Adam Roarke (1937 - 1996)

Adam Roarke (August 8, 1937 – April 27, 1996) was an American actor and film director. Roarke was born Richard Jordan Gerler in Brooklyn, New York, where he was a street gang member during his youth. His father was a vaudeville comedian and his mother was a chorine, showgirl. Richie, as he was affectionately called by friends, […]

Adam Sedgwick (1785 - 1873)

Adam Sedgwick (22 March 1785 – 27 January 1873) was one of the founders of modern geology. He proposed the Devonian period of the geological timescale. Based on work which he did on Welsh rock strata, he proposed the Cambrian period in 1835, in a joint publication in which Roderick Murchison also proposed the Silurian […]

Adam Ward (1988 - 2015)

Adam Ward was tragically taken from this world on Wednesday, August 26, 2015. He was a bright light in our lives for 27 wonderful years.Adam was born on May 10, 1988, to Charles “Buddy” and Mary Lou Speas Ward of Daleville. Although he grew up in Botetourt with his sister and brother, Sarah and Jay, […]

Adam West (1928 - 2017)

Adam West Adam West, the ardent actor who managed to keep his tongue in cheek while wearing the iconic cowl of the Caped Crusader on the classic 1960s series Batman, has died. He was 88. West, who was at the pinnacle of pop culture after Batman debuted in January 1966, only to see his career fall victim to […]

Adam Williams (1922 - 2006)

Williams was born in Wall Lake, Iowa. A veteran “bad guy” actor of 1950s film and TV who began his career after distinguished World War II military service as a United States Navy pilot, for which he received the Navy Cross. In 1952, Williams played the lead, a Los Angeles woman killer, in the film, […]

Adam Yauch (1964 - 2012)

Born in Brooklyn, New York City, Adam Yauch was the only child of a social worker and a painter and architect. Yauch had a non-religious upbringing. His father had been raised a Catholic and his mother was Jewish.  Yauch attended Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood. In high school, he taught himself […]

Adamae Vaughn (1905 - 1943)

Actress. Born in Ashland, Kentucky, she was a member of the Warner Bros. review, along with her sister actress Alberta Vaughn. From 1921 to 1936, she appeared in nine motion pictures to include “Stop Kidding” (1921), “The Last Edition” (1925), “The Show of Shows” (1929) and “Love Before Breakfest” (1936). (bio by: John “J-Cat” Griffith)

Addie Detroit Wood Atkinson (1841 - 1916)

Businesswoman. She owned and operated the Lexington Hotel in Richmond, which she purchased in 1889, and within ten years had saved enough money to build her own hotel. She built the Hotel Richmond, which became one of the most elegant and popular hotels in Richmond, on the western edge of Capitol Square in 1904, and […]

Addie Oakley McPhail (1905 - 2003)

Actress. She was the 3rd wife of comedian Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle who she was married to from 1932 until his death on June 29, 1933. She appeared in the films, “Northwest Passage” (1940), “Women Of Glamour” (1937), “Bordertown” (1935), “By Your Leave” (1934), “Merry Wives Of Reno” (1934), “The Super Snooper” (1934), “An Old Gypsy […]

Addison Owen Randall (1906 - 1945)

Actor. The brother of fellow actor Robert Livingston (who he strongly resembled), he appeared in a number of Western B movies. Two versions of the cause of his death exist; he either had a heart attack or he fell off his horse Rusty and broke his neck while filming “The Royal Mounted Rides Again”. He […]

Addison Richards (1902 - 1964)

A native of Zanesville, Ohio, Addison Richards was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Addison Richards. His grandfather was a mayor of Zanesville. Following his father’s death in 1942, the family moved to California. Richards was cast in many television series, including the syndicated 1950s crime drama, Sheriff of Cochise, starring John Bromfield. From 1955 to […]

Adelaide “Miss Neilson” Neilson (1848 - 1880)

Actress. Lilian Adelaide Neilson was a 19th century English actress largely remembered for her Shakesperean roles. She was said by many of her contemporaries to be ‘the Juliet of her day’. Born Elizabeth Ann Brown at 35 St. Peters Square, Leeds to an unmarried former actress, Elizabeth Anne grew up in relative poverty, initially in […]

Adelaide Crapsey (1878 - 1914)

Poet. She studied at Vassar and served as instructor of poetetics at Smith College from 1911 to 1913. She became best known as a visionary poet writing in a highly concise style, and was the inventor of the cinquain (five line) verse. (bio by: Mount Hope NY)  Family links:  Parents:  Algernon Sidney Crapsey (1847 – […]

Adelaide Johnson (1859 - 1955)

Artist, sculptor, and ardent suffragist. Her works can be seen in the Capitol and at the National Woman’s Party Headquarters. (bio by: Laurie)

Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (1792 - 1849)

Adelaide was born on 13 August 1792 at Meiningen, Thuringia, Germany. Her father was George I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen; and her mother was Luise Eleonore, daughter of Prince Christian of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. She was titled Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, Duchess in Saxony with the style Serene Highness from her birth until the Congress of Vienna (1814–15), […]

Adelbert Ames (1835 - 1933)

Ames graduated from the United States Military Academy on May 6, 1861, standing fifth in his class of 45. On that same date he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Artillery. Eight days later he was promoted to first lieutenant and was assigned to the 5th U.S. Artillery. During the First Battle […]

Adele Astaire Douglass (1897 - 1981)

Entertainer and sister of actor Fred Astaire.  Born Adele Marie Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska, she was the daughter of Frederick Emanuel Austerlitz and his wife, Johanna “Ann” Austerlitz.  Her father was a beer brewer from Vienna, Austria.   In 1905, she began a successful vaudeville act with her younger brother, Fred, developing it into a […]

Adele Belgrade (1866 - 1938)

Stage and Motion Picture Actress. She appeared on stage and in silent films, among them the 1917 comedy/drama production of “Happiness.” Married to actor Fred J. Butler, mother of prolific director/actor David Butler. (bio by: A.J. Marik)  Family links:  Spouses:  Fred Joline Butler (1867 – 1929)*  Fred J. Butler (1867 – 1929)* *Calculated relationship

Adele Blood (1886 - 1936)

Adele Blood was born on April 23, 1886 in San Francisco, California to Ira E. Blood and Frances Emma Stewart. Frances was a member of the Alameda school department for many years. Adele moved to the eastern United States some years before 1917. As a youth, she was a talented equestrienne, had an interest in […]

Adele Jergens (1917 - 2002)

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Adele Jergens’ birth date is sometimes listed as 1922. Jergens first rose to prominence in the late 1930s, when she was named “Miss World’s Fairest” at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. In the early 1940s, she worked as a Rockette, and was named the Number One Showgirl in New […]

Adele Mara (1923 - 2010)

Adele Mara (April 28, 1923 – May 7, 2010), born Adelaida Delgado, was an American actress, singer and dancer who appeared in films during the 1940s and 1950s. During the 1940s, the blond actress was also a popular pinup girl. Mara was born in Highland Park, Michigan, to Spanish parents. One of her early roles was as […]

Adele Ritchie (1874 - 1930)

American stage actress. Divorced from actor Guy Bates Post. Ritchie was the aggressor in a bizarre murder-suicide. Her victim was a friend and fellow supporter of a local legitimate theater. When Ritchie discovered that her friend was planning to replace her as manager of the theater, she shot her, and then killed herself.  Family links: […]

Adele Rowland (1883 - 1971)

Silent Film Actress. Adele Rowland was born on July 10, 1883 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. She was an actress known for She’s Everywhere, The Blonde from Singapore and For the Love of Mary. She was married to Conway Tearle and Charles Ruggles. She died on August 8, 1971 in Los Angeles, California. (bio […]

Adele Sandrock (1863 - 1937)

Adele Sandrock (19 August 1863 – 30 August 1937) was a German-Dutch actress. After a successful theatrical career, she became one of the first German movie stars. Adele Sandrock was born as Adele Feldern-Förster in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the daughter of the German merchant Eduard Sandrock (1834–1897) and his Dutch wife Johanna Simonetta ten Hagen (1833–1917). After […]

Adeline deWalt Reynolds (1862 - 1961)

Actress. One of 10 children, she wanted to be an actress at age 5. She took up post-graduate studies in drama, and her stage work opened doors in the movie industry. Reynolds worked in more than 30 films, with one of her most memorable as Barry Fitzgerald’s mother in “Going My Way.” Her personal favorite […]

Adeline Lee Younger Dalton (1835 - 1925)

Western Figure. Born to Charles Lee “Cole” Younger and his common law wife Parmelia Wilson, she married James Lewis Dalton and had 17 children. Known as the mother of the Dalton Boys Gang clan, she was also the aunt of another family of outlaws, Cole, Bob and Jim Younger. In addition some of her other […]

Adémar de Chabannes (1970 - 1970)

Chronicler, Composer, Literary Forger. A controversial French monk of the Middle Ages. His “Apostolic Mass for St. Martial” (1029) is Europe’s earliest surviving music score written in the composer’s own hand – and an extraordinary fraud. Adémar was born in Limoges, Limousin, into a family with prominent ties to the Catholic Church. Before 1000 he […]

Adm Franklin Buchanan (1800 - 1874)

Civil War Confederate Navy Admiral. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, prior to the Civil War, he was a US Navy Captain, served as the first superintendent of the US Naval Academy and commanded the USS Susquehanna in the Perry Expedition to Japan. Believing that his home state of Maryland would be soon seceding from the Union, […]

Admiral Nelson Gray (1970 - 1862)

Newspaper Publisher. He was a co-founder of the Cleveland “Plain Dealer” newspaper.  Family links:  Spouse:  Roxanna A Gray (____ – 1887)* *Calculated relationship

Adolf Bremer (1869 - 1939)

Businessman. Financier and president of Jacob Schmidt Brewing Company. The son-in-law of Jacob Schmidt and the father of Edward Bremer, who was a 1934 kidnap victim of the Barker-Karpis gang.  Family links:  Spouse:  Marie Schmidt Bremer (1852 – 1928)*  Children:  Marie B Bremer Reim (1903 – 2007)* *Calculated relationship