Notable Hannibalians


Morris Anderson
(nation-wide orator in the Chautauqua in the 1920's) was a Hannibal native, served as mayor and was a moving force in the development of the city in civic, industrial, and cultural fields.

Jake Beckley
("Old Eagle Eye" - baseball player on three major league teams and inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971) lived in Hannibal.

James Carroll Beckwith
(portrait artist) was born in Hannibal in 1852.

Margaret Tobin Brown
("The UNsinkable Molly Brown") was born in Hannibal in 1867 and survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.

Blanche Kelso Bruce
(second Negro to hold the office of U.S. Senator) was a teacher in Hannibal.

Marie Rouff Byrum
Cast the first vote by a woman in the United States in a special election in Hannibal on August 31, 1920.

Samuel Langhorn Clemens
Mark Twain), born (1835) in Florida, Missouri but lived and grew up in Hannibal from 1839-1853.

Admiral Robert E. Coontz
(Commander of the United States Fleet in 1923) was born in Hannibal.

Helen Cornelius
Country singing star grew up near Hannibal.

George L. Crosby
(photographer/artist) whose paintings are displayed in the Mark Twain Museum, lived in the city in the 1870's.

Arvids Danielson
(Artist known for his Mississippi River paintings in the 1970's) lived in Hannibal from 1955 until his death.

Cliff Edwards
(Actor/musician known as Ukelele Ike) was born in Hannibal. In Hollywood he appeared in many films and was the voice of Jiminy Cricket.

Jack Fascinato
(Arrranger/accompanist for Tennessee Ernie Ford) was Hannibal school orchestra director in the 1930's.

Lester Gaba
(Artist) was born in Hannibal in 1907.

Clarence Gideon
(inspiration for the book Gideon's Trumpetby Anthony Lewis) lived his life in Hannibal from 1910-1972. While serving a prison sentence for thievery, he began a persistant series of letters to authorities pointing out the unfairness poor people experience in the legal system because of their inability to afford counsel. His efforts led to the landmark decision in 1963 by the US Supreme Court giving indigents the right to legal counsel.

Mary Louise Gillett
(First woman to receive a degree at the University of Missouri in 1870) was a Hannibal native.

Roy Hamlin
(Missouri legislator/Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives for four terms) was a Hannibal native.

Dr. Florence Helm
(Advisory staff of the United States Treasury Department during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt) was a native of Hannibal and a descendant of Judge John B. Helm, a prominent Hannibal pioneer.

Henry LaCossitt
(Journalist/editor of Collier's Magazine) spent his boyhood in Hannibal.

William P. Lear
(inventor of the first automobile radio, the first automatic pilot for airplanes, and inventor/producer of the Lear Jet) was born in Hannibal in 1902.

Donald M. Nelson
(Director of the War Production Board of the United States in World War II) was born in Hannibal.

John Rogers
(sculptor) made his first sculptured genre groupings in Hannibal in the 1850's.

Doctor Margaret Ruck de Schell Schmidt
(first licensed woman doctor in Missouri) practiced medicined in Hannibal in the 1860's.

Florence Thorne
(Confidential assistant to Samuel Gompers in the early days of the American Federation of Labor) was born in Hannibal in 1877. She edited the American Federalist and was a descendant of Catherine and Jacob Mathews, the first settlers north of the North River in Marion County.

Egbert Anson Van Alstyne
(composer of "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" and other well-known songs of the World War I era) attended Hannibal schools and lived in Saverton, a small community south of Hannibal, in his youth.


[MailBox]Send question or comments to:webmaster
Return to the Historic and Literary Resoures page