History never fails to fascinate me. Our family was in St. Louis last week, and we made it over to Bellefontaine Cemetery. If you haven't been there, look it up (
http://www.bellefontainecemetery.org/). You'll be amazed at the place. Yes, I know it's a cemetery, but it's also a treasure.
Anyway, I was putting together a lesson about Missouri Caves for my fourth graders, I looked at the Marvel Cave page, and made a connection. We've all heard that Henry T. Blow led an expedition to Marvel (before it was Marvel) to try to find lead. When they thought they found marble instead, the cave was renamed Marble Cave.
Anyway (again), I knew I had seen the grave of a Henry T. Blow at Bellefontaine. That's where
history meets history. Maybe some of you (rubedugans) knew about this man already, but I hadn't put it all together.
Henry T. Blow was not just a cave explorer or a mineral magnate. In fact, was the minister to Brazil during President Grant's first term.
Go back in time a little further and he was the minister to Venezuela for President Lincoln. When he returned a year later, he served in the U. S. House of Representatives.
Back a little further, you'll find that Henry T. Blow's family owned the slave Dred Scott. Scott was sold to Dr. John Emerson whose refusal to free him was at the heart of the Supreme Court decision that helped kindle the War Between the States. It was Blow who encouraged Scott to sue for his freedom, and Blow who helped fund the legal fees for Scott and his wife.
In addition, Henry T. Blow's daughter, Susan Elizabeth, is the one responsible for establishing the first public kindergarten in the United States, in St. Louis in 1873.
Our quick reference to this man in the history of Marvel Cave is just a glance into the life of a man who had a much deeper history and influence than I ever imagined. Perhaps some of this information could be displayed as a part of the national landmark we know of as Marvel Cave.