Truly a woman ahead of her time, Abigail Adams was both wife and mother to a U.S. president. She is best remembered for urging her husband to "remember the ladies" when drafting the laws of the fledgling United States of America. She also played a pivotal role in shaping and educating her son, John Quincy Adams, for a life of public service. Click here to read the White House's biography of Abigail Adams.

Son of John and Abigail Adams, John Quincy Adams devoted his entire life to the service of his country. In addition to serving as U.S. Minister to Russia and the Netherlands, John Quincy Adams served as a U.S. Senator and Secretary of State before becoming president in the hard fought and bitterly divided election of 1824. Remembered for his stirring - and successful - defense of the Amistad slaves before the U.S. Supreme Court, "Old Man Eloquent" died on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1848 - the only former president to have ever served in Congress after leaving the White House. Click here to read his White House biography.

The only First Lady to be born outside of the United States, Louisa Catherine followed her husband around the globe as his diplomatic postings moved the family from Europe to Russia to Washington, DC and to Quincy. Upon her death in 1852, Louisa Catherine was laid to rest beneath Quincy's United First Parish Church alongside her husband and his parents. Click here to read her White House biography.

A successful Harvard-educated businessman, John Hancock took up the cause of liberty after his protestations over the Stamp Act prompted the British to seize his ships and accuse him of smuggling. (His childhood friend, John Adams, succeeded in getting the charges dropped.) Perhaps best known as president of the Continental Congress - and for his famously large signature on the Declaration of Independence - John Hancock went on to serve as the first governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

One of a long line of Josiah Quincys, this noted statesman served as a U.S. Congressman, state senator and Mayor of Boston before becoming president of Harvard University.

Both the son and grandson of a U.S. president, Charles Francis Adams served in the U.S. House of Representative before being appointed Abraham Lincoln's Minister to Great Britain. He is often credited with keeping Great Britain and France from recognizing the Confederacy during the Civil War, which played a key role in the Union's eventual victory.

The grandson of John Quincy Adams, Charles Francis Adams, Jr. served as a Union officer in the Civil War. He left the Army in 1865 as a brigadier general, having commanded the Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry, an African American regiment.

The great-great-grandson of John Adams served as Secretary of the Navy under President Hoover in the 1920s and 1930s.

In 1925, Howard Johnson borrowed $2,000 to buy a corner drugstore and soda fountain in Quincy's Wollaston section. That first store would lead Johnson to open an ice cream stand on Wollaston Beach and later a restaurant in downtown Quincy - the foundation for what would become a coast-to-coast chain of 1,000 restaurants and hundreds of hotels. Howard Johnson was a true entrepreneur, and is often credited with pioneering the concept of franchising that would forever change the restaurant business.

Born and raised in Quincy's Wollaston section, John Cheever is considered by many to be one of the 20 th century's great American writers. Known best for his short stories and novels that explored the boredom, disappointment and acute dissatisfaction lurking beneath the placid surface of American suburbia, Cheever's most famous works include The Swimmer, which became a feature film starring Burt Lancaster; and his award-winning novels The Wapshot Chronicle and The Wapshot Scandal.

This Academy Award-winning actress never forgot her Quincy roots. Her Broadway play about growing up in turn-of-the-century Quincy, Years Ago, became the feature film The Actress starring Spencer Tracy as Gordon's sea-captain father and Jean Simmons as the young aspiring thespian herself. After spending decades on the Broadway stage and penning screenplays for such feature films as the Tracy-Hepburn comedies, Adam's Rib and Pat and Mike, Ruth Gordon enjoyed a big-screen comeback in films like Rosemary's Baby (for which she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar), Harold and Maude and My Bodyguard. Shortly before her death, she returned to Quincy for the dedication of the city's Ruth Gordon Amphitheatre.

The daughter of Quincy businessman Frank Remick - whose Remick's Department Store was once one of Quincy Center's biggest draws - Lee Remick starred in numerous feature films over three decades, including A Face in the Crowd, The Omen , Anatomy of a Murder, The Long, Hot Summer and Days of Wine and Roses , for which she received an Academy Award nomination. She appeared in numerous TV movies and miniseries during the 1980s before being diagnosed with kidney and liver cancer in 1989. She passed away in 1991 shortly after receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Born William Szathmary, Bill Dana went on to become a major figure in the golden days of early television. He struck comedy gold when, as a writer for The Steve Allen Show , he created the sweet, good-natured character of Jose Jimenez, launching the popular catchphrase, "My name... Jose Jimenez." Dana went on to appear on such television shows as Make Room for Daddy and his own Bill Dana Show , while his comedy album, Jose the Astronaut, led NASA to appoint him an honorary Mercury astronaut. Still appearing today as a stand-up comic, Bill Dana has enjoyed a long career as both a TV actor - guest starring on such television shows as St. Elsewhere and The Golden Girls - and as a groundbreaking comedy writer. His television writing credits include the classic, Emmy Award-winning episode of All in the Family featuring Sammy Davis, Jr.

Billy DeWolfe (1907-1974): Born William Jones, Billy DeWolfe enjoyed a long career in movies and television, appearing in such feature films as Blue Skies with Bing Crosby and Tea for Two with Doris Day. Perhaps best known to generations of children as the voice of the nasty magician in the holiday animated classic Frosty the Snowman, Billy DeWolfe died of lung cancer in 1974; he is buried in Quincy's Mount Wollaston Cemetery.

Born at Quincy's Bethlehem Steel Shipyard, Kilroy was every GI's favorite buddy. His habit of scrawling the words "Kilroy Was Here" wherever he went led to the phrase popping up across the globe, particularly wherever Allied Forces happened to land: From the beaches of Normandy to the sands of Iwo Jima, Kilroy Was There. After the war, Kilroy continued his travels, reportedly visiting the Statue of Liberty, the Great Wall of China and even the top of Mount Everest! His whereabouts today are unknown.