Yale family

John Deere (February 7, 1804 – May 17, 1886) was an American blacksmith and manufacturer who founded Deere & Company, one of the largest and leading agricultural and construction equipment manufacturers in the world. Born in Rutland, Vermont, Deere moved to Illinois and invented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837.

Laura Celestia "Cettie" Spelman Rockefeller (September 9, 1839 – March 12, 1915) was an American abolitionist, philanthropist, school teacher, and prominent member of the Rockefeller family. Her husband was Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial were named for her.

Brian Joseph Yale (born November 14, 1968) is the bass guitarist for the band Matchbox Twenty and has been nominated for four Grammy Awards.

George Henry Bissell (November 8, 1821 – November 19, 1884) was an entrepreneur and industrialist who is often considered the father of the American oil industry.

Moses Yale Beach (January 7, 1800 – July 18, 1868) was an American inventor and publisher who started the Associated Press, and is credited with originating print syndication.

Lorenzo Da Ponte (born Emanuele Conegliano 10 March 1749 – 17 August 1838) was an Italian, later American opera librettist, poet and Roman Catholic priest. He wrote the libretti for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's most celebrated operas, The Marriage of Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), and Così fan tutte (1790).

Elihu Yale (5 April 1649 – 8 July 1721) was a British-American colonial administrator and philanthropist. Although born in Boston, Massachusetts, he only lived in America as a child, spending the rest of his life in England, Wales and India. Starting as a clerk, he eventually rose up to the rank of President of the British East India Company settlement in Fort St George, Madras. He later lost that position under charges of corruption for self-dealing and had to pay a fine. In 1699, he returned to Britain with a considerable fortune, around £200,000, mostly made by selling diamonds, and spent his time and wealth toward philanthropy and art collecting. He is best remembered as the primary benefactor of Yale College (now Yale University), which was named in his honor, following a sizable donation of books, portrait and textiles under the request of Rev. Cotton Mather, a Harvard graduate. No direct descendants of his have survived to this day.

Abbott Handerson Thayer (August 12, 1849 – May 29, 1921) was an American artist, naturalist and teacher. As a painter of portraits, figures, animals and landscapes, he enjoyed a certain prominence during his lifetime, and his paintings are represented in the major American art collections. He is perhaps best known for his 'angel' paintings, some of which use his children as models.

Charles H. Yale (1856-1920) was an American theatre producer and performer. Early in his career he worked for the Boylston Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1897 he formed a partnership in New York with David Henderson and W.J. Gilmore to produce "spectacular, operatic and musical plays." Among Yale's theatrical productions are The Sea King, The Devil's Auction and Twelve Temptations. He went bankrupt in 1910. He belonged to the National Theatrical Producing Managers Association. He died in Rochester, New York, in 1920.

Dwight Deere Wiman (August 8, 1895 – January 20, 1951) was an American silent movie actor, playwright and theatrical director. He is best known as a Broadway producer.