George Sibley

George Sibley helped Merriwether Lewis construct Fort Osage and was still there when the Walkers arrive.  He held the job of government trader for three years until the factory system was abandoned in 1822, officially ending the federal effort to trade with the Indians.

Sibley remained as a private citizen.  He was a weak frontiersman, a native of Massachusetts where he was more at home in colonial society than on a frontier.  His father was a Revolutionary physician and friend of Thomas Jefferson.  George became highly educated but with little knowledge or talents to use on the early frontier.

One humorous stories of George tells of him deciding that the Indians only hope was to learn white man's ways of farming, so he organized a program to instruct them as respectable farmers.  The Indians didn't want to become respectable white farmers, so after  George spent months teaching  them to plant and harvest, the Indians let their horses feed off the planted field instead, driving George crazy until after several attempts, he gave up.  Good idea George...

Next time - George and Mary, respected residents