Born in Connecticut Trivia Quiz

Answer: P. T. Barnum

Phineas Taylor Barnum is the Connecticut native born in 1810. His first involvement in the entertainment business began when he formed a travelling troupe ("Barnum's Grand Scientific and Musical Theater") in 1834. Curiously, though, he was 60 years old before he bought his first true circus, founding the "P. T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome" in 1870. That became "The Greatest Show on Earth" and, a year later, Barnum joined James Bailey to found the world's first 3-ring circus. They bought Jumbo the elephant from London Zoo in 1882 and toured as the world's largest ever circus.

Of the alternatives, James Anthony Bailey (Barnum & Bailey Circus) was born in Detroit MI in 1847; the Ringling Brothers (Alf, Al, Charles, Otto and John) were born in MacGregor IA between 1952 and 1966; and James Chipperfield, patriarch of the Chipperfield Circus family, was born in England in 1775.

Answer: George W. Bush

Although most people associate him with Texas, George Walker Bush was born in 1946 in New Haven CT and he graduated from Yale University in his home town before going on to Harvard Business School. He was once the co-owner of the Texas Rangers baseball franchise and he served five years (1995-2000) as Governor of Texas before becoming the 43rd President of the U.S. in January 2001. His father, George H.W. Bush, the 41st President, is also a New Englander -- born in Milton, Massachusetts in 1924.

Of the alternatives, Franklin Pierce is the only President from New Hampshire; Ulysses S Grant was the first of seven Presidents born in Ohio; and Grover Cleveland the only one from New Jersey.

Answer: Meg Ryan

Meg Ryan is the Connecticut native amongst the foursome of actresses born in 1961. She became one of Hollywood's biggest stars during the 1990s and 2000s, particularly in romantic comedies such as "When Harry Met Sally..." (1989), "Sleepless in Seattle" (1993) and " You've Got Mail" (1998). In her later career, she has moved to behind the camera, directing "Ithaca" in 2015, starring herself along with Tom Hanks.

Of the alternatives, all born in 1961, "Seinfeld" star Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a native New Yorker; Mariel Hemingway was born in Mill Valley, California; and "Dynasty" and "Spin City" star Heather Locklear is a Los Angeles native.

Answer: Harriet Beecher Stowe

She was born Harriet Elisabeth Beecher in 1811 in the town of Litchfield in northeastern Connecticut. She published her first novel, "Mark Meriden", in 1841 and a second work, "The Mayflower; or, Sketches of Scenes and Characters Among the Descendants of the Pilgrims" two years later.

It was her next novel, though, "Uncle Tom's Cabin", published in 1852, for which she is best known. Stowe more than 25 books over the following four decades, but it is for her anti-slavery work that she is famous today.

Answer: Ernest Borgnine

Born Ermes Effron Borgnino in 1917, Ernest Borgnine made both his TV and film debuts in 1951. He won the 1955 Best Actor Oscar for his performance as Marty Piletti, and Italian-American butcher living in the Bronx, in the year's Best Picture winner, "Marty".

The death of Charlton Heston in 2008 left Borgnine as the lone-surviving Best Actor Oscar winner from the 1950s and before, although numerous winners of the Best Actress Oscar were still alive. Already well-established in Hollywood, Borgnine turned his talents to the small screen in 1962, playing Lieutenant-Commander Quinton McHale, commanding officer of the U.S. Navy PT boat PT-73 in "McHale's Navy", a sitcom based in the pacific during WWII. Shortly before his death, Borgnine made a guest appearance in the final episode of "ER", earning an Emmy nomination at the age of 92.

Answer: Benedict Arnold

Benedict Arnold was born in 1741 in the city of Norwich (today nicknamed "The Rose of New England") in the southeastern corner of Connecticut. Through his maternal grandmother he was descended from early 17th-century settler the Reverend John Lothropp. Other descendants of Lothrop include Millard Fillmore, James A. Garfield, Ulysses S. Grant, Franklin D. Roosevelt, both President Bushes, Wild Bill Hickok, Sarah Palin, John Foster Dulles, Georgia O'Keeffe, Benjamin Spock, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, J.P. Morgan, and numerous others.

Whilst many of his 'relatives' managed to make the list of 'Great Americans', Arnold went in the opposite direction. In 1780, he defected to the British with the plan of surrendering the fortifications at West Point (the site on which the future U.S. Military Academy has stood since 1802) to the enemy. Arnold was enlisted into the British Army with the rank of Brigadier General even though his treachery was exposed and the plot failed. In America, Arnold's name became synonymous with "traitor" in the latter 19th century and this reputation has been immortalized numerous times in literature since.

Answer: Karen Carpenter

Karen Anne Carpenter was born in 1950 and, along with her older brother Richard (also a New Haven native) they formed the vocal and instrumental duo The Carpenters. They released their first album. "Ticket to Ride", in 1969 and the title track, a cover of the Beatles hit, became their first single. The following year they took the Burt Bacharach/Hal David composition "!(They Long to Be) Close to You" to the top of the US (and Australian and Canadian) singles chart. Other popular singles released by the duo include "Yesterday Once More" (number two on both sides of the Atlantic in 1973), the former number one for The Marvelettes "Please Mr. Postman" was number one in the US in 1974 and "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" in 1977.

Other famous contralto singers include Debbie Harry, Billie Holiday, Katy Perry, Fiona Apple, Peggy Lee, Gladys Knight, Etta James and Martha Reeves. Karen Carpenter was voted in the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time" in a "Rolling Stone" poll of 2008. In 1975, she had also been voted ""Rock Drummer of the Year" by the readers of "Playboy" magazine.

Karen Carpenter's death, as a result of anorexia nervosa, brought serious eating disorders to the forefront of public awareness. Her family founded a charitable Foundation (still going strong) to raise awareness and fund research.

Answer: Noah Webster Jr

Noah Webster, Jr. was born in 1758 in the Western Reserve of the Hartford District (which became West Hartford CT). His mother, Mercy (Steele) Webster was descended from Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford. He went to Yale at the age of 16 and was there for four years during the American War of Independence, graduating in 1778. A prolific author, Webster worked as a political writer and an editor, and in 1783 published the first of what would become his famous 'blue-backed' books, a speller. A year later, he published a grammar edition and, a year after that, a reader. During his lifetime there were a remarkable 385 editions, and over the next century it sold more than 60 million copies and taught every American schoolchild how to spell and pronounce the words of the English language.

These days, the word "Webster" is synonymous with "dictionary" in America. His "A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language" was published in 1806. Over the next 26 years of his life, Webster on the fully comprehensive version, and "An American Dictionary of the English Language", with definitions of 70,000 words, was published in 1828.

Answer: Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Houghton Hepburn was born in 1907 and made her film debut in her mid-20s. She won the first of her record four Best Actress Oscars starring opposite Douglas Fairbanks Jr in the 1933 drama "Morning Glory". Over the following 34 years, Hepburn was nominated nine times, finally collecting her second statuette in 1968 for "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner". The following year, she won again, for "The Lion in Winter" and, in 1982, she won her fourth award for "On Golden Pond".

There have been more than 70 different winners of the Best Actress Oscar but, as of 2017, no one other than Hepburn had won more than twice. Hepburn's 12 nominations trail only Meryl Streep (two wins from 16 nominations), and the 48 years between her first and last nomination is also a record.

Katherine Hepburn focused more on TV in the latter years of her career and at the age of 87 was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award. Her final screen performance was in 1994, but she lived almost another decade, dying aged 96 in 2003.

Answer: Robert Fulton

Robert Fulton was born in 1765 in Little Britain, Pennsylvania. He was responsible for developing the first commercial steamboat ("The North River Steamboat of Claremont" which ran from New York City to Albany and back in 62 hours), the first practical submarine (for Napoleon) and the earliest naval torpedoes (for the British Navy).

Chemist Charles Goodyear was born in 1800 in New Haven CT. He developed vulcanized rubber, now widely used for footwear and automotive tires. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company is named for him, but it was not founded until 1898, long after he was dead.

Industrialist Samuel Colt was born in 1814 in Hartford CT. In 1855 he founded Colt's Manufacturing Company, one of the first companies to use a production line and through which he developed the commercial viability of mass-producing firearms.

Journalist Charles Henry Dow was born 18951 in the town of Sterling in the northeast of Connecticut. He co-founded the Down Jones Company, and invented the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the forerunner to modern stock exchanges. Just three years before his death in 1902, he founded the 'Wall Street Journal'.