$61,693. Males had a median income of $42,117 versus $31,942 for females. The per capita income for the town was $26,104. About 3.4% of families and 5.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.1% of those under age 18 and 8.7% of those age 65 or over. Politics The town of Ashford is heavily Democratic and has been since the 1930s. Ashford was one of only 8 towns in Connecticut that voted for George McGovern over Richard Nixon in the 1972 election. Religion Several churches exist in Ashford. They include the St Philip-Apostle Church (Catholic), Living Proof Church (formerly United Baptist Church of Ashford), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Westford Congregational Church. Education Elementary and middle school-aged residents attend Ashford School, the town's only school, built in 1951 to replace the old Ashford Academy schoolhouse. This school educates students from Pre-K through grade eight. In February 1979, the town's board of education considered closing the school in response to a budget crisis. High school-aged residents may attend E. O. Smith High School in Mansfield, CT, part of Regional School District 19. They also can go to Windham Technical High School, ACT. and Ellis Technical High School. Notable people Francis Bugbee (1794–1877), lawyer, judge and politician Walter Eli Clark (1869–1950), journalist, last governor of the District of Alaska and the first governor of the Alaska Territory Emeline Horton Cleveland (1829–1878), physician and college professor, the first woman on record to perform major surgery Galusha A. Grow (1822–1907), speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1861 to 1863 John Keyes (1744–1824), first adjutant general of the State of Connecticut Elias Keyes, (1758–1844), United States Congressman from Vermont Thomas Knowlton (1740–1776), military officer in the American Revolution, who led the Knowlton's Rangers, America's first Army intelligence unit Nathaniel Lyon (1818–1861), the first Union general to be killed in the American Civil War Paul Newman (1925–2008), award-winning actor, film director and philanthropist. A seasonal resident of Ashford from the opening of the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in 1988 Eliphalet Nott (1773–1866), president of Union College, and from 1829 to 1845 simultaneously was president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Inventor of the first stove for anthracite coal Caroline Lathrop Post (1824–1915), poet James Hamilton Shegogue (1806–1872), painter Solomon Spalding (1761–1816), writer John H. Trumbull (1873–1961), the 70th governor of Connecticut Valerie Wilson Wesley (born 1947), mystery