Thank you for such an interesting article and for the information regarding this great man. 
I had not heard of who invented the language before, nor had I thought about Esperanto for over fifty-five years.
As a kids, my two older sisters tried to learn Esperanto and use to try speaking it to me.  Not sure where they got the idea or heard the language spoken as we grew up on a reservation but we were encouraged to read any book (including banned books) at very young ages. We were taught Latin during our elementary years by the nuns at the mission but I can't remember who tried to teach my older sisters Esperanto. It could have been my grandfather, who despite his Indian School education could speak six languages. Over the years he made friends with an interesting collection of people who passed through our village on Route 66, including L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology. At the time of their friendship, Hubbard was writing erotic Scfi. 
FYI Hubbard traveled to Alaska at one point.