An Evening With the Lincolns

Abraham and Mary Lincoln’s visit to Oakland reveals much about their personal and public lives. B. F. and Dorothy McClerren brought these two historic Illinoisans to life for an audience of fifty at the Columbian Building on Friday.

B. F. portrayed the famous Lincoln humor and eloquence as he recounted Lincoln’s life story.  He told of courting Mary and living in New Salem and continued with stories from his years in the national spotlight.  He quoted from Lincoln’s speeches and writings with a voice and mannerisms reminiscent of Lincoln.

Dorothy held the audience spell-bound as she depicted Mary Lincoln.  She recanted her childhood and Mary’s motherhood all in character.  She spoke of the difficulties she had with her step-mother and how that led to her being more educated than the average woman of the day.  She also talked of the birth and deaths of her children and how they raised the boys.  Her presentation ended when she stepped out of character to explain Mary’s tortured life after Lincoln’s assassination.

The program was a fundraiser for the Trial & Tribulations: The Story of the 1847 Matson Slave Trial event scheduled for September 16, 17 and 18.  The audience contributed $255 and another $300 donation was received in the mail.  The McClerren’s waived their normal fee in support of the September program.

Trial & Tribulations is sponsored by Independence Pioneer Village, Oakland Historical Foundation, Oakland Landmarks, City of Oakland and Oakland Chamber of Commerce and is made possible in part by grants from the Ruth and Vaughn Jaenike Access to the Arts Outreach Program of the College of Arts & Humanities, Eastern Illinois University and the Oakland-Hindsboro Foundation.