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George Washington Carver did more than develop products from the peanut. He changed the face of the post civil war south, and improved the nutrition of mankind.

Earliest beginnings-He is ransomed for a wind-broken horse

George Washington Carver, who ranks among the greatest scientists America has ever produced, was born in 1865 on the farm of Moses Carver, near Diamond Grove, Missouri.

His early life was not an easy one. He became an orphan six weeks after his birth.

His mother had been kidnapped by slave-raiders, and he was ransomed back to his owner for a wind-broken horse, which was valued at $300 dollars. He never knew his father, but eventually heard that he had been killed accidentally.

As the infant grew into childhood it was noted that he always told the truth, and the Carvers decided to name him George Washington. Since he was frail and weak, they taught him how to do all kinds of housework...how to cook, sew, and tend the fire, as well as see after the livestock.

Every day, after he finished his chores, George would set out for the neighboring woods, and try to learn as much as he could about the various plants and animals that inhabited them. He studied everything, and harmed nothing; it was this early interest he displayed in the things of nature that was precursory to his becoming a scientist in plant chemistry.

Development of Religious Faith and Self-Reliance

George didn't attend school until he was ten years old. Up until that time an old, blue-back speller was the only text book he had been exposed to. After he mastered it, he became fired with a burning ambition for knowledge, which he realized could only be satisfied by attending a regular school. So, with the good wishes of the Carvers, a lot of determination, and virtually no money, he set out for Neosho, Missouri, eight miles away to attend a little log-cabin school.

At first George had to sleep in an old stable, and do odd jobs after school for families who would provide him with a meal.

But he was soon to be befriended by a family who were members of the African Methodist Church. The Watkins family invited George to  make his home with them in exchange for the work he would do around their home. He soon came to occupy the place of the son they never had, and every Sunday they would bring him along with them to attend church services. This was Carver's first association with religion. Although the preacher at the Church couldn't read, "he lived his religion," and it was this strength of belief that was to make a deep and lasting impression on George's young mind.

[[image - black & white portrait photograph of George Washington Carver]]

[[image - black & white portrait photograph of George Washington Carver in uniform]]

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