List of people from Newport, Rhode Island
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The following list includes notable people who were born or have lived in Newport, Rhode Island.
Notable people born in Newport[edit]
18th century[edit]
- Vice-Admiral Sir Jahleel Brenton, Royal Navy
- William Ellery Channing, one of the foremost Unitarian preachers
- Caleb Gardner, captain and consul of French Empire
- Edward Malbone, artist and miniaturist
- David Olyphant, China merchant and member of American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
- Christopher Raymond Perry, naval officer in American Revolution
- Solomon Southwick, publisher of Newport Mercury and advocate for Patriot cause in American Revolution
- Abigail Stoneman, widow and businesswoman[1]
19th century[edit]
- D. Putnam Brinley, artist
- Clarence G. Child, scholar
- William Ennis, U.S. Army brigadier general[2]
- Thomas Harper Ince, actor
- Clarence R. King, geologist, mountaineer, and first director of the U.S. Geological Survey (1879–1881); noted for exploration of Sierra Nevada
- Ida Lewis, lighthouse keeper credited with saving 18 lives in Newport Harbor; received national attention and numerous honors; a Coast Guard buoy tender bears her name
- David Melville, credited with first gas street lighting in the United States
- Matthew C. Perry, Navy Commodore who opened Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854, under the threat of military force
- Cornelia Bryce Pinchot, native of Newport who became a conservationist, Progressive politician, women’s rights activist, and First Lady of Pennsylvania
- Cynthia Taggart, poet
- Charles C. Van Zandt, 34th Governor of Rhode Island[3]
20th century[edit]
- Harry Anderson, actor and comedian (Night Court)
- Margaret Frances Andrews, socialite and show dog breeder
- Allen Bestwick, NASCAR and IndyCar Series announcer
- Nadia Bjorlin, soap opera actress (Days of Our Lives)
- Frank Corridon, pitcher for Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, and St. Louis Cardinals; invented now-illegal pitch, the spitball
- Tanya Donelly, musician; vocalist for Rhode Island-based bands Belly and Throwing Muses; guitarist for the band The Breeders
- Charlie Fern, White House speechwriter, journalist
- Van Johnson, actor, known best for "all-American" roles in MGM films during World War II
- Lawson Little, 1940 U.S. Open golf champion
- Mena Suvari, actress, known for role in 1999 film American Beauty
- Leon Wilkeson, bass guitarist
Notable people who lived or worked in Newport[edit]
17th century[edit]
- Benedict Arnold, Governor of Rhode Island
- John Clarke, Baptist minister and drafter of Royal Charter
- William Coddington, Governor of Rhode Island
- Nicholas Easton, Governor of Rhode Island
- George Gardiner, early settler of Rhode Island, early Newport resident
18th century[edit]
- George Berkeley, philosopher
- Louis Alexandre Berthier, French army officer, later Marshal of France and Napoleon's chief of staff
- William Ellery, signer of Declaration of Independence
- Robert Feke, portrait painter
- Peter Harrison, architect
- Samuel Hopkins, Congregational minister, Calvinist theologian, leader for abolition of slave trade
- Aaron Lopez, merchant
- Louis-Marie, vicomte de Noailles, French army officer
- Charles Theodore Pachelbel, first organist of Newport's Trinity Church; son of Johann Pachelbel
- Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, French general
- William Selby, organist at Trinity Church, composer
- John Smybert, artist
- Ezra Stiles, minister, diarist, and President of Yale
- Gilbert Stuart, portrait painter
- Isaac Touro, hazzan at Synagogue
- Judah Touro, merchant and philanthropist
19th century to 1885[edit]
- George Bancroft, historian, Secretary of the Navy, diplomat, and summer resident
- August Belmont, financier
- Ambrose Burnside, Army officer stationed at Fort Adams, later Civil War general, governor, senator
- Julia Ward Howe, author and summer resident
- Henry James, author
- William James, philosopher and Harvard professor
- John Kensett, artist
- Clement C. Moore, summer resident and author of "'Twas the Night before Christmas"
- Levi P. Morton, summer resident and donor of Morton Park, later Vice President of the United States
- Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, hero of War of 1812
- William Trost Richards, artist
- Milton H. Sanford, textile magnate and thoroughbred racehorse owner
- Judah Touro, philanthropist
- Richard Upjohn, architect
- Mahlon Van Horne, politician
The Gilded Age, 1885–1914[edit]
- Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor, socialite
- Charles D. Barney, socialite, banker, founder of Smith Barney Brokerage
- Alva Belmont, socialite and leader of women's rights movement
- August Belmont, financier
- Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, socialite, builder of Belcourt Castle
- James Gordon Bennett, Jr., newspaper publisher and yachtsman
- Ogden Codman, designer
- Richard Morris Hunt, architect
- William Morris Hunt, artist
- John LaFarge, artist
- Pierre Lorillard, tobacco manufacturer
- Rear Admiral Stephen B. Luce, founder of Naval War College
- Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, naval historian and strategist
- Ward McAllister, flamboyant raconteur of high society, coined the term 'the 400' for the New York social elite
- Charles McKim, architect
- Edith B. Price, writer and illustrator
- H.H. Richardson, architect
- Horace Trumbauer, architect
- James J. Van Alen, summer resident and Ambassador to Italy
- Alva Vanderbilt, wife of William K. Vanderbilt; early feminist, active in women's suffrage movement
- Consuelo Vanderbilt, daughter of W.K. and Alva Vanderbilt; Duchess of Marlborough
- Cornelius Vanderbilt II, heir to Vanderbilt fortune, Chairman of New York Central Railroad
- Frederick Vanderbilt, heir to Vanderbilt fortune, philanthropist
- William Kissam Vanderbilt, heir to Vanderbilt fortune, yachtsman
- Edith Wharton, author
- Stanford White, architect
- Thornton Wilder, author, playwright; his 1973 novel Theophilus North is set in Newport; served briefly in Army's Coast Artillery Corps at Fort Adams in World War I
20th century, 1914–2000[edit]
- John Jacob Astor VI, socialite, heir to Astor family fortune, summer resident
- Admiral Jeremy Michael Boorda, 25th Chief of Naval Operations
- John Nicholas Brown, socialite, yachtsman and philanthropist
- Doris Duke, tobacco heiress and philanthropist
- Joanna Going, actress, Another World, House of Cards
- Paul Gordon, musician with Goo Goo Dolls, New Radicals, The B-52's
- Kristin Hersh, musician, vocalist for Rhode Island-based band Throwing Muses, 50 Foot Wave; solo artist
- Antony Kloman, painter
- Jane Pickens Langley, singer, entertainer and philanthropist
- Elaine Lorillard, summer resident, founder of Newport Jazz Festival
- Perle Mesta, socialite, political hostess and U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg
- MacGillivray Milne, 27th Governor of American Samoa, 1936–1938
- Diane Nelson, president of DC Entertainment
- Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, 1942–1945; Chief of Naval Operations
- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, First Lady of the United States, summer resident
- Claiborne Pell, socialite and U.S. Senator 1961–1997
- Alfredo Sciarrotta, silversmith and undersea weapons expert
- Admiral William Sims, commander of U.S. Naval Forces in Europe, 1917–1919
- Carolyn Mary Skelly; owned Bois Dore Mansion; eccentric daughter of William Grove Skelly; oil heiress, dubbed the "most robbed woman in the US" by the Boston Globe; socialite; hosted fundraisers for President George H.W. Bush, & Texas Governor John Connally[4][5]
- Admiral Raymond Spruance, the victor of Midway; President, Naval War College
- Jimmy Van Alen, summer resident and founder of International Tennis Hall of Fame
- Margaret Van Alen Bruguiere, socialite, art collector; niece of Frederick Vanderbilt
- Harold Vanderbilt, yachtsman, bridge player, inventor of contract bridge
- Martha Sharp Crawford (Sunny) von Bülow, socialite, heiress (resided with husband Claus von Bülow at Clarendon Court on Bellevue Avenue)
- Charlie Day, Actor
21st century, 2001–present[edit]
- Richard Hatch, first winner of the reality television show Survivor
- Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Senator, 2007–present
- Dede Wilsey, San Franciscan socialite, summer resident and philanthropist
- Richard Saul Wurman, architect, graphic designer, founder of the TED Conferences
References[edit]
- ^ James, Edward T.; James, Janet Wilson; Boyer, Paul (1971). Notable American women 1607-1959 : a biographical dictionary. Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press. pp. 390–391. ISBN 978-0-674-62734-5.
- ^ "General William Ennis Dies At His Home here". Newport Mercury. Newport, RI. October 7, 1938. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Rhode Island Governor Charles Collins Van Zandt". National Governors Association. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
- ^ http://articles.philly.com/1986-08-21/news/26062433_1_bois-dore-costume-jewelry-carolyn-skelly [bare URL]
- ^ "Archives". Los Angeles Times. 18 August 1986.