History · Inventions and firsts
Notable Ohioans
453 people with Ohio roots, from presidents and inventors to astronauts, athletes and abolitionists, each tied to the towns and counties where they were born, lived and worked, with sources.
- Aaron Burt Champion1842-1895Aaron Champion, a Cincinnati lawyer born in Columbus, was president of the Cincinnati Base...
- Agnes Thomas Morris1865-1949Born in London, Ohio, to Welsh-born parents, she overcame hearing loss to become an author...
- Alan Freed1921-1965Born in Windber, Pennsylvania and raised in Salem, Ohio. His Cleveland WJW radio show from...
- Albert A. Michelson1852-1931Prussian-born physicist; with Edward Morley he ran the 1887 null-result ether experiment i...
Albert B. Sabin1906-1993Virologist who developed the live, oral polio vaccine during 30 years at Cincinnati Childr...
Alene Duerk1920-2018Born in Defiance, she trained as a nurse in Toledo and became a Navy nurse. In 1972 she be...- Alexander Bonner Latta1821-1865Alexander B. Latta was a Cincinnati machinist and locomotive builder. With Miles Greenwood...
- Alexander Winton1860-1932Scottish-born Cleveland automaker who, on March 24, 1898, sold an automobile to Robert All...
Ambrose Bierce1842-c. 1914Meigs County-born satirist, journalist and short-story writer, author of The Devil's Dicti...- Ambrose Swasey1846-1937New Hampshire-born machinist and co-founder of Warner & Swasey, which moved to Cleveland i...
Amos Ives Root1839-1923Born in Medina, Root began as a jeweler, took up beekeeping, and in 1869 founded a company...
Anna Harrison1775-1864North Bend pioneer's daughter and wife of William Henry Harrison who was first lady for on...- Anna Julia Cooper1858-1964Born enslaved in Raleigh, North Carolina, Cooper earned a B.A. (1884) and M.A. in mathemat...
- Anne Bailey1742-1825Anne Trotter Hennis Bailey, born in England about 1742, became a famed frontier scout and ...
Annie Oakley1860-1926Darke County sharpshooter who became the star attraction of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.
Anthony Wayne1745-1796Pennsylvania-born general who led the Legion of the United States to victory at Fallen Tim...
Archibald Willard1836-1918Painter of The Spirit of '76, born Bedford.
Archie Griffin1954-Columbus-born Ohio State tailback who is the only player to win the Heisman Trophy twice (...- Arlie W. Schorger1884-1972Arlie William Schorger was born in Republic, Seneca County. A chemist who held 34 patents,...
Art Tatum1909-1956Toledo-born jazz pianist, nearly blind from infancy, whose speed, harmony and invention ma...- Arthur Ernest Morgan1878-1975Arthur E. Morgan was born in Hamilton County and became chief engineer of the Miami Conser...
- Arthur G. SpanglerSpangler founded the Spangler Manufacturing Company in Bryan on August 20, 1906. The firm,...
Arthur St. Clair1737-1818First governor of the Northwest Territory (1788-1802), who named Cincinnati and led the ar...- Asa Long1904-1999Born in Antwerp, Ohio, Long won the U.S. checkers title at 18 and again in 1980, making hi...
Ban Johnson1864-1931Born in Norwalk, Johnson founded the American League and was its first president from 1901...- Barney Oldfield1878-1946Born near Wauseon in Fulton County and raised in Toledo, Oldfield became America's first c...
Belle Harpster Hartness1867-1957Born in Cairo, Allen County, she worked as a stenographer and secretary, lectured in Lima,...- Benjamin F. Bowles1869-1928Born in Pike County, Bowles became a Black educator, principal of Lincoln High School in E...
- Benjamin Goodrich1841-1888New York-born physician and industrialist who moved his rubber business to Akron, Ohio in ...
Benjamin Harrison1833-1901Twenty-third president, grandson of William Henry Harrison, born at North Bend and educate...
Benjamin Wade1800-1878Jefferson lawyer and Radical Republican senator from Ohio (1851-1869) who co-wrote the Wad...- Bernard Kroger1860-1938Cincinnati-born grocer who opened a single store at 66 Pearl Street in 1883 with $372 and ...
- Bertha Lamme1869-1943Clark County native who graduated from Ohio State in 1893 with a mechanical engineering de...
- Betsey Mix Cowles1810-1876Born in Bristol, Connecticut; her family settled in Austinburg, Ashtabula County, in 1811....
Bevo Francis1932-2015Clarence "Bevo" Francis played for tiny Rio Grande College in Gallia County and became one...- Bill Willis1921-2007Raised in Columbus, Willis played at Ohio State (1942-44) and for the Cleveland Browns fro...
- Black Hoof (Catecahassa)1740-1831Head civil chief of the Mekoche Shawnee, a former warrior who turned to accommodation and ...
Blue Jacket (Weyapiersenwah)c. 1743-c. 1810Shawnee war leader who, with the Miami leader Little Turtle, led the Native confederacy th...
Bob Evans1918-2007Gallipolis restaurant owner who began making his own sausage on his Gallia County farm in ...- Bob Feller1918-2010Iowa-born pitcher who spent his entire 18-season career (1936-56) with the Cleveland India...
Bob Hope1903-2003English-born comedian raised in Cleveland's Doan's Corners who rose through Ohio vaudevill...
Bootsy Collins1951-Cincinnati-born funk bassist who learned his trade as a teenager at King Records, played i...
Branch Rickey1881-1965Scioto County farm boy and Ohio Wesleyan graduate who built baseball's farm system with th...
Brand Whitlock1869-1934Born in Urbana, Ohio, Whitlock succeeded Samuel Jones's reform tradition as Toledo mayor 1...- Calvin L. Noble1813-1889A printer and pioneer official who is credited with founding the Cleveland Advertiser, the...
Capell L. Weems1860-1913Capell Lane Weems was born at Whigville and began his law career in Caldwell. He was Noble...
Captain Pipe (Hopocan)c. 1725-c. 1818Lenape (Delaware) leader of the Wolf clan who signed the 1778 Treaty of Fort Pitt, turned ...
Carl B. Stokes1927-1996Elected mayor of Cleveland in November 1967, one of the first two African Americans electe...
Carl E. Walz1955-Cleveland-born Air Force flight test engineer and physicist who flew four missions, includ...
Caroline Harrison1832-1892Oxford-born music teacher and china painter who was first lady from 1889 to 1892, renovate...- Catherine Chisholm Cushing1874-1952Catherine Chisholm Cushing was born in Mount Perry, Perry County. She wrote Broadway plays...
Charles Bassett1931-1966Dayton-born Air Force test pilot and Gemini 9 crewman who was killed with Elliot See in a ...- Charles Burchfield1893-1967Born Ashtabula Harbor, watercolorist raised in Salem.
- Charles E. Taylor1868-1956Mechanic who built the engine for the 1903 Wright Flyer in about six weeks at the Dayton b...
Charles F. Brush1849-1929Cleveland inventor of a practical dynamo and self-regulating series arc lamp, who lit Publ...
Charles F. Kettering1876-1958Dayton inventor of the electric automobile self-starter, co-founder of Delco, and head of ...
Charles Foster1828-1904Charles William Foster Jr. was born near Tiffin and grew up in Rome, a town that became Fo...
Charles Frohman1856-1915Born in Sandusky, Frohman became one of the most powerful theater producers in the world. ...
Charles G. Dawes1865-1951Marietta-born banker who drew up the 1924 Dawes Plan for German reparations, shared the 19...- Charles Grandison Finney1792-1875Born in Warren, Connecticut, Finney was a leading revivalist who joined Oberlin in 1835 as...
- Charles Henry Langston1817-1892Born in Louisa County, Virginia, brother of John Mercer Langston. He attended Oberlin and ...
Charles Martin Hall1863-1914In 1886, in a woodshed behind his family's Oberlin home, discovered a cheap electrolytic p...
Charles W. Chesnutt1858-1932Cleveland-born author of The Conjure Woman and The Marrow of Tradition, the first Black Am...
Charles W. Fairbanks1852-1918Born in a log cabin near Unionville Center, Fairbanks graduated from Ohio Wesleyan, built ...- Charles Young1864-1922Born into slavery in Mays Lick, Kentucky, he grew up in Ripley, Ohio, graduated from West ...
Chic Harley1895-1974Columbus East High and Ohio State halfback, Ohio State's first All-American (1916, 1917, 1...
Chief Loganc. 1723-1780Cayuga-born war leader among the Ohio Mingo whose family was killed at Yellow Creek in 177...
Chrissie Hynde1951-Akron-born singer, guitarist and songwriter who founded the Pretenders in London in 1978 a...- Clara Green Carl1876-1962Born in Ward Township, Hocking County, Carl was a newspaper writer in Cleveland who was co...
- Clarence A. Crane-1931Clarence Crane, from Garrettsville, ran a chocolate business in Cleveland and introduced '...
Clarence Darrow1857-1938Kinsman-raised lawyer who began practice in Andover and Ashtabula and became America's bes...
Clark Gable1901-1960Cadiz-born, Hopedale-raised film star who won the 1934 Best Actor Oscar for It Happened On...- Clement Vallandigham1820-1871Born in New Lisbon (now Lisbon), Ohio; Dayton lawyer and Copperhead leader. Sent through U...
Clyde Tingley1881-1960Born on a farm near London, Ohio, Tingley moved to New Mexico in 1910 for his wife's healt...
Cornstalk (Hokoleskwa)1720-1777Shawnee war leader of the Mekoche division whose town stood on the Pickaway Plains; he led...- Cowboy Copas1913-1963Born Lloyd Copas in Blue Creek, Adams County, he became a Grand Ole Opry singer with hits ...
- Curtis LeMay1906-1990Born in Columbus, Ohio, he studied civil engineering at Ohio State, commanded the Strategi...
Cy Young1867-1955Tuscarawas County farm boy who won 511 major league games, the most of any pitcher, and wh...- Cyrus S. Eaton1883-1979Nova Scotia-born financier who came to Cleveland to work for East Ohio Gas, settled there ...
- Dan Emmett1815-1904Born and died in Mount Vernon, Knox County. Founder of the Virginia Minstrels (first show ...
- Daniel Drake1785-1852New Jersey-born physician who became Cincinnati's leading medical figure. He organized the...
Daniel McCook Jr.1834-1864Born in Carrollton, McCook was one of the 'Fighting McCooks'. A lawyer who had practiced w...- Daniel Payne1811-1893Born free in Charleston, South Carolina, Payne became the sixth AME bishop (1852). He help...
Dave Thomas1932-2002Founder of Wendy's, which he opened at 257 East Broad Street in downtown Columbus on 15 No...
David Zeisberger1721-1808Moravian missionary who worked among the Lenape for about 62 years and founded Schoenbrunn...
Dawn Powell1896-1965Born in Mount Gilead, Powell wrote twelve novels, ten plays and hundreds of stories, mostl...- Dayton C. Miller1866-1941Physicist at Case School of Applied Science (department head 1893-1936), early X-ray exper...
Dean Martin1917-1995Steubenville-born crooner, comic partner of Jerry Lewis, Rat Pack member and television ho...
Dennis D. Donovan1859-1941Born near Texas, Ohio, Donovan served as postmaster and mayor of Deshler, in the Ohio Hous...
Dominick Labino1910-1987Dominick Labino was an engineer who helped start the American studio glass movement. He bu...- Don Gentile1920-1951Piqua-born fighter pilot of the 4th Fighter Group, Eighth Air Force, credited with 19.83 a...
- Don Miller1902-1979Born in Defiance, Don 'Midnight' Miller was the halfback of Notre Dame's famous Four Horse...
Don Shula1930-2020Lake County native, Painesville Harvey and John Carroll graduate and Cleveland Browns defe...
Donald A. Thomas1955-Cleveland-born materials scientist who was turned down by NASA three times before flying f...
Donn F. Eisele1930-1987Columbus-born Air Force test pilot who was command module pilot of Apollo 7 in October 196...
Doris Day1922-2019Cincinnati-born big-band singer and film star of Calamity Jane, The Man Who Knew Too Much ...
Dorothy Dandridge1922-1965Cleveland-born singer and actress who in 1955 became the first African American nominated ...- Dorothy Fuldheim1893-1989Born in Passaic, New Jersey; Cleveland lecturer and radio commentator who joined WEWS-TV i...
- Dorothy Gish1898-1968Younger sister of Lillian Gish, born in Dayton; known as a comedian of silent films, with ...
- E. W. Scripps1854-1926Illinois-born newspaper publisher who founded the Cleveland Penny Press (later the Clevela...
- Earl Wilson1907-1987Earl Wilson was born in Rockford, Mercer County. His syndicated New York Post column It Ha...
- Ebenezer Zane1747-1811Virginian who in 1796-97 blazed Zane's Trace, the first major road across Ohio, from Wheel...
Edmund G. Ross1826-1907Born in Ashland, Ohio, Ross became a Kansas senator whose 1868 vote against convicting Pre...- Edward A. Deeds1874-1960Born in Granville, Ohio, Deeds co-founded Delco with Kettering in 1909, led National Cash ...
- Edward Drummond Libbey1854-1925Massachusetts-born glassmaker who moved his glass company to Toledo in August 1888 and bec...
Edward S. Godfrey1843-1932Born in Ottawa, Ohio, Godfrey served in the 7th Cavalry, survived the Battle of the Little...
Edward Tiffin1766-1829Chillicothe physician and Methodist preacher who presided over the 1802 constitutional con...- Edward V. Rickenbacker1890-1973Columbus-born racing driver and the top US ace of World War I with 26 confirmed aerial vic...
Edward W. Morley1838-1923Western Reserve chemistry professor who, with Albert Michelson, ran the 1887 ether-drift e...
Edwin Moses1955-Dayton-born physics student who won Olympic 400-metre hurdles gold in 1976 and 1984, went ...
Edwin Stanton1814-1869Steubenville lawyer who became Lincoln's Secretary of War from 1862 to 1868 and whose firi...- Eleazer D. Wood1783-1814Eleazer Derby Wood was the Army engineer who designed and helped build Fort Meigs on the M...
Eli Harvey1860-1957Eli Harvey was born in the Quaker community of Ogden in Clinton County and became a leadin...
Elijah Pierce1892-1984Columbus barber, Baptist preacher and woodcarver whose painted relief carvings, made for d...
Elisha Gray1835-1901Barnesville-born, Oberlin-trained electrician who co-founded the firm that became Western ...- Eliza Jane Thompson1816-1905Born in Hillsboro, daughter of Governor Allen Trimble, 'Mother Thompson' led women in salo...
Elizabeth Hartman1943-1987Born in Youngstown, Hartman earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actress at 23 for her debu...- Elmer A. Sperry1860-1930Inventor born in Cincinnatus, New York, who founded the Sperry Electric Railway Company in...
- Elmer Flick1876-1971Bedford-born outfielder who played for Philadelphia and Cleveland. He won the 1905 America...
- Elmo Stoll1944-1998Stoll spent part of his childhood in Piketon, Ohio. He became an Amish bishop in 1984, the...
- Emerson Burkhart1905-1969Born on a farm in Union Township near Kalida, Burkhart taught at the Ohio School of Art in...
- Emma P. Carr1880-1972Emma Perry Carr was born in Holmesville, Holmes County. At Mount Holyoke College she led t...
Ephraim R. Eckley1811-1908A Carrollton lawyer who served in both houses of the Ohio legislature and three terms in t...- Erie J. Sauder1904-1997Born in Archbold, Sauder began with woodworking in a barn in 1934, invented a knock-down t...
Erma Bombeck1927-1996Dayton-raised humorist whose syndicated column "At Wit's End," begun in the Dayton Journal...
Ermal Cleon 'Ernie' Fraze1913-1989Dayton tool-and-die maker whose integral-rivet pull tab, licensed through Alcoa and first ...
F. A. Seiberling1859-1955Akron industrialist who bought an empty strawboard factory in 1898 and with his brother Ch...- Ferdinand Schumacher1822-1908German-born miller who settled in Akron in 1851 and became known as the Oatmeal King for s...
Florence E. Allen1884-1966Cleveland suffragist and lawyer who in 1922 became the first woman on a state supreme cour...
Florence Harding1860-1924Marion banker's daughter who ran the business side of the Marion Star, steered Warren G. H...
Frances Dana Gage1808-1884McConnelsville reformer who presided over the 1851 Akron women's rights convention and in ...Frances Horwich1907-2001Born in Ottawa, Ohio, Horwich became 'Miss Frances' on Ding Dong School, a preschool telev...
- Frank D. Stranahan1876-1965Frank D. Stranahan and his brother Robert co-founded the Champion Spark Plug Company, whic...
- Frank Emory Bunts1861-1928Frank Bunts was a Cleveland surgeon who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy (1881) and W...
- Frank Herzegh1907-1989Frank Herzegh, born in Cleveland, earned a physics degree at Case in 1930 and spent 42 yea...
Frank J. Lausche1895-1990Born in Cleveland to Slovenian immigrants, Lausche was mayor of Cleveland (1942-44), gover...- Franklin Mason Sones Jr.1918-1985Mason Sones joined the Cleveland Clinic in 1950 and led its cardiovascular disease departm...
- Fred Baker1854-1938Born in Norwalk, Baker was a San Diego physician and shell collector who helped found the ...
- Fred Lazarus Jr.1884-1973Columbus-born head of F. & R. Lazarus & Co. and founder (1929) of Federated Department Sto...
- Fred Machetanz1908-2002Born in Kenton, Machetanz became one of Alaska's best-loved painters, known for luminous A...
- Frederick Gridley Kilgour1914-2006Fred Kilgour led the Ohio College Library Center (OCLC) from 1967 to 1980, building the sh...
Frederick S. Dellenbaugh1853-1935Born in McConnelsville, Dellenbaugh went down the Colorado River at 17 as artist and assis...- Gamaliel Bailey1807-1859Born in Mount Holly, New Jersey, Bailey moved to Cincinnati in 1831 to practice medicine, ...
Garrett A. Morgan1877-1963Cleveland inventor of the safety hood breathing device and a patented three-position traff...- Gene Sharp1928-2018Gene Sharp was born in North Baltimore, Wood County. He became the best-known scholar of n...
George Armstrong Custer1839-1876Harrison County-born Union cavalry general killed with five companies of the 7th Cavalry a...
George Bellows1882-1925Columbus-born realist painter and lithographer of the Ashcan School, best known for boxing...
George Crook1828-1890Montgomery County farm boy who commanded the 36th Ohio and the Kanawha Division in the Civ...- George Kennan1845-1924Born in Norwalk, Kennan surveyed a telegraph route across Siberia as a young man, then wro...
- George W. Crile1864-1943Surgeon born in Chili, Ohio, credited as first to succeed in a direct blood transfusion (1...
- George Wells Bartholomew Jr.1848-1933George Bartholomew, born in Bristol, Connecticut, moved to Logan County in 1886 and founde...
Gilbert S. Carpenter1836-1904Born in Medina, Carpenter fought in the Civil War with the 18th Ohio Infantry and stayed i...
Glenn Presnell1905-2004A Nebraska-born halfback who played and taught science in Ironton in 1929-30 as player-coa...
Gloria Steinem1934-2026Toledo-born journalist and co-founder of Ms. magazine who for six decades was the best-kno...
Granville T. Woods1856-1910Columbus-born electrical engineer who, working in Cincinnati, patented the Synchronous Mul...
Gregory J. Harbaugh1956-Willoughby-raised engineer and astronaut who flew four shuttle missions from 1991 to 1997,...
Halle Berry1966-Cleveland-born actress, Miss Ohio USA 1986 and, in 2002, the first African American woman ...
Hallie Quinn Brown1850-1949Wilberforce-trained elocutionist, teacher and clubwoman who lectured for temperance, women...- Harley Procter1847-1920Son of William Procter who joined the family firm in 1868 and as its marketer named White ...
- Harold Hitz Burton1888-1964Born in Massachusetts, Burton was Cleveland mayor (1936-40), U.S. senator (1941-45) and Su...
Harriet Beecher Stowe1811-1896Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), much of whose material came from her eighteen years in...
Harriet Taylor Upton1853-1945Born in Ravenna, raised in Warren, Upton was NAWSA treasurer 1894-1910, moved its headquar...- Harrison Dillard1923-2019Cleveland-born sprinter and hurdler, the only man to win Olympic gold in both the 100 m an...
- Harry David Lee1849-1928Born in Vermont, Lee came to Galion at 17 and made a first fortune in a local oil refinery...
Harry L. Martin1911-1945A Bucyrus native and Marine officer who was killed on Iwo Jima on March 26, 1945, and rece...
Harry M. Daugherty1860-1941A Washington Court House lawyer and Ohio Republican organizer who managed Warren G. Hardin...- Harry Wright1835-1895English-born manager of the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first fully professional ba...
- Hart Crane1899-1932Modernist poet born in Garrettsville and raised in Cleveland, author of White Buildings (1...
- Harvey Cushing1869-1939Cleveland-born neurosurgeon, called the father of modern neurosurgery, who described Cushi...
Harvey S. Firestone1868-1938Founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in Akron in 1900 and made it one of the larg...
Helen Herron Taft1861-1943Cincinnati lawyer's daughter who steered William Howard Taft toward the presidency, founde...- Henry Howe1816-1893Connecticut-born historian whose three-volume Historical Collections of Ohio (completed 18...
- Henry J. Heimlich1920-2016Thoracic surgeon born in Wilmington, Delaware, who published the abdominal-thrust choking ...
Henry Mancini1924-1994Cleveland-born composer of the Peter Gunn and Pink Panther themes and of 'Moon River', win...- Henry Perky1843-1906Henry Drushel Perky was born in Salt Creek Township, Holmes County. A lawyer and vegetaria...
- Henry Sherwin1842-1916Vermont-born paint merchant who came to Cleveland in 1860 and, with Edward Williams and Al...
Henry Timken1831-1909St. Louis carriage maker who, with his nephew Reginald Heinzelman, patented a tapered roll...- Herbert H. Dow1866-1930Canadian-born chemist who graduated from Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland in 18...
- Herman Schneider1872-1939Herman Schneider created cooperative education at the University of Cincinnati in 1906, th...
- Homer Rodeheaver1880-1955Born in Hocking County, Rodeheaver led the singing for evangelist Billy Sunday for twenty ...
- Homer St. Clair Pace1879-1942Homer Pace was a native of Rehoboth, Perry County, who became a leading New York accountan...
- Horace Mann1796-1859Massachusetts education reformer who became the first president of Antioch College in Yell...
Horace P. Biddle1811-1900Born on the frontier in Hocking County, Biddle read law with a start from Thomas Ewing, th...- Howard Chandler Christy1872-1952Born Morgan County.
Howard Taylor Ricketts1871-1910Born in Findlay, Ricketts showed that the Rocky Mountain wood tick carries Rocky Mountain ...Hugh Downs1921-2020Born in Akron, Downs went to Lima Shawnee High School and began his radio career at Lima's...
Hugh L. Nichols1865-1942Born in New Richmond and schooled in Batavia, Nichols became a Cincinnati lawyer, Lieutena...
Ida Saxton McKinley1847-1907Canton banker's daughter, bank cashier and wife of William McKinley who was first lady of ...
Isham Jones1894-1956Isham Jones was born in Coalton, Jackson County. He led one of the most popular dance band...
J. Edward Russell1867-1953A Sidney lawyer born and buried in Sidney. He was city solicitor, an Ohio state senator an...- J. M. Smucker1858-1948Wayne County farmer and cider-mill operator who founded The J.M. Smucker Company in Orrvil...
Jack Nicklaus1940-Columbus-born golfer who won 18 professional major championships and built Muirfield Villa...
Jacob Parrott1843-1908Parrott, a Union soldier born in Fairfield County, was one of Andrews' Raiders, who seized...
James A. Campbell1854-1933Born at Ohltown, Campbell led the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company as its president and c...
James A. Garfield1831-1881Twentieth president, born in a Cuyahoga County log cabin, who ran the first successful fro...
James A. Lovell1928-2025Cleveland-born astronaut who flew Gemini 7, Gemini 12 and Apollo 8, and commanded Apollo 1...
James B. McPherson1828-1864Clyde-born Union general, first in West Point's class of 1853, who commanded the Army of t...- James F. Lincoln1883-1965Painesville-area-born brother of John C. Lincoln who joined Lincoln Electric in 1907, beca...
- James Floyd Smith1884-1956Floyd Smith, a former trapeze artist and aviator from Illinois, joined the Army's parachut...
James Gamble1803-1891Irish-born Cincinnati soapmaker who in 1837 went into partnership with his brother-in-law,...- James HogeJames Hoge was a Cleveland engineer who adapted railroad red/green signals and trolley-lin...
- James J. Gibson1904-1979Born in McConnelsville, Gibson reshaped the study of perception. He argued that we perceiv...
- James M. Cox1870-1957Born in Jacksonburg (Butler County), Cox was a Dayton newspaper publisher, congressman, go...
James M. Tuttle1823-1892James Madison Tuttle was born near Summerfield in what is now Noble County. He moved to Io...
James McHenry Jones1859-1909Born in Gallipolis, Jones graduated from Pomeroy High School in 1882 as its first Black gr...- James Murray Spangler1848-1915Canton department-store janitor who built an electric suction sweeper from a fan motor, so...
- James Norris Gamble1836-1932James Norris Gamble, son of Procter & Gamble co-founder James Gamble, was the company chem...
- James Riley1777-1840A Connecticut sea captain who was shipwrecked off Morocco in 1815 and enslaved in the Saha...
James Ritty1836-1918Dayton saloon keeper who, with his brother John, patented a mechanical 'cash register and ...
James Thurber1894-1961Columbus-born humorist and New Yorker cartoonist whose comic memoir My Life and Hard Times...- James Ward Packard1863-1928Warren, Ohio-born engineer who, with his brother William, founded Packard Electric (1890) ...
- James Wright1927-1980Martins Ferry poet.
Jane Edna Hunter1882-1971South Carolina-born nurse and lawyer who in 1911 founded Cleveland's Phillis Wheatley Asso...
Jay Cooke1821-1905Born in Sandusky, Cooke became America's first major investment banker. He sold the Union ...- Jerrie Mock1925-2014Newark-born pilot who became the first woman to fly solo around the world, in a Cessna 180...
Jerry Lucas1940-Middletown and Ohio State basketball star who won state, NCAA, Olympic and NBA titles and ...
Jesse B. Jackson1871-1947Born in Paulding, Jackson was the U.S. consul at Aleppo during the Armenian genocide. His ...
Jesse Owens1913-1980Cleveland-raised Ohio State sprinter and long jumper who won four gold medals at the 1936 ...- Jim Rhodes1909-2001James Allen Rhodes was born in Coalton, Jackson County. He was mayor of Columbus, state au...
Jim Thorpe1887-1953Sac and Fox Olympic champion whose Canton Bulldogs years (1915-1920) made Canton the cradl...- Jim Tully1886-1947Writer born near St. Marys, Ohio, who spent six years in a Cincinnati orphanage after his ...
- John A. Roebling1806-1869Prussian-born engineer and wire-rope maker who designed the Cincinnati-Covington Suspensio...
- John Anthony Copeland Jr.1834-1859Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, Copeland's family moved to Oberlin in 1843. He studied in...
John Brown1800-1859Abolitionist raised in Hudson, Summit County, who worked as a tanner and wool grower in Hu...- John C. Lincoln1866-1959Painesville-born engineer who founded Lincoln Electric in Cleveland in 1895 to build his o...
- John C. Willke1925-2015John Charles Willke was born in Maria Stein, Mercer County, and practiced medicine in Cinc...
- John Campbell1808-1891An ironmaster who built several iron furnaces in the Hanging Rock region and helped found ...
John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed)1774-1845Itinerant nurseryman and Swedenborgian missionary who planted apple-seedling nurseries acr...- John Cleves Symmes1742-1814New Jersey judge who bought the Miami Purchase and settled North Bend in 1788. His daughte...
John D. Rockefeller1839-1937Founded Standard Oil in Cleveland in 1870 and built it into the dominant American oil comp...
John Glenn1921-2016First American to orbit the Earth (Friendship 7, 1962) and a four-term U.S. senator from O...- John Gray1764-1868John Gray was born in Virginia and lived his last years in Noble County, Ohio. At his deat...
John H. Patterson1844-1922Built the National Cash Register Company in Dayton, pioneered modern sales training and we...
John Havlicek1940-2019Belmont County three-sport star and Ohio State 1960 national champion who won eight NBA ti...- John Heckewelder1743-1823Moravian missionary born in Bedford, England, who assisted David Zeisberger in Ohio from 1...
- John Jackson Cozad1830-1906Born near Allensville in Vinton County, Cozad worked on riverboats, dealt cards, joined th...
John Legend1978-Springfield-born singer, songwriter and pianist of 'Ordinary People' and 'All of Me', and ...
John M. Pattison1847-1906Born near Owensville, Pattison was the 43rd Governor of Ohio. He took office in January 19...
John Mercer Langston1829-1897Oberlin-trained lawyer who in 1855 was elected clerk of Brownhelm Township, Lorain County,...
John P. Parker1827-1900Formerly enslaved iron founder in Ripley who crossed into Kentucky again and again to lead...- John Phillips1879-1929Born in Welland, Ontario, John Phillips came to Cleveland as an intern in 1903-05 and join...
John Quincy Adams Ward1830-1910J. Q. A. Ward was born in Urbana and became one of the most important American sculptors o...- John Quinn1870-1924John Quinn was born in Tiffin and raised in Fostoria. As a New York lawyer he became a maj...
John Rankin1793-1886Presbyterian minister whose hilltop house above Ripley was one of the busiest Underground ...- John Ritty1834-1913John Ritty was a skilled mechanic in Dayton who worked with his brother James Ritty to bui...
John Roseboro1933-2002Born in Ashland, Roseboro caught for the Dodgers in three World Series wins, made six All-...
John Sherman1823-1900Mansfield lawyer who spent nearly 32 years as an Ohio senator, served as Treasury secretar...- John W. Bricker1893-1986Born in Mount Sterling, Ohio. Ohio attorney general (1933-1937), 54th governor (1939-1945)...
- John Wesley Powell1834-1902Geologist and explorer born in Mount Morris, New York, whose family moved to Jackson, Ohio...
Jonathan Winters1925-2013Dayton-born improvisational comedian of Maude Frickert and Elwood P. Suggins, who began on...- Joseph S. McVickerJoseph McVicker joined his family's Kutol Products in Cincinnati in the 1950s to rescue it...
- Josephine Cochrane1839-1913Inventor born in Ashtabula County, Ohio, who patented the first successful hand-powered di...
- Josephine R. Hilgard1906-1989Born in Napoleon, she became a child psychologist and psychiatrist at Stanford. She descri...
Joshua Reed Giddings1795-1864Jefferson lawyer who represented the Western Reserve in Congress from 1838 to 1859 as its ...
Judith Resnik1949-1986Akron-born electrical engineer who became the second American woman in space (1984) and di...
Karl Gordon Henize1926-1993Cincinnati-born astronomer who catalogued hundreds of emission-line stars and nebulae in t...
Katharine Wright1874-1929Dayton Latin teacher, Oberlin trustee and suffragist who was the indispensable partner of ...
Kenesaw Mountain Landis1866-1944Butler County-born federal judge who fined Standard Oil $29 million in 1907 and, as baseba...
Kenneth D. Cameron1949-Cleveland-born Marine Corps test pilot and Vietnam veteran who piloted STS-37 (1991) and c...
Kid Elberfeld1875-1944Born in Pomeroy, shortstop Norman 'Kid' Elberfeld played in the majors from 1898 to 1914, ...
Langston Hughes1901-1967Harlem Renaissance poet, playwright and novelist who began writing at Cleveland's Central ...
Lawrence Eugene 'Larry' Doby1923-2003Center fielder whom Bill Veeck's Cleveland Indians brought from the Newark Eagles in July ...
Leatherlipsc. 1732-1810Wyandot leader and signer of the Treaty of Greenville who was executed on the Scioto north...
LeBron James1984-Akron-born basketball player who went straight from St. Vincent-St. Mary High School to th...- Lelia N. Morris1862-1929Born in Pennsville, Morgan County, Morris ran a millinery shop in McConnelsville and wrote...
- Lemuel H. Murlin1861-1935Lemuel Herbert Murlin was born in Neptune, Mercer County. He was president of three univer...
- Leslie Leroy Irvin1895-1966Leslie Irvin, a Los Angeles-born stuntman, made the first planned free-fall jump with a ma...
Levi Coffin1798-1877Quaker merchant, called the 'President of the Underground Railroad', who ran Cincinnati's ...
Lewis Sheridan Leary1835-1859Born free in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Leary moved to Oberlin in 1857 where he worked ...
Lillian Gish1893-1993Springfield-born star of D. W. Griffith's silent films, whose screen and stage career ran ...
Lillian Wald1867-1940Cincinnati-born nurse who founded New York's Henry Street Settlement and visiting nurse se...
Little Turtle (Michikiniqua)c. 1747-1812Miami war leader who, with the Shawnee Blue Jacket, destroyed Arthur St. Clair's army at p...- Logan (Tahgahjute)1725-1780Mingo leader, son of Shickellamy, whose 1774 words after the Yellow Creek killings of his ...
- Lois Lenski1893-1974Springfield-born author and illustrator who grew up in Anna, Ohio, graduated from Ohio Sta...
- Lorenzo L. Langstroth1810-1895Philadelphia-born clergyman and beekeeper who patented the first movable-frame beehive in ...
- Lou Groza1924-2000Born in Martins Ferry, Groza was a tackle and placekicker for the Cleveland Browns for 21 ...
Louis Bromfield1896-1956Mansfield-born Pulitzer Prize novelist who came home to rebuild worn-out farmland at Malab...- Louis Stokes1925-2015Born in Cleveland, Stokes argued Terry v. Ohio before the Supreme Court in 1968 and was el...
- Lucas Sullivant1765-1823Surveyor who laid out Franklinton in August 1797, the settlement across the Scioto from wh...
Lucien Lucius Nunn1853-1925Born in Medina, Nunn went west to Telluride, Colorado, where he worked with George Westing...
Lucretia Garfield1832-1918Portage County farm girl and Hiram-trained teacher who was first lady for 200 days in 1881...
Lucy Stone1818-1893Abolitionist and suffrage orator who graduated from Oberlin College in 1847, the first Mas...
Lucy Webb Hayes1831-1889Chillicothe-born first lady (1877-1881), the first president's wife with a college degree,...
Luther McCarty1892-1913A heavyweight boxer billed as the white champion, McCarty grew up in Piqua and lived in Si...- Lyman Beecher1775-1863Born in New Haven, Beecher was president of Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati from 1...
Mamie Smith1891-1946Cincinnati-born vaudeville singer whose 1920 Okeh recordings, above all 'Crazy Blues', wer...- Manasseh Cutler1742-1823Massachusetts clergyman who helped form the Ohio Company of Associates in 1786 and influen...
- Marcus A. Hanna1837-1904New Lisbon, Ohio-born Cleveland coal and iron merchant whose firm became M.A. Hanna Co. (1...
- Margaret Garner1833-1858Born enslaved in Boone County, Kentucky (Maplewood plantation, Gaines family). She fled ac...
- Maria Longworth Nichols Storer1849-1932Cincinnati arts patron who founded Rookwood Pottery in 1880 and won a gold medal at the 18...
Marilyn Miller1898-1936Born Mary Ellen Reynolds in Evansville, Indiana, she grew up in a family vaudeville act wi...- Marion Motley1920-1999Georgia-born fullback raised in Canton, where he starred at McKinley High School. He signe...
Marion Tinsley1927-1995Born in Ironton, Tinsley is widely called the greatest checkers player in history. He held...
Marjorie M. Whiteman1898-1986Born in Ohio and linked to Wauseon, Whiteman became an international law scholar at the St...
Mary Ann Bickerdyke1817-1901Knox County-born nurse and U.S. Sanitary Commission agent who ran field hospitals for Gran...
Mary Church Terrell1863-1954Born in Memphis, Terrell moved to Oberlin in 1875, graduated from Oberlin College (B.A. 18...
Mary Ellen Weber1962-Chemist and champion skydiver from Bedford Heights who flew on the 'All-Ohio' STS-70 shutt...- Mary Weddle1934-2021Born in Woodsfield, Weddle grew up on a farm with thirteen siblings and pitched for the Fo...
Mary Wood-Allen1841-1908Born in Delta, Ohio, Wood-Allen trained as a physician at the University of Michigan and b...- Maude Collins1894-1972After her husband, Vinton County's sheriff, was killed, Collins was appointed to finish hi...
- Max Ewing1903-1934Born in Pioneer, Ohio, Ewing was a pianist, writer, sculptor and photographer who became p...
Maya Lin1959-Athens-born designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which she won as a 21-year-old Yale...
Michael J. Foreman1957-Wadsworth-raised Navy test pilot who applied to NASA eight times, made five spacewalks on ...- Michael J. Owens1859-1923West Virginia-born glassblower who rose to supervisor at Libbey's Toledo plant and invente...
Michael T. Good1962-Air Force weapon systems officer from Broadview Heights who made four spacewalks on two sh...
Mike Schmidt1949-Dayton-born Ohio University shortstop who became the Philadelphia Phillies' Hall of Fame t...- Miles GreenwoodMiles Greenwood owned Cincinnati's Eagle Ironworks. After an 1852 fire destroyed it, he, A...
Mills Gardner1830-1910A Washington Court House lawyer who was county prosecutor, an Ohio state senator and repre...- Morrison Waite1816-1888Born in Lyme, Connecticut, Waite practiced law in Maumee and Toledo and served in the Ohio...
Moses Cleaveland1754-1806Connecticut Land Company agent whose 1796 survey party laid out the town at the mouth of t...
Moses Fleetwood Walker1856-1924Steubenville-raised Oberlin student who caught for the 1884 Toledo Blue Stockings, the fir...- Myron E. Scott1907-1998Myron Scott, a Dayton Daily News photographer, organized the first Dayton soap box race in...
Nancy J. Currie-Gregg1958-Troy-raised Army helicopter pilot and engineer who flew four space shuttle missions (1993-...- Nathan Evans1804-1879A Cambridge lawyer who was the town's mayor, Guernsey County prosecutor, a Whig member of ...
- Nathaniel Massie1763-1813Virginia-born surveyor who founded Manchester (1791) and platted Chillicothe (1796), and o...
Neil Armstrong1930-2012Commander of Apollo 11 and the first person to walk on the Moon, July 20, 1969.- Newton D. Baker1871-1937Born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, Baker was Cleveland mayor 1912-1915 and Woodrow Wilson...
- Nicholas Longworth1783-1863New Jersey-born lawyer, real-estate holder and winemaker who made Cincinnati a wine center...
Nikki Giovanni1943-2024Black Arts Movement poet of 'Nikki-Rosa' and Black Judgement who grew up in Lincoln Height...- Noah W. McVickerNoah McVicker created the original putty-like wallpaper cleaner at Kutol Products in Cinci...
Norton P. Chipman1834-1924Born in Milford Center, Chipman was a Union colonel who prosecuted Henry Wirz, the Anderso...
Ohio PlayersDayton funk band, formed in 1959 as the Ohio Untouchables, whose No. 1 hits 'Fire' (1975) ...- Oliver Hazard Perry1785-1819Rhode Island-born US Navy officer who won the Battle of Lake Erie on 1813-09-10 near Put-i...
- Ormsby M. Mitchel1810-1862Kentucky-born astronomer and educator who founded the Cincinnati Observatory (cornerstone ...
Orville Wright1871-1948Piloted the first controlled, powered, sustained airplane flight on December 17, 1903, and...
Oswald Bruce Cooper1879-1940Born in Mount Gilead, Cooper became a Chicago lettering artist and co-founded the design f...
Ottley R. Coulter1890-1976Ottley Russell Coulter was born in Parkman, Geauga County, and became a circus strongman, ...- Owen Brown1824-1889Born in Hudson, John Brown's son guarded arms at the Kennedy Farm during the Harpers Ferry...
Owen Skelton1886-1969Born in Edgerton, Skelton became a leading auto engineer. With Fred Zeder and Carl Breer, ...
Paul Brown1908-1991Football coach who built Massillon, Ohio State, the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Be...- Paul J. Flory1910-1985Polymer chemist born in Sterling, Illinois, who earned his PhD at Ohio State (1934) and wo...
Paul Laurence Dunbar1872-1906Dayton-born poet, novelist and lyricist who became one of the first African American write...
Paul Lauterbur1929-2007Born in Sidney, Lauterbur built a home lab as a teenager and became the chemist who showed...
Paul Newman1925-2008Shaker Heights-raised, Kenyon-educated film star of The Hustler, Hud and Butch Cassidy, ra...- Paul Robinson1898-1974Born in Kenton, Robinson drew the comic strip Etta Kett, which began in December 1925 and ...
- Paul W. Litchfield1875-1959Boston-born MIT chemical engineer who rose to president and chairman of Goodyear in Akron....
Pete Rose1941-2024Cincinnati-born Reds star who collected a record 4,256 major league hits, accepted permane...- Phil Donahue1935-2024Cleveland-born broadcaster who worked in Dayton at WHIO and launched The Phil Donahue Show...
Philip Sheridan1831-1888Union cavalry general raised in Somerset, Perry County, whose ride to rally his troops at ...
Phyllis Diller1917-2012Lima-born stand-up comedian who started at 37 in 1955 and became one of the first solo wom...- Potter Stewart1915-1985Born in Jackson, Michigan, Stewart grew up in Cincinnati, practiced law there, sat on the ...
- Powel Crosley Jr.1886-1961Cincinnati-born manufacturer who founded the Crosley Radio Corporation (1921), launched WL...
Preston B. Plumb1837-1891Born in Delaware County, Plumb came to Marysville at nine, learned the printing trade ther...
Purley Baker1858-1924Purley Albert Baker was born in Liberty Township, Jackson County. A Methodist minister, he...- Ralph E. Hay1891-1944Ralph Hay, a Canton car dealer, bought the Canton Bulldogs in 1918. On September 17, 1920 ...
- Ralph E. Hudson1843-1901Born in Napoleon, Hudson grew up in Philadelphia, served as a Union Army nurse, and later ...
Reid Hunt1870-1948Reid Hunt was born in Martinsville, Clinton County. He became a pharmacologist who studied...- René Gerónimo Favaloro1923-2000René Favaloro, born in La Plata, Argentina, worked at the Cleveland Clinic from 1962 to 19...
Richard A. Harrison1824-1904An English-born lawyer who practiced in London, Ohio, from 1846 to 1873, served in Congres...
Rita Dove1952-Akron-born poet whose Thomas and Beulah, about her grandparents' life in Akron, won the 19...- Robert A. StranahanRobert Stranahan, with his brother Frank, backed Albert Champion's spark plug company in B...
Robert A. Taft1889-1953Cincinnati lawyer and U.S. senator from Ohio (1939-1953), co-author of the Taft-Hartley Ac...
Robert B. Mitchell1823-1882A lawyer who served as mayor of Mount Gilead in 1855, then moved to Kansas, became a Union...
Robert F. Overmyer1936-1996Westlake-raised Marine test pilot who piloted STS-5, the first operational Space Shuttle f...- Robert H. Smith (Dr. Bob)1879-1950Vermont-born Akron surgeon who co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous with Bill Wilson; 10 June 1...
Robert Lucas1781-1853Ohio's 12th governor (1832-1836) built an estate called Friendly Grove near Piketon around...- Robert S. Duncanson-1872Black landscape painter in Cincinnati.
Roger Staubach1942-Cincinnati-born Purcell High quarterback who won the 1963 Heisman Trophy at Navy, served i...- Roger Troutman1951-1999Hamilton-born funk musician and producer who led the Dayton band Zapp with his brothers an...
Ronald M. Sega1952-Cleveland-born physicist and Air Force officer who flew on the first U.S.-Russian shuttle ...
Ronald Parise1951-2008Warren-born astronomer and ham radio operator who flew as a payload specialist on the Astr...- Roundhead (Stiahta)1760-1813Wyandot war leader, second to Tecumseh in the War of 1812, who captured Gen. James Winches...
- Roy J. Plunkett1910-1994Clark County-born, Ohio State-trained DuPont chemist who discovered polytetrafluoroethylen...
Roy Rogers1911-1998The 'King of the Cowboys': singing-cowboy film and television star with his horse Trigger,...
Ruby Dee1922-2014Cleveland-born, Harlem-raised actress of A Raisin in the Sun and Do the Right Thing, civil...
Rufus Putnam1738-1824Revolutionary War engineer who co-founded the Ohio Company of Associates and led the 48 me...- Russel Crouse1893-1966A Findlay native who became a Broadway librettist and playwright. With Howard Lindsay he w...
- Russell Colley1897-1996Russell Colley, born in Massachusetts, joined B.F. Goodrich in Akron in 1928. In 1934 he d...
- Russell Games Slayter1896-1964Games Slayter, born in Argos, Indiana, joined Owens-Illinois in Toledo in 1931 and in 1933...
- Ruth Lyons1905-1988Cincinnati-born radio and television host at WLW whose 50-50 Club (begun as The 50 Club) w...
Rutherford B. Hayes1822-1893Nineteenth president, three-time governor of Ohio, and the president whose Fremont estate ...- Sad Sam Jones1892-1966Born in 1892 in Ohio and a longtime Woodsfield resident, pitcher Sam Jones won 229 games i...
Salmon P. Chase1808-1873Cincinnati lawyer who defended freedom seekers and their helpers so often he was called th...
Sam Lucas1840-1916Born in Washington Court House, Lucas was among the first Black performers to move from mi...- Samuel M. Jones1846-1904Welsh-born industrialist (Acme Sucker Rod Co.) who as Toledo mayor from 1897 until his dea...
- Samuel Steward1909-1993Born in Woodsfield, Steward taught English, then became a tattoo artist in Chicago and lat...
Seabury Ford1801-1855Seabury Ford lived in Burton, Geauga County, and served as Ohio's 20th governor from 1849 ...
Sherwood Anderson1876-1941Novelist and short-story writer whose Winesburg, Ohio (1919), drawn from his boyhood in Cl...
Simon Kenton1755-1836Frontier scout who survived Shawnee captivity in the Mad River country in 1778, later sett...- Sojourner Truth1797-1883Born Isabella Baumfree (Bomefree) in Ulster County, New York, c. 1797, she spoke at the Oh...
- Stanley Matthews1824-1889Born in Cincinnati, Matthews was a lawyer, U.S. senator (1877-79) and Associate Justice of...
Stella Walsh1911-1980Polish-born Cleveland sprinter who won the 1932 Olympic 100 metres for Poland, set dozens ...
Stephen B. Elkins1841-1911Stephen Benton Elkins was born near New Lexington, Perry County. He made a career in New M...- Stephen Jenks1772-1856Stephen Jenks was a New England singing-school composer who published more than ten tunebo...
Steven Spielberg1946-Cincinnati-born film director of Jaws, E.T., Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, and...
Sunita Williams1965-Euclid-born Navy helicopter test pilot and NASA astronaut who flew three long station miss...- Tarhe (The Crane)1742-1818Wyandot leader known as The Crane, the only chief to survive Fallen Timbers, who signed th...
Tecumseh1768-1813Shawnee leader born in the Ohio country who organized a confederation of nations to stop U...- Ted Lewis1890-1971Born Theodore Friedman in Circleville; clarinetist, bandleader and vaudeville star with th...
Tenskwatawa1775-1836Shawnee prophet, born in the Mad River country, whose 1805 religious movement at Greenvill...
Terence T. Henricks1952-Air Force test pilot from Woodville who piloted two space shuttle missions and commanded t...
The Isley BrothersFamily vocal group from Cincinnati, begun as a gospel quartet in 1954, whose hits ran from...
The Mills Brothers1910-1999Four brothers from Piqua who became one of the best-selling vocal groups of the 20th centu...
Theodore Dwight Weld1803-1895Born in Hampton, Connecticut, Weld enrolled at Lane Seminary in 1833 and led the February ...- Thomas Corwin1794-1865Kentucky-born, raised in Lebanon, Ohio from 1798. 15th governor of Ohio (1840-1842), US re...
Thomas Edison1847-1931Prolific inventor of the phonograph, a practical incandescent lighting system and much els...- Thomas H. White1836-1914Massachusetts-born sewing-machine maker who founded the White Sewing Machine Company in Cl...
Thomas J. Moyer1939-2010Born in Sandusky, Moyer was chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court from 1987 until his de...
Thomas Kirker1760-1837An Irish-born settler of Adams County who served as Ohio's second governor in 1807-1808 an...
Thomas Midgley Jr.1889-1944Columbus-raised engineer in Charles Kettering's Dayton research lab who found tetraethyl l...
Thomas Morris1776-1844A Bethel lawyer who served in the U.S. Senate from 1833 to 1839 and spoke against slavery ...
Thomas Worthington1773-1827Chillicothe land developer who led the push for Ohio statehood, served as one of Ohio's fi...
Tim Richmond1955-1989Born in Ashland, Richmond was Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year in 1980 and one of the f...
Tolbert Lanston1844-1913Born in Troy, Lanston invented the Monotype hot-metal typesetting system, patented in 1887...
Tom Eyen1940-1991Born in Cambridge to a family that ran a restaurant, Eyen became a key off-off-Broadway pl...- Tom L. Johnson1854-1911Born in Georgetown, Kentucky, Johnson moved to Cleveland in 1883, lived on Euclid Avenue's...
- Tom Weiskopf1942-2022Massillon-born golfer who won the 1973 Open Championship at Royal Troon and became a golf ...
Toni Morrison1931-2019Lorain-born novelist of The Bluest Eye, Sula and Beloved, and in 1993 the first Black woma...- Tyrone Power1914-1958Cincinnati-born film star who graduated from Purcell High School in 1931 and became a lead...
Ulysses S. Grant1822-1885Commanding general of the Union armies in the Civil War and 18th president, born at Point ...
Valentine B. Horton1802-1888A Vermont-born lawyer who moved to Pomeroy in 1835 and went into the coal trade and the sa...- Vance Kirkland1904-1981Born in Convoy, Van Wert County, Kirkland moved to Denver in 1929 and founded the art scho...
- Victor Mills1897-1997Victor Mills, born in Nebraska, joined Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati in 1926 and worked t...
Victoria Woodhull1838-1927Born in Homer, Licking County, she and her sister opened the first woman-run Wall Street b...- Viktor Schreckengost1906-2008Born in Sebring, Schreckengost became one of America's most important industrial designers...
- Virginia Hamilton1936-2002Yellow Springs author of 41 books of Black American fiction, folktales and biography. Firs...
- W. H. Hoover1849-1932North Canton leather goods maker who bought James Spangler's vacuum patent in 1908 and fou...
- Walter Hinton1888-1981Born on a farm in Pleasant Township, Van Wert County, Hinton was co-pilot of the Navy's NC...
- Warren G. Grimes1898-1975Warren Grimes designed the first colored navigation lights for aircraft and founded Grimes...
Warren G. Harding1865-1923Twenty-ninth president and Marion Star publisher, who ran a front-porch campaign from Mari...- Washington Gladden1836-1918Pastor of First Congregational Church in Columbus from 1882 to 1914, Gladden was a leader ...
- White Eyesc. 1730-1778Lenape (Delaware) speaker and principal chief in the Muskingum valley who kept his people ...
- White Eyes (Koquethagechton)1730-1778Lenape (Delaware) leader who established White Eyes' Town near the Lenape capital of Cosho...
- Whitelaw Reid1837-1912Xenia-born editor of the New York Tribune.
Wilbur Wright1867-1912With his brother Orville, built and flew the first controlled, powered, sustained airplane...
Wild Bill Davison1906-1989William Edward Davison was born in Defiance and became one of the best-known jazz cornet p...- Willem Johan Kolff1911-2009Willem Kolff, born in Leiden, built the first practical artificial kidney in the Netherlan...
- William A. Fowler1911-1995Born in Pittsburgh, Fowler grew up in Lima from age two, beside the railroad yards that sp...
William Addison Dwiggins1880-1956Born in Martinsville, Clinton County, Ohio, Dwiggins became one of America's leading book ...
William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy)1895-1972Raised in Cambridge, Boyd became a silent-film star and then the screen's Hopalong Cassidy...
William Crozier1855-1942Born in Carrollton, Ohio, Crozier graduated from West Point and spent most of his career i...
William Dean Howells1837-1920Novelist, critic and editor of the Atlantic Monthly (1871-1881), raised in a family of Ohi...- William Doud Packard1861-1923Warren, Ohio-born older brother of James Ward Packard and co-founder of Packard Electric (...
- William Edgar Lower1867-1948William Lower was born in Canton, Ohio and became a Cleveland urologic surgeon, cousin of ...
William G. LeDuc1823-1917Born in Vinton County, LeDuc settled in Saint Paul, Minnesota, promoted railroads and brid...- William Griffith 'Bill' Wilson1895-1971Bill W., born in East Dorset, Vermont, co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous with Dr. Bob Smith....
William H. Pitsenbarger1944-1966A Piqua airman and Air Force pararescueman who flew about 300 rescue missions in Vietnam. ...
William H. Reddick1840-1903Born in Locust Grove, Adams County, Reddick served in the 33rd Ohio Infantry and joined th...
William Henry Harrison1773-1841Ninth president of the United States, the first to call Ohio home, who died 32 days into h...
William Holmes McGuffey1800-1873Miami University professor who compiled the first McGuffey Eclectic Readers in Oxford, the...
William Howard Taft1857-1930Twenty-seventh president and tenth Chief Justice of the United States, born and trained as...- William Louis 'Bill' Veeck Jr.1914-1986Bill Veeck owned the Cleveland Indians from 1946 to 1949. He signed Larry Doby in July 194...
William M. McCulloch1901-1980William Moore McCulloch was born near Holmesville in Holmes County and practiced law in Pi...
William McKinley1843-1901Twenty-fifth president, governor of Ohio, and Canton lawyer whose front-porch campaign won...- William Montgomery Brown1855-1937An Episcopal bishop who lived in Galion from 1883. In 1924-25 his own church tried him for...
William Procter1801-1884English-born Cincinnati candlemaker who in 1837 went into partnership with his brother-in-...
William R. Day1849-1923Born in Ravenna, Day practiced law in Canton for 25 years, was McKinley's Secretary of Sta...
William Rosecrans1819-1898Delaware County-born Union general who won at Iuka, Corinth and Stones River and maneuvere...
William Tecumseh Sherman1820-1891Lancaster-born Union general who captured Atlanta and led the March to the Sea, later Comm...
Woody Hayes1913-1987Ohio State football coach from 1951 to 1978 who won five national titles and 13 Big Ten ch...- Worcester R. Warner1846-1929Massachusetts-born machinist who co-founded Warner & Swasey in 1880 with Ambrose Swasey; t...
- Worthington Whittredge1820-1910Springfield-born Hudson River painter.
Zane Grey1872-1939Zanesville-born dentist turned author of Riders of the Purple Sage and dozens of other wes...
Pictures are from Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and the National Archives; each person's page carries the credit and license. Correct this page