George Godwin (1970 - 1888)

Architect and Author. One of nine children of the architect George Godwin Sr. 1780 to 1863 and trained at his father’s architectural practice in Kensington where he set up in business with his brother Henry Godwin 1831 to 1917. Encouraged by his friend the antiquary John Britton, he pursued an interest in architectural history and […]

Albert N. “Wallpaper” Wolff (1903 - 1998)

Crime Fighter / Member of ‘The Untouchables.’ Note that the inscription on the grave marker is incorrect as the Untouchables were part of what is now the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) which is part the Treasury Department.

John William Godward (1861 - 1922)

Artist. Born of a wealthy family who disapproved of his vocation of art, Godward was shy and reclusive, so very little is known of his life. A Victorian Classicist painter, he was a member of the so-called “Marble School,” followers of Lawrence Alma-Tadema whose work concentrated almost exclusively on Classical Grecian or Roman subjects, such […]

William Wirt (1772 - 1834)

US Attorney General. As a young orphaned boy, he was educated in several classical schools, including one kept by the Reverend James Hunt of Montgomery Co. Maryland. He received the largest part of his education during a four year period in Hunt’s school. At the age of fifteen he went to reside with the Benjamin […]

Nikolai Petrovich Glushchenko (1901 - 1977)

Artist.

Margaret Bush Wilson (1919 - 2009)

Civil Rights Lawyer. She was admitted to the bar in 1943 and became the second black woman ever to practice law in the State of Missouri. As a lawyer, she gained national attention being involved in the landmark 1948 Shelley vs. Kraemer US Supreme Court Case which put an end to restrictive covenants used to […]

Helena Gleichen (1873 - 1947)

British Aristocracy,  Artist. Born Helena Emily Gleichen in London, the youngest child of Viktor, Prinz zu Hohenlohe-Lanenburg and Lady Laura Seymour at which time she was granted the title of Gräfin von Gleichen. She provided some illustrations for the Younghusband Expedition to Tibet in 1904. During the First World War, in September 1917, she relinquished […]

Feodora Gleichen (1861 - 1922)

Artist. Lady Feodora Gleichen was a sculptor and first member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors. Also a relative of Queen Victoria. (bio by: Kieran Smith)

Bertha Wrenham Wilson (1923 - 2007)

Jurist.  The first female Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, she followed her two older brothers to the University of Aberdeen. She attained an M.A. in philosophy in 1944 and then obtained a teaching diploma. She married a Presbyterian minister, the Reverend John Wilson in 1945. They emigrated to Canada […]

Sidney Glazier (1916 - 2002)

Motion Picture Producer. He is best known as the producer of the classic 1968 comedy “The Producers”. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1916, he worked in a local movie theater before serving in World War II. Later finding success as a salesman of State of Israel bonds, that job lead directly to a position as […]

William Wallace Wilshire (1830 - 1888)

Arkansas Supreme Court Justice,  Chief Justice, 1868-71; US Representative from Arkansas, 1873-74; 1875-77. His influence with President Grant brought about presidential intervention in the Brooks-Baxter War.  Family links:  Spouse:  Catherine A. Reynolds Wilshire (1832 – 1900)*  Children:  Mary Ellen Wilshire Rightsell (1851 – 1903)*  Emma Wilshire Kelsey (1857 – 1887)*  William Wallace Wilshire (1859 – […]

William Glackens (1870 - 1938)

Artist. A member of the “Ashcan School” of modern American art, he is best known for a number of realist paintings, including “East River Park” (1902) and “At Mouquin’s” (1905). He served as an European agent for millionaire art enthusiast Albert C. Barnes, and purchased for Barnes dozens of paintings that helped make up the […]

David T. Wilentz (1894 - 1988)

Lawyer. Born in Dvinsk in the Russian Empire (now Daugavpils, Latvia). He emigrated with his parents to the United States, when he was a year old, settling in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.  He graduated from Perth Amboy High School in 1912. He served in the United States Army in World War I as a private […]

Alvin Gittins (1922 - 1981)

Artist. He is best remembered for being the chairman of the Art Department at the University of Utah, and was the artist-in-residence.  He was an early leader in the recently emerging trend of realism in artwork.  Born in Kidderminster, Worcester, England, he came to the United States in 1946 to study, and graduated with a […]

John Wickham (1763 - 1839)

Attorney. He was a respected Virginia lawyer for many years. Raised in New York City by a British Loyalist family, he studied at the Military Academy in Arras, France, before returning to America. During the American Revolution he was arrested as a British spy on orders from Governor Thomas Jefferson and tried but acquitted. After […]

Giotto (1970 - 1337)

Artist,  Architect.  Acknowledged as the most important painter of the 1300s.  Giotto’s art represented the first stirrings of the Italian Renaissance.  He broke with the flat,  unrealistic Byzantine style of his day and painted from direct observation of nature.  Although he rarely used genuine perspective,  he achieved a sense of depth through skillful use of […]

James Wickersham (1857 - 1939)

Western Political Figure. He was a lawyer in practice at Springfield, Illinois, when he moved Washington Territory in 1883. There he was elected probate judge of Pierce County, serving (1884-88), city attorney of Tacoma, in 1894 and a member of the Washington State House of Representatives in 1898. With the gold discoveries in Alaska, hordes […]

Federico Augustino Giorgi (1878 - 1963)

Artist. Renowned Italian sculptor who designed and sculpted the ornate Valhalla Memorial Rotunda, now known as the Portal of the Folded Wings, a shrine to aviation and a burial place for aviation pioneers. (bio by: A.J. Marik)

Byron Raymond “Whizzer” White (1917 - 2002)

United States Supreme Court Associate Justice, Professional Football Player. Born in in Fort Collins, Colorado, he grew up in tiny Wellington, where his father was a lumber dealer and staunch Republican mayor.  White excelled in both academics and athletics.  He graduated first in his high school, college, and law school classes.  His athletic achievements included […]

Luca Giordano (1634 - 1705)

Painter. Known as Luca Fa-Presto, or Speedy Luca, because of the rapidity with which he could execute a painting, he was born in Naples, and studied there under Ribera. In 1682 and 1683, he worked in Florence, including a huge fresco in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi; then, in 1692, he went to Spain at the invitation […]

Charles Isaac Ginner (1878 - 1952)

English painter. After study in Paris, Ginner settled in London, becoming a founder of the neorealist school. During both world wars he was an official government artist. Among his World War II paintings are several scenes of air raids. (bio by: K)

Alice Stebbins Wells (1873 - 1957)

Social Pioneer. First female police officer in the United States. A Pentecostal minister from the Midwest, Wells’s church work helped her become familiar with dismal treatment that women and children received when they became involved in police cases. She petitioned the mayor, police commissioner and city council to allow her to join the force to […]

Jordi “Gin” Ginés (1930 - 1996)

Cartoonist, Illustrator. He signed his work “Gin”.  Born in Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain, he began his career in 1954 as assistant of the illustrator Conti. Later he developed his own stories for the magazines “Florita” and “Yumbo,” with his characters “Fausto Durete,” “Mary Paz” and “Miguelín y su Perro Tizón.” In 1957 he began working for […]

Kate Warne (1970 - 1868)

Private Detective. Born in New York City, almost nothing is known of her prior to 1856 when, as a young widow, she answered an employment advertisement placed by Alan Pinkerton. She was one of four new agents the Pinkerton Detective Agency hired that year and proved to be a natural, taking to undercover work easily. […]

André Gill (1840 - 1885)

French painter and caricaturist, born in Paris, the illegitimate son of the Comte de Guines and Sylvie-Adeline Gosset.

Lawrence Edward Walsh (1912 - 2014)

Attorney, Judge, Diplomat and Prosecutor. He graduated from Columbia College in 1932, and from Columbia Law School in 1935. He served a varied career including private practice. New York special assistant attorney general from 1936 to 1938. Deputy assistant district attorney of New York County from 1938 to 1941. U.S. District Court judge from 1954 […]

Walter Gilbert (1871 - 1946)

Sculptor. He was the designer of many war memorials. He studied at the Birmingham Municipal Art School and the Royal College of Art before completing his training in Europe. He spent the early years of his career teaching art at Rugby School and at Harrow. In 1898 he founded the Bromsgrove Guild, a highly regarded […]

Lurleen Brigham Burns Wallace (1926 - 1968)

Alabama Governor, wife of George C. Wallace. Because of an Alabama law prohibiting governors from serving consecutive terms, Governor George Wallace had his wife campaign for governor. She won the election, and was inaugurated in January, 1967, as the first (and so far only) female governor of Alabama. She acted as a figurehead, with her […]

Cass Gilbert (1859 - 1934)

Noted American architect and “Skyscraper Pioneer.” He was the son of Samuel Augustus Gilbert and Elizabeth Fulton (Wheeler) Gilbert. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, 1878-1879. Gilbert exercised enormous influence on the development of architecture in the United States. He is perhaps best known for his gothic skyscraper, the Woolworth Building, which was […]

Henry Menasco Wade (1914 - 2001)

Kennedy Assassination Figure. The long time Dallas County District attorney, he was the chief prosecutor in the trial of Jack Ruby, killer of President John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. While a student at the University of Texas, he campaigned for Lyndon Baines Johnson in his 1937 bid for the United States House of […]