George Bernard Shaw ( 1856–1950 ) by Augustus John , 1915 Shaw, George Bernard ( 1856–1950 ), playwright and polemicist , was born on 26 July 1856 at 3 Upper Synge Street (later 33 Synge Street), Dublin. He was the third and youngest child, and only son, of George Carr Shaw (1815–1885) , a pensioned law-court clerk and failing corn merchant, and Lucinda Elizabeth, née Gurly (1830–1913) , daughter of Walter Bagnall Gurly , an impoverished country gentleman of co. Carlow. On his father's side Sonny , as Shaw was known as a child, came from the fading
Emily Howard Jennings Stowe (1831-1903) was a teacher and principal, a medical doctor, and a suffragette. Educated at home, Stowe became a teacher in 1846 and graduated from the Provincial Normal School in Toronto, Canada West in 1854. In 1865 Stowe applied to study medicine at the University of Toronto, but was denied entry because she was a woman. Unable to pursue her education in Canada, she attended the New York Medical College for Women. After graduating in 1867, Stowe returned to Toronto to practice medicine without a license. In 1870 she was allowed to attend the University of Toronto and was granted a medical license in 1880. In 1877 Emily Stowe organized Canada's first suffrage organization, initially called the Toronto Women's Literary Club, which later became the Toronto Women's Suffrage Club.
Lowell Jackson Thomas was born in Woodington, Ohio on 6 April 1892 to two school teachers, Harry G. Thomas and Harriet Wagner Thomas. The family did not remain in Darke County, Ohio for very long because Lowell's father wanted to become a doctor. Harry G. Thomas's pursuit of a medical degree led the family to Kirkman, Iowa where five-year-old Lowell was enrolled in school for the first time. Harry's studies soon led him to the University of Nebraska. Upon graduation, Harry G. Thomas followed his brother's suggestion to begin his medical practice in the twin mining boom towns of Cripple Creek and Victor, Colorado. It was here in the rugged American West that Lowell spent the better part of his childhood and young adult years.