Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift.

Famous People Born in May 1856

Robert Peary (1856-1920)

May 6 American arctic explorer who claimed to have 1st reached geographic North Pole (Apr 6 1909), born in Cresson, Pennsylvania

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

May 6 Austrian neurologist and father of psychology, born in Freiberg, Austrian Empire

  • May 13 Peter Henry Emerson, British writer and photographer (1st to promote photography as an independent art), born on La Palma Estate plantation, Cuba (d. 1936)
  • May 13 Tom O'Rourke, American boxing manager (George Dixon, Barbados Joe Walcott, George Gardner, Tom Sharkey), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1938)
  • May 15 (Lyman) L. Frank Baum, American children's book author (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz), born in Chittenango, New York (d. 1919)
  • May 20 Henri-Edmond Cross [Delacroix], French painter (Fauvism), born in Douai, France (d. 1910)
  • May 25 Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, French general during WWI, born in Mostaganem, French Algeria (d. 1942)
  • May 26 George Templeton Strong, American composer, born in New York City (d. 1948)