Mary Emily Foy (1862 - 1962)

First woman head librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library, appointed to the job in 1880 at the age of 18. She had graduated the year before from Los Angeles High School. She served for only four years but left a legacy for Los Angeles librarians to remember. (bio courtesy of: Wikipedia)  Family links:  Parents: […]

Marcus A Foster (1923 - 1973)

Educator.  Foster served as the Principal of Simon Gratz High School in Philadelphia, and later was the first black superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District in California.  He was murdered by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) because of his supposed support of a plan to create a student identification card system for the school […]

Dr Abraham Flexner (1866 - 1959)

Medical Pioneer, Educator. He prepared the “Flexner Report” for the Carnegie Foundation based on medical education in America which prompted the now standard four year system. Worked for Rockefeller Foundation and became first director of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University; recruited many scholars, including Albert Einstein to work there. Autobiography published 1940, […]

Banister Fletcher (1970 - 1899)

Architect. Professor of Architecture at King’s College and Master of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters from 1889 to 1890. He co-authored ‘A History of Architecture’ with his eldest son Sir Banister Flight Fletcher. Also author of ‘A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method.’

William Preston Few (1867 - 1940)

First President of Duke University and last President of Trinity College.  (bio by: Helen L. Smith Hoke)  Family links:  Children:  Randolph Reamey Few (1920 – 2008)* *Calculated relationship

John Fell (1625 - 1686)

Bishop of Oxford and Dean of Christ Church. His legendary strictness made him unpopular and he is the original of the nursery rhyme:’I do not love thee, Dr. Fell / The reason why I cannot tell;/ But this I know, and know full well, /I do not love thee, Dr. Fell.’ (bio by: David Conway)

(1754 - 1820)

U. S. Surveyor, teacher, astronomer, Quaker, mathematician, Land Agent. Born 24 January 1754 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, the first of nine children of a Quaker family, he was educated in a local Quaker school by Robert Patterson. He served during the revolution as a commissioned officer in the Elk Ridge Battalion of the Maryland militia […]

Charles William Eliot (1834 - 1926)

Academic, Educator. He is remembered as the president of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and served in that position from 1869 until 1909, having the longest term as president in the university’s history. Born into a wealthy family, his father served in the US House of Representatives and Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts for one term […]

Jonathan Edwards (1703 - 1758)

Religious Leader. A Calvinist theologian, he led the religious revival that initiated “The Great Awakening”. He served as President of Princeton University, and died in office after a smallpox inoculation. He preached famous sermon at Enfield, Connecticut “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”  Family links:  Parents:  Timothy Edwards (1669 – 1758)  Esther Stoddard […]

John Eachard (1970 - 1697)

Cleric, Author, Master of St. Catherine’s College and Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University (bio by: David Conway)

Rev Henry Durant (1802 - 1875)

Educator, Oakland Mayor. Born in Acton, Massachusetts, Durant graduated from Yale in 1827 and was ordained a Congregational minister in 1833. In 1853 he moved out west after seeing the potential for education in the new state of California and went on to found Contra Costa Academy, which was renamed the College of California in […]

Glenn S. Dumke (1917 - 1989)

Educator. He moved to California in 1923, received a bachelor and master’s degree at Occidental College and his doctorate in history at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1957, he became president of San Francisco State College and while in that post was one of the principal architects of “The Master Plan for Higher […]

Dr W.E.B. DuBois (1868 - 1963)

Rev John Dubois (1764 - 1842)

Educator, Missionary. Born in Paris, France, he was an ordained Priest at the Oratorian Seminary of St-Magloire, when he came to America in 1791. In 1794, he became pastor of Frederick where he built the first church and ministered to Western Maryland. His career as an educator began in 1808, joining the Society of St-Sulpice […]

Rev Peter Paul Dobree (1970 - 1825)

Regius Professor of Greek, and close friend of Richard Porson (q.v.) (bio by: David Conway)

James Frank Dobie (1888 - 1964)

Writer, Educator. Born in Live Oak County, Texas, his ranching heritage became an early influence on his character and personality. His book “Vaguero of the Brush County” (1929), established him as a spokesman of Texas and southwestern culture. His many other writings included “Colorado’s Children” (1931), “Tales of the Mustang” (1936), “The Flavor of Texas” […]

Melvil Dewey (1851 - 1931)

Melvil Dewey is best known as the originator of the Dewey Decimal System. His name was originally Louis Kossuth, he later went by Melville Dewey, then shortened his first name to Melvil. He proposed a decimal-based cataloging system after working in his college library for some time. He was a founding member of the American […]

John Dewey (1859 - 1952)

Educator. Born in Burlington, Vermont, he was a psychologist, philosopher, educator, social critic and political activist. For over 50 years he was the voice for a liberal and progressive democracy that shaped the destiny of America and the world. As one of the 20th Century’s premier philosophers, he ranks with the greatest thinkers on the […]

Emile Deschanel (1819 - 1904)

Writer, politician and university professor.Exiled for eight years by Naopleon III because of his opposition to the Emperor’s regime. Father of Paul Deschanel.  Family links:  Children:  Paul Deschanel (1855 – 1922)* *Calculated relationship

Jennie Serepta Dean (1852 - 1913)

School Founder, Former Slave. Jennie Dean was freed from slavery due to the American  Civil War. After attending schools in Virginia and Washington DC, she worked as a  maid to help her family buy a farm in Prince William County, Virginia and also to pay for   one of her sisters to attend school. Around […]

Fernando Arturo de Merino (1833 - 1906)

Religious Politician. Born in Antonci, in the Croatian region of Istria, he was a Dominican Priest and orator of national life for higher education in Santo Domingo. In 1865, he became Propagator of the independence of the island of Santo Domingo and was appointed chairman of the House and President, serving 1880 to 1882. He […]

Augustine de Betancourt y Molina (1758 - 1824)

Engineer, Artist. Regarded by many historians to be the Spanish Leonardo da Vinci. He studied at the École des Ponts et Chaussées (School of Bridges and Roadways) in Paris and founded the Escuela de Ingenieros de Caminos y Canales (School of Road and Canal Engineering) in Madrid and the Corps of Civil Engineering in St. […]

J. William Dawson (1820 - 1899)

Dawson was the greatest scientist in Canada in the 19th century. He was a geologist and paleontologist, the only person to be president of both the British and the American Associations for the Advancement of Science. He founded the Royal Society of Canada. He was one of the leading critics of Charles Darwin’s theory of […]

Djura Danicic (1825 - 1882)

Educator. A philologist, he was one of the most important researchers of the Serbo-Croatian language, as well as a defender of ideas of Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic and a great admirer of his work.. He served as the librarian of the National Library from 1856 to 1859, during which time he defined the acquisition policy according […]

Arthur William Currie (1875 - 1933)

Canadian Army Lieutenant General. Born in Strathroy, Canada, he joined the 5th Regiment, Canadian Garrison Artillery in 1894. Rising through the ranks to Lieutenant Colonel, he was offered command of the formed 50th Regiment, Gordon Highlanders in 1913. At the start of World War I, he was given command of a battalion in the first […]

Claudius Crozet (1789 - 1864)

Educator, Civil Engineer, Born in Villefranche, France, he was educated at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris. In the Napoleonic Wars, he served as a Captain in the artillery, and was a prisoner in Russia for two years following the Moscow campaign. He traveled to the United States in 1816, and, with recommendation from the Marquis […]

Russell Herman Conwell (1843 - 1925)

Educator. He was the founder of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s Temple University. Born in Worthington, Massachusetts in 1843, he began attending Yale in 1860, but enlisted in the Union Army in 1862 after the outbreak of the Civil War. He was commissioned as Captain and commander of Company F, 46th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which was an […]

Mattie Eliza Howard Coleman (1870 - 1942)

Missionary, Suffragist. Born in Tennessee, in 1870, she was one of the first African American women to become a physician graduating from Meharry Medical College. Active in religious rights and freedoms, she married R.J. Coleman, a CME minister in the Tennessee Conference in the early 1900s. She organized a women’s bible forum and was the […]

Mason Fitch Cogswell (1760 - 1830)

Educator. After his daughter lost her hearing at age 2, Dr. Cogswell began the process to start an educational facility for similarly handcapped people. After several years he and a group of a few others obtained state funds to send Thomas Gallaudet to Europe to study the English and French schools for the deaf. After […]

Laurent Marie Clerc (1785 - 1869)

Deaf Education Pioneer. He is remembered as the “Apostle of the Deaf in America” for his co-founding of the first school for the deaf in North America. He was born Louis Laurent Marie Clerc in the small village of La Balme, France where his father was the mayor. It is not clear if he was […]