I CALL BOGUS!!!!
Just got off the phone with the Archibald Smith Plantation -- they only have a small patch of cotton that has been around since 1982. So, if this guy took a field trip there, he may have "picked cotton" before getting back on the bus to go back to school.
Tell the truth; it doesn't make the story more interesting (or authentic, for that matter.)
Get better people to handle bios.