Famous people from Massachusetts? Everybody can name a few Boston-born legends, and we already covered those in our famous people from Boston list. But the Bay State is a lot bigger than the Hub. Some of the biggest names in American history were born in mill towns, college towns, suburbs and old farm towns you can reach without paying a toll on the Pike.
So here's the rule for this one: every person below was born in Massachusetts, but not in Boston proper. No repeats from the Boston post, either. We've got presidents, poets, a boxing champ, a cat-in-the-hat guy and a couple of funny people who turned a Boston accent into a career. Oldest to youngest, here are 12 famous people from Massachusetts who came up outside the city limits.
1. John Adams (born 1735): Quincy's Founding Father
John Adams was born on October 30, 1735, in what was then Braintree and is now Quincy. He grew up to help lead the American Revolution, serve as the first vice president and become the second president of the United States. His birthplace is still standing, a small wooden house with a big brick chimney, and it's part of the park that bears his name. Adams also died on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after the Declaration of Independence. Talk about knowing how to time a finish.
2. Henry David Thoreau (born 1817): Concord's Pond Philosopher
Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817, in Concord, and he never really left in spirit. On July 4, 1845, he moved into a small cabin by Walden Pond and stayed until September 1847, writing the book that became Walden (1854). He also spent a night in jail in 1846 for refusing to pay a poll tax, which led to his essay on civil disobedience. A guy who built a cabin to think and then wrote it all down. The original Massachusetts introvert, honestly.
3. Susan B. Anthony (born 1820): The Berkshires Raised a Rebel
Susan B. Anthony was born on February 15, 1820, in Adams, tucked up in the Berkshires. Her Quaker family moved to New York when she was six, and she grew up to be one of the leading voices for women's right to vote. In 1872 she was arrested in Rochester for voting, and later she became the first female citizen shown on U.S. coinage. Her birthplace in Adams is still standing. Western Mass doesn't get enough credit, and she's exhibit A.
4. Emily Dickinson (born 1830): Amherst's Private Genius
Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, at the family Homestead in Amherst. She wrote nearly 1,800 poems, but only ten were published while she was alive. Most people only found out how good she was after she died, when her work finally came out. You can still visit the Homestead in Amherst today. A lesson for anyone sitting on a great idea: somebody's going to find it eventually.
5. Dr. Seuss (born 1904): Springfield's Cat in the Hat
Theodor Seuss Geisel was born on March 2, 1904, in Springfield. Seuss was his mother's maiden name, and he used it as a pen name for more than 60 books, including The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham. His first children's book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, came out in 1937. Springfield has a Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden, and you can read about the Dr. Seuss museum that opened in Springfield too. Oh, the places you'll go, and one of them is Hampden County.
6. Bette Davis (born 1908): Lowell's Hollywood Queen
Ruth Elizabeth Davis, better known as Bette, was born on April 5, 1908, in Lowell. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Dangerous (1935) and again for Jezebel (1938), and in 1977 she became the first woman to receive the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award. Lowell is a proud old mill city, and if you want to rep it, our Lowell Mill Town MA T-Shirt is made for exactly that. Hollywood legend, hometown pride. Both can be true.
7. John F. Kennedy (born 1917): Brookline's Youngest Elected President
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917, at 83 Beals Street in Brookline. Yes, it's right next to Boston, but the birth certificate says Brookline, so it counts here. He commanded a PT boat in World War II, won the Pulitzer Prize for Profiles in Courage in 1957, and became the youngest elected president at 43. His mom, Rose, was born in the North End, and she's in our Boston post. Brookline gets the bragging rights on this one.
8. Jack Kerouac (born 1922): Lowell's King of the Beats
Jack Kerouac was born on March 12, 1922, in Lowell, to French-Canadian parents. He became a pioneer of the Beat Generation, and in 1957 he published On the Road, the book that made him famous. He finished the first version in a marathon three-week writing session in 1951. That gives Lowell two of America's biggest names born 14 years apart, which is a lot of talent for one mill city.
9. Rocky Marciano (born 1923): The Brockton Blockbuster
Rocco Francis Marchegiano was born on September 1, 1923, in Brockton, and the world knew him as Rocky Marciano. He was the world heavyweight champion from 1952 to 1956 and remains the only heavyweight champ to retire undefeated, with a perfect 49-0 record and 43 knockouts. Brockton still calls him its own, and the nickname says it all: the Brockton Blockbuster. That's a Massachusetts kid who never took a loss.
10. George H. W. Bush (born 1924): Milton's 41st President
George Herbert Walker Bush was born on June 12, 1924, in Milton. His family moved to Greenwich, Connecticut, the next year, but he was a Massachusetts kid on the birth certificate, and he went to Phillips Academy in Andover. He enlisted in the Navy on his 18th birthday and flew 58 combat missions in World War II. Decades later he became the 41st president of the United States. Milton gets a commander in chief and a little extra bragging rights at the next Thanksgiving.
11. Matt Damon (born 1970): Cambridge's Hometown Kid
Matt Damon was born on October 8, 1970, in Cambridge, and he went to Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. In 1997 he and his friend Ben Affleck wrote Good Will Hunting, and the two won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The idea started as a writing assignment at Harvard. Two Cambridge kids, one wicked smaaht script, an Oscar. If you've got a hometown pal with big dreams, our Wicked Smaaht University Massachusetts T-Shirt is a good gift.
12. Amy Poehler (born 1971): Newton's Queen of Comedy
Amy Poehler was born on September 16, 1971, in Newton, and grew up in nearby Burlington. She went to Boston College before moving to Chicago, then New York, where she was part of the Upright Citizens Brigade and became a founder of its theater. Fans know her from Saturday Night Live and the sitcom Parks and Recreation. Her gift is making a blue-collar Massachusetts town sound like the funniest place on earth. Burlington has a legend, and it's got her sense of humor.
Why Massachusetts Grows So Many Greats
Look at that list again: Quincy, Concord, Adams, Amherst, Springfield, Lowell, Brookline, Brockton, Milton, Cambridge and Newton. That's mill towns, college towns, farm towns and suburbs. Massachusetts has been producing big talent since before there was a United States, and it still shows up in every corner. Want more bragging material? Check out our fun facts about Massachusetts, then see which of our weird laws in Massachusetts you've already broken without knowing it. (Still not sure we're ready to tell you which ones.)
Born Here, Proud Everywhere
Some of these folks left the Commonwealth, some never did, but every single one of them started in a Massachusetts town. That's the Chowdaheadz way: wherever you landed, you rep your hometown. Our Love Massachusetts Script T-Shirt and Custom Massachusetts Zip Code T-Shirt are good places to start. Who's the famous person from your town? Tell us. We're listening.
Stay wicked proud, Massachusetts,
Ryan & the Chowdaheadz Crew