Last week I wrote about the importance of keeping a journal. I want to follow up on that today with the story of one of my favorite historical characters who took voluminous notes every day in his work and travels, thus preserving the history of some important days in our nation.
His name was Jacob. The year was 1873 and he had been summoned by President Grant to Washington, D.C. to remeasure the grand avenues in the nation’s capitol, the President having been told by the District Investigation Committee that the streets surrounding the Capitol building had not been laid out well and needed to be redone by a professional engineer.
Jacob spent three weeks there and was ready to give his report to General Babcock who was in charge of the street project. He writes in his journal that the rain that day had turned to snow by the time he left his hotel and walked down Pennsylvania Avenue where he turned into one of the walks that led to the Executive Mansion.
He wrote about the White House being lit up with a thousand candles, shedding a “warm glow on enormous silver urns overflowing with yellow roses.”
A porter met him at the door and led him through the East Room into the conservatory and the State Dining Room where the President’s private secretary showed him into the President’s office. They chatted briefly, then Jacob made his way to the office of General Babcock.
Working with U.S. Presidents and their staff was not that unusual for Jacob. In 1861 on Valentine’s Day, Jacob had boarded a train at Steubenville OH so he could talk with President Abraham Lincoln on his journey to Washington.
Again, Jacob’s journal is full of details. He described the President as “sad but with kind eyes” and that Mrs. Lincoln who was seated beside her husband in the passenger car was a “short, stout woman with an exquisite complexion.” Her black hair was “dressed severely” and she wore a purple silk gown.
President Lincoln had made the train appointment to discuss with Jacob the possibility of building a transcontinental railroad which would unite the nation. But their plans were put on hold just a few weeks later when Fort Sumter was fired upon. The Civil War had begun.
Other journals he kept detailed how In 1867, Jacob had been appointed by President Andrew Johnson to “examine the Rocky Mountains” and determine the eastern base for the transcontinental railroad. Jacob served as chief engineer of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, as chief and consulting engineer on the Union Pacific Railway, and worked on several other railways. He was present at the Golden Spike ceremony on May 10, 1869.
His journals were an important part of Laclede County history because without them, we would not have had such an extensive and fascinating history of the Oakland Community located 8 miles east of Lebanon, the Oakland Moravian church and cemetery, and the beautiful residence known locally as the “Oakland Mansion”.
Jacob built the magnificent residence and constructed the church which was known in later years as the Oakland Methodist Church and eventually the Oakland Heritage Church of God which I pastored for eleven years. Jacob Blickensderfer and his wife, Maria, and several members of their family are buried in the little well-kept cemetery next to the church.
©Joan Rowden Hart 2017
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