Samuel E. Sewall (1652 - 1730)

Printer, Merchant, Legislator, Judge, Chief Justice. He arrived in the colonies as a child, his education was towards becoming a minister, having earned several degrees in theology from Harvard College Cambridge. However, his marriage to the daughter of a prosperous Boston family, changed those plans and he would instead become a wealthy and highly respected […]

Samuel Francis Smith (1808 - 1895)

Samuel Francis Smith was born in Boston, Massachusetts on October 21, 1808. Smith gave Lowell Mason the lyrics he had written and the song was first performed in public on July 4, 1831, at a children’s Independence Day celebration at Park Street Church in Boston. The song, titled “America”, was first published by Lowell Mason in […]

Samuel French (1970 - 1970)

Publisher. He was a pioneering publisher and licenser of plays and musicals. He set up his publishing company in New York in 1854, and in 1859 visited London, where he met Thomas Hailes Lacy, a former actor working as a theatrical bookseller. The two men went into partnership, with the resulting company trading in both […]

Samuel Gompers (1850 - 1924)

Labor Leader. He was born in London and together with his family immigrated to America in 1863. They lived on the Lower East Side, where he found work as a cigar-maker. In 1864 he joined the Cigar Makers’ International Union. He became an American citizen in 1872. Gompers had seen what things were like for […]

Samuel Hawken (1792 - 1884)

Gunsmith. Born in Hagerstown, Maryland, he moved west to establish a gunsmithy in Xenia, Ohio. Sometime after 1821, Hawken’s wife died and he relocated to St. Louis where his elder brother, Jacob, and his partner also worked as gunsmiths. Hawken set up his own independent shop and would not form a partnership with his brother […]

Samuel Hill (1800 - 1857)

In 1829 Samuel Hill and John McNamar (aka McNeil) built the first general store in New Salem. A few years later they dissolved the partnership by mutual consent and Hill expanded his investments & opened a carding mill. He was postmaster until 1833 when Lincoln assumed the position in an appointment by President Andrew Jackson. […]

Samuel I. Newhouse (1895 - 1979)

Businessman, Publisher. Born Solomon Isadore Neuhaus in Manhattan, New York, he was a broadcasting businessman, magazine and newspaper publisher. He was best known as the founder of Advance Publications, which went on to be one of the world’s largest media and communications companies. His interest included owning more then 30 newspapers, as well as numerous […]

Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 [O.S. 7 September] – 13 December 1784), often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson was a devout Anglican and committed Tory, and is described by the Oxford Dictionary […]

Samuel Kirkland (1741 - 1808)

Missionary, Educator. Educated as a lawyer at Princeton, he was ordained to the Congregational ministry and commissioned Indian missionary by the board of correspondence of the Missionary society in 1766. During the Revolution he was active in endeavoring to preserve the neutrality of the Indian Six Nations, made several long journeys among the tribes and […]

Samuel Lester Agnew (1887 - 1951)

Samuel Lester (Slam) Agnew (April 12, 1887 – July 19, 1951) was a catcher in Major League Baseball. From 1913 through 1919, he played for the St. Louis Browns (1913–15), Boston Red Sox (1916–18) and Washington Senators (1919). Agnew batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Farmington, Missouri.  Agnew debuted with the St. Louis […]

Samuel Lindsay “Sam” Browne (1869 - 1951)

Law Officer. Famous for single-handedly saving the Central Division Los Angeles Police Station from being blown-up by a terrorist. Ran for the office of Los Angeles County Sheriff in 1926, but lost by less that 1000 votes. The first cousin of J. Edgar Hoover, it has believed that he invented the police uniform gun belt […]

Samuel Locke Sawyer (1813 - 1890)

Graduated Dartmouth College in 1833; admitted to the Bar in Amherst, NH in 1836; moved to Lexington, MO in 1838; elected circuit attorney of the sixth judicial circuit of Missouri in 1848; reelected in 1882; delegate to the MO Constitutional Convention in 1861; delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1868; elected judge of the […]

Samuel Luke Fildes (1844 - 1927)

Sir Fildes was an artist and illustrator of magazines and books, including Dickens’ last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. His first great public success was the painting Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward (1874), based on an earlier drawing that was published in the first edition of The Graphic. In addition to his […]

Samuel Marsden Brookes (1816 - 1892)

Noted portrait, landscape, genre scenes and miniature painter. He is considered to be the finest American still life specialist of the 19th century. His paintings are marked by meticulous realism and infinite detail. Founder of the San Francisco Art Association and member of the Bohemian Club. (bio by: Janice Buchanan)

Samuel Marx (1859 - 1933)

Samuel Marx (born Simon Marx; October 23, 1859 – May 10, 1933) was the husband of Minnie Marx, and father of the Marx Brothers. According to his birth certificate, Marx was born as Simon Marx in Alsace, France. Due to his place of birth, he was known as “Frenchie”. He met Minnie in New York where […]

Samuel Parkinson Cowley (1899 - 1934)

FBI agent. He was educated at the Utah State Agricultural College and George Washington University Law School. After graduation in 1929 he joined the FBI. Promoted to Inspector in July 1934 he directed the operation to apprehend John Dillinger. In an attempt to capture George “Baby Face” Nelson (Lester Gillis) he was mortally wounded. Nelson […]

Samuel Romilly (1757 - 1818)

Samuel Romilly was born in Frith Street, Soho, London, of Huguenot parents. His sister, Catherine, went on to become the mother of Peter Mark Roget (q.v.). He learned very little at school and was almost entirely self-educated. After some years in which he worked in his father’s watchmaking and jewellery shop, and as a lawyer’s […]

Samuel Shopsowitz (1919 - 1984)

Founder of Shopsy’s (the Toronto delicatessen).

Samuel Sloan (1817 - 1907)

Railroad magnate. When Samuel Sloan started out for himself, New York was a small and primitive community. His first job was at the foot of the list of clerks of McBride & Company, a well-known (Irish linen) importing house. When about twenty-six years old, Mr. Sloan married Miss Margaret Elmendorf of Somerville, N.J., a daughter […]

Samuel Sotheby (1805 - 1861)

Noted Auctioneer.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834)

Poet, Critic, Philosopher. Born in Ottery St. Mary in Devonshire England, Coleridge was the youngest of 10 children born to John Coleridge, a minister, and his wife, Ann Bowden. In this crowed household, it was reported that Coleridge led to a less than idyllic childhood. It was made worse in 1781 by the death of […]

Samuel Truett Cathy (1921 - 2014)

Businessman. He was the founder of the nationally franchised “Chick-fil-A” fast food restaurant. He began the chain in the Atlanta, Georgia suburb of Hapeville in 1946 with a restaurant called the Dwarf Grill, named because of its small size. It was there that he, along with his brother and business partner, Ben, created the chicken […]

Samuel W. Sessions (1826 - 1902)

Founded the Cleveland Nut Co., which became one of the nation’s leading fastener companies, Lamson & Sessions.  Their family monument was installed at Riverside Cemetery in 1877 for $10,000 and is a local tourist attraction. (bio by: Joyce)

Samuel Wilkeson (1781 - 1848)

Samuel Wilkeson (1781–1848) was mayor of Buffalo, New York, serving 1836–1837. He was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania on June 1, 1781, a child of immigrants from Northern Ireland. Around 1802 he married Jane Oram and moved to Mahoning County, Ohio where he built a farm and the first grist mill in the area. He later […]

San Pasqual Battlefield Monument (1970 - 1970)

This battle at San Pasqual lasted but a few days in December of 1846 during the two year Mexican-American conflict which saw California ceded to the U.S. The unlucky opponents were the Americans under Gen Stephen W. Kearny leader of the army of the west and the Californios (Mexican forces) under the leadership of the […]

Sanae Takada (1970 - 1970)

Educator. Served as president of Waseda University, as well as Japan’s Minister of Education. (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)

Sandra Dee (1942 - 2005)

Actress. Born Alexandra Zuck, she made her professional debut as a model at age four, was appearing in commercials by age twelve and at the age of fourteen made her first film, “Until they Sail.” In 1958 she won a Golden Globe Award for “Most Promising Newcomer.” She became known for her wholesome roles in […]

Sandra Gould (1916 - 1999)

Sandra Gould was born in Brooklyn, New York. She began acting in films with an uncredited role in T-Men (1947), and was the Phone Operator in Romance on the High Seas (1948), Doris Day’s debut film. She appeared in several uncredited roles for the remainder of the decade, and received her first screen credit with […]

Sandra Mozarovsky (1958 - 1977)

Actress. Born in Tánger, Morocco of a Russian father and Spanish mother,  she began her career as child in the film “El Otro Árbol de Guernica” (1969).  She appeared in “Sensualidad” (1975), “La Noche de las Gaviotas” (1975), “Beatriz” (1976), “Hasta que el Matrimonio nos Separe” (1977) and “El Hombre de los Hongos” (1980), her […]

Sandro Botticelli (1445 - 1510)

Artist. He was a contemporary of famed artist Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni and Renaissance man Leonardo da Vinci, and his considered one of the best painters of the 15th century period of art and culture in Italy known as the “Quattrocento”. He was pupil of painter Filippo Lippi and worked for the House of […]