Famous German-Americans
Americans of German, Austrian, or
German-Swiss Ancestry
A Biographical Index: G-H-I
An alphabetical list of significant Americans, both living and dead, who were born in German-speaking Europe or had Germanic ancestors—handy for biographical projects or general inspiration. For some of them, you can click on the name or link to learn more. Also see German-Americans listed by category (architecture, music, etc.) Our list also includes Austrian and Swiss-Americans.
Also see: Famous Germans and the Top 100 Germans
German-Americans
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G
Clark Gable (1901-1960) was a German-American actor who appeared in Hollywood film classics from Gone with the Wind to The Misfits. Both Gable's mother (Adeline Hershelman) and father (William H. Gable) had German ancestors (Frankenfield, Hershelman, and Haupt) who had settled in Pennsylvania. Despite unfounded claims found all over the Web, it is a myth that Gable's name was once spelled "Goebel." No one in Clark Gable's family tree ever had a German version of the Gable surname, going back five generations to 1790.
Lou Gehrig (1903-1941) - Baseball Hall of Fame member, born Ludwig Heinrich Gehrig in New York City to German immigrant parents. Both his mother and father were Lutherans born in Germany: Christina Flack in Schleswig-Holstein, Heinrich Gehrig in Baden. They came to America separately, met in New York and were married there in 1900. Gehrig, known as "The Iron Horse," played first base for the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1939. For part of that time he was teamed with fellow German Babe Ruth. Gehrig died of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, "Lou Gehrig's Disease") in 1941. WEB > Lou Gehrig (official site)
Dick Gephardt (1941- ) was a U.S. congressman from 1977 to 2005. Gephardt made unsuccessful bids to become the Democratic presidential candidate in 1988 and 2004. His father, Lou Gephardt, was the grandson of German immigrants. He farmed family land in Washington, Missouri until moving the family to St. Louis, where he sold life insurance and real estate. Dick Gephardt grew up in South St. Louis and later became a lawyer. WEB > The Gephardt Family Tree
Gustav Goelitz (1846-1901) was a candy and ice cream merchant whose endeavours led to candy corn and the Jelly Belly candy company. Gustav and his brother Albert arrived in America in 1867. Two years later Gustav bought a confectionery firm in Belleville, Illinois. WEB > The Goelitz Family and JellyBelly.com
Stefanie 'Steffi' Graf (1969- ) was the world's number one woman tennis player in the 1980s and 1990s. She won 22 Grand Slam singles titles. She retired from pro tennis in 1999. Born June 14, 1969 in Mannheim, Germany, Graf learned to play tennis from her father, Peter Graf. On October 22, 2001 Stefanie married American tennis champ Andre Agassi at his home in Las Vegas. They now have two children, son Jaden Gil and daughter Jaz Elle. WEB > StefanieGraf.com
Walter Gropius (1883-1969) was the founder of the Bauhaus school of architecture and industrial design in Germany (1925), which was housed in Weimar and Dessau before being closed by the Nazi regime in 1933. Gropius came to the the U.S. in 1937 and taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In 1945 he founded The Architects' Collaborative (TAC) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. TAC became a prominent and highly respected architectural firm with projects all over the world. WEB > W. Gropius - Streifzug (German and English)
Also see German-Americans
by Categories (Architecture, Music, etc.)
H
William Hahn (1829-1887) was a painter born Karl Wilhelm Hahn in Ebersbach, Saxony, Germany on January 7, 1829. After art studies in Germany and some success in Europe, Hahn met the American artist William Keith in Düsseldorf and went to the U.S. in 1871. Hahn soon had a studio in San Francisco and became very successful, notably for his paintings of California scenes and landscapes. In 1882 he married an American artist named Adelaide Rising. They were on an extended European tour when he died unexpectedly in Dresden.
Oscar Hammerstein (1847-1919), Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960) and Oscar Hammerstein III (1905-2003) - The first Oscar Hammerstein was born in Stettin, Pommerania (now part of northern Germany and Poland). He arrived in New York during the Civil War in 1864. Best known as an opera promoter, Hammerstein was also "...an inventor, writer, editor, publisher, composer, speculator, designer, builder, promoter, showman." He is also known as the "Father of Times Square." Oscar Hammerstein II, the first Hammerstein's grandson, was born in New York in 1895 and later became famous as one half of the Broadway musical production team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. With composer Richard Rodgers, Hammerstein created a string of popular musicals, including "Oklahoma!," "South Pacific," and "The Sound of Music." Also see: Edelweiss with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. WEB > Oscar Hammerstein from the Jewish Virtual Library
Henry J. Heinz (1844-1919) was the founder and president of the H. J. Heinz Company (1869, as Heinz Noble & Company) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father, Henry (Heinrich) Heinz, was born in Kahlstadt, Bavaria, and came to America in 1840. In 1843 he married Anna Margaretta Schmitt, also from Germany, and a little more than a year later Henry John Heinz was born. The company's famous slogan, "57 varieties," was introduced by Heinz in 1896. The number was chosen merely for its sound, since even at that time Heinz was producing many more than 57 product varieties. Heinz revolutionized the way that food and condiments were marketed and sold. By the early 1900s Heinz had also opened factories in England. Heinz became so well established there that many Brits thought it was a British company. Today the H.J. Heinz Co. has plants and distributors all over the world.
Milton Hershey (1857-1945) earned his fortune by appealing to people's sweet tooth and love of chocolate. Hershey was born on September 13, 1857, in a farmhouse near Derry Church, Pennsylvania. He was a descendant of immigrants who had come to Pennsylvania from Switzerland and Germany in the 1700s. Raised as a Mennonite, he attended school only through the fourth grade. After working in the candy/caramel business for several years in various places from Louisiana to Colorado, and following several business failures, Hershey purchased some German chocolate-making equipment for his plant in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Hershey Chocolate Company was founded in 1894 and soon expanded to become one of the world's largest candy and food manufacturers. Hershey helped turn chocolate from an expensive Swiss-made delicacy into a confection that everyone could afford. WEB > Milton Hershey - School and bio
Paul Hindemith (1895-1963), the composer and violinist, was born in and died in Germany, but he lived and worked in the U.S. from 1940 to 1953, and became an American citizen in 1946. After leaving Germany (the Nazis labeled his music "degenerate"), Hindemith taught at Harvard and Yale. He settled in Switzerland in 1953, joining the music faculty at the university in Zurich. Hindemith has been termed "one of the main innovators of musical modernism." His best known, most popular opus is "Symphonic Metamorphoses of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber" (1943). WEB > Paul Hindemith - Wikipedia
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For FILM PEOPLE: The German-Hollywood Connection
For famous WOMEN: Famous German Women (MSCD)
More: Bios - German-Americans (German Corner)
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