List of People From Philadelphia - Historical Figures

Historical Figures

  • David Hayes Agnew (1818–1892), surgeon and teacher
  • Robert Aitken, publisher of the first Bible in North America
  • Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), novelist
  • Andrew Allen (1740–1825), delegate to the Continental Congress
  • Harrison Allen (1841–1897), anatomist and physician
  • Joseph Anderson, United States Senator
  • Charles John Biddle (1819–1873) – member, U.S. House of Representatives
  • Edward Biddle (1738–1779) – delegate, First Continental Congress
  • Francis Biddle (1886–1968) – U.S. Solicitor General, U.S. Attorney General, principal American judge during the Nuremberg trials
  • Nicholas Biddle (banker) (1786–1844) – financier, president, Second Bank of the United States
  • Nicholas Biddle (naval officer) (1750–1778) – one of the original captains of the Continental Navy
  • Richard Biddle (1796–1847) – member, U.S. House of Representatives, 1837–1840
  • Ed Bradley (1941–2006) – CBS News radio and television journalist, 1967–2006
  • Henry "Box" Brown (1815–1878?) – abolitionist, escaped slavery by literally mailing himself to Philadelphia from Richmond, Virginia
  • Bebe Moore Campbell (1950–2006) – author
  • Samuel Carpenter (1649–1714) First Treasuer of Pennsylvania, Deputy Governor to William Penn
  • Octavius Valentine Catto (1839–1871) – African American educator, civil rights activist, and baseball player
  • Marguerite de Angeli (1889–1987) – author, illustrator
  • Henry George (1839-1897) - political economist, author Progress and Poverty
  • Charlotte Forten Grimké (1837–1914) – abolitionist, poet, educator
  • Benjamin Guggenheim (1865–1912) – businessman, died aboard the RMS Titanic
  • John von Sonnentag de Havilland (1826–1886), American officer of arms in England
  • A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. (1928–1998) – commissioner, Kerner Commission; judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
  • John A. Hostetler (1918–2001) author, educator, leading scholar of Amish and Hutterite societies
  • Grace Kelly (1929–1982) – princess of Monaco, actress
  • George Lippard (1822–1854) – novelist, journalist, playwright, social activist, labour organizer
  • Alain LeRoy Locke – writer, key figure of the Harlem Renaissance, first African-American Rhodes Scholar
  • George Gordon Meade – Union army general in the American Civil War
  • George B. McClellan – Union army general in the American Civil War
  • Henry C. McCook – entomologist, clergyman, author, designer of Philadelphia's City Flag
  • Joseph McKenna – associate justice, U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Attorney General, member, U.S. House of Representatives
  • Thomas Mifflin – Major General in Continental Army, fifth president of U.S. Congress, first governor of Pennsylvania
  • Anna Balmer Myers, author
  • Robert N. C. Nix, Jr. (1928–2003) – former chief justice, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
  • William Pepper (1843–1898) – founder, Free Library of Philadelphia; provost, University of Pennsylvania
  • Philip Syng Physick – "father of American surgery"
  • Betsy Ross (1752–1836) – reputed to have sewn the first American flag
  • Peggy Shippen, wife of Benedict Arnold
  • Willi Smith (1948–1987) – fashion designer
  • Leon Sullivan – Baptist minister, social activist
  • Thomas Truxton-naval officer
  • Zamir Wiggins (1826–1909) – founder, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, co-founder, Bethlehem Steel, co-founder, Swarthmore College

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