Portal:Philadelphia/Selected biography candidates

Procedure
The goal of this process is to get more articles related to Philadelphia up to Featured Article status. The nomination process here is a little more relaxed, but articles that meet the featured article requirements are more likely to gain support. The best way for an article to be selected is to make sure it is of high quality, appropriate length (especially the article's introduction section), and properly referenced. Articles of high quality will be selected first before lesser quality articles.

Nominating articles

 * 1) Find an article on Wikipedia that is related to Philadelphia that you think is very good and would be suitable for use as the featured biography.  Two  good starting places are the list and category of people from Philadelphia.
 * 2) Put a link to the biography below on this page and describe why.

Current nominations
Here are some ideas with which to kick off 2007. Runnerupnj 02:55, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Samuel Barber, 20th century composer from West Chester who studied at the Curtis Institute of Music.
 * Nicholas Biddle, statesman who was instrumental in the founding of the Second Bank of the United States.
 * Any of the 3 Alexander Calders: Alexander Stirling Calder, Alexander Milne Calder, or Alexander "Sandy" Calder, all three of whom are important sculptors whose works can be found all around Philadelphia.
 * Eugene Ormandy, conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra (once the citation issues are hammered out).


 * John Coleman (1863–1922) was an American professional baseball player. From 1883 through 1890, Coleman played for the Philadelphia Quakers (now the Phillies), the Pittsburgh Alleghenys (now the Pirates), and the now-defunct Philadelphia Athletics. Remarkably, in his rookie season, he pitched in 65 games, but accumulated a record of only 12–48 (the team's season record was 17–81). He also appeared in another 32 games as an outfielder and second baseman. As of 2007, his 48 losses, 772 hits given up, and 291 earned runs allowed over that 98-game season remain major-league records. His 61 starts, 59 complete games, and 538⅓ innings pitched remain Phillies records as well.--BillFlis 01:14, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

Save for July, maybe, with tie-in to Independence Day: Gender equity ...
 * Reverend Jacob Duché, son of Philadelphia mayor Colonel Jacob Duché, Sr., Rector of Christ Church, Philadelphia, and chaplain to the Continental Congress, was charged with treason by first the British then the American Patriots.--BillFlis 13:07, 10 July 2007 (UTC)
 * The Reverend Jacob Duché (1737-1798) was the Rector of Christ Church and the first chaplain to the Continental Congress. Born in Philadelphia in 1737, the son of Colonel Jacob Duché, Sr., former mayor, Duché first came to the attention of the First Continental Congress in September, 1774, when he was summoned to Carpenters' Hall to lead the opening prayers. When on July 4, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was ratified, Duché, meeting with the church's vestry, resolved that King George III's name would no longer be read in the prayers of the church. Duché complied, crossing out said prayers from his Book of Common Prayer, thereby committing an act of treason against England. On July 9, Congress elected him its first chaplain. When the British occupied Philadelphia in September 1777, Duché was arrested and detained, underscoring the seriousness of his actions.  He was later released, at which time he wrote a famous letter to General George Washington, camped at Valley Forge, imploring him to lay down his arms and sue for peace with the British. In just a short while, Duché went from hero of the Revolutionary cause to outcast in the new United States. In consequence, he fled to England, where he was appointed chaplain to the Lambeth orphan asylum, and soon made a reputation as an eloquent preacher. He was not able to return to America until 1792, after he had suffered a stroke. He died in Philadelphia in 1798.--BillFlis 17:51, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Lynne Abraham
 * Annie Sprinkle