Birth of Josiah W. Gibbs
Scientist Josiah Willard Gibbs was born on February 11, 1839, in New Haven, Connecticut. He was a Yale professor, inventor, and formulated the laws of thermodynamics.
Famous Americans
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Birth of Lon Chaney Jr
Lon Chaney Jr. was born Creighton Tull Chaney on February 10, 1906, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Territory. He gained fame for portraying horror characters such as the Wolfman, Frankenstein, and the Mummy, but he broke out of that mold later in his career to explore other genres.
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Birth of William T. Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman was born on February 8, 1820 in Lancaster, Ohio. His tough “scorched earth” policy was a severe blow to morale in the Confederacy during the Civil War.
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Happy Birthday Babe Ruth
George Herman “Babe” Ruth was born on February 6, 1895, in Baltimore, Maryland. One of the sports world’s most famous players, he set and broke numerous records during his career and is a legend of baseball.
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Birth of Adlai Stevenson II
Politician Adlai Stevenson II was born on February 5, 1900, in Los Angeles, California. He was a popular governor of Illinois and US ambassador to the United Nations.
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Birth of Horace Greeley
Newspaper publisher Horace Greeley was born on February 3, 1811, in Amherst, New Hampshire. His newspapers championed a number of causes, including abolition, temperance, railroads, and westward expansion.
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Famous Americans Series Begins
On January 29, 1940, the US Post Office Department issued the first stamps in the Famous Americans Series. It honors 35 Americans from 7 professions based on recommendations submitted by the public.
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Birth of Samuel Gompers
American labor union leader Samuel Gompers was born on January 27, 1850, in London, England. He helped found the American Federation of Labor (AFL), one of the largest unions of the day.
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Happy Birthday Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony. “The first citizen of Philadelphia,” Franklin was a printer, inventor, postmaster, and the only person to sign all four of the key documents in US history.
