George Washington Carver
Inventor
(1864-1943)

George Washington Carver was born a slave on July 12, 1864 near Diamond Grove in Marion Township, which is currently known as Diamond, Missouri.  When he was still an infant, he was kidnapped by Confederate night raiders along with his mother and sister, and sold in Arkansas.  His owner, Moses Carver, hired John Bentley to find them, however, only Carver was found.  According to most reports, his mother and sister had already died. When Carver was found, he was near death from whooping cough. Because of this incident, George was left with a permanent respiratory problem that limited his activities, so he spent much of his time exploring the various plant life around his home.  Moses and Susan Carver raised George and his brother as their own children and they taught them the basics of reading and writing.  The Carvers also encouraged George to pursue his avid interest in agriculture, resulting in him being referred to by their neighbors as the “Plant Doctor.”

Through his research as an agricultural chemist, Carver was able to find three hundred different uses for peanuts and hundreds more for soybeans, pecans, and sweet potatoes.  Despite his many inventions, Carver didn’t profit from most of them.  When people would ask him about his ideas he replied “God gave them to me.  How can I sell them to someone else?”  In 1943 George Washington Carver was honored by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt with a monument dedicated to his many achievements.

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