The following list includes notable people who were born or have lived in

Quincy, Illinois Quincy ( ), known as Illinois's "Gem City", is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Illinois, United States, located on the Mississippi River. The 2020 census counted a population of 39,463 in the city itself, down from 40,633 in 2010. ...

. For a similar list organized alphabetically by last name, see the category page

People from Quincy, Illinois A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, ...

Acting and comedy

Crime

Fine arts

Journalism and writing

Harriet Bates Harriet Bates (July 30, 1856 – March 1886) was a 19th-century American author of poetry and novels.''Dictionary of Women Worldwide'' (2007) Gale. Online version retrieved 17 July 2014 . Her pen name, Eleanor Putnam, had been the maiden name of ...

(1856-1886), poet and novelist * Ernest Hemmings, founder of the popular ''

Hemmings Motor News ''Hemmings Motor News'' (HMN) is a monthly magazine catering to traders and collectors of antique, classic, and exotic sports cars. It is the largest and oldest publication of its type in the United States, with sales of 215,000 copies per mont ...

'' magazine *

Rick Hummel Richard Lowell Hummel (born February 25, 1946) is an American author and sports columnist best known for his work for the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch''. Hummel was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in 2007 ...

, Hall of Fame baseball writer * Thomas A. Oakley, CEO and chairman of

Quincy Newspapers Quincy Media, Inc., formerly known as Quincy Newspapers, Inc., was a family-owned media company that originated in the newspapers of Quincy, Illinois. The company's history can be traced back to 1835, when the ''Bounty Land Register'' was one of ...

Arthur Pitney Arthur H. Pitney (1871–1933) was an American inventor and businessman best known as the father of the postage meter. Pitney filed a patent application, in Stamford, Connecticut for the world’s first postage meter on December 9, 1901. He ...

, inventor of the postage meter *

Jean Rabe Jean Rabe is an American journalist, editor, gamer and writer of fantasy and mystery. After a career as a newspaper reporter, she was employed by TSR, Inc. for several years as head of the Role Playing Game Association and editor of the ''Polyhe ...

, author *

James B. Stewart James Bennett Stewart (born c. 1952) is an American lawyer, journalist, and author. Early life and education Stewart was born in Quincy, Illinois. He graduated from DePauw University and Harvard Law School. Career He is a member of the Bar o ...

, author

Military

Thomas Scott Baldwin Thomas Scott Baldwin (June 30, 1854 – May 17, 1923) was a pioneer balloonist and U.S. Army major during World War I. He was the first American to descend from a balloon by parachute. Early career Thomas Scott Baldwin was born on June 30, 18 ...

, US Army major during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

; aviation pioneer and

balloonist In aeronautics, a balloon is an unpowered aerostat, which remains aloft or floats due to its buoyancy. A balloon may be free, moving with the wind, or tethered to a fixed point. It is distinct from an airship, which is a powered aerostat that ...

Albert Cashier Albert D. J. Cashier (December 25, 1843 – October 10, 1915), born Jennie Irene Hodgers, was an American soldier who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Cashier adopted the identity of a man before enlisting, and maintained ...

, Union Army soldier during the Civil War * James Dada Morgan, Union Army general during the Civil War *

Benjamin Prentiss Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss (November 23, 1819 – February 8, 1901) was an American soldier and politician. He fought in the Mexican–American War and on the Union (American Civil War), Union side of the American Civil War, rising to the rank of ...

, Union Army general during the Civil War *

Scott L. Thoele Scott L. Thoele (born 1958) is a retired Major general (United States), major general in the National Guard of the United States. His final assignment was as Deputy Commanding General for the Reserve Component of United States Army Forces Command. ...

, US Army National Guard brigadier general *

Paul Tibbets Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. (23 February 1915 – 1 November 2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force. He is best known as the aircraft captain who flew the B-29 Superfortress known as the '' Enola Gay'' (named after his mot ...

, World War II pilot, ''

Enola Gay The ''Enola Gay'' () is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, piloted by Tibbets and Robert A. Lewis during the final stages of World War II, it be ...

Music

* Ray Burke clarinetist *

Ralph Carmichael Ralph Carmichael (May 27, 1927 – October 18, 2021) was an American composer and arranger of both secular pop music and contemporary Christian music. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of contemporary Christian music. Early Life and Career ...

, composer *

Micki Free Micki Free (born May 20, 1955) is a guitarist and singer of Native American descent. He won a Grammy Award for his contribution to the ''Beverly Hills Cop'' (1984) movie soundtrack and has won two Native American Music Awards. He is the director ...

, professional musician * Tom Goss, musician, born in Quincy *

The Graduate ''The Graduate'' is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Wil ...

(members Corey Warning and Jared Wuestenberg) *

Bob Havens Robert Havens (born May 3, 1930) is an American big band and jazz musician who appeared on ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' from 1960 to 1982. His instrument is the trombone. Early life Born to a musical family in Quincy, Illinois, he began studying ...

, jazz musician *

Charlie "Specks" McFadden Charles Pertum, known professionally as Charlie "Specks" McFadden (April 24, 1895 – November 15, 1966), was an American country blues singer and songwriter. On his few recordings, released from 1929 to 1937, he was accompanied by Roosevelt Syk ...

, country blues singer and songwriter *

Tony Peck Tony Peck (born September 5, 1983 in Louisiana, Missouri) is the drummer for Peoria, Illinois based band, The Forecast. He was raised in Pleasant Hill, Illinois and is a 2002 graduate of Pleasant Hill High School where he was active in the schoo ...

, member of the rock band

The Forecast ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

Politics

* A. Otis Arnold, Illinois state legislator and businessman * Thomas Awerkamp, Illinois State Senator and businessman *

Horace S. Cooley Horace S. Cooley (1806 – April 2, 1850) was an American politician. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Cooley studied medicine and then law. In 1840, Cooley moved to Rushville, Illinois and then finally settled in Quincy, Illinois. In 1842, Coo ...

, Illinois Secretary of State *

Laura Kent Donahue Laura Kent Donahue (born April 22, 1949) was an American businesswoman and politician. She served as a Republican member of the Illinois Senate from 1981 to 2003. Born in Quincy, Illinois, Donahue received a Bachelor of Science from Stephens Co ...

, Illinois State Senator *

Stephen Arnold Douglas Stephen Arnold Douglas (April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. A U.S. Senator, senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Pa ...

, youngest supreme court justice in Illinois history (27 years old); ran as a Democrat against Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election * Mary Lou Kent, Illinois state legislator *

Frederick Kreismann Frederick H. Kreismann (August 7, 1869 – November 1, 1944) was an American politician who served as mayor of St. Louis, Missouri from 1909 to 1913. He was a Republican. Education and background Kreismann was born in Quincy, Illinois and ...

, mayor of

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

* Charles E. Lippincott, California State Senator and Illinois Auditor * Benjamin M. Mitchell, state representative, born in Quincy'Illinois Blue Book 1927-1928,' Biographical Sketch of Benjamin M. Mitchell, pg. 252-253 *

Charles E. Morris Charles E. Morris was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly. Biography Morris was born in Utica, New York in 1814. In 1839, he settled in what would become Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where he was an attorney. Later, Morris briefly worked as a merch ...

, state assemblyman for

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

* Isaac N. Morris, state representative * Brian Munzlinger, state representative for

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

* Mark A. Penick, Illinois state senators *

William Alexander Richardson William Alexander Richardson (January 16, 1811 – December 27, 1875) was a prominent Illinois Democratic politician before and during the American Civil War. Born near Lexington, Kentucky, Richardson attended Transylvania University, and t ...

, U.S. Senator * Lillian E. Schlagenhauf, Illinois state senator and lawyer *

Onias C. Skinner Onias Childs Skinner (July 21, 1817 – February 4, 1877) was an American jurist and legislator. Born in Floyd, New York, Skinner moved to Peoria, Illinois in 1836. He then moved to Greenville, Ohio where he studied law and was admitted to the ...

, Illinois jurist and legislator *

William Rudolph Smith William Rudolph Smith (August 31, 1787August 22, 1868) was an American lawyer, politician, pioneer, and historian from Pennsylvania who served as the 5th Attorney General of Wisconsin and the first President of the Wisconsin Historical Society. ...

, attorney general of

Max C. Starkloff Max Carl Starkloff (December 30, 1858 – January 15, 1942) was an American physician and the Health Commissioner for St. Louis, Missouri, from 1895 to 1903 and from 1911 to 1933. He is noted for closing all public venues and prohibiting public g ...

(1858-1942), St. Louis Health Commissioner who introduced

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious disea ...

during the

1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

* Art Tenhouse, Illinois state legislator * William D. Turner, state assemblyman for Wisconsin * John Wood, city founder and the 12th

governor of Illinois The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois, and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by p ...

Religion

* Edgar Johnson Goodspeed, theologian and scholar *

Etta Semple Etta Semple (''née'' Martha Etta Donaldson September 21, 1854 - April 11, 1914) was an American Atheism, atheist and Feminism, feminist activist, Editing, editor, Publishing, publisher and community leader in Ottawa, Kansas. She was the president ...

, atheist activist * Father

Augustus Tolton John Augustus Tolton (April 1, 1854 – July 9, 1897), baptized Augustine Tolton, was the first Catholic priest in the United States publicly known to be Black. (The Healy brothers, who preceded him, all passed for White.) Tolton was ordaine ...

, first African-American priest

Sports

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:List of people from Quincy, Illinois Quincy–Hannibal area * Quincy Quincy