Amha Selassie (1916 - 1997)

Amha Selassie became Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen of Ethiopia when his father was crowned Emperor on 2 November 1930. Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen was granted the title of Meridazmach and the province (former kingdom) of Wollo to rule as his fief. He was married to Princess Wolete Israel Seyoum, great-granddaughter of Emperor Yohannis IV, and […]

Prince Makonnen (1923 - 1957)

Prince Mekonnen (baptismal name: Araya Yohannes; 16 October 1923 – 13 May 1957) was the second son, and second youngest child, of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and Empress Menen Asfaw. He was made Mesfin (or Duke) of Harar upon the coronation of his parents in 1930. It was widely believed that Emperor Haile Selassie favored […]

Madeleine of Valois (1520 - 1537)

Madeleine of Valois was born at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, the fifth child and third daughter of King Francis I of France and Claude, Duchess of Brittany (daughter of King Louis XII of France and Anne, Duchess of Brittany). Very frail from birth, she grew up in the warm and temperate Loire Valley region of France, rather […]

Domino Harvey (1969 - 2005)

Domino Harvey dropped out of school as a teenager to pursue a career in modeling, but did not enjoy working in the industry. Harvey later claimed to have attended the Lee Strasberg Institute and been represented by the Ford Modeling Agency; in a 2005 article, Aida Edemariam of The Guardian notes that she was unable […]

Leo Frank (1884 - 1915)

Leo Frank (April 17, 1884 – August 17, 1915) was an American factory superintendent who was convicted of the murder of a 13-year-old employee, Mary Phagan, in Atlanta, Georgia. His legal case, and lynching two years later, attracted national attention and became the focus of social, regional, political, and racial concerns, particularly regarding antisemitism. Born to […]

Clayton Fountain (1955 - 2004)

Clayton Fountain (September 12, 1955 – July 12, 2004) was a former federal prisoner, member of the Aryan Brotherhood, and convicted murderer. Clayton Anthony Fountain was born on September 12, 1955, at the U.S. Army Hospital in Fort Benning, Georgia. Clayton was the oldest of six children, having one brother and four sisters, and was […]

Andrew Martinez (1972 - 2006)

Andrew Martinez was a high school football player when he attended Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, California. Martinez attended classes at the University of California, Berkeley. In September 1992, his second year in college, he began appearing naked in public and led a campus “nude-in” to protest social repression. Campus police first arrested him that […]

Lawrence Phillips (1975 - 2016)

Despite his considerable character issues, with his strong performance, Lawrence Phillips was drafted sixth overall in the 1996 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Rams. Several teams with higher picks let it be known that they passed on him due to his off-the-field troubles. He was widely expected to be selected by the new Baltimore […]

James Earl Ray (1928 - 1998)

James Earl Ray was born to a poor family on March 10, 1928, in Alton, Illinois, the son of Lucille (Maher) and George Ellis Ray. He had Welsh, Scots, and Irish ancestry, and was raised Catholic. In February 1935, Ray’s father, known by the nickname Speedy, passed a bad check in Alton, Illinois, then moved […]

Fred West (1941 - 1995)

In September 1962, the 21-year-old Fred West became re-acquainted with a former girlfriend, Catherine Costello, who was better known as Rena from her time working as a prostitute. Costello was already pregnant by another man, and she and West married on 17 November before moving to Coatbridge, Lanarkshire. Her daughter, Charmaine Carol, was born on […]

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 […]

Harry Randall Truman (1896 - 1980)

Harry Randall Truman was born in Ivydale, Clay County, West Virginia, to Rosa Belle (née Hardman; 1873– 1957) and Newberry Truman (1874– 1923). His family settled in Chehalis, Washington several years later, where his father died in a logging camp accident in 1923, aged 49. He had one sister, Geraldine (1905–1987).Truman enlisted in the 100th […]

Robert Stroud (1890 - 1963)

Robert Stroud (January 28, 1890 – November 21, 1963), known as the “Birdman of Alcatraz”, was an American federal prisoner and author who has been cited as one of the United States’ most notorious criminals. During his time at Leavenworth Penitentiary, he reared and sold birds and became a respected ornithologist, but because of regulations, […]

Garry Marshall (1934 - 2016)

Garry Marshall began his career as a joke writer for such comedians as Joey Bishop and Phil Foster and then became a writer for The Tonight Show with Jack Paar. In 1961, he moved to Hollywood, where he teamed up with Jerry Belson as a writer for television. The pair worked on The Dick Van […]

John List (1925 - 2008)

Born in Bay City, Michigan, John List was the only child of German American parents, John Frederick List (1859–1944) and Alma Maria Barbara Florence (Hubinger) List (1887–1971). Like his father, he was a devout Lutheran and a Sunday school teacher. In 1943, he enlisted in the Army and served in the infantry as a laboratory […]

Steve Curnow (1984 - 1999)

Steve Curnow was born on August 28, 1984 to parents Robert and Susan Curnow. He has one sister named Nancy. Steve dreamed of being a Navy top gun pilot and was very close with his mom Susan and father Bob. He loved soccer and worked part-time as a referee and his dad Bob coached the soccer […]

Cassie Bernall (1981 - 1999)

Cassie Bernall (November 6, 1981 – April 20, 1999) was a student killed in the Columbine High School massacre at age 17. Initial reports suggested that Eric Harris asked if Bernall believed in God moments before she was fatally shot. She was reported to have answered “Yes”. This story led to Bernall being presented as a […]

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 […]

Daniel Mauser (1983 - 1999)

Daniel Mauser was born on June 25, 1983 to Tom and Linda Mauser. He has one sister named Christine. He was a Sophomore who excelled in math and science, and got straight ‘A’s on his last report card. His dad, Tom Mauser, remembered his son as a smart young man who wasn’t afraid of challenges […]

Kelly Fleming (1983 - 1999)

Kelly Fleming and her family moved to Littleton from Phoenix, Arizona 18 months before the shooting. Her father Don said they scoured the area looking for a good neighborhood where their daughters would be safe. Kelly was a shy and creative girl who loved Halloween and was an aspiring songwriter and author who wrote many […]

Rachel Scott (1981 - 1999)

Rachel Scott was born on August 5, 1981, in Denver, Colorado, the third of five children of Darrell Scott (1949 – ) and Beth Nimmo (1953 – ). Her older sisters are Bethanee (1975 – ) and Dana (1976 – ) and her two younger brothers are Craig (1983 – ) and Mike (1984 – […]

Dylan Klebold (1981 - 1999)

Dylan Klebold was born in Lakewood, Colorado, to Thomas and Susan Klebold. His parents were pacifists and attended a Lutheran church with their children, and Dylan and his older brother, Byron, attended confirmation classes in accordance with Lutheran tradition. At home, the family also observed some rituals in keeping with Klebold’s maternal grandfather’s Jewish heritage. […]

Eric Harris (1981 - 1999)

Eric Harris was born in Wichita, Kansas. The Harris family relocated often, as Eric’s father, Wayne Harris, was a U.S. Air Force transport pilot. His mother, Katherine Ann Poole, was a homemaker. The family moved from Plattsburgh, New York, to Littleton, Colorado, in July 1993, when Wayne Harris retired from military service. The Harris family lived […]

Samuel Davies (1723 - 1761)

After Samuel Davies completed his studies with Blair, the Presbytery of New Castle licensed him to preach in 1746. He joined the New Side synod of New York, and married Sarah Kirkpatrick on October 23, 1746, while he was preaching in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Commissioned as an evangelist to Virginia several months later, on February 17, […]

Helen Douglass (1838 - 1903)

Helen Douglass was active in the women’s rights movement and co-edited The Alpha, with Caroline Winslow, in Washington. In 1882, Douglass hired Helen as a clerk in the office of the Recorder of Deeds in Washington, to which he had just been assigned. Because he was writing his autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass and […]

Inez Milholland (1886 - 1916)

Inez Milholland received her early education at the Comstock School in New York and Kensington High School in London. After finishing school, she decided to attend Vassar but when the college wouldn’t accept her graduation certificate she attended Willard School for Girls in Berlin. During her attendance at Vassar College she was once suspended for organizing […]

Esther Hobart Morris (1814 - 1902)

Esther Hobart Morris (August 8, 1814 – April 3, 1902) was the first woman justice of the peace in the United States. A mother of three boys, she began her tenure as justice in South Pass City, Wyoming, on February 14, 1870, serving a term of less than nine months. The Sweetwater County Board of […]

Fania Mindell (1894 - 1969)

Fania Mindell was born in Minsk, Russia on December 15, 1894. She emigrated to Brooklyn, New York in 1906 with her parents and family, and became a US citizen in 1919. She was an accomplished artist, and became a set and costume designer for Broadway theaters in New York. She translated dramatic materials from Russian […]

Jane Swisshelm (1815 - 1884)

Jane Swisshelm was born Jane Grey Cannon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., one of several children of Mary (Scott) and Thomas Cannon, both of Scotch-Irish descent; her father was a merchant and real estate speculator. In 1823, when Jane was eight years of age, both her sister Mary and her father died of consumption, leaving the family […]

Lucretia Mott (1793 - 1880)

Like many Quakers, Lucretia Mott considered slavery to be evil. Inspired in part by minister Elias Hicks, she and other Quakers refused to use cotton cloth, cane sugar, and other slavery-produced goods. In 1821, Mott became a Quaker minister. With her husband’s support, she traveled extensively as a minister, and her sermons emphasized the Quaker […]