Luis Dubón (1892 - 1953)

Painter. He was born in Valencia, Spain. A prodigy child painter, he was known as the Painter Poet. In 1916, he began his career as illustrator with works such as “Moro,” “Episodios Nacionales,” “Los Tramperos de Arkansas” and the drawnings for the artist Manuel González Martí’s book  “Contes del Pla i de la Muntanya.” Also […]

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 […]

Paul Dubois (1829 - 1905)

Artist. Born in Nogent-sur-Seine, France, he was renowned as a portrait painter and sculptor. He premiered his work at the Paris Salon in 1857 and was awarded the “une médaille de 2° classe”. Through his career his success was unlimited as an all around artist. He was awarded a médaille d’honneur in 1874, named Chevalier […]

Frank E. Hermanson (1887 - 1933)

On June 17, 1933, Kansas City Missouri Police Detectives William J. Grooms and Frank E. Hermanson were sent to meet other officers arriving at Union Station with federal prison escapee, Frank Nash. Apparently an informant had relayed all the information regarding the arrival of Nash and his law enforcement escorts to various gangsters through out […]

Jacques du Broeucq (1970 - 1970)

Artist. Born Mons, Hainaut, Belgium, he was a noted artist of the 15th Century and a teacher of Giambologna in Antwerp. Like many artist of his time, he was an intern at the Academy of Baccio Bandinelli, Rome. His work for buildings, sculptures, paintings and in silverware was primarily functional objects. His first major architectural […]

Nathaniel Dryden (1849 - 1924)

American Architect. Dryden, who was a self-taught architect, married Helen Brand, who was the sister of the railroad tycoon/real estate developer/banker, Leslie Brand. In 1893, he designed the Orson Thomas Johnson Office and Retail Building on Spring Street in Downtown Los Angeles. In 1903, he designed ‘Ard Eevin’, a private residence in Glendale, which is […]

John Hemphill (1803 - 1862)

Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, and a United States Senator.  Born in Blackstock, Chester District, South Carolina, the son of John and Jane (Lind) Hemphill. His father was a Presbyterian minister. John attended Jefferson College (now Washington and Jefferson) in Pennsylvania from 1823 to 1825 and graduated second in his class. He taught […]

Ernst Dryden (1887 - 1938)

Acclaimed Artist. Dryden, one of the finest commercial artists of his generation, was also known as one of the foremost poster artists in Germany. Dryden served as an officer in the Imperial Flying Corps during WWI and began his career as a menswear designer, moving to New York in 1933 and on to Hollywood in […]

John Coffee “Jack” Hays (1817 - 1883)

Western Lawman. Born John Coffee Hays at Cedar Lick, Tennessee, he moved to Texas in 1836, joined a Ranger company and was appointed a Captain of Texas Rangers in 1840. His Ranger companies were well known for skirmishes with outlaws, hostile Indian tribes and Mexican troops. During Mexican War, as Colonel he commanded the 1st […]

Andrew Jackson Downing (1815 - 1852)

Architect. One of America’s premier landscape architect, he wrote many books on the subject and thus, by reputation was dubbed “The Apostle of Taste.” His work included locales in New York State’s Hudson River Valley, at Newport, Rhode Island’s “cottages” and in The Capitol Mall at Washington, D.C. where a huge urn stands as a […]

John Hathorne (1641 - 1717)

He was a magistrate who, along with Jonathan Corwin, presided over the pre-trial examinations in Salem Village (now Danvers, Massachusetts) prior to the actual Salem witch trials. (The judge during the trials was William Stoughton, Lieutenant-Governor of the colony.) Great-great-grandfather of writer Nathaniel Hawthorne.  Family links:  Parents:  William Hathorne (1606 – 1681)  Ann Hathorne  Children: […]

Willard A. Downes (1908 - 2000)

Artist. Born and raised in Fredericksburg, Virginia, he went to New York City, New York at age 17 to pursue a career as an artist. Having become noticed as a painter and commercial illustrator, he was commissioned by the major motion picture studios in the 1930s to do publicity sketches of the “big name” stars […]

Sid Hatfield (1893 - 1921)

Police Chief. Born in Blackberry, Pike Co., Kentucky, the tenth of twelve children of Jacob Hatfield, a tenant farmer, and his wife Rebecca Crabtree.  A miner in his teens, he then became a blacksmith. He was nicknamed ‘Smilin’ Sid’ because of his distinctive grin, showing gold-capped teeth. He seems to have had a reputation for […]

Alden B. Dow (1904 - 1983)

Son of Dow Chemical founder, Herbert Dow. He was an architect, famous for his Studio and Home located in Midland, Michigan. Studied under Frank Lloyd Wright. (bio by: anonymus)  Family links:  Parents:  Herbert Dow (1866 – 1930)  Grace Anna Ball Dow (1869 – 1953)  Spouse:  Vada Bennett Dow (1906 – 1991)*  Siblings:  Helen Dow Hale […]

Andrew Trent Hamilton (1970 - 1741)

Philadelphia Lawyer. The Hamilton Watch Company was named after this Andrew Hamilton who was owner of a large tract of land which was granted to him from William Penn and included what is now the city of Lancaster. Lancaster became the fourth county in the province of Pennsylvania in 1729 with Andrew as the principal […]

Richard Lee Dorman (1922 - 2010)

American Architect, Author. Dorman, after a stint as a bomber for the Army in World War II, attended the University of Southern California where he graduated with a degree in Architecture in 1951. Upon graduation, he was invited to join Welton D. Becket’s firm where he went on to become the assistant director of design. […]

Alexander Hamilton (1812 - 1882)

Lawyer and jurist. Born in Philadelphia, he came to St. Louis in 1835 and began a career in law that lasted for nearly fifty years. Among his contemporaries in the legal field were Edward Bates, Hamilton Gamble and Henry Geyer. The latter two were participants in the Dred Scott trials.Hamilton was first appointed a judge […]

Gustave Doré (1832 - 1883)

Artist. Born in Strausbourg, he is considered by many to be one of the greatest illustrators of all time. His first major success in Paris came in 1861, when his edition of Dante’s “Inferno” (prohibitively priced at 100 francs) became an unexpected bestseller, eventually going through over 200 editions.  Doré’s best-known work is his edition […]

Frank Hamer (1884 - 1955)

Western Lawman. Born in Fairview, Texas, he was working as a wrangler on ranch when he helped the local sheriff capture a horse thief in 1905. He joined the Texas Rangers in 1906, patrolled the border in south Texas, resigned become the City Marshal of Navasota, Texas in 1908 and became a special officer in […]

Donfeld (1934 - 2007)

Costume Designer. He attended the Chouinard Art Institute before being hired as an art director (at age 19) by Capitol Records,  where he designed album covers. After several years he left Capitol to become a costume designer in the film industry. Donfeld’s first screen assignment was 1961’s “Sanctuary”,  for which he designed Lee Remick’s costumes. […]

Jesse Lee Hall (1849 - 1911)

Western Lawman. Born Jesse Lee Hall in Lexington, North Carolina, he moved to Texas in 1869 and became a City Marshal of Sherman. In August 1876, he became the second in command of Leander McNelly’s Special Forces, Texas Rangers. Serving in the Goliad region, he broke up a gang of vigilantes and became the acting […]

Donatello (1970 - 1466)

Acclaimed Italian Sculptor. One of the most important sculptors in the Renaissance. Among his works “Abramo e Isacco,” “Geremie,” “Giuditta e Olorferne,” “San Giorgio,” “Il Gattamelata,” “Salomé” and “Habacuk.” (bio by: José L Bernabé Tronchoni)

Alexander Polk Donaghho (1829 - 1970)

Alexander Polk Donaghho was a successful potter in Fredricktown, PA, for about 15 years, starting in 1855. By 1870, A.P. Donaghho moved to Parkersburg, WV, where he started the A.P. Donaghho Pottery Company. His company was on 14 acres near Bull Creek, which was known as “Pottery Junction” by the locals. Products produced by him […]

Inga Haag (1918 - 2009)

World War II Resistance Figure. Called in later years “the Mata Hari of Marylebone”, she was a secretary in the German Foreign Ministry who participated in the failed plot to kill Hitler on July 20, 1944. Born Ingeborg Helene Abshagen to an upper class Prussian family, she was sent to England for school in her […]

Óscar Domínguez (1906 - 1957)

Artist. He was born in La Laguna, Tenerife, Islas Canarias. He was a member of Spanish Painters School in Paris and was included in surrealist movement, as Dalí, Picasso or Miró. He moved to France during Spanish Civil War. Also, he invented a new tecnique known as Decalcomanía. Among his paintings “Composition au Taureau,” “La […]

William Slocum Groesbeck (1815 - 1897)

U.S. Congressman, Attorney. Born in Kinderhook, New York, he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio with his family in 1816 when he was a child. He attended Augusta College in Kentucky and graduated from the law department at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in 1835. He was admitted to the bar in Ohio the following year and […]

Robert Doisneau (1912 - 1994)

Acclaimed French Photographer. He is one of the most importants photographs of the XX Century. He is remembered for his photograph “Baiser de l’Hôtel de Ville.” Other works are “Les Petits Enfants au Lait,” “Les Pains de Picasso,” “L’Accordeoniste, Rue Mouffetard” and “Le Cheval Tombe.” (bio by: José L Bernabé Tronchoni)

Ahijah W. “Caige” Grimes (1850 - 1878)

Deputy Sheriff and former Texas Ranger.  He was  killed in a gunfight with the Sam Bass gang, 19 July 1878. It is difficult to fathom why on that Friday afternoon Ahijah A. Grimes challenged the three strangers who were approaching the general store. Ostensibly, it was due to the deputy sheriff he was with having […]

Ed Dodd (1902 - 1991)

Cartoonist. He is best remembered for his “Mark Trail” daily comic strip that began in April 1946 that featured a wildlife photographer and author, centering on environmental themes, and whose assignments inevitably lead to involvement in local environmental conflicts. The son of a minister, he went to work for Dan Beard, founder of the Boy […]

Christine Granville (1915 - 1952)

Anglo-Polish Spy. She was born on her parents’ estate at Mlodziesyn, thirty miles from Warsaw. Her father, Count Jerzy Skarbek, was a Roman Catholic; her mother, Stephanie Goldeder, was Jewish. On the 2nd. November 1938, at the Evangelical Reform Church in Warsaw, she married Jerzy Gizycki. Shortly after their marriage, he was sent to Ethiopia […]