The Resume

(January 6, 1842-December 24, 1901)
Born in Newport, Rhode Island
First director of the US Geological Survey (1879-81)
Wrote 'Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada' (1872) and 'Systematic Geology' (1878)
Married African-American nurse Ada Copeland, claiming that he was a black Pullman porter named James Todd
Subject of the biography 'Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line' (2009)

Why he might be annoying:

With his blue eyes and fair skin, he should have been even less convincing as a black man than C. Thomas Howell in 'Soul Man.'
He did not reveal his true identity to Ada until he was on his deathbed.
His and Ada's two daughters 'passed' for white, marrying into white families, while their three sons were declared 'colored' when they were drafted during WWI and sent into all-black units.

Why he might not be annoying:

He exposed a fraudulent diamond mine in Nevada, preventing a speculative bubble and prompting one newspaper to editorialize, 'We have escaped, thanks to God and Clarence King, a great financial calamity.'
Former Secretary of State John Hay called him the 'best and brightest man of his generation.'
He said he dreamed of a future 'when there are no more Irish or Germans, negroes and English, but only Americans belonging to one defined American race.'
He illustrated the idiocy of anti-miscegenation laws and the 'one drop' rule.

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• 19th Century Scientists
• 20th Century Scientists
• Breeders [Have 5 or More Kids] (Ranked: 5)
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 31]
• I Could Pass for Black
• I Died Before Unwrapping Presents [Christmas Eve - December 24th] (Ranked: 1901)
• I Died in 1901 (Ranked: 59)
• I Had a Nervous Breakdown
• I Have Tuberculosis
• I Married Outside My Race
• Look at Me, I'm in a Field or Meadow
• My Spouse is at Least Ten Years Younger than Me
• Profiles 29751-30000 (Ranked: 29867)
• Scientists

Year In Review:

For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 6 Votes: 16.67% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 17 Votes: 76.47% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 7 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
In 2010, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying