Helen Ebersole, Local Author

 

Gary Padak, Rotary Club of Jamestown President, introduced Helen Ebersole, local Author who wrote “Off the Pedestal: Jackson in Jamestown, 1909-1934.”  Helen was interviewed by the distinguished Greg Peterson.

 

Greg Peterson gave a nice introduction alluding to what Russ talked about earlier in the program about service to country.  Greg mentioned that it was very relative to what the Robert H Jackson Center stands for.  

 

On their own pedestal at the front of the room, Greg and Helen engaged in a unique conversation about Jackson and in particular, Helen’s most recent book.  

Helen mentioned she was interested in RHJ because history is the story of people.  She has specialized in local history for over 40 years.  Helen is a history buff and spends most of her time looking for historical accounts that have not been previously talked about.  That led her to the idea of researching and writing about Robert H Jackson’s early days in Chautauqua County.  Helen also took the opportunity to put a plug in about a need for a biography of Samuel Carlson, former Mayor of Jamestown.  Anyone interested, please write!

 

Until recently with Helen’s book release, not much was known about Jackson and his time in Jamestown and Frewsburg.  The Robert H Jackson Center was instrumental with providing Helen with the necessary archives to do her research.  

 

Through countless hours of looking at microfiche, the biggest surprise Helen found was that she learned that what Jackson achieved in Jamestown and Frewsburg was the foundation for what he did later in life.

 

His skill set was developed here in Jamestown.  Helen found that he had an excellent brain and was well versed in absorbing information and remembering it.  Many of Jackson’s speeches quote Shakespeare or the Bible.  He was also a very ambitious person and knew he wanted to rise above the practice of law.

 

When the call came to go to Washington, DC and join the federal government, Jackson wrote a list of reasons why he should not leave and then the next day, he surprised everyone and accepted the position in the nation’s capital!  The call of a larger area to exercise his talents was too much for him to ignore.

Robert H Jackson was a member of the Democratic Party and he honed his skills as a speaker and prosecutor in Jamestown.  Jackson was sort of an anomaly in Jamestown at the time as he was one of only three lawyers in the area who were democrats.  Helen mentioned he was a loyal democrat, but as a lawyer, he carefully studied all situations and did not let party affiliation affect a chance to take a good case to exercise his abilities.

 

Jackson had a well-known stature among the community as a competent lawyer and community leader; he was also a wonderful leader.  He had a very high standing in the legal profession.  

 

Robert H Jackson was also involved in a high-profile case and it really cemented his role as an early environmentalist.  Helen recalled writing about a famous case about a dairy farmer, who owned the Forbes Farm, who had contracted typhoid fever.  Typhoid fever began to spread in the community.  It was found that many cases of typhoid fever came from Forbes Farm.  An Investigation found that typhoid fever can be carried by a person, who does not have typhoid fever.  A woman working at the Forbes Farm was a carrier of typhoid and it spread into the milk.  Everyone stopped getting milk from the Forbes dairy.  As a result, Mr. Forbes hired Robert H Jackson as his attorney and sued the city of Jamestown.  Because Jackson was very astute at getting information and studying a situation, he went to the farm where he found the Forbes farm was being contaminated by wastewater from the City of Jamestown.  The outcome of the case was never fully decided, but Jamestown relocated their wastewater treatment plant and Forbes finally did get the case settled in their favor.

Robert H Jackson also had a very active social life.  He loved to ice skate, roller skate and dance!  He loved to have a good time!  Jackson also liked to go back to Frewsburg and camp out there and eat cowslip sandwiches (a perennial herb that can be eaten I have been told).  Jackson enjoyed a good time and any group was elevated in spirit with his presence.