From Missouri Farm to Fame…on PeanutsBy Ursula Maxwell-Lewis
This 1840's federal style red brick inn in Saint Charles, Missouri is a stone's throw from the shores of the mighty Missouri. Canadian farmers and hunters founded this village in the 1760's. Today it is charmingly touristy with the quilted craft shops and memorabilia reminiscent of 1799 when land deals lured Daniel Boone and his family to the area. For Merriweather Lewis and William Clark it was a river-stop on their search for the waterway to the Pacific, and, while modern aircraft roar out of St. Louis airport eight miles away, the Lewis and Clark monument - complete with Seaman, Lewis' Newfound dog, still keep an eye on the busy river.
The name George Washington Carver was just that - a name I'd heard. Although pressed for time, our guide, historian and writer Bret Dufur, persuaded us to detour south along I-71 from Joplin to Diamond and the Carver national monument and museum. George Washington Carver was a slave, who, in the face of all odds, became a world-renowned scientist. He discovered three hundred uses for peanuts, which included axle grease, shampoo, soil conditioner, paints, mayonnaise, ink, buttermilk, laxative, and reminded me that - until now - I'd never wondered who invented peanut butter. Add to that hundreds of uses for soybeans, pecans and sweet potatoes. It was the civil war era of Abe Lincoln and Robert E. Lee. Moses Carver, a Unionist slave-owner who unconventionally opposed slavery, bought a 13-year old black girl called Mary in 1855 for $700. As time went by she had two sons and possibly twin daughters - though this is unconfirmed - probably fathered by a slave on a neighbouring farm. Around 1865 Confederate "bushwhackers" kidnapped Mary and her infant son George from the Carver farm during a raid. George, suffering from whooping cough, was returned to Moses and Susan Carver who raised him. His mother Mary was never found.
Nicknamed ‘The Plant Doctor’, he changed the South from a one-crop land of cotton to multi-crop farmlands by teaching crop rotation which enormously benefited farmers. Profiting from his products was the furthest thing from his mind. He would explain: " If I know the answer you can have it for the price of a postage stamp. The Lord charges me nothing for knowledge, and I will charge you the same."
As the bubbles vanished down the plughole (did I mention that soap was one of Carver's peanut by-products?) and the gaslights outside dimmed, I knew the 'fly-over state" had - in a nutshell - given me much food for thought. : Ursula Maxwell-Lewis If you go: Tourism Missouri Information -Web: www.visitmo.com George Washington Carver National Monument - Web: www.nps.gov/gwca Saint Charles, Missouri - Web: www.historicstcharles.com Boone's Lick Trail Inn - Web: www.booneslick.com |
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Gaslights flicker beyond the lace-curtained window of Boone's Lick Trail Inn. I'm chin deep in a 21st century lavender scented whirlpool bubble bath, but am haunted by 19th century spectres of early settlers and wagons rattling past over the cobblestone streets outside.
Two weeks ago if I'd been asked what I knew about Missouri I'd have replied, "Independence and Harry Truman...." before going blank. Now, flicking one bubble at a time towards the flickering white candles on the tub ledge, I count off the famous Missourians I've 'met' on my trip...Mark Twain, Jesse James, and the Gang, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Daniel and Rebecca Boon, Lewis and Clark, Charles Lindberg, Walt Disney and, yes, Bess and Harry Truman. Though not all Missourians by birth, they lived, died, or worked, in the great frontier state of Missouri leaving their indelible mark. One I won't forget was the man who invented peanut butter.
Arriving at the unimposing park building in a torrential downpour I ran past the bronze bust of a gentle faced black man. Inside I discovered a staggering world of scientific history recorded and simply preserved.
George was not certain of his birth date. "About 1864," he would say. He never knew his father, and his older brother died of smallpox. Although a sickly child, he was encouraged to learn and did so voraciously. Despite being denied entrance to college (initially) because of his colour, he went on to win international acclaim for, among other things, finding commercial uses for Southern resources.
Dr. George Washington Carver has been recognized as one of the world's greatest chemists. In 1940, he donated his life savings to establish the Carver Research Foundation at Tuskegee for continuing research in agriculture. He died on January 5, 1943. His epitaph reads: "He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world."