Notable Birthdays for October 26
William Sprague (1609-1675)- Co-founder of Charlestown, MA.
C. W. Post (1854-1914) - Founder of Post Foods.
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Frank Eaton (1860-1958) - Marshal known as Pistol Pete.
Benjamin Guggenheim (1865-1912) - Wealthy American businessman traveling back the U.S. that perished on the Titanic.
William Kissam Vanderbilt II (1878-1944) -Motor racing enthusiast, yachtsman andmember of the Vanderbilt family.
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Napoleon Hill (1883-1970) - Author of Think and Grow Rich.
Paul Pilgrim (1883-1958) - Olympic gold runner.
Henrietta Hill Swope (1902-1980) - Astronomer who studied Cepheid stars.
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Mahalia Jackson (1911-2072) - Gospel singer considered one of the most prominent vocalists of the 20th century.
Jackie Coogan (1914-1984) - One of the first child stars in movie history.
Frank Bourgholtzer (1919-2010) - White House correspondent.
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Sarah Lee Lippincott (1920-2019) - Astronomer and professor.
Joe Fulks (1921-1976) - The first highest scoring forward in the NBA.
Warne Marsh (1927-1987) - Member of the musical group Supesax.
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Neal Matthews Jr. (1929-2000) - Member of the country music backup singers The Jordanaires.
Hot Rod Hundley (1934-2015) - Number one pick for the 1957 NBA draft.
Mike Gray (1935-2013) - Founder of the Chicago Film Group company.
Gloria Conyers Hewitt (1935-Still Living) - Fourth Black woman in the U.S. to receive a PH.D. in Mathematics
Shelley Morrison (1936-2019) - Actress known for her role as maid Rosario Salazar in Will & Grace.
Eddie Henderson (1940-Still Living) - Trumpet player who was a member of Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi band.
Steven Kellogg (1941-Still Living) - Author who wrote and illustrated over 90 children's books.
Pat Conroy (1945-2016) - Author who had several books made into movies, including The Prince of Tides.
Nancy Davis Griffeth (1945-Still Living) - Computer scientist who made significant contributions to the study of the feature interaction problem.
Jaclyn Smith (1945-Still Living) - Actress whose role as Kelly Garrett in Charlie's Angels made her a superstar.
Pat Sajak (1946-Still Living) - Former host of the game show Wheel of Fortune.
Keith Strickland (1953-Still Living) - Founding members of the B-52s.
D. W. Moffett (1954-Still Living) - Actor known for his role in Friday Night Lights and Black Widow.
James Pickens Jr. (1954-Still Living) - Actor known for his role as Dr. Richard Webber in Grey's Anatomy.
Rita Wilson (1956-Still Living) - Actress with credits in Runaway Bride and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but also the wife of actor Tom Hanks.
Dylan McDermott (1961-Still Living) - Actor known for his role as Bobby Donnell in the television drama Practice.
Jack Morelli (1962-Still Living) - Designer and creator of fonts for comic books.
Ted Demme (1963-2022) - Director Blow and Beautiful Girls.
Natalie Merchant (1963-Still Living) - Lead vocalist of 10,000 Maniacs.
Seth MacFarlane (1973-Still Living) - Star of Family Guy, but also an illustrator for cartoons like Johnny Bravo.
Jon Heder (1977-Still Living) - Actor best known for Napoleon Dynamite.
Molly Gibson (2020-Still Living) - Record holder for longest-frozen embryo to be frozen and born 28 years later.
Memorable Events for October 26
1682 - William Penn leases land along the Delaware River from Duke of York.
1749 - The Georgia Colony reverses an earlier decision and rules slavery is illegal.
1774 - The First Continental Congress adjourns.
1776 - Benjamin Franklin departs for France seeking French support for the American Revolution.
1813 - British regulars, Canadian militia and Mohawks defeat the U.S. Army in the Battle of the Chateauguay.
1824 - Even though Andrew Jackson wins the majority vote to become president, John Quincy Adams wins after a contingent election in the House of Representatives is held.
1858 - The rotary washing machine patent is given to Hamilton Smith.
1861 - The Pony Express from Missouri to California ends after only 19 months.
1864 - Bloody Bill Anderson is ambushed by Union soldiers near Albany, MS.
1869 - The first steeplechase horse race is held at Westchester, NY.
1881 - Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday have a shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, AZ.
1892 - Female Black author Ida B. Wells publishes Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.
1903 - The first crosses San Francisco Bay.
1916 - Margaret Sanger arrested and charged with obscenity for advocating birth control.
1919 - President Wilson's veto of Prohibition Enforcement Bill is overridden and passed into law.
1927 - Jazz singer Adelaide Hall records Creole Love Call and Blues I Love to Sing with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
1936 - Hoover Dam goes into full operation by using the first electric generator.
1942 - A U.S. aircraft carrier is sunk and another heavily damaged after a fight with two Japanese carriers.
1944 - Americans gain an overwhelming victory at the The Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines.
1949 - President Truman increases minimum wage from 40 cents to 75 cents.
1954 - The V-8 engine is released by Chevrolet.
1955 - The NY City subway fare increased from 10 cents to 15 cents.
1958 - Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight to Paris from NY City.
1970 - The comic strip Doonesbury makes its debut in 28 newspapers.
1970 - Muhammad Ali returns to the ring after being banned for refusing to serve in the Vietnam War.
1973 - President Nixon releases the first set of tapes on the Watergate scandal.
2001 - The United States passes the USA PATRIOT Act into law.
2004 - Rockstar Games releases Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the PlayStation 2.
2012 - Microsoft debuts Windows 8.
2020 - NASA announces the discover of more water on the Moon.
2021 - Elon Musk's SpaceX launches a crew of four astronauts into space.
