Memorable Americans:
Hanover College Students, 2004-2019

 

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. Eighteen classes (composed mostly of first-year students) have taken this survey since Fall 2004, for a total of 219 students.  This year, 14 students took the survey. The numbers in parentheses represent the number of students (out of this year's 14 and out of the total 219) who include that name on their list.


Lincoln, Abraham (10 of 14; 175 of 219)
Washington, George (10 of 14; 168 of 219)

Jefferson, Thomas (7 of 14; 113 of 219)
Franklin, Benjamin (5 of 14; 112 of 219)

Adams, John (5 of 14; 79 of 219)

Grant, Ulysses S. (2 of 14; 60 of 219)
Lee, Robert E. (1 of 14; 56 of 219)

Hancock, John (1 of 14; 46 of 219)

Tubman, Harriet (0 of 14; 35 of 219)
Columbus, Christopher (3 of 14; 32 of 219)

Madison, James (0 of 14; 24 of 219)
Revere, Paul (1 of 14; 24 of 219)
Jackson, Andrew (3 of 14; 21 of 219)
Smith, John (0 of 14; 20 of 219)
Jackson, Stonewall (0 of 14; 19 of 219)
Booth, John Wilkes (0 of 14; 18 of 219)
Hamilton, Alexander (2 of 14; 18 of 219)

Douglass, Frederick (0 of 14; 14 of 219)
Adams, Sam (0 of 14; 12 of 219)
Lewis & Clark (0 of 14; 12 of 219)
Adams, John Quincy (0 of 14; 11 of 219)
Adams, Abigail (0 of 14; 10 of 219)
Pocahontas (0 of 14; 9 of 219)

Arnold, Benedict (0 of 14; 7 of 219)
Davis, Jefferson (0 of 14; 7 of 219)
Sacagawea (0 of 14; 7 of 219)
Paine, Thomas (0 of 14; 6 of 219)
Washington, Martha (0 of 14; 6 of 219)
Boone, Daniel (0 of 14; 5 of 219)
Clark (no first name) (0 of 14; 5 of 219)
George III (of England) (0 of 14; 5 of 219)
Lewis (no first name) (0 of 14; 5 of 219)
Sojourner Truth (0 of 14; 5 of 219)

Four of 219 students included the following:
Adams, no first name
Burr, Aaron
Clay, Henry (1 of 14)
Jackson (no first name)
Shays, Daniel
Sherman, W. T.

Three of 219 students included the following:
Henry, Patrick
Jay, John
Lewis, Meriwether (see also Lewis & Clark)
Lincoln, Mary Todd
Ross, Betsy
Stowe, Harriett Beecher
Taylor, Zachary

Two of 219 students included the following:
Anthony, Susan B.
Buchanan, James
Crockett, Davy
Custer, George Armstrong
Dickinson, Emily
Graham, no first name
Hayes, Rutherford B. 
Johnson, Andrew
Monroe, James (1 of 14)
Polk, James
Tecumseh
Whitney, Eli

One  of 219 students included the following:
Adams, James
Allcott, Louisa May
Attucks, Crispus
Barton, Clara
Bibb, Henry
Bradford, James
Burnside, Ambrose
Calhoun, John C.
Chamberlain, Joshua
Clark, George Rogers
Cornwallis, Charles
Early, Jubal
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
Fillmore, Millard
Harrison, Benjamin
Harrison, William H.
Hatfield, Anderson
Howe, William
James, Jesse
Keckly, Elizabeth
Kenton, Simon
Key, Francis Scott
LaFayette, Marquis de
Lee, Henry
Madison, Dolly
McCoy, Randall
Meade, George
Monroe, John
Penn, William
Poe, Edgar Allen
Powhatan
Rolfe, John
Sherman, George
Squanto
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady
Thoreau, Henry David
Vanderbilt family
Wheatley, Phillis



Fifteen students listed Thomas Edison, who doesn't fit the time limits.

Topics, groups, events, or objects (instead of people) were listed thirteen times (2 of 14).

Ten students listed Theodore Roosevelt, who doesn't fit the time limits.

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

Six students (1 of 14) listed Henry Ford, who doesn't fit the time limits.

Five students (1 of 14) listed John F. Kennedy, who doesn't fit the time limits.

One to four students listed the following people who don't fit the geographical or time limits: 
Jane Addams, Alexander Graham Bell (2 of 14), Osama bin Laden (1 of 14), George H. W. Bush (1 of 14), George W. Bush, Rhett Butler, Jimmy Carter, Jon Carter, George Washington Carver, Bill Clinton (1 of 14), Leonardo Da Vinci, Walt Disney, Robert Douglas, Albert Einstein, Dwight Eisenhower (1 of 14), Elizabeth (no last name), Friedreckson (no first name), John Henry, Samuel Jackson, Sarah Orne Jewett, John (no last name), Helen Keller, King Henry VIII, John Locke (1 of 14), Ferdinand Magellan, Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall, James Mattis (1 of 14), William McKinley, Margaret Mitchell, Napoleon, Florence Nightingale, Richard Nixon, Barack Obama, Scarlett O'Hara, Lee Harvey Oswold, Mr. & Mrs. Albert Parker, Rosa Parks, George Patton (1 of 14), Alice Paul, Ronald Reagan (1 of 14), Jackie Robinson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Roosevelt (no first name), 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.  Eighteen classes (composed mostly of first-year students) have taken this survey since Fall 2004, for a total of 219 students. This year, 14 students took the survey. The numbers in parentheses represent the number of students (out of this year's 14 and out of the total 219) who include that name on their list.

Tubman, Harriet (0 of 14; 40 of 219)

Booth, John Wilkes (1 of 14; 19 of 219)
Columbus, Christopher (1 of 14; 18 of 219)
Lewis & Clark (2 of 14; 17 of 219)

Sacagewea (1 of 14; 14 of 219)
Smith, John (0 of 14; 14 of 219)

Douglass, Frederick (0 of 14; 11 of 219)
Revere, Paul (0 of 14; 10 of 219)
Ross, Betsy (0 of 14; 10 of 219)
Franklin, Benjamin (1 of 14; 9 of 219)
Adams, Abigail (0 of 14; 8 of 219)
Pocahontas (0 of 14; 8 of 219)
Washington, Martha (0 of 14; 8 of 219)
Paine, Thomas (0 of 14; 7 of 219)

Four of 219 students included the following:
Barton, Clara
Clark, George Rogers
Dickinson, Emily
Lincoln, Mary Todd
Squanto
Stowe, Harriet Beecher

Three of 219 students included the following:
Bell, Alexander Graham (1 of 14)
Crockett, Davy
Scott, Dred

Two of 219 students included the following:
Attucks, Crispus
Boone, Daniel
James, Jesse
Lewis, Meriwether (see also Lewis & Clark)
Pitcher, Molly
Powhatan
Tecumseh
Truth, Sojourner
Twain, Mark

One of 219 students included the following:
Alcott, Louisa May
Anthony, Susan B.
Arnold, Benedict
Bowie, Jim
Brown, John
Champlain, Samuel de
Cornwallis, Charles
Dare, Virginia
Edmonds, Sarah
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
Hamilton, Eliza Schuyler
Hatfield, Anderson
Hawthorne, Nathanial
Hemmings, Sally
Kenton, Simon
Key, Francis Scott
Madison, Dolly
McCoy, Randall
Northup, Solomon
Osceola
Penn, William
Poe, Edgar Allen
Sitting Bull
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady
Stewart (no first name)
Thoreau, Henry David
Underground railroad woman
Vanderbilt family
Velaquez, Loretta
Wade, Jenny
Wheatley, Phillis
Whitney, Eli


Seven students (1 of 14) listed Thomas Edison (who does not fit the time limits).

Five students (2 of 14) listed topics, groups, events, or objects (instead of people).

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

Three students listed Martin Luther King, Jr. (who does not fit the time limits).

Three students (1 of 14) listed Babe Ruth (who does not fit the time limits).

Three students (1 of 14) listed Booker T. Washington (who does not fit the time limits).

One or two 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., Trevor Lawrence (1 of 14), John Locke, James Madison, Patrick Mahomes (1 of 14), Peyton Manning (1 of 14), Mickey Mantle (1 of 14), Billy the Kid (McCarty), Michelangelo, Margaret Mitchell, Marilyn Monroe, Randy Moss (1 of 14), Florence Nightingale, Scarlett O'Hara, Lee Harvey Oswald, Rosa Parks, Alice Paul, Tom Petty, Pablo Picasso, John Procter, John D. Rockefeller (1 of 14), Eleanor Roosevelt, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Margaret Sanger, Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, Joe Theisman, Amerigo Vespucci, Madame C.J. Walker, Watson & Crick, Ida B. Wells, Betsy White, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Wright Brothers.


Hanover History Department

Hanover College Visitor's Page