Talk:William Preston Hall

Schooling through . . . ? ? ?[edit]

In the bio summary we currently list:

"Education No formal education"

Well, since his parents died when William was twelve, he may have had schooling through that age, which in the 1870s was something.

It might also be interesting how informally educated William might be. I mean, how well he could read and write, do percentages, do current value of money, maybe read veterinarian reports? FriendlyRiverOtter (talk) 01:41, 11 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The only thing my research into Col. Billy's early life indicated was that he had no real schooling and that he began his working life very early. Now obviously he had to pick up some education somewhere in order to be as successful as he was in the business world, but I found no reliable source indicating even so much as a rural one-room school. Perhaps he was home schooled, still quite common in rural Missouri in that era. If you want to seach and can find something to the contrary then go for it. Sector001 (talk) 03:46, 11 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That is a very intriguing aspect of history, how many different good, obvious, straightforward, interesting, worthwhile questions just may not have an answer to them, even for someone who did not live all that long ago. So, we just may never know about Col. Billy's formal/informal education. Another question, how did Billy leverage buying his first horse at age 15 to a full business and a supporting income at age 18? And another thing, did he have second thoughts about war, maybe deciding war is not the answer. Or, did he take the view, well, he didn't start the war, someone has to be selling the horses and mulls and it might as well be him? FriendlyRiverOtter (talk) 18:42, 30 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]