Burl Icle Ives (1909-1995), known as "The Wayfaring Stranger," was born near Hunt City, Illinois, and became an Oscar Award winning actor and folk singer best known for "Holly Jolly Christmas" and "Little Bitty Tear," for portraying Big Daddy in "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof," and for being the voice of Sam the Snowman in the animated feature "Rudolph." Other notable people connected with Jasper County include writer and educator Irene Hunt (1907-2001), who received a Newbery Honor Citation, the Lewis Carroll Sheriff Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award for "Across Five Aprils," and the Newbery Medal for "Up A Road Slowly"; Lawrence Yates Sherman (1858-1939), a Republican U.S. Senator from 1913-1921 whose family moved to Jasper County in 1867 and who served as State Representative from 1897-1904 and Lieutenant Governor from 1905-1908; Lawrence Fletcher Arnold (1891-1966), born in Newton, who served as an Illinois State Representative from 1923-1927 and again from 1933-1937 and as a three term U.S. Congressional Representative from 1937-1943; Hale Johnson (1847-1902), who moved to Illinois in 1865 and became the Prohibitionist Party candidate for Governor and later that year for Vice-President in 1896; Lowell R. Bales (1900-1931), an air race pilot who won the 1931 Thompson Trophy flying the Gee Bee model Z and was killed in a crash while attempting a new speed record of over 300 miles per hour; Albert E. Isley (1871-1953), an Illinois State Senator born and raised in Jasper County who served in the 46th and 47th Illinois General Assemblies beginning in 1908; and George Washington Fithian (1854-1921), born near Willow Hill, who was admitted to the bar in 1875, served as the States Attorney in Jasper County, and was a U.S. Congressman from 1889-1895.