Jean-Etienne-Marie Portalis (1746 - 1807)

Lawyer, arrested during the Terror, saved by the fall of Robespierre. Helped to negotiate the Concordat (treaty with the Pope) in 1801. Became Minister for Religion (1804-1807). Entered Pantheon 1807. (bio by: David Conway)

Charles Fraser (1782 - 1860)

Artist. When a small child of nine Fraser’s parents died and he was raised by his older brother Frederick. In childhood his desire was to become a painter and it became his passion in life. But the profession, at that time was considered unworthy of a gentleman and no doubt his guardians felt it a […]

John Pitcher (1795 - 1892)

Judge. Born in Watertown, Connecticut in August, 1795. He was a man of many hats, a Lawyer;  a Spencer County Sheriff, 1826 to 1830. Judge Pitcher was a member of Indiana state house of representatives, 1830 to 1831, and a candidate for U.S. Representative from Indiana, 1837. He was a member of Indiana state senate, […]

Godfrey N. Frankenstein (1820 - 1873)

Artist. Best known for his landscape painting. His most known work is the panorama painting of Niagara Falls. (bio by: Laurie)  Family links:  Parents:  John A. Frankenstein (1789 – 1842)  Anna C. Vollhard Frankenstein (1792 – 1871)  Siblings:  John Peter Frankenstein (1817 – 1881)*  Godfrey N. Frankenstein (1820 – 1873)  Marie M.C. Frankenstein Frankenstein (1822 […]

Allan Pinkerton (1819 - 1884)

Detective. Born in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, Scotland, the son of Isabell and William Pinkerton, an ex-policeman removed from active service after an on duty injury. William died in a political riot in Glasgow, and Pinkerton left school to support his family, becoming a runner for a pattern maker. He then apprenticed as a […]

George Frampton (1860 - 1928)

Highly regarded British sculptor. Noted for his statue of Peter Pan located in Kensington Gardens, London. Studied at Lambeth School of Art under W. S. Frith and the Royal Academy. Frampton was cremated at Golders Green, the ashes later being removed. (bio by: Kieran Smith)

William Pinchbeck (1970 - 1893)

Canadian Frontier Figure. Born in Yorkshire, England, he was one of the original settlers in the Cariboo Region of British Columbia, Canada. In 1849, he came to California, with his two brothers to mine gold and ended up operating a hotel in San Francisco. After deciding that the gold rush was more hype than reality, […]

Sir George Frampton (1860 - 1928)

Sculptor. Noted for his statue of Peter Pan located in Kensington Gardens, London.  Studied at Lambeth School of Art under W. S. Frith and R.A. Schools 1881-87, winning the Gold Medal and Travelling Scholarship. Studied under Antonin Mercie and Dagnan-Bouveret in Paris, 1888. Joint head of L.C.C. Central School of Arts and Crafts with Lethaby […]

Maj Robert Pike (1616 - 1706)

Robert Pike was living in Salisbury, Massachusetts, by 1637.  According to David W. Hoyt’s “Old Families of Salisbury,” Robert Pike was one of five men given “full powers to order all the affairs of the town” in 1643.  He was wealthy enough to have “paid the largest tax in 1652” and socially prominent enough that […]

Jean Honoré Fragonard (1732 - 1806)

Painter noted for his lively detail and often semi-erotic subject-matter (e.g ‘The Swing’ in the Wallace Collection, London). (bio by: David Conway)

Joseph Petrosino (1860 - 1909)

NYPD Police officer. He was the subject of the film “Pay or Die.” Giuseppe Petrosino, an immigrant from Salerno who became the NYPD’s first Italian-American detective, waged a valiant battle against the Black Hand, a loosely-knit criminal organization that extorted money from Italian immigrants. He founded the Bomb Squad, the first unit of its kind […]

Valentin Foulquier (1970 - 1970)

Painter and engraver.

Nathaniel Pendleton (1756 - 1821)

Jurist, Attorney General of Georgia. Joined the Revolutionary Army in 1775 and he was promoted to brevet-major and served as aide-de-camp to General Nathaniel Greene. For his service at Eutaw Springs, South Carolina, he received on September 8, 1781, the thanks of Congress. After the war he studied law in Georgia and was appointed U.S. […]

Robert Foulis (1796 - 1866)

Engineer and Artist. A partner in a iron foundry, he competed a survey of the Saint John River from Fredericton, New Brunswick, to Grand Falls, New Brunswick, in 1826, designed a steam powered boat used on the Saint John River, started a school, and was one of the founders of the New Brunswick Museum. A […]

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 […]

Leonard Foujita (1886 - 1968)

Painter.  He was an art world superstar of the 1920s.  In his prime Foujita was celebrated for his ivory-skinned nudes and portraits,  created in a flat,  decorative style that blended Western influences with visual traditions of his native Japan.  Today his paintings of cats in their many moods are especially prized by collectors.  He was […]

John Johnston Parker (1885 - 1958)

American Jurist. He graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1907, received a law degree in 1908, and became an attorney. A Republican, he ran unsuccessfully for a number of offices during the post-Reconstruction era when North Carolina was dominated by Democrats, including a 1920 campaign for Governor. From 1923 to 1925 he was […]

Harold R. Foster (1892 - 1982)

Cartoonist, he drew the “Tarzan” comic strip from 1931-37.  In 1937, he created and drew “Prince Valiant” comic strip. (bio by: Ginny M)

Judge Isaac Charles Parker (1838 - 1896)

US District Court Judge,  Folk Figure. The youngest son of Joseph and Jane Parker was born in a log cabin outside of Barnesville,  Ohio. He attended the local schools and taught himself law. He was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1859 at the age of 21. Shortly thereafter he relocated to Saint Joseph Missouri, […]

Mariano Fortuny (1838 - 1874)

Spanish Painter in the 19th century. Among his works are “Marroquíes,” “La Odalisca,” “La Batalla de Tetuán,” “Viejo Desnudo al Sol,” and “La Vicaría.” (bio by: José L Bernabé Tronchoni)

Edwin Austin Forbes (1970 - 1895)

Artist. Born in New York, he began studying art in 1857 at the National Academy of Design in New York City, specializing in animal art. His instructor, Arthur F. Tait, achieved notice creating horse racing and country scenes for the Currier & Ives firm. In latter years features of Tait’s instruction were apparent in Forbes’s […]

Jean-Baptiste Papin (1756 - 1809)

Count de Saint-Christau. Lawyer, promoted to Count in 1808. Entered Pantheon 1809. (bio by: David Conway)

Carles Fontserè (1916 - 2007)

Artist. A native of Catalunya, Spain, Fontseré was the last survivor of the Republican Generation of Artists. Widely known internationally, he is probably best remembered by his propaganda posters during Spanish Civil War. Forced into exile, he then moved to Mexico and later to New York, where he developed a successful career from 1950 to […]

Commodore Perry Owens (1852 - 1919)

Folk Figure. C.P. Owens was the sheriff of Navajo County, Arizona on September 4, 1887 when he went to a house in Holbrook to arrest Andy Cooper. Cooper, whose real name was Blevins, was wanted in connection with the troubles associated with the Pleasant Valley War, a cattle range dispute sometimes called the Graham-Tewksbury feud. […]

Roberto Fontanarrosa (1944 - 2007)

Cartoonist, humorist and writer.  He began his career in the 1970s and is well known in Latin America and Europe for his two most popular characters “Boogie El Aceitoso” and “Inodoro Pereyra.”  He is well remembered for his passion for soccer, his short story “19 de diciembre de 1971” is a classic in the Argentine […]

Charles Herman Older (1917 - 2006)

Superior Court Justice.  It was early in his career as a Los Angeles judge that he presided over the bizarre Charles Manson mass murder trial,  which lasted ten months during 1970 and 1971. At one point Manson tried to attack him, leaping from his seat at the defense table towards the Older, but was stopped […]

Jean-Miche Folon (1934 - 2005)

Artist. An architectural school dropout, he went on to be a versatile artist, painter, cartoonist, sculptor and one of the world’s best known commercial artists. His work appears throughout the world in galleries, magazines and on murals in subway stations. In 1969, he had his first one man show in the United States followed by […]

Charles Fenton Mercer “Pete Whetstone” Noland (1970 - 1858)

Western Literary Figure. Born on August 23, 1810, in Aldie, Virginia, he was an orator most noted for writing yarns of rural frontier life under the pen name “Pete Whetstone”. After some time at West point, he studied law and became a lawyer in 1825. He entered into Arkansas politics, but after he killed Governor […]

Michel Fokine (1880 - 1942)

Ballet Choreographer. Born of a prosperous middle-class family and entered the Imperial Ballet School at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1889, where he distinguished himself for the breadth of his interests and studies. Fokine was talented not only as a dancer but also as a student of music and painting. He had a fresh and inquiring […]

Sir Michael Patrick Nolan (1928 - 2007)

English Jurist.  Baron Nolan,  author of the Nolan Report. He was educated at Ampleforth College and, following national service with the Royal Artillery, studied law at Wadham College, Oxford. He began practicing at the Middle Temple in 1953, specializing in tax law. He was made a Queen’s Council in 1968 and a member of the […]