List of Famous people born on August 17th

Sidney Edgerton was an American politician, lawyer, judge and teacher from Ohio. He served during the American Civil War, as a Squirrel Hunter. During this time, Edgerton served as a U.S. Congressman. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln appointed him the first Chief justice of the Idaho Territorial Court. Edgerton lobbied for the creation of separate territories, out of the Idaho Territory, and in 1864, Abraham Lincoln appointed Edgerton as the first Territorial Governor of Montana. During his term as Territorial Governor, he was an alleged member of the infamous Montana Vigilantes, and was reputedly among its founders.

Joseph Daniel Harris is a mathematician at Harvard University working in the field of algebraic geometry. After earning an AB from Harvard College, he continued at Harvard to study for a PhD under Phillip Griffiths.

Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro was an Italian Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, and the last man to have his candidacy for papal election vetoed through jus exclusivae by a Catholic monarch.