April 6, 2026

As I get ready for a trip to Fredonia, NY to speak at the museum there about my Douglass Houghton biography, especially deciding what passage to read from it, I’ve been thinking more about then/now life. The curator of the museum in Fredonia gave me some very good information on Houghton’s youth. Houghton was born in Troy, NY and raised in Fredonia. The curator also provided a photo of the house Houghton grew up in for my illustrator to use as a model.

Since Houghton lived in a time before photographs, my publisher and I decided to have pen and ink drawings modeled after historic paintings and later photos instead of the photos themselves. It was a good choice. Joanna Walitalo did a fabulous job. Anyway, I’ve decided to read part of Chapter 1 on Houghton’s youth. Here’s part of the passage from page 5:

“Shortly after the opening of Fredonia Academy, Douglass and a friend decided to learn to make gunpowder. One day after about a year, Douglass was carrying a pan of powder past the stove in the family’s mill. Perhaps a spark landed on it. The powder blew up, knocked Douglass to the ground, and burned his face and hair.

“Douglass plunged his face into water to ease the pain, but he was unaware of how seriously he was hurt. His vision was blurry, so he wobbled as he walked home, reportedly saying to his mother that he was not hurt that much. Later, his mother told friends that he was quite a sight!”

            Can you imagine what would happen to parents today under such circumstances? Child Protective Services would be at their door arresting them in no time flat! Would Houghton have become the man he was if that had happened? The lack of supervision of kids in the past may have been the inspiration of many inventors, authors, artists, explorers … Oh, Houghton did recover his sight, but the scars on his face remained for life. I still wonder though, if he would have become the geologist, surveyor, doctor, botanist, chemist, zoologist he was without those “free” childhood experiences? Do we squash kids today with all our “protection”?

            Happy reading and wondering.