Explorers, Pioneers & Frontiersmen
*Not born in Kentucky

Judge Roy Bean (1825-1903) Infamous "hanging judge" of Langtry, Texas.
Daniel Boone* (1734-1820) Hunted and explored Kentucky, 1767-74; cleared the Wilderness Road and founded Fort Boonesborough, 1775.
James Bowie (1796-1836) Texas Ranger, died at the Alamo, designed Bowie knife.
Kit Carson (1809-1868) Indian agent, trapper scout.
George Rogers Clark* (1752-1818) American Revolution frontier general and explorer, secured the NW Territory for the U.S., founder of Louisville,1778
Floyd Collins (1887-1925) Explorer whose entrapment and death in a cave became one of the most widely reported stories of the decade.
James Harrod* (1742-1793) Frontiersman, founder of Harrodsburg, first permanent settlement west of the Alleghenies, 1774
Simon Kenton* (1755-1836) Frontier explorer, soldier, scout for Daniel Boone and George Rogers Clark
Dr. Thomas Walker* (1715-1794) Led the first documented expedition through Cumberland Gap, 1750

Political Leaders
*Not born in Kentucky

Alben W. Barkley (1877-1956) U.S. Vice President under Harry Truman 1949-53
John Cabell Breckinridge (1872-1920) U.S. Vice President under James Buchanan, 1857-61
Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) U.S. Supreme Court Justice, 1916-39
Cassius Marcellus Clay (1810-1903) The Lion of White Hall, Ambassador to Russia, abolitionist, a founder of the Republican Party
Henry Clay* (1777-1852) The Great Compromiser, U.S. senator, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. secretary of state
Martha Layne Collins ( 1936- ) First female Kentucky governor, 1983-87
John Sherman Copper (1901-1991) U.S. senator, ambassador to India and East Germany, member of the Warren Commission
Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) Only President of the Confederate States of America, 1861-65
John Marshall Harlan (1833-1911) U.S. Supreme Court Justice, 1877-1911
Richard M. Johnson (1780-1850) U.S. Vice President under Martin Van Buren, 1837-41
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) 16th U.S. President, 1861-65
Adlai Stevenson (1835-1914) U.S. Vice President under Grover Cleveland, 1893-97
Zachary Taylor* (1784-1850) 12th U.S. President, 1849-1850
Frederick Moore Vinson (1890-1953) U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, 1946-53

Military & Social Leaders
*Not born in Kentucky

Daniel Carter Beard* (1850-1941) Founded Boy Scouts of America, 1910
Madeline McDowell Breckinridge (1872-1920) National leader in womenÕs suffrage movement
Mary Desha (1850-1911) Co-founded the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Heather R. French (1974 - ) Miss America 1999- 2000 (now Heather French Henry)
John "Casey" Jones (1864-1900) Railroad engineer
Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882) Wife of Abraham Lincoln.
McCoys of the Hatfield-McCoy feud, resolved in 1888
John Hunt Morgan* (1825-1864) The Thunderbolt of the Confederacy, Confederate general
Carrie A. Nation (1846-1911) Temperance crusader known as "the lady with a hatchet"
Colonel Harland Sanders* (1890-1980) Kentucky Fried Chicken founder
John Thomas Scopes (1900-1970) Defendant in famous "monkey Trial" for violating a Tennessee law against teaching evolution
Franklin R. Sousley, PFC (1925-1945) Helped raise the U.S. flag at Iwo Jima; immortalized in the most famous war photograph in history
Cora Wilson Stewart (1875-1958) Educator whose school for adult education became a model throughout the world.
Whitney M. Young, Jr. (1921-1971) Civil rights leader; director of the National Urban League, 1961- 71; awarded Medal of Freedom, 1969

Scientists, Inventors & Physicians
*Not born in Kentucky

Ephraim McDowell* (1771-1830) Performed first successful surgical removal of an ovarian tumor, 1809
Garrett A. Morgan (1877-1963) Invented first automatic, tri-color traffic signal, 1923
Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866-1945) Nobel Prize winner in medicine for genetic research, 1933
Matthew B. Sellers* (1869-1932) Among first to experiment with gliding and power flight
Phillip A. Sharp (1944- ) Nobel Prize winner for the discovery of split genes and for advancing research on cancer and hereditary diseases, 1993
Nathan B. Stubblefield (1860-1928) Successfully demonstrated wireless voice transmission (radio),1892
John T. Thompson (1860-1940) Inventor of the Tommygun machine gun

Artists & Architects
*Not born in Kentucky

John James Audubon* Ornithologist, artist. Began his work on "Birds of America" in Kentucky
Frank Duveneck painter, sculptor, educator
Fontaine Fox Originated the nationally syndicated cartoon "The Toonerville Trolley"
Matthew Harris Jouette Portrait artist
Paul Sawyier* Landscape artist known for scenes of Frankfort and the Kentucky River
Gideon Shyrock Architect; introduced Greek Revival style to the "West"
Moneta J.Sleet, Jr. First black American to win Pulitzer Prize in photography, 1969
Helen M. Turner Impressionistic landscape artist, portraitist
Enid Yandell First female member of the National Sculpture Society

Authors & Journalists
*Not born in Kentucky

James Lane Allen "The Choir Invisible," "A Kentucky Cardinal"
Wendell E. Berry poet/novelist/environmentalist
William Wells Brown America's first black novelist
Harry Caudill political writer
Edgar Cayce psychic counselor/author
Thomas D. Clark* historian laureate of Kentucky
Irvin S. Cobb journalist/humorist/short story writer
Joe Creason journalist
John Fox, Jr. "The Little Shepherd of KingdomCome"
Janice Holt Giles* "The Kentuckian," "The Enduring Hills"
A.B. Guthrie, Jr.* Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist
Duncan Hines restaurant-guide publisher
Annie Fellows Johnston* "The Little Colonel" series
Barbara Kingsolver novelist
Bobbie Ann Mason novelist
Ed McClanahan novelist
Thomas Merton* essayist on spiritual and social issues
J.T. Cotton Noe Kentucky's first poet laureate, 1926
Marsha Norman Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright
Theodore OÕHara "Bivouac of the Dead"
John Ed Pearce* Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
Alice Hegan Rice "Mrs. Wiggins of the Cabbage Patch"
Elizabeth Madox Roberts "The Time of Man," "The Great Meadow"
Diane Sawyer TV journalists/commentator
Effie Waller Smith "Rhymes from the Cumberland"
Jesse Stuart author/educator/poet laureate of Kentucky
Allen Tate critic/poet/novelist
Helen Thomas journalist, UPI White House Bureau Chief
Robert Penn Warren Pulitzer Prize 1947, 1958,1979

Entertainers
*Not born in Kentucky

Ned Beatty - actor
Foster Brooks - comedian
John Carpenter - producer/director
Steven Curtis Chapman - singer
George Clooney - actor
Nick Clooney - actor
Rosemary Clooney - singer
John Conlee - singer
William Conrad - actor
J.D. Crowe - singer
Billy Ray Cyrus - singer
Jackie De Shannon - singer
Johnny Depp - actor
Irene Dunn - actress
Don & Phil Everly - singers
Rebecca Gayheart - actress
Crystal Gayle - singer
Haven Gillespie - songwriter
Lillian Gish - actress
D.W. Griffith - movie producer
Tom T. Hall - singer
Lionel Hampton - musician
Larnell Harris - singer
Kentucky Headhunters - musicians
Ashley Judd - actress
Naomi Judd - singer
Wyonna Judd - singer
Brian Littrell - singer
Patty Loveless - singer
Loretta Lynn - singer
Lee Majors - actor
Bill Monroe - singer
John Michael Montgomery - singer
Patricia Neal - actress
Joan Osborne - singer
Annie Potts - actress
Boots Randolph - musician
Kevin Richardson - singer
Jeanie Ritchie - singer
Ricky Skaggs - singer
Mary Travers - singer
Merle Travis - singer
Steve Wariner - singer
Keith Whitley - singer
Dwight Yoakum - singer

Sports Personalities
*Not born in Kentucky

Muhammad Ali - boxing
Don Brumfield - jockey
Jim Bunning - baseball
Steve Cauthen - jockey
A.B. "Happy" Chandler - baseball
Denny Crum* - basketball
Darrell Griffith - basketball
Paul Hornung - football
Tamara McKinney - skiing
Mary Meagher - swimming
Isaac Burns Murphy - jockey
Pee Wee Reese - baseball
Adolph Rupp* - basketball
Woody Stephens - horse trainer
Danny Sullivan - auto racing
Wes Unseld - basketball
Darrell Waltrip - auto racing