Walt Disney

Walter Elias Disney (1901-1966) = Illustrator. Film-maker. Best known for Mickey & Minnie Mouse and Donald & Daisy Duck. Born to Elias and Flora (Call) Disney in Chicago, Illinois, Walt [named for Rev. Walter Parr (1871-1922) and his father] was their fourth of five children. Walt was brought up in a musical (his dad played the fiddle) and Christian home where he was taught the values of right and wrong.
Financially, life was a struggle for the Disney family and after Walt was born, his family moved from Chicago to the rural town of Marceline, Missouri. As a young farm-boy, he developed an interest in drawing animals.
In 1911, they moved to Kansas City. Young Walt and his brother, Roy, help their father deliver newspapers. He attended school at Benton Elementary, under  Principal William Cottingham's leadership. Then it was back to Chicago where Walt began high school in 1917 and in 1918, he joined the Red Cross Ambulance Corp in France and afterwards, returned first to Chicago and then back to Kansas City in 1919.
Disney had various jobs there such as designing stationery letterheads and advertisements, learning how to make cutout film animations and opening his own companies, however, he was not a financial success and left Kansas City in 1923 for Hollywood, California where he promptly created another company called the Disney Brothers Studio. Disney created Oswald the Rabbit (1927) and Mickey Mouse in "Steamboat Willie" (1928) there. Walt was the voice of Mickey for nearly twenty years of the cartoon. He went on to experiment with Technicolor, a new 3-color process in his films and won Academy Awards for "Flowers and Trees" (1932) and "Snow White" (1937).
Walt married Lillian Marie Bounds (1925) and had two girls, Sharon and Diane. Two years after his death, the US Postal Service issued a 6 cent stamp in his honor.

More to Read:
1. State Historical Society of Missouri, "Walt Disney"
2. Walt Disney Family Museum
3. Disney Family 

4. Just Disney

5. Wikipedia "Walt Disney"

6.  Disney Website
7.  Disney/Hallmark License 
8.  "The Purpose of Storyboarding" video

9. FREE Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Pluto Printable Coloring Sheet
10. Movie Trailer - "Walt Before Mickey" 
11. Norman Besheer, Past President of the Native Sons and Daughters of Greater Kansas City.

12.  A Historic Kansas City Church Beloved by Disney Family is Coming Down Stone by Stone. By Anna Spoerre, Kansas City Star. 2021
13. A Disneyland Brick

14. Findagrave #284

Craft Idea: Create a Passport Journal. Make a passport to resemble a real one or purchase a small blue blank book at the dollar store or purchase one of the official Disney passports. Make or purchase representative Disney stickers. Handmade stickers can be tiny photos of each of the locations you visited pertaining to him or rubber stamped Disney images . When you have visited all the places pertaining to Disney in Missouri or Kansas, you'll have a keepsake of your trip to keep forever. Added bonuses -- try to find a real Disney postage stamp and obtain autographs of tourist guides to add to your Passport. 

Another Idea: Collect Disney postcards and scrapbook them! Or Disney themed shopping bags. 

Places to Visit in MO & KS:

1. Historical Marker Database (Search "Walt Disney") 
2. Walt Disney Museum, 120 W. Santa Fe, Marceline, MO.

3. Walt Disney United States Post Office Building, 120 E. Ritchie Street, Marceline, MO.

4.  Walk Disney's newspaper route - 27th Street to 31st Street and from Prospect Ave to Indiana Ave. Kansas City. (Approximately 600 to 700 customers then.)

5. Disney Homes - 2706 E. 31st Street and 3028 Bellefontaine St., Kansas City (please respect the privacy of the homeowners).
6. Benton Elementary, 31st and Benton Blvd., Kansas City, MO. 

7. Laugh-O-Gram Studio, McConaughey Building,  1127 E. 31st St (31st and Forest Ave), 2nd floor, Kansas City -- takes money to restore the building for a museum
8. Union Railroad Station (Disney rode a train to California), 30 W. Pershing Rd. Kansas City
9. Disney Store, Oak Park Mall, 11447 W. 95th Street, #L1-S52, Overland Park, KS.

10. Walt Disney's grandparents are buried in Mount Hope Cemetery,  Spruce and East 12th St., Ellis, Ellis County, KS.

Disney Community Service Projects:
1.) Hold a Book Drive for Kids in a Homeless Shelter! 

Jane Clemens

Jane (Lampton) Clemens (1803-1890) -- Wife, Mother. Grandmother. Best known as "Aunt Polly" in the 1876 novel "Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain. Jane was born June 18, 1803 in  Kentucky to Benjamin (1770-1837) and Margaret (Casey) Lampton (1783-1818). It is said she was celebrated for her red-headed beauty, charm,  grace and wit that won the heart of her John.
She married John Marshall Clemens (1798-1847), son of Samuel & Pamela (Goggin) Clemens, on May 26, 1823 in Adair Co, Kentucky and she had seven children, one of whom became the famous author "Mark Twain." She gave him the name Samuel and he was the sixth of seven siblings. Orion, Pamela, Pleasant, Margaret, and Benjamin were born in Tennessee, but Sam and Henry was born in Missouri. Samuel was born in Florida, Monroe County in 1835 after they moved  to live near Aunt Patsey (Lampton) Quarles. Three years later, Henry was born in Hannibal, Marion County.
As a mama, Jane knew plenty about grieving.  Several of her children and grandchildren did not live long enough to reach adult-hood and her youngest, Henry, died as a result of a steamboat explosion accident when he was a young man. However, as a devout Christian, she hoped to see them again in the by and by and while Sam was touring the Holy Land in 1867, he ordered a special Bible to be made for her, because he knew that would please her.
After John died of pneumonia, hard times fell on Jane and the remaining children. Orion, Sam's older brother, moved Jane and Henry to Iowa to live with him and his wife, Mollie, in 1853 after Sam left  to go make his living as a journeyman printer in St. Louis. Jane died on October 27, 1890 and was laid to rest in Hannibal.

NOTE: According to this website, Jane Lampton Clemens was said to have been born in Winchester, Clark County, Kentucky in a brick house known as the "Trowbridge place," on the corner of Main and Hickman streets (then called "Highland" street).  Harry Enoch, a writer for the Winchester Sun newspaper has disproved A. C. Quisenberry's claim here  and here. 

QUOTE: "What books she could have written!" ~ Mark Twain.

More to Read:
1. Jane Clemens: the Story of Mark Twain's Mother. By Rachel McBrayer Varble. Doubleday, 1964.

2. "Clemens, Jane Lampton." By Abby H. P. Werlock. The Mark Twain Encyclopedia. Edited by LeMaster, Wilson, & Hamric. Garland Pub, New York, 1993. p. 152. Retrieved from Website: Google Books.  

3.  The Clemens Family Chronology 1610-1912. William M. Clemens, New York, 1914. p. 21, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38.  Retrieved from website: Archive.org

4. "Mark Twain Family Cabin." Museum of Appalachia, Norris, Tennessee. 

5. Mark Twain: A Biography. The Personal and Literary Life of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. By Albert Bigelow Paine.

6.  The Mark Twain Project (see "Letters").

7 .The Adventures of Tom Sawyer book. 

8. Mark Twain's Journey to Jerusalem: Dreamland (Oct., 2017 documentary),  kcpt.org

9. The Civil War Ironclads and His Mississippi. By James B. Eads, p. 76.

10. Before Abolition, African-Americans in early Clark County, Kentucky. By Lyndon Comstock. 2017. p. 339.  

11. The Genealogy of Mark Twain. by Lucius Marion Lampton, M.D., copyright 1990, pages 78-79.
12. "Mark Twain." Steamboat Times: A Pictorial History of the Mississippi Steamboating Era website.

13. Findagrave #21750

QUOTE: “Jane Clemens, Little Sam’s Mother, decided when he was five years old, that he must have some book learning. She declared she was willing to pay somebody to take him off her hands for a part of each day and try and teach him manners." ~ Alfred Bigelow Paine.

Places to Visit in Missouri:
1. Mark Twain Birthplace State Historic Site, Florida (see Jane's rocking chair) 

2.. Jane's home, 208 Hill Street, Hannibal

3. Judge Clemens' Offices, 116 Bird Street and 205 Hill Street, Hannibal
4. Grant's Drug Store/Pilaster House, 325 North Main Street, Hannibal
5. the Mississippi River and historic markers
6. Mt. Olivet Cemetery. It is located southeast, off Hwy 79 on 3rd Street, on to Fulton Ave on Route "I", Hannibal

Note: Biography requested by John Vonderlin, a crafty fellow and history nut as well. 😉


Biography written by Dolores J. Rush. Updated: 10/27/2019.

Wilbur Chapman

Wilbur Chapman (1903 -1977). Good Deed Inspired Pig Banks.
Wilbur was born to Charles and Manie Chapman. When he was ten, missionary, William Mason Danner (1863-1952), the American Leprosy Missions' first secretary (1911-1937), visited Wilbur's church in northeast Kansas to tell them about leper colonies and how badly they needed help. Leprosy or Hansen's Disease is a contagious, disfiguring disease that is now thought to be spread by droplets of facial fluids between people in close and frequent contact or by handling infected armadillos. It can be cured by antibotics now, but back in 1913, they did not have the medicine necessary  to cure their patients, however the medical care they could provide for one person with leprosy would only cost $25.00 for one year.

Wilbur's parents decided they wanted to provide care for ten patients and collected donations around their small town, but found they were short $25.00. When Danner got on the train to leave to go onto his next stop, he affectionately gave Wilbur three shiny silver dollars. Wilbur could have purchased something frivolous with that money, but instead he bought a pig, named him Pete, raised him, and sold him for the last $25.00. That money helped a boy named Al Sam.

The story was published in the "Sunday School Times" paper and inspired a Mrs. Harrison of Richmond, VA to create a fundraiser for the Mission. She said that children could feed a slot in the back of a pig bank to help raise funds for the leprosarium's as not all had the necessary space or equipment to raise a pig like Wilbur did. By 1938, the American Mission to Lepers had raised over $1,000,000 with the distribution of pig banks.

Wilbur grew up to become a successful draftsman in Minneapolis.

More to Read: 

1. Historical Marker Database

2. Institute for American Values

3. Kansas Travel Brochure

4. Kansas Guidebook for Explorers. By Marci Penner. 

5. "Thank a Kansas boy for the Piggy Bank." By Alonzo Weston, St. Joseph News-Press. 

6. Roadside America

7. Wilbur and Pete 

8. The Story of the Piggy Bank (or Not!)

9. Leprosy History -- William M. Danner

10. William Mason Danner, Sr. & the first pig banks.

11. Nothing Tops Armadillos In Research of Leprosy 

Places to Visit in KS: 

1. Wilbur Chapman Monument, 202 Main St. (dedicated in 1938; north/right side of street, in front of Community Christian church, 1 1/2 blocks west of K-7 Hwy), White Cloud, Doniphan Co.

2. Wilbur's boyhood home was formally known as "The Gingerbread House, a private residence in White Cloud. 

Holiday: "World Leprosy Day" January 30 or its nearest Sunday. 

Teacher Reproducible:
Friendly Schools Plus Teacher Resource: Middle Childhood (Ages 8-10). Hawker Brownlow Education, 2014. 

Joyce C. Hall

Joyce Clyde Hall (1891-1982) = Entrepreneur. Founder of Hallmark Cards. Born Aug. 29, 1891, in tiny David City, Butler County, Nebraska, the youngest son of George Nelson Hall, an itinerant preacher and inventor of a wire fly swatter, and Nancy Dudley (Houston) Hall, was named in honor of the Methodist bishop, Rev. Isaac W. Joyce, who was in David City the day he was born.

At the tender age of eight or nine, Joyce went to work, doing whatever a small child could find to do to bring home a little money. When he was sixteen, after a traveling salesman stopped by the local bookstore with his picture postcards, J.C. and his older brothers, William and Rollie, got their heads together, pooled their money and began selling imported post cards too. They called their new business venture the Norfolk Post Card Company. Two years later, J.C. loaded up two shoeboxes of postcards, rode the train into Kansas City,  arriving on January 10, 1910. Within days of his arrival, he was selling his cards to drugstores, bookstores, and gift shops from the top floor of the local YMCA.  At the time, picture postcards were collected and put into scrapbook albums, but J.C. felt that they lacked a private, personal touch, so Rollie joined J.C. in Kansas City and they formed their company called Hall Brothers. After a fire in January of 1915, they set up shop again and bought an engraver's printing presses to produce their own greeting cards. Impressed by the hallmark of medieval goldsmiths, J.C. began printing his cards with his hallmark on the back of each one by 1928.

In 1921, he married his wife Elizabeth Ann Dilday (1896-1976) and had three children: Elizabeth Ann Reid, Barbara Louise Marshall, and Donald Joyce Hall. Donald became president and CEO of Hallmark when JC retired in 1966, and his sons, Donald, Jr. and David E., have impressed their mark on the company too.

Mr. Hall's wife, Elizabeth Ann, died in 1976 and was buried in Kansas City's Forest Hill cemetery. J. C. followed in 1982 at the age of 91 and was laid to rest next to her.

Quote: "Guard your integrity, because it's your greatest asset."

More to Read:
1. About J.C. Hall
2. About Hallmark -- Company Code and Vision Statement, Hallmark's History and Timeline, Divisions, etc.
3. Dayspring Products
4. Wikipedia
5. When You Care Enough. Autobiography by Joyce C. Hall with Curtiss Anderson. Kansas City: Hallmark Cards, Inc., 1979, reprinted 1992.
6. The Very Best from Hallmark: Greeting Cards Through the Years. by Ellen Sterns. Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1988.
7. Here Lies Kansas City: A Collection of Our City’s Notables and Their Final Resting Places. By Wilda Sandy. 1984.
8. YouTube Video: Crown Minute No. 1: Mr. J.C.
9. Wrapping Paper was invented by Mr. Hall in Kansas City! 

10. Hallmark Art Collection. Click here. 
11. Findagrave # 1428

Historical Note: From the mid-1930s through the 1950s, J.C. Hall approved every single Hallmark card, giving his official thumbs up by writing "OK JC" on the back. In 1939, an artist, Dorothy Maienschein, who worked for Hallmark, made a watercolor of a bunch of pansies in a basket. It was the most popular card ever sold and in 2010, the US Postal Service created a postage stamp from a corner of the image.

Places to Visit:
1.  Hallmark Cards Visitor Center, Crown Center Complex, 2500 Grand Ave, Kansas City, MO. 
2. Coterie Children's Theatre, Crown Center Complex, 2450 Grand Blvd, Suite 144, KCMO
3. Crayola Store, Crown Center, 2450 Grand, KCMO
4. Eat lunch at the Crayola Café, Crown Center,
OR
5. Eat lunch at Fritz's Railroad Restaurant, Crown Center, 2450 Grand, KCMO
6. Crown Center Ice Skating Rink, 2425 Grand, KCMO (seasonal)
7.  Kaleidoscope, Crown Center Complex, 2500 Grand Ave, KCMO
8.  Lego Land Discovery Center, Crown Center Complex, 2475 Grand Blvd., KCMO
9. Musical Theater Heritage, Crown Center Complex, 2450 Grand Blvd KCMO
10.  Sea Life Aquarium, Crown Center District, 2475 Grand Blvd, KCMO
11. A Hallmark Gold Crown Gift Shop

Quote:  "If a man goes into business with only the idea of making a lot of money, chances are he won't. But if he puts service and quality first, the money will take care of itself. Producing a first-class product that is a real need is a much stronger motivation for success than getting rich."

George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver (1860-1943) – Professor Scientist of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Best known for his work with the peanut. George Washington Carver was born to a slave woman named Mary owned by his German foster parents Moses and Susan Carver. Since the Carvers did not have any natural children of their own, they raised George and his brother James after their mother was stolen by night riders during the Civil War.

George loved God's creation and had a way with plants and animals. He wanted to learn more about the mysteries of God's creation and left home at age 11 to get his education. Between 1873 and 1877, he attended the services at a African Methodist church in Neosho, MO. Later, around the year 1883, George joined a Presbyterian church in Minneapolis, Kansas. We know this because the Church Registry Roll book has been preserved.

George was talented in many areas. Not only was he good with plants, but he also loved music and art.

He wanted to attend college, but was denied admission to Highland University in Doniphan County, Kansas because he was black. He then tried farming in Kansas and soon afterward was accepted as an art major at Simpson College in Iowa, later transferring to the present Iowa State University and earning two degrees in Agriculture.

In 1896, Carver accepted an offer from Dr. Booker T. Washington to come to the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama to teach. He could have become a rich man, but he freely shared his secrets. For example, he wrote a series of free Agricultural Bulletins for farmers that provided information on crops, cultivation techniques and recipes for nutritious meals.

After Carver died in 1943, Congress designated the Carver home in Diamond Grove, Missouri a National Park.

A Bit of Trivia:

1847 = The Missouri Legislature made it illegal to educate blacks. Also, the legislature prohibited slaves from gathering in any kind of assembly, barred any religious services that were led by a black minister (unless a white official was present), and flatly outlawed the immigration of free black people into the state.

More to Read:

1. George Washington Carver. By Henry Thomas. 1958.

2. George Washington Carver: From Slave to Scientist. By Janet & Geoff Benge.

3. George Washington Carver, National Park Service, US Department of the Interior tourist brochure

4. Missouri Legends: Famous People from the Show-Me State. John W. Brown. 2008.

5. Webster's Biographical Dictionary. G & C. Merriam, 1956.

6. George Washington Carver: Scientist and Inventor. By Judy Monroe.

7. George Washington Carver: Peanut Wizard. Laura Driscoll.

8. “George Washington Carver in Paola” By Joe Hursey. Miami County Historical Museum, Summer 2012 Edition. P. 6. 

9. "Negro Scientist, George Washington Carver" Official Manual "Blue Book," State of Missouri 1949-50. Secretary of State, Jefferson City, MO. p. 24
10. Carver Birthplace Association website 
11. The Peanut Man
12. Find-a-Grave Memorial

Places to Visit in MO. & KS.:

1. George Washington Carver National Monument, 5646 Carver Road, Diamond, MO.

2. Griot Museum of Black History & Culture, 2505 St. Louis Ave., St. Louis, MO.

3. See Carver's statue at the Missouri Botanical Gardens, St. Louis, MO.

4. National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame, 630 Hall of Fame Dr. Bonner Springs, KS.

5. Miami County Historical Museum, 12 E. Peoria, Paola, Ks.

6. Former Residence = 309 East Miami Street, Paola, KS.


Extras For the (Home) Educator:
1. Classroom Poster, (#T-38306) Trend Enterprises, IN. St. Paul, MN.
2. There are many resources at the US Department of Agriculture website such as the coloring book below. Put "George Washington Carver" into their search engine to see what's available.
2. USDA Honors Dr. George Washington Carver (1864-1943) Coloring & Activity Book. US Department of Agriculture.

3. Discovering with God. By Lois Dick. Child Evangelism Fellowship Press, Warrenton, MO., 1987. 
4. George Washington Carver's Kansas Trading Card! 

Historical Note: The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute of Tuskegee, Ala., headed for many years by Booker T. Washington (1859-1915) was associated with the National Baptist Convention, USA.

Holiday:

"March is National Peanut Month."

George Washington Carver

By Elizabeth McKinnon.

George Washington Carver liked peanuts,

He thought they were really a treat.

He made many products from peanuts,

From peanuts that we love to eat!

Biography written by Dolores J. Rush. Updated: 10/27/2019.