- Richard Francis Burton
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS (March 19, 1821 - October 20, 1890) was a British explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, ethnologist, linguist, poet, hypnotist, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia and Africa as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke twenty-nine European, Asian, and African languages. - Robert Coontz
Robert Edward Coontz (11 June 1864 - 26 January 1935) was an admiral in the United States Navy, who sailed with the Great White Fleet and served as the second Chief of Naval Operations. Born in Hannibal, Missouri, Coontz graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1885 and served at the Navy Department and in several ships over the next decade, among them vessels stationed in Alaskan waters and the Great Lakes. - Francis Pegahmagabow
Corporal Francis Pegahmagabow, MM and two bars, (March 9, 1891 - August 5, 1952) was the aboriginal soldier most highly decorated for bravery in Canadian military history and the most effective sniper of World War I. Three times awarded the Military Medal and twice seriously wounded, he was an expert marksman and scout, credited with killing up to 378 Germans and capturing 300 more. Later in life, he served as chief and a councillor for his band, … - Ida Laura Pfeiffer
Ida Laura Pfeiffer (October 14, 1797 in Vienna - October 27, 1858 Vienna), was an Austrian traveller and travel book author. She was one of the first female explorers, whose popular books were translated into seven languages. She was a member of geographical societies of both Berlin and Paris, but not of Royal Geographical Society in London due to her sex. - Daniel K. Ludwig
Daniel K. Ludwig (June 24 1897 - August 27 1992) was a US shipping magnate and billionaire. Daniel K. Ludwig was born in South Haven, Michigan. He ended school at the eighth grade and began to work in various shipping-related jobs like a machinist, sea-going engineer and ship handler and learned the ropes mainly by experience. He went into shipping at the age of 19 and started his business transporting molasses around the Great Lakes. - Simon McTavish
Simon McTavish (born c.1750 - died July 6, 1804) was a Scots-Quebecer entrepreneur and the pre-eminent businessman in Canada during the second half of the 18th century. Born in Stratherrick, near Loch Ness, Inverness, a remote area of the Scottish highlands, his father had been a lieutenant in Fraser's Highlanders, a Scottish unit fighting the French and Indian War in what was then British North America. Though his family was well-connected in the Highlands, … - Delino Dexter Calvin
Delino Dexter Calvin (May 15 1798 - 18 May 1884) was an Ontario businessman and political figure. He represented Frontenac in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Conservative member from 1868 to 1875 and from 1877 to 1883. He was born in Clarendon, Vermont in 1798 and moved to northern New York state in 1818 where he farmed and became involved in the lumber trade. He later moved to Clayton, New York to concentrate on lumber operations. - Tim Whitsett
Tim Whitsett (b. 1943, Jackson, Mississippi) is a music publisher, musician, songwriter, producer, author, and consultant. His lifelong association with the music business began professionally as a sixteen-year-old recording artist signed to Imperial Records. With his band, The Imperials (later renamed the The Imperial Show Band), he recorded over twenty singles in a variety of genres (R&B, Pop, Instrumental) for a number of labels, including Epic, Ace, Atlas, Capitol, … - William Jervois
Sir William Francis Drummond Jervois, GCMG, CB (10 September 1821 - 17 August 1897) was a military engineer and Governor of the Straits Settlements, South Australia and New Zealand. Jervois joined the army in 1839, and was educated and commissioned as a Royal Engineer. After service in South Africa, he became an expert on land-based fortifications of cities against naval attack, and proposed several options for a ring of defences around London. - Pierre-Charles Le Sueur
Pierre-Charles Le Sueur was a French fur trader and explorer in North America. Le Sueur came to Canada with the Jesuits to their mission at Sault Ste Marie, but very soon he turned himself to fur trade and became a coureur des bois. Around 1683, he received some samples of bluish clay from the middle reaches of a tributary of the Mississippi and took it back to France to be analyzed. A chemist, L'Huillier, deemed it to be copper ore. - Constance Fenimore Woolson
Constance Fenimore Woolson (March 5, 1840 - January 24, 1894) was an American novelist and short story writer. She was a grandniece of James Fenimore Cooper, and is best known for fictions about the Great Lakes region, the American South, and American expatriates in Europe. - Alexander Grant
Alexander Grant (20 May 1734 - 8 May 1813) was a British Army officer, businessman and politician in Upper Canada. Born in Glenmoriston, Scotland, Grant entered the Royal Navy in 1755 and saw service in North America on Lake Champlain. during the Seven Years' War. Grant became a naval superintendent in 1763 with his headquarters on Navy Island in the Niagara River before moving to Detroit. - George Chaffey
George Chaffey (born in Brockville, Ontario in 1848, died 1932) was a Canadian engineer who with his brother William developed large parts of Southern California, including what became the cities of Etiwanda, Ontario, and Upland, and undertook similar developments in Australia which became the city of Mildura, and the town of Renmark and Paringa. By 1880 he was well established as a designer of ships for Great Lakes traffic. - Thomas Kierans
Thomas William Kierans, FCSCE, P. Eng. is an engineer and innovator. He is the originator and principle proponent of the Great Recycling and Northern Development Canal or GRAND Canal. Kierans is a Montreal native and 1939 McGill University Mining Engineering graduate. As a student he prospected by canoe and bush aircraft across Canada’s northlands. From graduation to 1967 he lived in Sudbury, Ontario working for eighteen years at Inco mines, smelters, … - Ramsay Crooks
Ramsay Crooks (2 January 1787 - 6 June 1859) immigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1803 and he worked in a trading post on the Great Lakes. With Robert McClellan he organized an overland trip to Astoria in the Oregon Territory for John Jacob Astor in 1809 through 1813 as a partner in the Pacific Fur Company. He became general manager of the American Fur Company in 1817 and was president of the company from 1834-1859. - Jim Kirby
James B. Kirby (September 28 1884 - June 9 1971) was an American inventor most known for inventing the Kirby vacuum cleaner. His father was a Great Lakes marine engineer. Kirby grew up in Cleveland's southwest side on Marvin Avenue. - James Lucas Yeo
Sir James Lucas Yeo (October 7 1782 - 21 August 1818) was a British Naval commander who served in the War of 1812. Yeo was born in Southampton October 7, 1782 and joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman at the age of 10. He first saw action as a lieutenant aboard a brig in the Adriatic Sea, and distinguished himself during the siege of Cesenatico in 1800. - Increase Lapham
Increase Allen Lapham (March 1811 - September 15, 1875) was an author, scientist, and naturalist. Born in Palmyra, New York, his family moved to Pennsylvania, back to New York, to Ohio then to Louisville, Kentucky (1827-1830) then back to Ohio while his father, Seneca Lapham, worked on the canals in various locations. He displayed a talent for scientific observation early on while working on the canals and their locks himself, … - Charles Bagot
Sir Charles Bagot GCB (23 September 1781 - 19 May 1843) was an English diplomat and colonial administrator who served as Governor General of the Province of Canada 1841-1843). He was the second son of William Bagot, 1st Baron Bagot of Blithfield Hall, Staffordshire. His marriage to Mary Charlotte Anne Wellesley-Pole, the niece of Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, and other family connections made possible his subsequent diplomatic career. - Ed Shaw
Edward "Ed" Shaw was an American Communist and life-long member of the Socialist Workers Party. Born in Zion, Illinois, on July 13, 1923, Shaw grew up in a family of working farmers. In his youth, he rebelled against the fundamentalist religious assumptions that surrounded him in Zion. After high school, at the outbreak of World War II, he entered the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Shaw moved to New York City in 1942. - Peter Pond
Peter Pond ( 1739 or 1740 - 1807) was born in Milford, Connecticut. He was a soldier with a Connecticut regiment, a fur trader, founding member of the North West Company, an explorer and cartographer. Despite his accomplishments he died in relative obscurity and poverty in his birthplace. He began his fur trading career with his father out of Detroit, Michigan. He traded throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. Through his business he became acquainted with Alexander Henry, … - George H. Wadleigh
Rear Admiral George Henry Wadleigh (28 September 1842 - 11 July 1927) served in the United States Navy during the American Civil War and the Spanish-American War. Wadleight was born in Dover, New Hampshire. He attended the Naval Academy in 1860-1863, then had Civil War service in the Gulf of Mexico on the steam sloops "Lackawanna" and "Richmond". In 1866-1869 Wadleigh was in European, Mediterranean and African waters as an officer of "Ticonderoga", … - Charles Vernon Gridley
Charles Vernon Gridley (24 November 1844 - 25 May 1898) was an officer in the United States Navy during the Civil War and the Spanish-American War. Born in Logansport, Indiana, Gridley was appointed to the Naval Academy in 1860. Reporting for duty with his class in September 1863, Gridley joined the sloop-of-war "Oneida" with the West Gulf Blockading Squadron and distinguished himself with David Farragut at the Battle of Mobile Bay 5 August 1864. - James McGill
James McGill was a Scottish-Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He was also a prominent member of the Château Clique. Born in Glasgow, Scotland and educated at Glasgow University, he became one of the Montreal merchants involved in the fur trade south of the Great Lakes from 1770. He diversified his activities into land speculation and by 1810 had abandoned the fur trade altogether. Rumoured to be the richest man in Montreal, he left a great deal of money to charity, … - Old Briton
Memeskia or Old Briton (d. June 21, 1752), also known as La Demoselle, was an eighteenth century Piankashaw chieftain who fought against the French in 1747. A prominent member of the Piankashaw tribe, Memeskia was one of the earliest opponents of the increasing French presence in North America regarding their dominance and monopoly over the fur trade in the western Great Lakes region. In 1747, Old Briton (as he was now known), … - Charles Manning Reed
Charles Manning Reed (April 3, 1803 - December 16, 1871) was a Whig member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Charles M. Reed was born in Erie, Pennsylvania. He attended the public schools and was graduated from Washington College in Washington, Pennsylvania. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia in 1824 but did not practice. He was engaged in business in Erie with his father, an owner of vessels on the Great Lakes. - Walter Ross
Walter Ross (1817 - November 12 1888) was a Canadian businessman and political figure. He represented Prince Edward in the Canadian House of Commons as a Liberal member from 1867-1878. He was born in Ross-shire, Scotland in 1817. He operated a general store in Picton; he also served as mayor of Picton. Ross owned a steamship that operated on the Great Lakes. - Robert Hamilton
Robert Hamilton (September 14 1753 - March 8 1809) was a businessman, judge and political figure in Upper Canada. He was born in Bolton, East Lothian, Scotland in 1753. He came to Canada as part of a contract with a fur trading company operating west of the Great Lakes. In 1780, he formed a partnership with Richard Cartwright to supply goods to the British army at Fort Niagara which later expanded to include the transportation of goods across the province. - Jerry Simpson
Jeremiah Simpson (March 31, 1842 - October 23, 1905), nicknamed "Sockless Jerry" Simpson, was an American politician from the U.S. state of Kansas. An old-style populist, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives three times. - Charles Michel de Langlade
Charles Michel de Langlade was a Great Lakes fur-trader of French and Odawa heritage. His father was Augustin Langlade; his mother was a sister of Odawa war chief Nissowaquet. In 1752, Charles Langlade led the raid on Pickawillany, which paved the way for the French and Indian War. In 1755, he led a group from the Three Fires confederacy over Edward Braddock and George Washington at the Battle of Monongahela. He took part in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, … - William Ludlow
William Ludlow was an officer in the Corps of Engineers and a Major General in the United States Army who served in the Civil War, Plains Indian campaigns, and led a scientific expedition examining the natural wonders of Yellowstone National Park. Ludlow was born at Islep, New York, and received his education at University of the City of New York and the United States Military Academy. He graduated in 1864, during the height of the Civil War, … - Orlando Poe
Orlando Metcalfe Poe (March 7, 1832 - October 2, 1895) was an United States Army officer and engineer. He was responsible for much of the early lighthouse construction on the Great Lakes. Poe was born in Navarre, Ohio. He attended the United States Military Academy, graduating sixth in his class in 1856. From then until 1861 he served as assistant topographical engineer on the survey of the northern Great Lakes; during this time he was promoted to First Lieutenant. - Yoweri Museveni
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (born c. 1944, Ntungamo, Uganda) has been the President of Uganda since January 29, 1986. Museveni was involved in the war that toppled Idi Amin's (1971–79) rule and the rebellion that subsequently led to the demise of Milton Obote's (1980–85) regime. With the notable exception of northern areas, Museveni has brought relative stability and economic growth to a country that has endured decades of government mismanagement, … - William Fitzwilliam Owen
Vice Admiral William Fitzwilliam Owen (1774-1857), was a British naval officer and explorer. He is known for his exploration of the west and east African coasts, discovery of the Seaflower Channel off the coast of Sumatra and for surveying the Canadian Great Lakes. Owen entered the navy in 1788, and served at home and on ships in the West Indies. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1797. - Samuel Crane
Samuel Crane (1794 - November 13 1858) was a businessman and political figure in Canada West. He was born in Massachusetts in 1794 and had settled in Lower Canada by 1820. He became a partner in a forwarding business at Lachine, west of Montreal. The firm owned a share in the "Ontario", an American steamship operating on the Great Lakes. - Seamus Metress
Seamus Metress Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, University of Toledo, Ohio. Born in 1933, he has been teaching at the university level for over 30 years. He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University [date needed]. *Areas of Interest: Race and Ethnicity, Medical Anthropology, Conflict in Northern Ireland *Research: Biocultural Anthropology, Irish Studies and Ethnic Conflict *Field Research projects in Northeast Ireland and the Great Lakes Region. - William Keating
William Hypolitus Keating (b. August 11 1799, Wilmington, Delaware; d. 1844, London, England) was an American geologist. His father, Baron John Keating, of Irish ancestry, had been an officer in the French army in the West Indies and had settled in Wilmington, Delaware. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, and then in France and Switzerland, where he studied mining. In 1822, he became Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy at the University of Pennsylvania. - John Moulder Wilson
John Moulder Wilson (October 8, 1837 - February 1, 1919) was born in Olympia, Washington. He was a Union Army engineer and later served as Chief of Engineers as well as serving as superintendent of West Point from 1889-1893. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1860 and was commissioned in the Artillery Corps. - Richard Rush
Richard Rush (August 29, 1780 - July 30, 1859) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the second son (and third child) of Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and Julia (Stockton) Rush. He entered the College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton University) at the age of 14, and graduated in 1797 as the youngest member of his class. He was admitted to the bar in 1800, when he was barely 20 years old, … - Moustapha Niasse
Moustapha Niasse (born November 4 1939) is a Senegalese politician and diplomat. He served as Foreign Minister of Senegal from 1978 to 1984 and from 1993 to 1998. He served as Prime Minister for the first time for a few weeks in 1983, and again from 2000 to 2001. Niasse was director of the presidential cabinet from 1970 to 1979. In March 1979, he became Minister of Town Planning, Housing and Environment, serving in that position until September 1979, …
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