Memorable Americans
Hanover College Students, 2004-2015

 

First Question

The following are the names that Hanover students have supplied on being asked to name the first ten people who come to mind for American history through the Civil War. The list is organized with the most often cited names first. Fourteen Great Works classes have taken this survey since Fall 2004, for a total of 160 students; this year, 13 students took the survey. The numbers in parentheses represent the number of students (out of this year's 13 and out of the total 160) who include that name on their list.


Lincoln, Abraham (12 of 13; 121 of 160)
Washington, George (11 of 13; 121 of 160)

Franklin, Benjamin (9 of 13; 82 of 160)
Jefferson, Thomas (9 of 13; 82 of 160)

Adams, John (6 of 13; 52 of 160)
Grant, Ulysses S. (5 of 13; 46 of 160)
Lee, Robert E. (1 of 13; 40 of 160)

Hancock, John (1 of 13; 33 of 160)
Tubman, Harriet (4 of 13; 25 of 160)
Columbus, Christopher (3 of 13; 22 of 160)

Revere, Paul (2 of 13; 18 of 160)
Booth, John Wilkes (2 of 13; 16 of 160)
Jackson, Stonewall (1 of 13; 16 of 160)
Madison, James (3 of 13; 16 of 160)
Smith, John (2 of 13; 14 of 160)
Douglass, Frederick (2 of 13; 12 of 160)
Jackson, Andrew (1 of 13; 12 of 160)

Lewis & Clark (0 of 13; 10 of 160)
Adams, Abigail (2 of 13; 9 of 160)
Arnold, Benedict (1 of 13; 7 of 160)
Adams, John Quincy (0 of 13; 6 of 160)
Pocahontas (2 of 13; 6 of 160)

Five of 160 students included the following:
Adams, Sam (1 of 13)
Davis, Jefferson
Hamilton, Alexander (2 of 13)
Washington, Martha

Four of 160 students included the following:
Adams, no first name
Boone, Daniel
Jackson (no first name)
Paine, Thomas
Sacagawea (1 of 13)
Shays, Daniel
Sherman, W. T. (1 of 13)

Three of 160 students included the following:
Clark (no first name) (1 of 13)
Clay, Henry
Henry, Patrick
Jay, John (1 of 13)
Lewis (no first name) (1 of 13)
Lewis, Meriwether (see also Lewis & Clark)
Lincoln, Mary Todd
Taylor, Zachary

Two of 160 students included the following:
Addams, Jane
Anthony, Susan B. (1 of 13)
Crockett, Davy
Custer, George Armstrong (1 of 13)
Dickinson, Emily
Graham, no first name
Hayes, Rutherford B. 
Polk, James
Stowe, Harriett Beecher
Whitney, Eli

One of 160 students included the following:
Adams, James (1 of 13)
Allcott, Louisa May
Attucks, Crispus
Barton, Clara
Bibb, Henry
Bradford, James
Buchanan, James
Burnside, Ambrose
Calhoun, John C.
Chamberlain, Joshua
Clark, George Rogers
Cornwallis, Charles
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
Fillmore, Millard
George III (of England) (1 of 13)
Hatfield, Anderson
Howe, William
Johnson, Andrew
Keckly, Elizabeth?
Kenton, Simon
Key, Francis Scott
LaFayette, Marquis de
Lee, Henry
Madison, Dolly
McCoy, Randall
Meade, George
Penn, William
Poe, Edgar Allen
Ross, Betsy
Sherman, George
Sojourner Truth
Squanto
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady
Tecumseh
Thoreau, Henry David
Vanderbilt family
Wheatley, Phillis


Twelve students (one this term) listed Thomas Edison (who doesn't fit the time limits).

Nine students listed topics, groups, events, or objects (instead of people).

Six students listed Martin Luther King, Jr. (who doesn't fit the time limit).

Five students listed Henry Ford (who doesn't fit the time limits).

One to four students listed the following people who don't fit the geographical or time limits: 
Alexander Graham Bell, George W. Bush, Rhett Butler, Jimmy Carter, Jon Carter , George Washington Carver, Bill Clinton, Leonardo Da Vinci, Walt Disney, Robert Douglas, Dwight Eisenhower, Elizabeth (no last name), Friedreckson (no first name), John Henry, Samuel Jackson, Sarah Orne Jewett, John (no last name), Helen Keller, John F. Kennedy, King Henry VIII, John Locke, Ferdinand Magellan, Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall, Margaret Mitchell, Napoleon, Florence Nightingale, Richard Nixon, Barack Obama, Scarlett O'Hara, Lee Harvey Oswold, Mr. & Mrs. Albert Parker, Rosa Parks, Alice Paul, Ronald Reagan, Jackie Robinson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Roosevelt (no first name), Theodore Roosevelt, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Col. Harlan Sanders, Margaret Sanger, John Taylor, Amerigo Vespucci, Betsy White, Woodrow Wilson



Second Question

The following are the names that Hanover students have supplied on being asked the follow-up question, "What are the first ten names that come to mind, if you exclude presidents, generals, statesmen, or other figures in official public life?" The list is organized with the most often cited names first. Fourteen Great Works classes have taken this survey since Fall 2004, for a total of 160 students; this year, 13 students took the survey. The numbers in parentheses represent the number of students (out of this year's 13 and out of the total 160) who include that name on their list.

 

Tubman, Harriet (4 of 13; 32 of 160)

Booth, John Wilkes (2 of 13; 16 of 160)

Columbus, Christopher (1 of 13; 13 of 160)
Lewis & Clark (0 of 13; 12 of 160)

Smith, John (0 of 13; 10 of 160)
Sacagewea (1 of 13; 10 of 160)

Ross, Betsy (0 of 13; 8 of 160)
Adams, Abigail (0 of 13; 7 of 160)
Revere, Paul (0 of 13; 7 of 160)
Washington, Martha (0 of 13; 7 of 160)
Douglass, Frederick (1 of 13; 7 of 160)
Franklin, Benjamin (0 of 13; 6 of 160)
Paine, Thomas (0 of 13; 6 of 160)
Pocahontas (3 of 13; 6 of 160)

Barton, Clara (0 of 13; 4 of 160)
Clark, George Rogers (0 of 13; 4 of 160)
Dickinson, Emily (0 of 13; 4 of 160)


Three of 160 students included the following:
Crockett, Davy
Lincoln, Mary Todd
Squanto
Stowe, Harriet Beecher

Two of 160 students included the following:
Lewis, Meriwether (see also Lewis & Clark)
Bell, Alexander Graham
Boone, Daniel
Pitcher, Molly
Scott, Dred
Twain, Mark

One of 160 students included the following:
Alcott, Louisa May
Anthony, Susan B.
Arnold, Benedict
Attucks, Crispus
Bowie, Jim
Brown, John
Cornwallis, Gen.
Edmonds, Sarah
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
Hatfield, Anderson
Hemmings, Sally
James, Jesse
Kenton, Simon
Key, Francis Scott
Madison, Dolly
McCoy, Randall
Osceola
Penn, William
Poe, Edgar Allen
Powhatan (1 of 13)
Sitting Bull
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady
Stewart (no first name)
Thoreau, Henry David
Truth, Sojourner (1 of 13)
Vanderbilt family
Velaquez, Loretta
Wade, Jenny
Wheatley, Phillis
Whitney, Eli

Six students listed Thomas Edison (who does not fit the time limits).

Four students listed Henry Ford (who does not fit the time limits).

Three students listed topics, groups, events, or objects (instead of people).

One to three students listed the following people who don't fit the occupational, geographical, or time limits:

Jane Addams, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Calamity Jane (Canary), George Washington Carver, Willa Cather, Joshua Chamberlain, Crazy Horse, Jim Crowe, Madame Curie, Walt Disney, Albert Einstein, Anne Frank, Betty Friedan, student's grandparents, John Hancock, Doc Holiday, Rose Hulman, Zora Neale Hurston, Thomas Jefferson, Sarah Orne Jewett, John (no last name), Helen Keller, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Locke, Billy the Kid (McCarty), Michelangelo, Margaret Mitchell, Marilyn Monroe, Florence Nightingale, Scarlett O'Hara, Lee Harvey Oswald, Rosa Parks, Alice Paul, Tom Petty, Pablo Picasso, John Procter, John D. Rockefeller, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Babe Ruth, Margaret Sanger, Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, Amerigo Vespucci, Madame C.J. Walker, Booker T. Washington, Watson & Crick, Ida B. Wells, Betsy White, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Wright Brothers


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