer. In the period 1817–1823 he frequently travelled with family members in Italy, where his brother Meyerbeer was studying. In 1819 Beer was a founder member of the movement Verein für Cultur und Wissenschaft […]

Keyes Beech (1913 - 1990)

Journalist. Born in Pulaski, Tennessee, he was a foreign correspondent in Asia and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1951, for his reporting on the Korean War. During World War II, he served as a Sergeant in the 2nd Marine Division, US Marines, in the Pacific. He was with his unit when they landed at Tarawa […]

Lucius Morris Beebe (1902 - 1966)

Notable Newspaper Columnist, Author, Editor, Publisher, and Authority on the Golden Age of American Railroads. Son of Junius Beebe (1854 – 1934), President of the Brockton (Mass.) Gas Company and prominent Boston banker, and Eleanor Harriet Beebe (1865 – 1939). Graduated from Harvard in 1927; joining the staff of The Boston Telegraph, and later, from […]

Elswyth Thane Ricker Beebe (1900 - 1984)

Writer. Elswyth Thane was a twentieth century romantic historical novelist. Her most recognized work was a seven-novel series entitled “Williamsburg”, which was about a family from the Revolutionary War to World War II. Born Helen Ricker, her parents were Edith and Maurice Ricker, both educators. In 1918, the family moved form Iowa to New York […]

Harry Chester Bedwell (1888 - 1955)

Harry Bedwell was the author of over 70 short stories and one novel. He is considered one of the greats of the “railroad fiction” genre. His stories were regularly published in the popular magazines of his era, such as the Saturday Evening Post. His life was the subject of a biography by Frank P. Donovan, […]

Demyan Bedny (1883 - 1945)

Poet. Largely forgotten today, Demyan Bedny once ranked among the Soviet Union’s most famous authors. His simple, song-like topical verses, filled with slapstick wit and satire,  were widely read in the 1920s and 1930s.  Boris Pasternak claimed he saw “the spirit of the people” in his work.  Born Yefim Alekseyevich Pridvorov in Gubovka,  Ukraine,  he […]

Bede the Venerable (1970 - 0735)

Bede was the greatest writer in Anglo-Saxon literature. He wrote both poetry and prose, history and hagiography. We rely on him almost entirely for the early history of England – through his ‘Ecclesiastical History of the English People’ – relying on and recording local tradition. His wide learning stretched from Latin and Greek, to astronomy […]

Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836 - 1870)

Spanish-born writer of romanticism. He is remembered for his books “Rimas,” “Leyendas,” and “Cartas Desde mi Celda,” published after his death. He is buried in Capilla de la Universidad de Sevilla. (bio by: José L Bernabé Tronchoni)  Family links:  Spouse:  Casta Esteban Navarro (1841 – 1885)*  Children:  Emilio Eusebio Bécquer (1868 – 1874)* *Calculated relationship

William Beckford (1760 - 1844)

Author. He born in Fonthill, Wiltshire, in the manor house owned by his father who was twice Lord Mayor of London. He inherited a large fortune from his father, William Beckford, consisting of one million in cash, and several sugar plantations in Jamaica. In 1783, after his marraige to Margaret Gordon , he travelled, having […]

Samuel Beckett (1906 - 1989)

Author, Playwright. Lived in France from 1937 on and wrote primarily in French after 1945. His work was influenced primarily by Franz Kafka and James Joyce. His best known work is the absurdist play “Waiting for Godot” (1953).  Family links:  Parents:  William Frank Beckett (1871 – 1933)  Mary Jones Roe Beckett (1872 – 1950)  Spouse: […]

Gary S. Becker (1930 - 2014)

Nobel Prize Winning Economist, Author. He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1992 for his work regarding microeconomics in relation to human behavior. Born in a Pennsylvania mining town, his father was a small business owner, Gary’s family relocated to Brooklyn, New York during his youth. He attained a Bachelor […]

Robert Maupin “Iceberg Slim” Beck (1918 - 1992)

Author. Wrote under the pseudonym ‘Iceberg Slim.’ (bio by: A.J. Marik)  Family links:  Children:  Camille Mary Beck (1964 – 2010)* *Calculated relationship

Louise Bechtel (1894 - 1985)

Noted Children’s Author. Spent many years of devotion to editing, writing and lecturing about children’s books. Winner of three Newberry Medals. Best known for her books “The Brave Bantum” and “Mr. Peck’s Pets.” (bio by: Laurie)

Simone de Beauvoir (1908 - 1986)

French writer, philosopher, feminist. She has come to be seen as the mother of post-1968 feminism. Philosophical writings linked to Sartrian existentialism. Best known for her work The Second Sex (1949) which contained detailed analysis of women’s oppression. Other major works: The Guest (1943); Memoires d’une jeune fille rangŽe (1958).

Joseph Beaumont (1616 - 1699)

Poet, Chaplain to King Charles II, and Master of Peterhouse College, Cambridge. A Royalist and High-Church Anglican, Beaumont was among the group of scholars ejected from their positions at Cambridge in 1644 for refusing to accept the “Solemn League and Covenant” demanded by Parliament. Returning to his native village of Hadleigh, he composed Psyche, or […]

Francis Beaumont (1970 - 1616)

Dramatist, Poet. The younger half of the English playwrighting team of Beaumont and Fletcher, famed for their tragicomedies, a hybrid genre they successfully revived on the Jacobean stage. Their work foreshadowed and influenced later Restoration drama. Among the dozen or so plays attributed to them are “The Woman Hater” (1606), “Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding” […]

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732 - 1799)

Musician, politician, inventor, spy, arms dealer and playwright (‘The Barber of Seville’ and ‘The Marriage of Figaro’) Cause of death: Complications connected with lengthy heavy-drinking. Apoplexy

John Owen Beaty (1890 - 1961)

Educator and Author. Wrote several books, most important being “An Introduction to Poetry,” “Swords in the Dawn,” and “The Iron Curtain Over America.” (bio by: Laurie)  Family links:  Spouse:  Josephine Powell Beaty (1896 – 1982)*  Children:  Richard Davis Beaty (1928 – 2005)* *Calculated relationship

Piaras Beaslai (1881 - 1965)

Irish author, playwright, biographer and translator. born in Liverpool (England). Fought in the Easter Rising of 1916; later director of publicity for IRA  before dedicating himself to literature. (bio by: David Conway)

Mary Beard (1876 - 1958)

Historian.  Family links:  Spouse:  Charles Beard (1874 – 1948)

Charles Beard (1874 - 1948)

Historian.  Family links:  Parents:  William Henry Harrison Beard (1840 – 1907)  Mary J. Payne Beard (1843 – 1921)  Spouse:  Mary Beard (1876 – 1958)*  Sibling:  Clarence H. Beard (1869 – 1924)*  Charles Beard (1874 – 1948) *Calculated relationship