Benjamin, actor and comedian Ezra T. Benson, Mormon pioneer, missionary, Quorum of Twelve, and Utah territorial legislator Ken Bouchard and Ron Bouchard, NASCAR drivers Luther Burbank, horticulturalist; developed russet potato used in French fries by McDonald's William Cullen Bryant, poet, journalist and editor of the New York Evening Post Effingham Capron, woolen and cotton mill scion who liberated slaves from the 1830s; led local, state and US anti slavery societies George M. Cohan, entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, director Robert Cormier, novelist and columnist Ron Darling, professional baseball pitcher, World Series player; local St. Johns High School star from Millbury, born in Honolulu Dorothea Dix, social reformer; activist Ralph Earl, famous portrait painter, artist of early America Fannie Farmer, cookbook author Abby Kelley Foster, radical abolitionist, women's suffrage Robert H. Goddard, father of American rocketry Ryan Gomes, NBA player; attended Notre Dame Preparatory School Gabby Hartnett, greatest baseball catcher before Johnny Bench Abbie Hoffman, activist Elias Howe, invented the sewing machine Elliott P. Joslin, pioneer diabetes researcher and clinician; founded Joslin Clinic Walker Lewis, black abolitionist, Masonic Grand Master of African Grand Lodge #1, Mormon elder Connie Mack, baseball great and long-time baseball manager Nora Marlowe, character actress; best known for role on The Waltons Agnes Moorehead, actress William T. G. Morton, contributor to modern anaesthesia Francis Patrick O'Connor, associate justice on Massachusetts Supreme Court Frank O'Hara, avant-garde poet and playwright Jeannine Oppewall, Hollywood producer, film art, four Academy Award nominations including Bridges of Madison County Joe Perry, songwriter and guitarist with Aerosmith; he was from Hopedale, and played his first gig at Mendon Amos Singletary, Anti-Federalist mill operator, justice for the peace, and state representative Brian Skerry, underwater photographer for National Geographic Steve Spagnuolo, former head coach of the St. Louis Rams, currently the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants Lysander Spooner, pamphleteer, lawyer, abolitionist and political theorist Lucy Stone, famous suffragist, women's rights advocate, abolitionist, public speaker, first woman college grad in Massachusetts; first woman to retain her own name after marriage Lydia Chapin Taft, America's first woman voter; first colonial woman who voted legally in America Earl Tupper, a New Hampshire native, who pioneered Tupperware in Farnumsville, South Grafton, in the 1940s Hiram Walker, distillery founder Artemas Ward, major general of the American Revolution; the first Supreme Allied Commander of the Continental Army Daniel B. Wesson, co-founder of Smith & Wesson, a major firearm