History of Soy

Introduction of Soybeans to Illinois

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On 15 Mar 1851, Dr. Benjamin Franklin Edwards left San Francisco on his return voyage to Alton, Illinois (Alton Telegraph 1851). At the port while waiting for his ship to take on provisions he probably examined the quarantined Japanese on the Auckland and received soybeans, called Japan peas, as a gift (Anonymous 1853). The next day the Japanese were permitted to go ashore (Evening Picayune 1851b). On 29 Apr 1851 Dr. Edwards arrived in Alton, carrying soybean seed among his personal possessions (Alton Telegraph 1851).

Edwards gave the soybean seeds to Mr. John H. Lea of Alton, who planted them in his garden in summer 1851 (Ernst 1853b). In the 1850 census, Lea identified himself as being English, an engineer, and 33 years old. His wife's name was Elizabeth and they had four children, three sons and a daughter (Wormer 1976). An Alton business man, Lea was co-owner of a flour mill (Alton Telegraph and Democratic Review 1842) and for 4 years was a partner in a whisky distillery (Alton Telegraph and Democratic Review 1845, 1849). He must have been interested in gardening — he was appointed to the committee on culinary vegetables at the second meeting (19 Nov 1853) of the Alton Horticultural Society (Alton Horticultural Society 1866).

After harvesting his soybean seeds, Lea distributed them to various places. For example, Mr. J. J. Jackson of Davenport, Iowa, grew soybeans in 1852 and 1853 (Jackson 1854). Thus Jackson is the first person to report growing soybeans in Iowa, now a major soybean producing state.

In the absence of a local horticultural society, Lea sent soybean seed to the Cincinnati Horticultural Society. In 1852 Mr. Andrew H. Ernst, a well-known horticulturist, grew them in his nursery, "Spring Garden" near Cincinnati, Ohio (Bailey 1914-1917; Ernst 1853b, 1854; Hesseltine and Gara 1953). After the 1852 harvest, Mr. Ernst distributed soybean seeds to the New York State Agricultural Society, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and the Commissioner of Patents (Anonymous 1853; Ernst 1853a,b). Prior to the establishment of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1864 by President Lincoln, agricultural affairs were handled by the Office of the Commissioner of Patents. The two societies and the Commissioner of Patents sent soybean seeds to dozens of farmers throughout the United States. In the following 2 years, testimonials as to the potential value of soybeans as a forage plant appeared in newspapers, agricultural journals, and letters written to the Commissioner of Patents (e.g., Anderson 1853; Briggs 1853 Ernst 1854; "T. E. W." 1854).

Another distributor of soybean seeds was "T.V.P." (1855) of Mount Carmel, Ohio, who reported that he cultivated soybeans "for the last three years and have disseminated [them] from Canada to Texas." Most probably he received his soybean seeds from A. H. Ernst. His evaluation of soybeans as a potential new crop was amazingly astute. He suggested that the crop be planted on good corn land, in rows from 18 to 24 inches apart, wide enough to hoe or use a small cultivator. In addition, the beans should be cooked before use as a feed for chickens and hogs.

Thus, by the end of 1854 the soybean seeds brought by Dr. Benjamin Franklin Edwards in 1851 from San Francisco to Alton, Illinois, were multiplied, disseminated, and evaluated by farmers throughout the United States.

The Well-Known Soybean Introduction From Japan

In 1854, when Commodore Matthew Perry's Expedition opened up Japan to western trade, the expedition's surgeon, Dr. Daniel Green, observed that the Japanese grew a peculiar kind of bean called the Japan pea (i.e. soybean) (Perry 1856). In mid 1854 the expedition's agriculturist, Dr. James Morrow, obtained soybean seeds and sent them to the Commissioner of Patents; subsequently the seeds were distributed to farmers (Browne 1855; Cole 1947). Thus from 1855 onward it is difficult to distinguish between soybean seed sources in farmers' reports. Did their soybean seeds originate from the Illinois accession or the Perry Expedition; perhaps they grew soybeans from both sources. Graff(1949) cited post-1854 soybean evaluation reports from Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Because the Perry Expedition (1852-1854) is so well documented, the soybeans sent from Japan to the United States have received an enormous amount of publicity. On the other hand, the specific details concerning the earlier introduction of soybeans into Illinois, by Dr. Benjamin Franklin Edwards in 1851, have been obscured by time.

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