Wednesday 22nd July 2009 – It’s a Small World, Especially in a Small Town

It seems I am very fortunate to have chosen this time of year to visit central Missouri.  Apparently, Spring and Fall are both hot and humid, and very uncomfortable.  July, it would appear, is just the right time.

So I am willing to risk going out-of-doors in the middle of the day.  Which is when the Community Museum is open.

 

The museum possesses a delightful little book about the history of Glasgow, "The Dream of Thirteen Men".  In it I discover that the last named of the thirteen men who set out to sell of lots in the town in 1836 was one James Glasgow.  It is said the town acquired its name precisely because he was listed last.  The nearby Library should have the original documents, which might show how plausible that is.  In any case, nobody is in any doubt that it is named for him.

So it might now be interesting to see how he or his family acquired the name.  He was born in 1784 in Delaware.  Curiously, there is another Glasgow in Delaware. 

He also did some housing development in St Louis, calling it "Glasgow Row", and there is still a "Glasgow Village" in St Louis, so I will need to look and see if that is connected.

But what is truly delightful about the little book is that, being a museum, rather than a library, this is actually somebody's copy of the book.  And the author, in the preface, actually thanks this person for her help and guidance.  She was, among other things, a local  historian, and his English teacher.

And she has annotated her copy with her comments and corrections, some of them quite waspish.  She has even, in places, corrected his spelling and grammar.  It is, of its kind, quite a little treasure.  Of course, I have no way of knowing whether the author is right, or the commentator, but the juxtaposition was very entertaining.

As well as being the local English (and Spanish, and Latin) teacher, the commentator was a descendant of the founders of the local bank, the first in Missouri.  The author, who was young, went to Canada at the time of the Vietnam War (nudge, nudge; wink, wink).  At least one of the comments was clearly made after the Vietnam War.

 

Later that night, I bumped into the nephew and niece of the commentator.  They painted a splendid  picture of her, which rounded off the day nicely.