Famous People from Massachusetts

• John Adams (1735 - 1826) The 2^nd President of the United States; born in Quincy.

• John Quincy Adams (1767 - 1848) The 6^th President of the United States and son of John Adams; born in Quincy.

• Samuel Adams (1722 - 1803) Revolutionist that organized the Boston Tea Party, referred to as the "Father of the American Revolution”; born in Boston.

• Louisa May Alcott (1832 - 1888) Author of the classic novel Little Women; grew up in Boston.

• Leonard Bernstein (1918 - 1990) First American conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and famous for composing the music to West Side Story; born in Lawrence.

• George Bush (1924 - ) The 41^st President of the United States; born in Milton.

• Bette Davis (1908 - 1989) Actress that earned ten Academy Award nominations and won twice, famous for The Little Foxes and All About Eve; born in Lowell

• Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886) Famous poet of American literature; born in Amherst.

• Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790) Inventor, statesman, and publisher that helped write the Declaration of Independence; born in Boston.

• John Hancock (1737 - 1793) Merchant, statesman, first signer of the Declaration of Independence, and first governor of the state of Massachusetts.

• Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 - 1864) Author of The Scarlet Letter; born in Salem.

• Theodore Seuss Geisel (1904 - 1991) Author who created the Dr. Seuss books; born in Springfield.

• John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963) The 35^th President of the United States; born in Brookline.

• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882) Considered the most influential poet of his day with famous works such as “The Courtship of Miles Standish” and “Evangeline.”

• Horace Mann (1796 - 1859) The father of public education; helped to establish the nation’s first board of education and was a leading figure in promoting nonreligious public education; born in Franklin. 
• Paul Revere (1734 - 1818), silversmith and patriot; born in Boston.
• Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862) Essayist, naturalist, and philosopher; born in Concord.

More Famous People of Massachusetts

• Jack Albertson actor, Malden
• Horatio Alger author, Revere
• Susan B. Anthony woman suffragist, Adams
• F. Lee Bailey defense attorney, Waltham
• Clara Barton American Red Cross founder, Oxford
• Forrest M. Bird inventor, Stoughton
• Harold Stephen Black inventor, Leominster
• Rachel Fuller Brown inventor, Springfield
• William Cullen Bryant poet, editor, Cummington
• Luther Burbank horticulturalist, Lancaster
• John Chapman / Johnny Appleseed nurseryman, Leominster
• William D. Coolidge inventor, Hudson
• John Singleton Copley painter, Boston
• E. E. Cummings poet, Cambridge
• Cecil B. DeMille film director, Ashfield
• Ralph Waldo Emerson philosopher, poet, Boston
• Brian Evans singer, Haverhill
• Ann Smith Franklin printer, almanac publisher, Boston
• Buckminster Fuller architect, educator, Milton
• Robert Hutchings Goddard rocketry, Worcester
• Oliver Wendell Holmes poet, Cambridge
• Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. jurist, Boston
• Winslow Homer painter, Boston
• Elias Howe inventor, Spencer
• Helen Hunt Jackson writer, Amherst
• John F. Kennedy U.S. president, Brookline
• Amy Lowell poet, Brookline
• Percival Lowell astronomer, Boston
• James Russell Lowell poet, Cambridge
• Robert Lowell poet, Boston
• Cotton Mather clergyman, Boston
• Sharon Christa McAuliffe teacher, astronaut, Framingham
• Samuel F. B. Morse painter, inventor, Charlestown
• Leonard Nemoy actor, Boston
• Albert Pike pioneer teacher, lawyer, Boston
• Edgar Allan Poe writer, Boston
• Ella Raines actress, Snoquaimie
• Robert H. Rines inventor, Boston
• Dr. Seuss   Theodore Geisel author, illustrator, Springfield
• Lucy Stone woman suffragist, West Brookfield
• Louis Henry Sullivan architect, Boston
• Max Tishler inventor, Boston
• James McNeill Whistler painter, Lowell
• Eli Whitney inventor, Westborough
• John Greenleaf Whittier poet, Haverhill
• Eli Whitney inventor, Westboro
• Jo Dee Messina country singer, Holliston