![W C Stubbs](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/W_C_Stubbs.jpg)
William Carter Stubbs (7 December 1843 – 7 July 1924) was an American chemist and sugar industry researcher who worked in Alabama and Louisiana.
Early life
Stubbs was born in
Gloucester County, Virginia
Gloucester County () is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 38,711. Its county seat is Gloucester Courthouse. The county was founded in 1651 in the Virginia Colony and is named for Henry Stuart, ...
to Jefferson W. Stubbs and Ann Walker Carter Baytop. He studied at the
William and Mary College
The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III a ...
and
Randolph–Macon College
Randolph–Macon College is a private liberal arts college in Ashland, Virginia. Founded in 1830, the college has an enrollment of more than 1,500 students. It is the second-oldest Methodist-run college in the country, and the oldest in continu ...
. While at the latter, he was a member of the Fraternity of Delta Psi (aka
St. Anthony Hall
St. Anthony Hall or the Fraternity of Delta Psi is an American fraternity and literary society. Its first chapter was founded at Columbia University on , the Calendar of saints, feast day of Anthony the Great, Saint Anthony the Great. The frater ...
). He received a PhD in chemistry from the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
.
During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, he served as a cavalryman in the Confederate States Army under
Fitzhugh Lee
Fitzhugh Lee (November 19, 1835 – April 28, 1905) was a Confederate cavalry general in the American Civil War, the 40th Governor of Virginia, diplomat, and United States Army general in the Spanish–American War. He was the son of Sydney Smi ...
in the 24th Virginia Cavalry.
Career
Stubbs taught at the East Alabama College (now
Auburn University
Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...
) and then became a professor of chemistry at the
Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1869.
In 1885 he was appointed State Chemist for Louisiana and made director for the experimental station at Louisiana State University. His work at the Louisiana sugar experiment station was sponsored by the Louisiana Sugar Planters Association and dealt predominantly with research associated with the sugar industry. The USDA obtained 70 varieties of sugarcane for Stubbs to evaluate and in 1893 he received 500 varieties and the final selection of varieties D74 and D95 led to a boom in sugar production.
The Audubon Sugar School begun in 1891 offered a course in agriculture under
Charles E. Coates which included engineering and chemistry but it was closed in 1896 and the course taken over by the
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...
.
Personal life
Stubbs married Elizabeth Saunders Blair in 1875. The couple had no children. He took an interest in genealogy and wrote, along with his wife, on the descendants of John Stubbs. He died from pneumonia at his home in New Orleans and is buried in the Metairie Cemetery.
Honors and controversy
The
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...
named a hall on the campus in Baton Rouge after Stubbs. However, this was recommended for a change of name following re-examination of his role in United States history. A 1910 portrait depicts Stubbs with a Confederate lapel pin and there is a Confederate flag emblazoned on his tombstone. Since he was reliant on the exploitative system of sharecropping involving coerced black farm workers who had to bear generational poverty and physical abuse, the use of his name was considered inappropriate under LSU Policy Statement 70.
Recommendations for LSU Board of Supervisors to Rename LSU Facilities
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References
External links
Portrait of W. C. Stubbs painted by Alexander Alaux, c. 1910
LSU AgCenter, history of sugarcane by Kenneth Gravois
* Cultivation of sugar cane (1900)
Tobacco growing in Louisiana
(1893)
A history of two Virginia families transplanted from county Kent, England. Thomas Baytop, Tenterden, 1638, and John Catlett, Sittingbourne, 1622
(1918)
Experiments at Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station in oats
(1886)
Descendants of Mordecai Cooke of "Mordecai's Mount", Gloucester Co., Va., 1650, and Thomas Booth, of Ware Neck, Gloucester Co., Va., 1685
(1923)
The descendants of John Stubbs of Cappahosic, Gloucester County, Virginia, 1652
(1902)
Report on the agricultural resources and capabilities of Hawaii
(1901)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stubbs, William Carter
1843 births
1924 deaths
People from Gloucester County, Virginia
University of Virginia alumni
St. Anthony Hall
American chemists
College of William & Mary alumni
Randolph–Macon College alumni
Auburn University faculty
Alabama A&M University faculty
Deaths from pneumonia in Louisiana