Herman Ossian Armour (1837 - 1901)

Businessman. He was a co-founder of the meatpacking firm of Armour & Company. He was born the seventh of eight children whose parents were farmers and little is known of his early life. In 1865 he partnered with John Plankinton and established the New York syndicate of Armour Meats under the name Armour, Plankinton & […]

Nicholas Hawksmoor (1970 - 1736)

Architect, originally assistant to Sir Christopher Wren and himself the designer of some of London’s finest churches, and of the West towers of Westminster Abbey. Also the subject of an unusual novel by Peter Ackroyd. The letters PMSL on his tomb have not been adequately expelained. (bio by: Find A Grave)

Charles W. Armour (1857 - 1927)

Businessman. He was one of the five Armours who developed the meatpacking firm of Armor & Company. He was born in Stockbridge, New York, where his parents were farmers and little is known of his early life. His brother, Phillip Danforth Armour and associate John Plankington opened a small slaughterhouse in Kansas City in 1871. […]

Robert Havell (1793 - 1878)

Artist. An engraver and painter, he engraved plates to John J. Audubon’s Birds of America. Painted and sketched in the New York area around the Hudson River. (bio by: Laurie)  Family links:  Spouse:  Amelia Jane Edington Havell (1807 – 1878)* *Calculated relationship

Andrew Watson Armour (1829 - 1892)

Businessman. One of 5 Armours who developed Armor and Company Meat Packing. In 1871 John Plankington and Phillip Armour opened a small slaughterhouse in Kansas City. The company already had two large packinghouses, one in Milwaukee and one in Chicago. John Plankington retired from Plankington and Armour in 1885 and Armour Brothers was organized. Phillip […]

Havank (1904 - 1964)

Author, Journalist, Translator.  Havank was the pen-name of H.F. (Hans) van der Kallen, Dutch writer of some 30 very popular crime-novels and stories, featuring French police-officers Bruno Silvère and Charles C.M. Carlier, better known in Dutch as  de Schaduw‚‚ ( the Shadow) as principal characters. Furthermore he  translated some 45 novels, mainly of fellow crime […]

Elizabeth Arden (1878 - 1966)

Businesswoman. She is remembered for founding what is known as Elizabeth Arden, Incorporated, a US cosmetics empire. She was largely responsible for establishing makeup as proper and appropriate, even necessary, for a ladylike image, when before makeup had often been associated with lower classes and such professions as prostitution. Her products targeted middle-age and plain […]

Jimmy Hatlo (1898 - 1963)

Cartoonist. He is best remembered for his cartoon strip “They’ll Do It Every Time” that ran from 1929 until his death in 1963. Born James Cecil Hatlow, his father was a printer who immigrated from the Orkney Islands of Scotland. His family moved to Los Angeles, California when he was a young boy and growing […]

Thomas Hastings (1860 - 1929)

Architect. He studied at Columbia University and graduated from the Beaux Arts College, Paris in 1884. Returning to New York, he began working for McKim, Mead and White,  and formed an important firm with John Merven Carrere in 1886. Their most famous work is the New York Public Library,  opened in 1911.  His other designs […]

Robert Archer (1794 - 1877)

Businessman. An Iron manufacturer, he served as an United States Army physician stationed at Fort Monroe, Virginia, and Fort King, Florida, from 1813 to 1839. He became superintendent of the Armory Iron Company in Richmond in 1848, and in 1859, with his son-in-law, Joseph Reid Anderson, merged that company with the Tredegar Iron Company to […]

Childe Hassam (1859 - 1935)

Impressionist Painter. Born in his family home in a suburb of Boston in 1859. His father Frederick was a cutlery merchant and descended from a long line of New Englanders, while his mother Rosa was a native of Maine. Childe Hassam demonstrated an interest in art early in his life. He had his first lessons […]

Rocky Aoki (1938 - 2008)

Rocky Aoki once said that he had “three kids from three different women at exactly the same time.” He found out about the seventh with the third woman when he was sued for paternity. In 2005, Rocky sued four of his children (Grace, Kevin, Kyle, and Echo) for an alleged attempt to take control of […]

Machiko Hasegawa (1920 - 1992)

Cartoonist. Born in Taku, Japan, the daughter of a mining engineer. Her father died when she was 14, and the family moved to Tokyo where her mother enrolled her as a student to artist Suiho Tagawa, who was later called the grandfather of manga. With the coming of the Second World War, the family fled […]

Charles Ross “C. R.” Anthony (1884 - 1976)

Businessman. Founder of the Anthony’s chain of department stores. An orphan of a Tennessee farming family, Anthony started his career in retail with the J. C. Penney Company. In 1918 he partnered with the J. P. Martin Company in Cleveland, OK. Four years later he liquidated his shares in Martin and opened his own company […]

Hitoshi Hasegawa (1970 - 1970)

Western-style painter. (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)

Walter Hubert Annenberg (1908 - 2002)

Businessman. As a media magnate he controlled important properties in the newspaper, television, and magazine industries. Perhaps most significantly, he was responsible for the creation of “TV Guide”, the largest circulation weekly magazine in the world, a magazine central to understanding television in America. He was also very active in the arena of American politics, […]

Grace Hartigan (1922 - 2008)

After studying with Muse, Grace Hartigan and her husband attempted to move to Alaska to pioneer, though they only made it to California, where Hartigan started painting. In 1945 she made the move from California to New York City, where she was a lively participant in the vibrant artistic and literary milieu of the times. […]

Eberhard Anheuser (1806 - 1880)

Businessman. Born in Kreuznach, Germany in 1843, he settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was joined shortly thereafter by his family. For the early part of his entrepreneurial career, people associated him with a completely different product, that product was soap. It is unknown whether he trained as a soap manufacturer in Cincinnati, if this training […]

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.   […]

Pro Hart (1928 - 2006)

Artist, Order of the British Empire awarded by Queen Elizabeth in 1976 for contribution to the arts. Born Kevin Charles Hart in Broken Hill New South Wales, Pro Hart was raised on his parents sheep property ‘Laloona Station’just outside Menindee. Due to his talent in the arts and his knack for inventing he was nicknamed […]

Thomas Andrews, Jr (1873 - 1970)

Noted Titanic Designer, Builder and Victim. Born in Northern Ireland the son of Right Hon. Thomas Andrews and Eliza (Pirrie), nephew of Lord Pirrie, principal owner of Harland and Wolff, the builders of Titanic. Entering at age 16 as premium apprentice, he gradually worked his way up to became managing director of H&W in charge […]

Joel Tanner Hart (1810 - 1877)

Sculptor and Poet. Born near Winchester, Kentucky. Known for his neo-classic sculpture, he produced busts of such notables as Cassius Marcellus Clay, John J. Crittenden, Robert Wickliffe, Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson. Hart died in Florence, Italy, where he had maintained a residence for a number of years. (bio by: Steve Dunn)  Family links:  Parents: […]

Nathan S. Ancell (1908 - 1999)

Businessman. Born Nathan Ancelowitz, he co-founded the Ethan Allen Furniture Company with his brother-in-law, Thoedore Baumritter. In 1932, the two started a housewares company. They purchased a bankrupt furniture manufacturer in Vermont, and in 1939 introduced an early-American line of furniture under the name Ethan Allen. It became their biggest seller and they changed the […]

James McDougal Hart (1828 - 1901)

Artist. The younger brother of William Hart, James moved with his family from Kilmarnock, Scotland to Albany, NY in 1830.  There he was apprenticed to a sign painter and developed an interest in art.  In 1851 he went to Dusseldorf, Germany to study and remained for three years.  He returned to Albany and opened a […]

James A. Allison (1872 - 1928)

Businessman. Indianapolis Speedway Co-Founder. In 1927, he became the sole owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and it was he who sold it to World War I Hero Eddie Rickenbacker. Rickenbacker sold the track to Anton Hulman, Jr. in 1946. (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)  Family links:  Spouse:  Sara Willis Cornelius Allison (1875 – 1938)* […]

Ted Harrison (1926 - 2015)

Artist, Illustrator and Author. Born Edward Hardy Harrison, Ted Harrison was known around the globe for his brightly colored and whimsical depictions of the Canadian North. His parents recognized his artistic talent as a child and sent him to the West Hartlepool School of Art in England. After serving in World War II, he went […]

Edward Phelps Allis (1824 - 1889)

Businessman. Founder of Allis Chalmers.  Entrepreneur and manufacturing innovator of steam engines, agricultural equipment, and heavy machinery.  Graduating from Union College in Schenectady, New York, he moved to Wisconsin in 1846 and married Margaret Watson, eventually having twelve children.  He first started in the leather tannery business in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, and by 1854 had […]

Lawren Harris (1885 - 1970)

Artist. Lawren Harris was one of the original members of the Group of Seven, a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933 that also included of Franklin Carmichael, A. Y. Jackson, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J. E. H. MacDonald, and Frederick Varley. Born Lawren Stewart Harris in Brantford, Ontario, Canada on October 23, […]

Sir Hugh Andrew Montague Allan (1860 - 1951)

Businessman.  A shipbuilder and avid sportsman,  he established the Allan Cup,  the championship prize of amateur hockey.  He was made a Charter Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builders Category in 1945.

Edwin Landseer Harris (1970 - 1970)

Artist. Distinguished American painter of landscapes and marine panorama, named after 18th century British artist Edwin Landseer.  (bio by: Mount Hope NY)