Local History and Genealogy Resources
Notable Burlingtonians

Arts and Humanities

Complete List of Burlington Authors wth books in the library collection

O.W. Appleton
Inventor of the solid body guitar

Floy Little Bartlett (dates unknown)
Author of children’s books from the 1920s to 1950s

Harriet Connor Brown (1877-1959)
Award-winning author of Grandmother Brown's Hundred Years, 1827-1927

Robert Jones Burdette (1844-1914)
Humorist, author, publisher, speaker

Charles A. Dunham (1830-1908)
Architect responsible for many Iowa courthouses; also architect for Schramm House Bed and Breakfast and Prospect Hill School (now Great River Christian School) in Burlington

Anne Frasier, pseudonym(born 1954)
Author of Hush, Sleep Tight, Before I Wake, and Play Dead. Also wrote romance novels using her given name Theresa Wier.

William Frawley (1893-1966)
Actor best known for his role of Fred Mertz on “I Love Lucy”

George Harvey (1835-1922)
Earliest known landscape painter to reside in Iowa. His painting of Burlington was displayed at the Columbian Exposition and now resides at the Burlington Public Library.

Patrick Hazell
Blues musician and developer of Bell Projects in Burlington, Dubuque, and Russia.

Bart Howard (1915-2004)
Born Howard Gustafson, contemporary composer of over 200 songs; “On the First Warm Day” and “Fly Me to the Moon” are two of his most familiar

Bessie Viola Johnson (1876-1969)
Artist and composer listed in Who’s Who in Colored America from 1927 through 1950

Phillip Dillon Jordan (1903-1980)
Historian and author of numerous books including Catfish Bend

Jack Kent (1920-1985)
Author and illustrator of children’s books including Socks for Supper and There’s No Such Thing as a Dragon. Also known for his cartoon, "King Aroo"

Lisa Knopp (born 1956)
Author of The Nature of Home

Amy Leslie (1855-1939)
Born Lillie West; one of the few women drama critics of the early 20th century; critic for the Chicago Daily News for over 40 years

Sterling Lord (1884-1964)
Bookbinder with Elbert Hubbard at the Roycroft Studios in New York who then moved to Burlington and served in management with the Leopold Company

Hugh Lyons (dates unknown)
Born Hubert Wiedemeier; creator of popular songs including “Happy Landing” and “When You Get Lonesome and Blue”

Nicola (1880-1946)
Nationally known magician born in Burlington as William Mozart Nicol

Kenny Parrott
Guitarist in Branson

Harriet Parson (1906-1983)
Producer and director

Louella Parsons (1881-1972)
Hollywood gossip columnist. Lived in Burlington during the early years of her marriage.

Bo Ramsey (born 1951)
Guitarist, performer, and producer

Margaret Thomsen Raymond (1900-1985)
Prolific author of magazine articles and children’s books

Sumner Salter
Composer of religious music and son of William Salter

Dorothy Schramm (1908)
Art supporter and humanitarian

William Leander Sheetz (1855-1929)
Composer and instructor who developed musical scores for “part singing”

John Hartzell Spence (born 1908)
Editor of military magazine, Yank, during WWII where he coined the term "pinup"; author of books about life in a minister’s family

Henry Squires (1825-1907)
World famous tenor who toured as the male lead with Jenny Lind in the 19th century

K. Marie Stolba (born 1920)
Professor and author of a definitive history of world music

Cynthia Sutton
Executive Director of the Wright Museum of World War II history

Elswyth Thane (1900-1984)
Born Helen Ricker, author of a series known as the “Williamsburg novels” and other novels

Robert Watts
First artist to create a sheet of postage stamps as fine art

Harriet Weaver (born 1908)
Naturalist, teacher, and author of children’s books about animals

Agnes Weinrich (1873 - 1946)
Artist; painted with the Provincetown (MA) group

Gilbert Wells
Vaudeville performer and composer of Hot Tamale Molly, Red Hot Mamma, and Papa Better Watch Your Step.

Miscellaneous

Andy Bell
Brought golf to Burlington.

Black Hawk (1767-1838)
Sauk Indian; was buried in Burlington when he died

Philip M. Crapo (1844-1905)
Philanthropist who helped finance the Burlington Public Library building as well as the park which bears his name

Grace Morris Allen Jones (1876-1928)
Opened the first integrated kindergarten in Burlington; Co-founder of the Piney Woods School, now an accredited college in Jackson, Mississippi

Orville Eugene Kelly (1930-1980)
Founder of the cancer patients’ support group “Make Today Count”

Bob Lamb (born 1950)
Developer of Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park

Laura Spelman Rockefeller (1839 - 1915)
Married John D. Rockefeller

William Salter (1821-1928)
Pastor of First Congregational Church in Burlington for over 60 years, founder of Grinnell College, and author

Science and Technology

Alfred E. "Ace" Adams (1923-2004)
Engineer at Texas Instrument

Jacob Schrock Baughman (1858-1935)
Doctor of osteopathy; 1890 obtained a patent with his wife Melvina for adjustable pattern plates; later developed the first automatic machine for cutting fabric for ladies’ dresses

Paul Bartsch (1871-1960)
Scientist who specialized in malacology (sea mollusks) and ornithology; first person to undertake scientific bird banding

Wallace Hume Carothers (1896-1937)
Chemist and inventor of nylon

Dennis R. Danielson
Forensic anthropologist who investigated the POW/MIA's in Vietnam in 2000

Arthur Hartman (1888-1970)
Pioneer aeronaut and aviator. Started Burlington Airplane Company to build airplanes.

Abraham T. Hay (1826-1895)
Chemist who developed a process to make steel bridges possible

James (Jim) Kelly (born 1963)
United States astronaut

Aldo Leopold (1886-1948)
Internationally known naturalist born and raised in Burlington; best known for his book, Sand County Almanac

A. Starker Leopold (1913-1983)
Biologist and educator who became President of the California Academy of Science (1958-1966)

Frederic Leopold (1895-1988)
Naturalist and developer of the wood duck box which has saved this species from extinction

Roy E. Marquardt (1917-1982 )
Founded Marquardt Corporation which built Ramjet engines

Robert Noyce (1927-1990)
Co-inventor of the semi-conductor computer chip and founder of Intel Corporation

Walter Bowers Pillsbury (1872-1960)
Psychologist who wrote Essentials of Psychology in 1911

Frank Springer (1848-1927)
Lawyer who helped Charles Wachsmuth develop a system for classifying findings in invertebrate paleontology

Edward Carroll Stone (born 1936)
Physicist and former head of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Edward Stout (1879-1933)
Developed and manufactured the first reliable airplane flight recorder

Charles Wachsmuth (1829-1896)
Grocer who retired and devoted his energies to collecting and classifying prehistoric crinoids

Charles A. White (1826-1910)
Iowa State Geologist. Lived in Burlington from 1849-1864.

Politics

James Clark (1812-1850)
Burlington mayor and Iowa Territorial Governor

August Caesar Dodge (1812-1883)
U.S. Minister and minister of Spain

Henry Dodge (1782-1867)
General and Governor of Wisconsin Territory

John Henry Gear (1825-1900)
Mayor of Burlington, Iowa, 1863; member of Iowa state house of representatives, 1871-77; Speaker of the Iowa State House of Representatives, 1874-77; Governor of Iowa, 1878-82; U.S. Representative from Iowa 1st District, 1887-91, 1893-95; U.S. Senator from Iowa, 1895-1900

James Wilson Grimes (1816-1872)
Lawyer, legislator, Governor of Iowa, and U. S. Senator

Edwin James (1797-1861)
One of the first white men to scale Pike’s Peak; a doctor who lived outside of Burlington and, as an abolitionist, operated a station on the Underground Railroad

Charles Mason
Justice of Iowa territorial supreme court, 1838-46; justice of Iowa state supreme court, 1846-47.

Richard Matsch
Presiding judge in Oklahoma City bomber case

Beverly O'Neill
Mayor of Long Beach, California

Kay A. Orr (born 1939)
First female governor of Nebraska and first female Republican governor in the United States.

Thomas J. Smith
Longest reigning Mayor in Burlington history; served 7 terms or 14 years. City Council Chambers are named in his honor.

Military

Nicholas Bouquet (1842-1912)
First Iowan to be awarded the United States Medal of Honor

Jimmie Howard
Congressional Medal of Honor winner. The Navy commissioned a destroyer named in his honor.

George Collier Remey (1841-1928)
First U.S. Navy admiral born west of the Mississippi; bronze bust of him at the Burlington Public Library

Ned Schramm (1896-1983)
C mmanding general of the Ninth Air Defense Command during World War II

Industry

H.W. Chittenden
His furniture company Chittenden and Eastman became Eastman House which operates today as a mattress manufacturer.

Edward P. Eastman
His furniture company Chittenden and Eastman became Eastman House which operates today as a mattress manufacturer.

Charles Elliot Perkins (1840-1907)
Railroad magnate who promoted the development of rail lines across Iowa; President of C.B. & Q.