James IV of Scotland (1473 - 1513)

James was the son of James III and Margaret of Denmark, probably born in Stirling Castle. As heir apparent to the Scottish crown, he became Duke of Rothesay. In 1474, his father arranged his betrothal to Princess Cecily of England. His father was not a popular king and faced two major rebellions during his reign. […]

James J Braddock (1905 - 1974)

James J Braddock James J Braddock was born on June 7th, 1905, to Irish immigrant parents Joseph Braddock and Elizabeth O’Toole Braddock in a tiny apartment on West 48th Street in New York City. The Braddock family was growing and with five boys and two girls, Joseph and Elizabeth relocated across the Hudson River to […]

James J. Jordan, Jr (1930 - 1970)

Businesman. Well known advertising excutive remembered for his slogans “Ring around the collar, Ring around the collar” for Wisk laundry soap and “Schaefer is the one beer to have when your having more than one” and “Your not clean until you’re Zestfully clean” for Zest soap and other memorable slogans. He was also a counselor […]

James Jerome Hill (1838 - 1916)

Railroad Pioneer. Born in Ontario, Canada, he was the chief railroad executive responsible for establishing the Great Northern Railway lines which served the upper Midwest, the northern Great Plains and Pacific Northwest of America. In 1873, as a steamboat shipping businessman in Minnesota, he saw the need to expand railways to the  western territories. Between […]

James Joseph “J.J.” Brown (1855 - 1922)

Businessman. Although known today as the husband of “Unsinkable Molly Brown” Margaret Brown of “RMS Titanic” disaster fame, he was one of the wealthiest men in the United States from his days as a gold mine owner of the Colorado gold and silver booms of the 19th century.  Family links:  Spouse:  Margaret Brown (1868 – […]

James Joseph Daly (1970 - 1920)

Mutineer. The 1st Battalion of the Connaught Rangers was an Irish Regiment in the British Army.  In June 1920 they were stationed in India at Wellington Barracks in Jullundur. The mutiny was events in England and Ireland that was to cause the men to protest. Brother William Daly had indeed been active at the beginning […]

James Joseph Daly (1970 - 1920)

Mutineer. The 1st Battalion of the Connaught Rangers was an Irish Regiment in the British Army.  In June 1920 they were stationed in India at Wellington Barracks in Jullundur. The mutiny was events in England and Ireland that was to cause the men to protest. Brother William Daly had indeed been active at the beginning […]

James Joyce (1882 - 1941)

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist and poet. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde and is regarded as one of the most influential and important authors of the 20th century. James Joyce is best known for Ulysses (1922), a landmark work in which the episodes of Homer’s […]

James K. Hackett (1869 - 1926)

Actor. A classical stage actor, director, and silent film star, Hackett played the dual leading roles in the 1913 film version of “The Prisoner of Zenda”. The son of the celebrated American Shakespearean actor, James H. Hackett, who had been a favorite of both Davy Crockett and Abraham Lincoln, he was born in Wolfe Island, […]

James Kent (1763 - 1847)

Jurist, Scholar. Educated at Yale, he became a lawyer in 1785. Kent served in the State Assembly from 1791 to 1793, and in 1793 was appointed to the judicial position Master in Chancery. In 1793 he also became Columbia’s first law professor. In 1796 Kent was again elected to the Assembly, and in 1798 he […]

James L. Butler (1855 - 1923)

American Folk Figure. On May 19, 1900 he was chasing a mule near present day Tonopah, Nevada, when he happened upon a rock containing silver ore. Out of that small incident grew one of the richest mining districts in the history of the West and a city which hosted the likes of Jack Dempsey, Wyatt […]

James Lane Allen (1849 - 1925)

Author, Educator. Graduated from Transylvania University in 1872, and received his Master’s degree from Transylvania in 1877. After graduation, he embarked on a teaching career in Kentucky, Missouri and West Virginia. In 1893 he moved to New York to pursue writing. His published works include “With Flute and Violin” (1891), “The Blue Grass Region” (1892), […]

James Lawton Collins, Sr (1882 - 1963)

United States Army General. The father of astronaut Michael Collins, he served as aide-de-camp to General John J. Pershing during the Philippine Insurrection, the Mexican Punititve Expedition and in France during World War I. During World War II he commanded the Puerto Rican Division and the 5th Service Command. He retired in 1946. (bio by: […]

James Lee Clark (1968 - 2007)

Clark was born in Caddo Parish, Louisiana. Court documents revealed that his father disappeared the day he found out Clark’s mother was pregnant. Testimony from a psychologist at his appeals hearing stated that Clark told him he had his first drink when he was seven years old and was commonly drunk by the age of […]

James Lempriere Hammond (1970 - 1970)

Fellow of Trinity College, Tutor and Bursar. (bio by: David Conway)

James Lenox (1800 - 1880)

Educator, Philanthropist. An American bibliophile, he was a founder of the Presbyterian Hospital, New York City. The son of a wealthy Scot merchant, he used his inheritance to acquire rare books and works of art. He donated his manuscripts and artwork to the City of New York, and the collection formed the foundation of the […]

James Madison (1751 - 1836)

James Madison When Madison left office in 1817, he retired to Montpelier, his tobacco plantation in Orange County, Virginia, not far from Jefferson’s Monticello. He was 65 years old. Dolley, who thought they would finally have a chance to travel to Paris, was 49. As with both Washington and Jefferson, Madison left the presidency a […]

James Masterson (1855 - 1895)

Lawman. Born in Henryville, Iberville County, Quebec, Canada the third of Thomas Masterson and Catherine McGurk’s seven children. About 1861 the family moved from Canada to the United States. The family spent time in New York state, and Illinois before settling near Wichita, Kansas in 1871. Jim Masterson’s career began as a buffalo hunter, a […]

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 McGranery (1895 - 1962)

James Patrick McGranery (July 8, 1895 – December 23, 1962) was an American lawyer and politician. He served as the United States Attorney General during the Truman administration from April 4, 1952 until January 20, 1953. James McGranery was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Patrick McGranery, and Bridget (née Gallagher). McGranery served in World […]

James McLean (1930 - 1965)

James McLean On September 2, 1961 a group of longshoremen, teamsters, hoodlums and their girls gathered for a party in Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts, a run-down seaside town. After hours of drinking, 22-year-old Georgie McLaughlin was staggering and starting trouble. McLaughlin wasn’t an average drunk though; he was the youngest and wildest member of the McLaughlin […]

James Meade (1907 - 1995)

James Meade made lecturer at Hertford College, Oxford in 1931 and continued until 1937. Meade along with young enthusiasts such as Roy Harrod, Henry Phelps Brown, Charlie Hitch, Robert Hall, Lindley Fraser, Maurice Allen and Eric Hargreaves, who was his old tutor at Oriel College, started the concept of teaching economics as a regular subject […]

James Merritt Ives (1824 - 1895)

Lithographer. He partnered with Nathaniel Currier to found the “Currier and Ives” printmaking firm, which from 1835 to 1907 produced over a million lithographs, which were extremely popular in 19th century American life.  Family links:  Parents:  Chauncey Ives (1795 – 1879)  Hannah Augusta Storer Ives (1797 – 1868)  Spouse:  Caroline Clark Ives (1825 – 1898) […]

James Millikin (1827 - 1909)

Founder of Millikin University and James Millikin National Bank, both in Decatur, Illinois.  Beginning as one of the first easterners to drive cattle west in the 1850s, James Millikin gradually became a respected livestock broker and a wealthy landowner.  In 1860, he divested his holdings to start the James Millikin National Bank, which remains a […]

James Mitose (1916 - 1981)

James Mitose James Masayoshi (Masakichi Kosho Kenposai) Mitose was born in Kailua-Kona, North Kona District, Hawaii on December 30, 1916. On October 22, 1920, at the age of four, he and his two sisters were taken by their mother back to Japan to be given formal education and upbringing with family living there. While there, […]

James Monroe (1758 - 1831)

James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States (1817–1825). Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation. He was of French and Scottish descent. Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, Monroe was of the planter class […]

James Montgomery Flagg (1877 - 1960)

Illustrator.  He created the 1917 World War I United States Army recruitment poster that depicted “Uncle Sam” pointing at the viewer with the caption “I Want YOU for U.S. Army”, a work that has become famous and iconic in American history. Born in Pelham Manor, New York, he began to draw at a young age, […]

James Napoli (2024 - 1992)

Organized Crime Figure. He was a Capo in the Genovese Organized Crime Family. He controlled one of the largest gambling operations in the United States from the 1950s though the 1980s.

James Nicholson (1916 - 1972)

As a child, James Nicholson developed a love of movies, especially fantasy and science fiction films. While in high school, he joined a science fiction fan club, where he met Forrest J Ackerman. The two produced a fantasy fanzine together. Years later, Ackerman’s magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland would heavily promote AIP’s movies. Nicholson’s first work […]

James Noble (1922 - 2016)

James Noble James Noble, the actor best known for his role as the absent-minded governor on the hit 1980s sitcom “Benson,” died on Monday in Norwalk, Conn. He was 94. Douglas Moser, a family spokesman, said Mr. Noble, who lived in Norwalk, had a stroke a few days before his death, in a hospital. Mr. […]