Famous Americans of 1890-1910

Names of the last two centuries

For a few years, I had a website with around 200 pages in it. It's not currently online, but it still resides on my computer. One section in the website is about the years 1890-1910, and this is a list I compiled for it. It's much too long for a blog post, but I promise not to post this sort of thing often.

For people my age, I think the list demonstrates that, for us, 1900 and even the end of the 1800's were not so long ago. My great-grandparents might have read about many of these people in newspapers. The children and young folks of that time were important people, middle-aged and older, by the time I came along in 1951.

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What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. -- Last words of Crowfoot, 1890

Famous Americans Who Died Between 1890 and 1900

Name (Remembered As) Born-Died

• Crowfoot (Blackfoot warrior and orator) 1821-1890
• Sitting Bull (Prairie Sioux Indian chief) c. 1831-1890
• P. T. Barnum (showman) 1810-1891
• Herman Melville (novelist) 1819-1891
• John Greenleaf Whittier (poet) 1807-1892
• Walt Whitman (poet) 1819-1892
• Oliver Wendell Holmes (poet) 1809-1894
• Frederick Douglass (abolitionist) 1807-1895
• Eugene Field (poet) 1850-1895
• Charles Anderson Dana (editor) 1819-1897
• Horatio Alger (author) 1834-1899
• Harriet Beecher Stowe (novelist) 1811-1896

Famous Americans Who Were Living At The Year 1900

Age in 1900 -- Name -- Remembered As

• 80 -- Fanny J. Crosby -- Hymn writer
• 80 -- Julia Ward Howe -- Poet and reformer
• 80 -- Susan B. Anthony -- Woman suffragist
• 80 -- Florence Nightingale -- Nurse
• 79 -- Clara Barton -- Founder of American Red Cross
• 79 -- Mary Baker Eddy -- Founder of Christian Science Church
• 78 -- Red Cloud -- Ogalala Sioux chieftain
• 77 -- Harriet Tubman -- Abolitionist
• 71 -- Geronimo -- Apache chieftain

• 66 -- James McNeill Whistler -- Painter and etcher
• 65 -- Andrew Carnegie -- Industrialist
• 65 -- Mark Twain -- Author
• 64 -- Winslow Homer -- Painter
• 63 -- Grover Cleveland -- U.S. President
• 62 -- John Muir -- Naturalist
• 60 -- Chief Joseph -- Chieftain and warrior

• 57 -- Henry James -- Author
• 56 -- Mary Cassat -- Painter
• 54 -- George Westinghouse -- Inventor
• 54 -- ``Buffalo Bill'' Cody -- Scout
• 53 -- Alexander Graham Bell -- Inventor
• 53 -- Thomas A. Edison -- Inventor
• 51 -- Luther Burbank -- Horticulturalist
• 51 -- James Whitcomb Riley -- Poet
• 50 -- Samuel Gompers -- Labor Leader
• 50 -- Henry Cabot Lodge -- Legislator

• 46 -- George Eastman -- Inventor
• 45 -- Eugene Victor Debs -- Socialist leader
• 44 -- James B. Duke -- Industrialist
• 44 -- Booker T. Washington -- Educator
• 43 -- Clarence Darrow -- Lawyer
• 42 -- Theodore Roosevelt -- U.S. President
• 41 -- John Dewey -- Philosopher and educator
• 40 -- Jane Addams -- Social worker
• 40 -- William Jennings Bryan -- Orator and politician
• 40 -- Grandma Moses -- Painter
• 40 -- Annie Oakley -- Markswoman
• 40 -- John J. Pershing -- General

• 38 -- O. Henry -- Story Writer
• 37 -- Black Elk -- Ogala Sioux Holy Man
• 37 -- William Randolph Hearst -- Publisher
• 37 -- Henry Ford -- Industrialist
• 37 -- Billy Sunday -- Evangelist
• 36 -- Albert Steiglitz -- Photographer
• 33 -- Laura Ingalls Wilder -- Writer
• 33 -- Wilbur Wright -- Inventor
• 32 -- William Allen White -- Journalist
• 31 -- Edgar Lee Masters -- Poet
• 31 -- Booth Tarkington -- Novelist
• 31 -- Frank Lloyd Wright -- Architect

• 29 -- Theodore Dreiser -- Writer
• 29 -- Orville Wright -- Inventor
• 26 -- Robert Frost -- Poet
• 26 -- Herbert Hoover -- U.S. President
• 26 -- Harry Houdini -- Magician
• 26 -- Robert W. Service -- Poet and novelist
• 26 -- Gertrude Stein -- Author
• 25 -- Edgar Rice Burroughs -- Novelist
• 24 -- Sherwood Anderson -- Novelist and story writer
• 24 -- Willa Cather -- Novelist
• 24 -- Frank E. Gannett -- Editor and publisher
• 22 -- George M. Cohan -- Actor and dramatist
• 22 -- Carl Sandburg -- Poet and biographer
• 21 -- Ethel Barrymore -- Actress
• 21 -- Albert Einstein -- Physicist
• 21 -- Will Rogers -- Humorist
• 20 -- Douglas MacArthur -- Five-star general
• 20 -- George C. Marshall -- Marshall
• 20 -- Stephen Crane -- Novelist and poet
• 20 -- W. C. Fields -- Comedian

• 19 -- Cecil B. De Mille -- Film Director
• 19 -- Edgar A. Guest -- Poet
• 18 -- John Barrymore -- Actor
• 18 -- Sam Rayburn -- Legislator
• 18 -- Robert H. Goddard -- Father of modern rocketry
• 18 -- Samuel Goldwyn -- Movie producer
• 18 -- Franklin D. Roosevelt -- U.S. President
• 17 -- Eubie Blake -- Pianist
• 17 -- Lon Chaney -- Actor
• 17 -- Douglas Fairbanks -- Actor
• 17 -- Rube Goldberg -- Cartoonist
• 17 -- John Maynard Keynes -- Economist
• 16 -- Jack London -- Novelist
• 16 -- Eleanor Roosevelt -- Reformer and humanitarian
• 16 -- Harry S. Truman -- U.S. President
• 15 -- Sinclair Lewis -- Novelist
• 15 -- Chester William Nimitz -- Naval officer
• 15 -- Ezra Pound -- Poet
• 14 -- Al Jolson -- Actor and singer
• 13 -- ``Fatty'' Arbuckle -- Actor and director
• 13 -- Georgia O'Keeffe -- Painter
• 12 -- Irving Berlin -- Songwriter
• 12 -- Richard Byrd -- Polar explorer
• 12 -- Dale Carnegie -- Author
• 12 -- John Foster Dulles -- Statesman
• 12 -- Joseph P. Kennedy -- Financier
• 12 -- Bela Lugosi -- Actor
• 12 -- Eugene O'Neill -- Writer
• 11 -- Conrad Aiken -- Poet
• 11 -- Charlie Chaplin -- Actor
• 11 -- H. L. Hunt -- Industrialist
• 11 -- Walter Lippmann -- Columnist
• 10 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower -- U.S. President and general
• 10 -- Rose Kennedy -- Mother of statesmen
• 10 -- Edward V. Rickinbacker -- Aviator

• 9 -- Pearl S. Buck -- Novelist
• 9 -- Katherine Anne Porter -- Author
• 8 -- J. Paul Getty -- Oil Executive
• 8 -- Oliver Hardy -- Comedian
• 8 -- Cole Porter -- Songwriter
• 8 -- Eddie Cantor -- Actor
• 8 -- Mae West -- Actress
• 8 -- Wendell Lewis Wilkie -- Lawyer
• 7 -- Omar Bradley -- General
• 7 -- Jimmie Durante -- Comedian
• 7 -- Dorothy Parker -- Author
• 6 -- Jack Benny -- Actor and comedian
• 6 -- E. E. Cummings -- Poet
• 6 -- Martha Graham -- Choreographer
• 6 -- Norman Rockwell -- Painter and Illustrator
• 5 -- Richard Buckminster Fuller -- Architect and educator
• 5 -- J. Edgar Hoover -- FBI Director
• 5 -- Groucho Marx -- Comedian
• 5 -- George Raft -- Actor
• 4 -- F. Scott Fitzgerald -- Novelist
• 4 -- Ira Gershwin -- Lyricist
• 4 -- Lillian Gish -- Actress
• 4 -- Buster Keaton -- Comedian
• 4 -- Ethel Waters -- Entertainer
• 3 -- Lucius D. Clay -- Banker and general
• 3 -- Walter Winchell -- Columnist
• 2 -- Bud Abbott -- Comedian
• 2 -- Stephen Vincent Benèt -- Poet and storywriter
• 2 -- Amelia Earhart -- Aviator
• 2 -- George Gershwin -- Composer
• 2 -- Charles W. Mayo -- Surgeon
• 2 -- Norman Vincent Peale -- Clergyman
• 2 -- Randolph Scott -- Actor
• 1 -- Fred Astaire -- Dancer and actor
• 1 -- Humphrey Bogart -- Actor
• 1 -- James Cagney -- Actor
• 1 -- Hoagie Carmichael -- Songwriter
• 1 -- Bruce Catton -- Historian
• 1 -- Hart Crane -- Poet
• 1 -- Duke Ellington -- Jazz musician
• 1 -- Ernest Hemmingway -- Novelist
• 1 -- William C. Menninger -- Psychologist

Famous Americans Who Were Born Between 1900 and 1910

Name (Remembered As) Year Born

• Louis Armstrong (musician) 1900
• Adlai Stevenson (statesman) 1900
• Chester Gould (cartoonist) 1900
• Gary Cooper (actor) 1901
• George Gallup (poll taker) 1901
• Margaret Mead (anthropologist) 1901
• Richard J. Daley (mayor of Chicago) 1902
• Langston Hughes (poet) 1902
• Charles A. Lindbergh (aviator) 1902
• Ogden Nash (poet) 1902
• Tallulah Bankhead (actress) 1903
• George Orwell (novelist) 1903
• Benjamin Spock (author and pediatrician) 1903
• Bing Crosby (singer actor) 1904
• Count Basie (bandleader) 1904
• Lillian Hellman (playwright)1905
• Howard Hughes (industrialist and film producer) 1905
• Ayn Rand (novelist) 1905
• Josephine Baker (dancer) 1906
• Margaret Bourke-White (photographer) 1906
• John Carradine (actor) 1906
• Anne Morrow Lindbergh(writer and aviation pioneer) 1906
• Milton Caniff (cartoonist) 1907
• Rachel Carson (biologist and author) 1907
• John Wayne (actor) 1907
• Lou Costello (actor) 1908
• Bette Davis (actress) 1908
• John Kenneth Galbraith (economist) 1908
• Al Capp (cartoonist) 1909
• 'Herblock' Herbert Block (political cartoonist) 1909
• Eudora Welty(writer) 1909
• Barry Goldwater (legislator) 1909