USA Famous People of New Hampshire

New Hampshire Biographies
Salmon Portland Chase jurist, Cornish Salmon Portland Chase (January 13, 1808 ? May 7, 1873) was an American politician and jurist in the Civil War era who served as U.S. Senator from Ohio and Governor of Ohio; as U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Abraham Lincoln; and as Chief Justice of the United States.

Chase articulated the "Slave Power conspiracy" thesis well before Lincoln did, and he coined the slogan of the Free Soil Party, "Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men." He devoted his enormous energies to the destruction of what he considered the Slave Power ? the conspiracy of Southern slave owners to seize control of the federal government and block the progress of liberty. • Salmon Portland Chase Books
Ralph Adams Cram architect, Hampton Falls • Ralph Adams Cram Books
Charles Anderson Dana editor, Hinsdale • Charles Anderson Dana Books
Mary Morse Baker Eddy founder, religious leader, Bow • Mary Morse Baker Eddy Books
William Pitt Fessenden politician, Boscawer William Pitt Fessenden Books•
Sam Walter Foss journalist, poet  • Sam Walter Foss Books
Daniel Chester French sculptor, Exeter  • Daniel Chester French Books
Robert Frost (1874 - 1963) Poet that won four Pulitzer Prizes in poetry; lived in Derry and Franconia. March 26 marks the 125th anniversary of Frost's birth, and there could be no better tribute for a poet so often underrated, maligned and misunderstood than this sympathetic and balanced portrayal. Frost has been depicted as selfish and vindictive in biographies by Lawrance Thompson and Jeffrey Meyers, but Parini, himself a poet and novelist, sees Frost as a man who "struggled throughout his long life with depression, anxiety, self-doubt, and confusion." Rarely has Frost's story been told this dexterously, or with a better understanding of the relation of Frost's personal crises to his accomplishment as a poet. The Yankee farmer-poet actually lived his first 11 years in San Francisco, was thoroughly schooled in Latin (was, in fact, "more of a classicist by training than either Eliot or Pound"), and nursed an early ambition to pitch in the major leagues. He was competitive, funny, smart about his own career and reputation, and throughout the height of his fame was plagued by horrible family tragedies. His father, sister and several of his children suffered from deep depression, suicide and early death, and Frost was often blamed for tragedies he was helpless to prevent. • Robert Frost Books
Horace Greeley journalist, politician, Amherst (February 3, 1811 ? November 29, 1872) was an American editor of a leading newspaper, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a New York Tribune was America's most influential newspaper from the 1840s to the 1870s and "established Greeley's reputation as the greatest editor of his day." Greeley used it to promote the Whig and Republican parties, as well as opposition to slavery and a host of reforms. Crusading against the corruption of Ulysses S. Grant's Republican administration, he was the new Liberal Republican Party's candidate in the 1872 U.S. presidential election. Despite having the additional support of the Democratic Party, he lost in a landslide. He is currently the only presidential candidate who has died during the electoral process. When the new Republican Party was founded in 1854, Greeley made the Tribune its unofficial national organ, and fought slavery extension and the slave power on many pages. On the eve of the Civil War circulation nationwide approached 300,000. In 1860 he supported the ex-Whig Edward Bates of Missouri for the president. • Horace Greeley Books
Sarah Josepha Hale October 24, 1788 - April 30, 1879)  Author and journalist born on a New Hampshire farm. Sarah Josepha Buell Hale (was an American writer and an influential editor. She is the author of the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb". She famously campaigned for the creation of the American holiday known as Thanksgiving.

Hale was born in Newport, New Hampshire to Captain Gordon Buell and Martha Whittlesay Buell. Her parents believed in equal education for both sexes. Early on in her life, she was educated by her mother and her brother Horatio  • Sarah Josepha Hale Books
John Irving (1942 - ) Famous author; born in Exeter. • John Irving Books
John Langdon political leader, Portsmouth • John Langdon Books
Christa McAuliffe (September 2, 1948 ? January 28, 1986) Teacher that died in the space shuttle Challenger explosion on January 28, 1986; taught in Concord. Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe née Sharon Christa Corrigan, was an American teacher from Concord, New Hampshire, and one of seven crew members killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she received her bachelor's degree in education and history from Framingham State College in 1970, and a Master of Arts from Bowie State University in 1978. She took a teaching post as a social studies teacher at Concord High School in New Hampshire in 1982.

In 1985, McAuliffe was selected from more than 11,000 applicants to participate in the NASA Teacher in Space Project, and she was scheduled to become the first teacher in space. As a member of mission STS-51-L, she was planning to conduct experiments and teach two lessons from Space Shuttle Challenger. On January 28, 1986, her spacecraft disintegrated 73 seconds after launch. After her death, schools and scholarships were named in her honor, and in 2004 she was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. • Christa McAuliffe Books
Bob Montana (1920 - 1975) Creator of the comic strip Archie in 1942; lived in Manchester. • Bob Montana Books
Franklin Pierce (1804 - 1869) The 14th President of the United States (1853-1857); born in Hillsborough. For years Franklin Pierce has been ill-served by the nation's historians, nearly all of whom repeat the same things about him--that he was an alcoholic, a coward in the Mexican-American war, pro-slavery and one of the reasons why this country had a Civil War.

Unfortunately such judgements are based largely on biased accounts written decades ago, such as Allen Nevin's "Ordeal of the Union," an enormously slanted work on the events leading up to the Civil War; thus repeating for succeeding generations the same tired old myths • Franklin Pierce Books
Eleanor Porter (1868 - 1920) Children?s author that wrote Pollyanna; born in Littleton. • Eleanor Porter Books
Alan B. Shepard Jr. born in East Derry. (November 18, 1923 ? July 21, 1998) Became the first American in space when he orbited the earth in the rocket Freedom 7 in May 1961; (Rear Admiral, United States Navy, Ret.) was the second person and the first American in space. He later commanded the Apollo 14 mission, and was the fifth person to walk on the moon. On May 5, 1961, Shepard piloted the Freedom 7 mission and became the second person, and the first American, to travel into space.[3] He was launched by a Redstone rocket, and unlike Gagarin's 108 minute orbital flight, Shepard stayed on a ballistic trajectory suborbital flight?a flight which carried him to an altitude of 116 statute miles and to a landing point 302 statute miles down the Atlantic Missile Range. Unlike Gagarin, whose flight was strictly automatic, Shepard had some control of Freedom 7, spacecraft attitude in particular. The launch, return from space and subsequent collection by helicopter were seen live on television by millions.

On his successful return to Earth, Shepard was celebrated as a national hero, honored with parades in Washington, New York and Los Angeles and meeting President John F. Kennedy. • Alan B. Shepard Jr Books
Harlan F. Stone jurist, Chesterfield • Harlan F. Stone Books
Earl Silas Tupper (1907 - 1983) Founder of Tupperware; born in Berlin. • Earl Silas Tupper Books
Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 ? October 24, 1852) statesman, Salisbury The life of Daniel Webster, eminent politician and statesman of the four decades preceding the Civil War, is here chronicled by a veteran biographer of the Jacksonian era (Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Democracy, 1833-1845, LJ 5/1/84). Called one of our five greatest senators and arguably America's finest orator by Remini, Webster also served three presidents as secretary of state and contributed to U.S. constitutional thought. His personal life was less successful: he was grieved by the early deaths of his children, and his inability to manage money led him into dubious financial stratagems. And he ended his career as a poignant antique crying for compromise to save the Union in an age that demanded slavery's final resolution. Remini's scholarship and style are flawless, and he introduces substantial new information? notably a new medical interpretation of Webster's death. It may be difficult to rouse public interest in a fat book about Webster, but this biography is strongly recommended for academic collections and larger public libraries. Fritz Buckallew, Univ. of Central Oklahoma Lib., Edmond • Daniel Webster Books
Eleazar Wheelock (1711 - 1779) Founded Dartmouth College in 1769 in the city of Hanover, he also served as the first president. • Eleazar Wheelock Books
Henry Wilson (born Jeremiah Jones Colbath) (1812 - 1875) Vice President of the United States under President Ulysses Grant, was born in Farmington. • Henry Wilson Books
Joseph Worcester Lexicographer, Bedford • Joseph Worcester