Senior Resource Guide - Ottumwa Courier 2022 | Page 14

Every time Jacobs returns to the old copies of the Herald for one more read , he discovers something new .
John Jacobs is an Oskaloosa resident with a lifelong passion for Mahaska County ’ s local history .
Every time Jacobs returns to the old copies of the Herald for one more read , he discovers something new .
“ You ’ d be lost if you didn ’ t have the Herald . The Herald has got history . Now , when they started out in 1850 , of course , there wasn ’ t that much to report , and it was mud roads . But like … Hopewell … You know , that was 12 miles down the road , so you didn ’ t hear that much from outlying communities . It was mostly the Herald community , which you can understand .”
During his time spent using the Herald for research , Jacobs has had the opportunity to watch its evolution as a newspaper over not only decades , but centuries .
“ Now , later on , in the 1870s or so , they would send a reporter out . He would go out this way , and he ’ d write up what he saw . He ’ d go that way and he ’ d write up what he saw . So he had a little story , you know , what the town consisted of , who the merchants were , and some of the prominent farmers . [ For example ], they stopped at Isaac Hop ’ s and had supper and stayed overnight , and then they went on down the road and visited Hollingsworth , and he had a fine herd of cattle … That ’ s what you ’ d find in the Herald .”
That day-to-day history , recorded by reporters traveling down dirt roads , not knowing what they might find around the next corner , is by and large what has preserved Iowa ’ s identity as a territory and then as a state over the centuries . It ’ s what allows people like John Jacobs to learn about that identity and keep it alive today and , hopefully , tomorrow .
Today , Jacobs calls the library his second home . He can be found there most days , expanding his knowledge of local history . He has consulted with the Herald in the past about Mahaska County history projects and is a member of Mahaska County ’ s historical society .
From humble beginnings as a boy who loved the adventures of Davy Crockett and could devour books in the course of a single day , Jacobs has spent a lifetime cultivating not just a casual hobby , but , in fact , a service to the Mahaska County community , keeping the story of Mahaska County alive through the years , ready for the next budding historian to discover the fascinating secrets that local history keeps .
14 Senior Resource Guide 2022