Gertrude Ederle
Gertrude Caroline Ederle was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world recordholder in five events. In 1926, she became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. Among other nicknames, the press sometimes called her Queen of the Waves.
Gertrude Ederle was born on October 23, 1905 in Manhattan, New York City. Ederle, the third of six children, was born in New York City, the daughter of German immigrants, Gertrude Anna Haberstroh and Henry Ederle. According to a biography of Ederle, Americas Girl, her father ran a butcher shop on Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. Her father taught her to swim in Highlands, New Jersey, where the family owned a summer cottage.
Source: Wikipedia