973.7L63 
 OOalih 
 East Cage 
 
 Oakleaf, Josepn Benjamin 
 Hobbies. An address on the 
 collection of Lincoln litera- 
 ture. 
 
LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 the Class of 1901 
 
 founded by 
 
 HARLAN HOYT HORNER 
 
 and 
 
 HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER 
 
••••••••••••••••••< 
 
 HOBBIES 
 
 AN ADDRESS ON THE COLLECTION 
 OF LINCOLN LITERATURE 
 
 BY 
 
 JOSEPH BENJAMIN OAKLEAF 
 
 OF THE ILLINOIS BAR 
 
 ? 
 
 DELIVERED FEBRUARY 12TH, 1913, BEFORE A | 
 
 BODY OF MEN EACH OF WHOM HAD 
 A HOBBY OF SOME SORT 
 
 i AUGUSTANA BOOK CONCERN 
 
 f Printers and Binders 
 
 I ' Rock Island, Illinois 
 
 i 1923 
 
 H" l I • " ■'■!■■■■ I Hn|Hii|r i|i i | M | > ■ « ii «m »ii« h »i«h »■■>■■> — ■■>■■>■■<■ 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 

 
 
 HOBBIES 
 
 Through all time, so far as we have 
 been informed, most men have had a hob- 
 by of some sort. It seems that the busi- 
 ness, professional, scientific and other 
 men seek for some diversion outside of 
 their beaten path to act as a sort of safe- 
 ty valve, and such sought for diversions 
 are greater now than at any other period 
 of the world's history. We are now liv- 
 ing in a very rapid age. What would 
 have taken our forefathers weeks to ac- 
 complish we accomplish now between 
 the rising and setting sun. The various 
 means of locomotion have eliminated 
 distances; we have scarcely left our 
 office or place of business until we 
 have arrived at our objective point; 
 
 3 
 
and thus our brains are continually 
 in a whirl with business activities. It 
 is true that those who are believers 
 in church and enjoy church work, have 
 one day out of the seven in which to 
 set the mind at rest and get consola- 
 tion and rest. They, too, are inspired 
 with the thought that after the end of this 
 busy, active life, there is rest and reward 
 for those who have their lamps burning 
 and await the coming of the bridegroom. 
 Many thousand others, however, do not 
 seek consolation and rest from busi- 
 ness activities by entering the House of 
 Worship on the Lord's Day, but seek the 
 field, the running brook, and there com- 
 mune with nature; still others will be 
 found on the golf links, chasing the little 
 white sphere around the field like "the 
 mother who is chasing her boy around 
 the room"; others will be satisfied to sit 
 on the bleachers under a hot July sun and 
 see their favorite team in the national 
 pastime win its laurels. Yet, notwith- 
 standing these many diversions, countless 
 numbers of men and women will resort 
 
 4 
 
to a hobby of some sort to give addi- 
 tional diversion and direct their minds 
 into channels that will serve to lighten 
 the burden of the active, professional or 
 business life. 
 
 I have talked with men who have had 
 a hobby and have found that it was 
 curiosity or love of some particular thing 
 which prompted the starting of that 
 hobby. As a rule, it did not begin as 
 a hobby, in the first place, but became 
 a hobby after the curiosity had been 
 aroused or the love for the particular 
 line had been fixed. 
 
 I, in common with many thousands of 
 people in the United States and else- 
 where, am a true lover of Lincoln. I 
 can well remember, as a boy, only a few 
 years of age, the picture issued shortly 
 after the death of Abraham Lincoln, a 
 copy of which hung in the sitting room 
 of my home. It was a picture of Wash- 
 ington and Lincoln with the inscription: 
 "Washington made, and Lincoln saved, 
 our Country." My home town (Moline, 
 Illinois) being one of the stations on the 
 
 5 
 
"underground railroad," and one of the 
 strongest abolition towns in the country, 
 I heard naturally much about Lincoln, 
 and as a boy I always admired the kind 
 face and pleasing personality of the mar- 
 tyred president, and as I grew to man- 
 hood, the boyish admiration grew into 
 reverence. 
 
 Previous to the time that Nicolay and 
 Hay wrote their biography of Abraham 
 Lincoln, I had read a life or two of Lin- 
 coln, and many different incidents in 
 magazines and papers, but the publica- 
 tion by Nicolay and Hay was hailed with 
 great delight, for much that had been 
 hidden was brought to light by them. It 
 is certainly true that we cannot study the 
 life of a great man, to advantage, unless 
 at the same time we study the events of 
 the times in which that man lived and 
 the men with whom he was connected. 
 The ten volumes that were published by 
 the Century Company were the result of 
 the brains of Lincoln's private secre- 
 taries. 
 
 In this work, Nicolay and Hay have a 
 
 6 
 
monument to them greater than any 
 amount of money placed in a marble or 
 precious stone. 
 
 I read in the Century periodical from 
 month to month, for twelve months, the 
 life of Lincoln and the men and times 
 with which he was connected, and when 
 the last number of the magazine arrived 
 which closed the history, I re-read it, 
 and having taken up law as my profession 
 and became acquainted with annotations 
 in the text books, it occurred to me that 
 I would like to be the possessor of all the 
 books to which Nicolay and Hay refer- 
 red in their foot notes, for it seemed to 
 me that if they could weave such a splen- 
 did history by the use of their references 
 and the material culled from the books to 
 which they referred, it would be a pleas- 
 ure to own such books. I thought I 
 would like to have all of the biographies 
 of Lincoln, at least, and I then concluded 
 that a hundred volumes would probably 
 be the extent of my library. I began col- 
 lecting in a modest manner and did not 
 correspond with any one who was collect- 
 
 7 
 
ing, nor did I know of any one who had 
 the hobby. I made notations from the 
 foot notes of the work of Nicolay and 
 Hay and I went to our Public Library 
 and finally my name became known to 
 the old book dealers and I received cata- 
 logues, and then my hobby really started. 
 While I was endeavoring to procure the 
 books that I had noted, others became 
 known to me and my hundred volumes 
 finally grew to four hundred, then to 
 five hundred, six hundred and so on, but 
 my gala day came at the close of the year 
 1900. It was while visiting with the 
 genial Frank M. Morris of Chicago, in 
 his famous book shop, that he informed 
 me that a man by the name of Fish of 
 Minneapolis had compiled a biblio- 
 graphy. Upon my return home, I wrote 
 to the Hon. Daniel Fish, with a great 
 deal of misgiving, and inquired as to his 
 bibliography, and out of the goodness of 
 his great heart he sent me a copy of Lin- 
 colniana. If I had known how exten- 
 sive a complete collection of Lincolniana 
 would be when I first began collecting, 
 
 8 
 
I am satisfied that I would not have had 
 the heart to begin the work. But thus it 
 is, that where we are not allowed to peer 
 into the future, we undertake work which 
 we will carry on successfully, not know- 
 ing what the end means but keep plod- 
 ding on from day to day until finally we 
 reach the goal. 
 
 My collection of Lincolniana was 
 known locally, and at one time I appeared 
 before the high school of our City to say 
 something about Lincoln. At that time 
 I tendered the use of my library to any 
 one who desired to make a research, and a 
 young man by the name of Philip Joseph 
 availed himself of the opportunity and 
 delivered an oration entitled: "The Fame 
 of Abraham Lincoln. 11 The paper was 
 well written, and I had it published for 
 him and sent a copy to Mr. Fish, who ask- 
 ed me to send a copy to his good friend, 
 Judd Steward. This I did, and in that 
 way reached the heart and hand of that 
 genial Lincoln enthusiast. 
 
 My collection, now, has grown to 
 something over fifteen hundred items 
 
and it is still growing, slowly but steadily. 
 
 With the death of Major Lambert, 
 last summer, there passed away the 
 prince of Lincoln collectors. His col- 
 lection cannot be duplicated and now 
 Judd Stewart stands at the head of the 
 collectors of Lincolniana, and he well de- 
 serves the place for he has always been 
 willing to lend a helping hand to his 
 brother collectors. 
 
 Not only has the collection of Lincoln- 
 iana been a pleasure to me, but the 
 acquaintance that I have formed through 
 my hobby is really worth to me many 
 fold more than my collection. There is 
 not a city, or town, of any note in the 
 United States, where I have not some 
 one with whom I have corresponded or 
 talked on the subject, and if, by chance, 
 I am a sojourner in a city or town for an 
 hour or two, I always refer to my hobby 
 address book and am sure to find some one 
 interested, and I am always welcome, for 
 the usual salutation of the stranger will 
 be: "Any man who loves Lincoln is a 
 friend of mine." 
 
 10 
 
I have never placed my collection on a 
 commercial basis. I mean by that, that 
 I would not pay a high price for an item 
 just for the sake of having it in my col- 
 lection, for I have learned that in the 
 course of time I would get the item for 
 the mere asking. I remember definitely 
 of many items having come into my col- 
 lection for which I had been tempted to 
 pay a big price, but by biding my time 
 they have come to me with the compli- 
 ments of some one or through the intima- 
 tion of some good friend. I have always 
 made it a habit to keep all the correspond- 
 ence concerning any certain item about 
 which I was inquiring, and when the 
 item is finally received I preserve the cor- 
 respondence, which makes a sort of a 
 history of the item and the work that was 
 necessary to bring it into my possession. 
 
 Living in Rock Island County, where 
 Lincoln was sworn into the service of the 
 United States as a voluteer in the Black- 
 hawk War, and within sight of the Vil- 
 lage made famous by Blackhawk, and, 
 so far as we can learn, the only time that 
 11 
 
 LIBRARV ""**%* 
 
Lincoln was ever in Rock Island County, 
 we feel that Rock Island County has had 
 much to do with the bringing of fame 
 to Abraham Lincoln. It was in this 
 County that the first bridge spanned the 
 Mississippi, and the company building 
 the bridge retained Abraham Lincoln to 
 help them in their efforts to retain the 
 bridge in the suit brought by the river- 
 men, and out of which Lincoln received 
 one of his first large fees. It was at Fort 
 Armstrong in Rock Island County, that 
 Dred Scott, as body servant of Dr. Emer- 
 son, was stationed for a number of years, 
 and on account of Dred Scott's residence 
 there, his case came before the Supreme 
 Court of the United States. 
 
 There are now many who are interest- 
 ed in the collecting of Lincolniana, with 
 new ones coming to the front continually. 
 To such, I extend the hand of Lincoln 
 fellowship with my heart in it, knowing 
 that what they do will not only be of serv- 
 ice to themselves, but to the city or com- 
 munity in which they live and of benefit 
 to their friends. 
 
 12 
 
In closing, I would like to mention all 
 of those who have been very kind to me, 
 but I cannot do so for the list would be 
 too long, but I must not close without 
 mentioning a few, and they are: 
 
 Major W. H. Lambert, who has now 
 gone to his reward, a better man, I think, 
 never lived; Judd Stewart, the able as- 
 sistant to the President of the American 
 Smelting Company; Hon. Charles W. 
 McLellan, of Champlain, New York, 
 who was a resident of Springfield at the 
 time of the breaking out of the war and 
 on account of his leaning toward the Con- 
 federacy, left Springfield, but who is 
 
 now one of the strongest admirers of 
 Abraham Lincoln; Hon. Daniel Fish, of 
 Minneapolis, whom I have had the pleas- 
 urse of entertaining in my home and with 
 whom I have made a trip through the 
 Lincoln country; J. W. Burton, of Lake 
 
 Geneva, Wisconsin, in whose home I 
 have been entertained and feasted my 
 eyes upon his splendid collection of Lin- 
 colniana. These were my early friends 
 in the beginning of my hobby, and I can 
 
 13 
 
now count many others who are near to 
 me and who have reciprocated most 
 generously the favor extended to them. 
 
 l-i 
 
MOORSFIELD os RIVER CHAZY 
 
 Champlain, New York 
 
 August 26, 1923. 
 
 J. B. Oakleaf, Esq., 
 
 Moline, 111. 
 
 My dear Oakleaf: — 
 
 I note that in your mention of Father you make a curiously 
 inaccurate statement, which I feel I should correct for your 
 personal information. You state on Page 13 of " Hobbies" that 
 Father "was a resident of Springfield at the time of the breaking 
 out of the war and on account of his leaning towards the Con- 
 federacy, left Springfield." The truth is quite different. 
 
 Father was Northern in every fibre of his being; born in 
 Beverly, Mass., November 25, 1836; in 1856 he went to Spring- 
 field, 111., to become a bookkeeper with Chas. Hurst & Co., and 
 later John Williams; he was a member of the Springfield Greys 
 there. In September, i860, he went to Mobile, Ala., at the 
 instigation of a friend of his whose Uncle was a cotton factor in 
 Mobile and who wanted a bookkeeper and who made what Father 
 considered a very attractive offer. Father said that his friend 
 and he left Springfield with the feeling that the future held great 
 possibilities for them. For a year after his arrival in Mobile 
 things were quiet and although the war had started in April, 1861, 
 it was felt but little; and that it was only when he made prepara- 
 tions for coming North that he awoke to the seriousness of the 
 situation. He had corresponded with Robert Lincoln and with 
 friends North, and it was intimated by Southern friends that he 
 had better not make the attempt. But he joined the Mobile 
 Cadets, a military organization for the defence of the State, and 
 later this organization was mustered into the Confederate army. 
 He often spoke of the lack of interest he seemed to have paid to 
 the great political questions of the day; and that he rather 
 drifted with events. He had no leaning towards the Confederacy 
 and left Springfield solely for business reasons, without seeing the 
 conflict looming on the horizon. Father left quite a complete 
 story of his experiences in Springfield, Mobile and during the war. 
 
 With every good wish, 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 Hugh McLellan 
 
100 copies printed, 
 of iv hie Ji this is 
 
 No.JtS_ 
 
 Thirty-one extra copies were- printed and bound, but nol numbered) 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 973.7L63GOA4H C001 
 
 HOBBIES ROCK ISLAND 
 
 3 0112 031821736