John Ryle (1817 - 1887)

Businessman. He is considered the “Father of the Silk Industry” in Paterson, New Jersey, which in 1870 produced close to half of all the silk made in the United States. He was born in Bollington, England, which was an area that manufactured silk. As a young man he worked in different aspects of the industry, […]

John Saville (1916 - 1970)

John Saville was born Orestes Stamatopoulos in 1916, in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire to Greek parents. He took the surname Saville from his mother’s second husband, and was brought up in Romford. He won a scholarship to Royal Liberty School in London and went on to study at the London School of Economics, where he joined the Communist […]

John Schlesinger (1926 - 2003)

Schlesinger was born in London, into a middle-class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta (née Regensburg) and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician. After St Edmund’s School, Hindhead, Uppingham School and Balliol College, Oxford, he worked as an actor. Schlesinger’s acting career began in the 1950s and consisted of supporting roles in British films such as […]

John Schulte, Sr (1970 - 1970)

John Schulte Sr., a German immi- grant whose life story is the Ameri- can Dream — he stepped off the boat a penniless laborer and be- came a wealthy soap manufacturer.John Schulte built Schulte Man- sion in 1875. In its slim, 1974 guide to Detroit’s historic neighbor- hoods, the city calls special atten- tion to […]

John Scopes (1900 - 1970)

John Scopes was born in 1900 on a farm in Paducah, Kentucky where he was reared before moving to Danville, Illinois as a teenager. In 1917 he moved to Salem, Illinois where he was a member of the class of 1919 at Salem High School. He attended the University of Illinois for a short time […]

John Sell Cotman (1782 - 1842)

John Sell Cotman was born in Norwich, the son of a haberdasher. He moved to London in 1798. Although he had little formal training, he became part of the circle around Tom Girtin. He travelled much in Wales and spent part of each year from 1803 to 1805 in Yorkshire, as drawing tutor to the […]

John Shedd (1850 - 1926)

John Graves Shedd (July 20, 1850 – October 22, 1926) was the second president and chairman of the board of Marshall Field & Company. Born on a New Hampshire farm, John Shedd arrived in Chicago, Illinois in 1871 and began working as a stock clerk for Marshall Field. By 1901, he had worked his way […]

John Sidney Barrymore (1882 - 1942)

Actor. He made his stage debut at the age of 18 in one of his father’s productions, but he really wanted to be an artist. Educated at Kings College, Wimbledon, and New York’s Art Student League, he worked at the New York Evening Journal doing sketches. By 1905, he had given up being an artist […]

John Sidney Brown (1833 - 1913)

Businessman. President and founder of J. S. Brown & Bro. Mercantile Company. By 1899, it became the largest Mercantile Company in the western United States. He was a director in the South Park railroad, assisted in the building of the Denver Pacific Railroad, between Denver and Cheyenne, and was a promoter, director and vice-president of […]

John Sieba Roosma (1900 - 1983)

John Roosma (September 3, 1900 – November 13, 1983) was an amateur basketball great during the 1920s. He played for the United States Military Academy for five years, graduating in 1926. The Passaic, New Jersey native was a prolific scorer and became the first college player to total 1,000 points for his career. As a member […]

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925)

Artist. He was an expatriate American artist who became the most celebrated portrait painter of his time, Known for his glamorous style influenced by Velázquez and the impressionists, Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt, oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, novelists Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry James, actress Ellen Terry and art patron Isabella Stewart Gardner […]

John Singleton Copley (1738 - 1815)

American Artist. Copley was born on July 3, 1738, in Bostonto Irish immigrant parents Mary Singleton and Richard Copley. He began to paint in about 1753. He made use of the rococo device called portrait d’apparat, portraying the subject with objects associated with his daily life, that gave his work a distinction not usually found […]

John Sirica (1904 - 1992)

John Sirica fought under assumed names as a boxer in Washington and Miami in the 1920s and 1930s. He was torn between a career as a fighter and the career in law that he followed after earning a law degree at his third attempt. Sirica was in private practice of law in Washington, D.C. from 1926 […]

John Sleeper Clarke (1833 - 1899)

Actor. He appeared regularly on stages in Boston, New York and Philadelphia before and during the Civil War. He was primarily a popular comic and eventually owned several theatres. He was married to Asia Booth Clarke, John Wilkes Booth’s sister, separating from her after the Lincoln assassination. He had grown up with the Booths and […]

John Stephenson (1923 - 2015)

John Winfield Stephenson was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the oldest son of Ray and Martha Stephenson. Stephenson went to Ripon College and was active in campus drama. Stephenson wanted to be a lawyer and studied at the University of Wisconsin Law School. After serving in the United States Army Air Forces, as a gunner and […]

John Steuart Curry (1897 - 1946)

Painter,  Muralist.  Along with Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood,  he stood at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement of the 1930s and 1940s.  He is noted for his dramatic scenes of Midwestern rural life,  typically set in his native Kansas.  Many have a theme of man pitted against nature.  Curry’s mural for the […]

John Straffen (1930 - 2007)

John Straffen returned home to Bath in March 1946, where the Medical Officer of Health examined him and found he still warranted certification under the Mental Deficiency Act. After several short-term jobs, he found a place as a machinist in a clothing factory. Early in 1947, Straffen began to go into unoccupied homes and steal […]

John Stuart Blackie (1809 - 1895)

Scholar, Educator. Born in Glasgow, he became a lawyer in 1834 and went to teach at the Marischal College in Aberdeen, Scotland. He became one of the most influential scholars of nineteenth-century Scotland, as a Professor of Humanity at Marischal College and Professor of Greek at the University of Edinburgh. (bio by: John “J-Cat” Griffith)

John Stuart Golland (1945 - 2003)

Actor. Golland is best remembered for his role as pub landlord ‘George Ward’ in the British television series, “Heartbeat” from 1992 to 1996, and as ‘Mr. Wright’ in the 1981 film, “Looks And Smiles.” Golland also appeared in, “Rumpole Of The Bailey” in 1978, “All Creatures Great And Small” in 1978, “The New Statesman” in […]

John Sullivan (1919 - 1967)

John Sullivan John “Lonzo” Sullivan, of Lonzo & Oscar, is born in Edmonton, Kentucky. Brother of Rollin “Oscar” Sullivan, he becomes the second of three people to play Lonzo in the Grand Ole Opry musical comedy duo from 1950 until his death in 1967  

John Tate (1955 - 1998)

John Tate Born in Marion, Arkansas. John lost in the finals of the 1975 National Golden Gloves to Emory Chapman. He lost in the quarterfinals the next year in a split decision to Michael Dokes. He would return to win against Dokes in the Olympic Trials by decision, and beat 1976 National AAU Champion Marvin […]

John Tate Raulston (1868 - 1956)

He was the judge in the 1925 Scopes Trial in which William Jennings Bryan prosecuted John Thomas Scopes for teaching the theory of evolution in Rhea County High School in Dayton. Scopes was defended by Clarence Darrow.  Family links:  Spouse:  Louise Estelle Otte Raulston (1872 – 1916)* *Calculated relationship

John Tavener (1944 - 2013)

Tavener was born on 28 January 1944 in Wembley, London. His parents ran a family building firm and his father was also an organist at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Frognal, Hampstead. At the age of 12, Tavener was taken to Glyndebourne to hear Mozart’s The Magic Flute, a work he loved for the rest […]

John Tener (1863 - 1946)

John Tener was born in County Tyrone, Ireland to George Evans Tener and Susan Wallis. In 1872, Tener’s father died and the family moved the following year to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Tener attended public schools and later worked as a clerk for hardware manufacturer Oliver Iron and Steel Corporation from 1881–1885. In 1885, Tener, who was six-foot-four (1.93 […]

John Terry Bell (1942 - 1995)

Actor. Bell appeared in “Just Between Friends,” “Lots of Luck,” “Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy” and “Masada.” (bio by: MC) Cause of death: Complications of AIDS

John Thaw (1942 - 2002)

Thaw was born in Longsight, Manchester, to working class parents Dorothy (née Ablott) and John, a long-distance lorry driver. Thaw had a difficult childhood as his mother left when he was seven years old and he did not see her again for 12 years. His younger brother, Raymond Stuart “Ray” emigrated to Australia in the […]

John Thomas Bambury (1891 - 1960)

Actor. Born in Pennsylvania, he was a dwarf best remembered for his role as a Munchkin in the film, “The Wizard of Oz” (1939). A popular character performer, his other credits included “The Plot Thickens” (1936), “The Terror of Tiny Town” (1938), “Maisie Was a Lady” (1941), Lady in the Dark” (1944) “Superman and the […]

John Thomas Lewis Preston (1811 - 1890)

Educator. He was the founder of the Virginia Military Institute in 1839 and one of its first professors. The Preston library at VMI is named for him. His wife, Margaret Junkin Preston is the famed “Poetess of the Confederacy”. Her inspiration to write this poetry came at the expense of VMI being burned by Union […]

John Tomlin (1982 - 1999)

John Tomlin was an American student and the tenth murder victim of the Columbine High School massacre, which claimed the lives of 12 students and a teacher, as well as both perpetrators. John worked at a local nursery hauling trees after school. He belonged to a church youth group. He once went to Mexico with his truck […]

John Tyler (1790 - 1862)

John Tyler John Tyler became the tenth President of the United States (1841–1845) when William Henry Harrison, his running mate, died in April 1841. He was the first Vice President elevated to President after the death of a predecessor. Dubbed “His Accidency” by his detractors, John Tyler was the first Vice President to be elevated […]