{{Short description|African-American engineer and educator (1852–1929)}} {{Infobox person | name = Jeremiah Daniel Baltimore | image = J.D. Baltimore.png | caption = Image of Baltimore from 1887. | birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1852|4|15}} | birth_place = Washington, DC, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1929|7|29|1852|4|15}} | death_place = Washington, DC, U.S. | occupation = Engineer | political_party = Republican | alma_mater = Livingstone College }} '''Jeremiah Daniel Baltimore''' (April 15, 1852 – July 29, 1929) was an engineer and educator in Washington, D.C. For many years, he was an engineer in the service of the United States Navy and served as chief engineer at the Freedmen's Hospital. He was also a teacher of mechanics, and was responsible for mechanical instruction in the African American schools in the city from 1890 to 1922. He was on the trial board of the Naval battleship USS Texas (1892) and was among the organizers and officers of the Potomac Hospital and Training School. In 1903 he was elected a member of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia. In 1915, he was made member of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Art, Manufactures, and Commerce of London.
== Early life and education == {{More citations needed section|date=February 2024}} [[File:Ulysses S. Grant 1870-1880.jpg|thumb|Ulysses S. Grant was a mentor to Baltimore.]] Jeremiah Daniel Baltimore was born in Washington DC on April 15, 1852 to Thomas and Hannah Baltimore. While Thomas was a Catholic, Jeremiah followed his mother and became a Methodist, being baptized at the Wesley Zion Church in 1866. He attended Enoch Ambush's school and then Washington, D.C. public schools. As a boy he liked to experiment with steam and told his mother that he wished to be an engineer. His mother said that this was impossible as she and her father would not be able to get him through school.
His experiments continued and he made a steam boiler and attached it to an engine, but this failed. In spite of this, the pastor at his church, Reverend William P. Ryder placed it in an exhibition at the Wesley Zion Sunday School and then it was put on exhibition in the United States Treasury Department where officers and employers were impressed. This encouraged Baltimore to keep trying. He then used bricks and flower pots to hold molten metal, using a kitchen stove to melt brass, and using a file, old shears and an old knife for cutting, created a steam engine of the horizontal high pressure style with a tubular boiler. The engine was brought to the patent office with the aid of Anthony Bowen, a Washington D.C. City Councilman. The device was widely discussed in the press,<ref name="Simmons1887"/> appearing the ''Iron Age'' of London<ref name="Crisis1924">The Horizon, The Crisis, February 1924, p. 181</ref> and locally in the ''Sunday Chronicle''.
Young Jeremiah went to the White House and sent a copy of the article to the desk of President Ulysses S. Grant, who invited Baltimore to his office. Grant gave Baltimore a card to deliver to the Secretary of the Navy to ask that Baltimore be given work in the Navy Yard to learn and work on the machinery.<ref name="Simmons1887">Simmons, William J., and Henry McNeal Turner. Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising. GM Rewell & Company, 1887. pp. 267-272</ref>
== Early engineering career == [[File:Washington_Navy_Yard_3b06890u.tif|thumb|View of Washington Navy Yard's dock, circa 1867]] Baltimore was then given a position as apprentice in the department of steam engineering at the Washington Navy Yard. Baltimore faced a lot of prejudice on account of his color, and, after a few months, complained. Professor John M. Langston brought the complaints to the Secretary of the Navy who allowed Baltimore to transfer to the Philadelphia Navy Yard. He again was discriminated against, but endeavored to study on his own early in the mornings and after work. His study paid off and he was admitted to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. He was the second black person to be admitted at the institute. His apprenticeship continued and every sign of growth and learning was countered with further examples of prejudice and intimidation. Despite this, he finished his apprenticeship about September 6, 1873, working for three years and six months.<ref name="Simmons1887"/>
He then was assigned to the Philadelphia Naval Station on League Island to assist repairs on Monitors. He was released from the job when force sizes reduced. He then worked at a large mill, and next at a manufacturing firm, Sellers & Brother after being refused from Cramp & Sons and multiple previous applications at Sellers & Brother. He resigned for health reasons and moved back to Washington, D.C.<ref name="Simmons1887"/>
In Washington he became engineer of the United States Coast Survey and opened a general repair shop. On August 2, 1880, he was appointed chief engineer and mechanician at the Freedmen's Hospital.<ref name="Simmons1887"/> He attended Howard University Medical College in 1880-1881 and received an A.M. (a master's degree) in 1883 from Livingstone College.<ref>Lamb, Daniel Smith. A Historical, Biographical and Statistical Souvenir. Beresford, 1900, p. 234</ref> He was frequently noted for inventing a pyrometer device, for which he received a patent. As an engineer, he was a member of the Mechanics Union and played a key role in merging black and white unions in 1887.<ref name="Simmons1887"/>
== Public life == Baltimore was active in Republican politics. In 1876 he was secretary of the 17th District Republicans and was a delegate to the 1876 Republican National Convention in Cincinnati.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6711893/seventeenth_district_national/|title=Seventeenth District. National Republican|newspaper=National Republican |date=June 7, 1876 |page=4 |publisher=}}</ref> In 1880, he was made chairman of the group and was again delegate at the National convention in Chicago.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6711939/the_chicago_convention_evening_star/|title=The Chicago Convention, Evening Star|newspaper=Evening Star |date=February 6, 1880 |page=4 |publisher=}}</ref>
[[File:Armstrong_Manual_Training_School.jpg|thumb|The Armstrong Manual Training School opened in 1902.]] He was recommended as a trustee for public schools in 1883<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6722279/a_south_washington_delegation_evening/|title=A South Washington Delegation, Evening Star|newspaper=Evening Star |date=June 28, 1883 |page=5}}</ref> and in 1889.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6722288/want_a_trustee_from_south_washington/|title=Want a Trustee from South Washington, Evening Star|newspaper=Evening Star |date=August 16, 1889 |page=8}}</ref>
In 1890, he was appointed to take charge of machine instruction in the colored public schools in Washington, a position he held until 1922.<ref name="Crisis1924"/> His position included the responsibility of teaching at the Armstrong Manual Training School. He was highly respected as a professor, adopting the methods of the United States Bureau of Steam Engineering. One of his techniques was that he constructed an engine made of glass to help the students see the workings of the engine and the effect of heat on water.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6721762/a_leader_of_his_race_the_times/|title=A Leader of his Race, The Times (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)|newspaper=The Philadelphia Times |date=July 28, 1892 |page=4}}</ref>
In 1895 he was selected by the Navy to serve as assistant engineer officer on the trial board of the battleship, USS Texas.<ref name="Crisis1924"/> In 1906, Baltimore was among the organizers of the Potomac Hospital and Training School and was its treasurer. The organizers included Reverend W. J. Howard, Dr. A. R. Collins, and Dr. Harry J. Williams.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6721891/site_for_new_hospital_the_washington/|title=Site for New Hospital, The Washington Post|newspaper=The Washington Post |date=April 5, 1906 |page=4}}</ref>
== Honors and affiliations == Baltimore was very active in DC Society. In 1875, he was elected recording secretary of the Colored Sabbath School Union of Washington, DC.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6711731/sunday_schools_national_republican/|title=Sunday Schools, National Republican|newspaper=National Republican |date=July 7, 1875 |page=4}}</ref> However, Baltimore's belief in scientific reason occasionally put him at odds with the religious community, as in 1876 when he took part in a debate with Dr. J. L. N. Bowen wherein Baltimore argued that geological evidence showed that the first verses of Genesis did not definitively fix the age of the world at about 6,000 years.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6711811/science_and_religion_national/|title=Science and Religion. National Republican|newspaper=National Republican |date=January 27, 1876 |page=4}}</ref>
He was a member of a number of literary and debating clubs, including in the late 1870s as an officer of "The Institute" led by Charles N. Otey, John Wesley Cromwell, and J. E. Blunheim,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6722240/the_institute_national_republican/|title=The Institute, National Republican|newspaper=National Republican |date=March 9, 1876 |page=4}}</ref> and an officer of the Young Men's Brilliant Star Association led by J. G. Mihales and J. Hicks;<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6722262/no_headline_natinal_republican/|title=[No Headline], National Republican|newspaper=National Republican |date=March 15, 1876 |page=4}}</ref> and in the 1890s as leader of the Literary Lyceum of Metropolitan Zion Wesley Church along with Dr. S. A. Sumby<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6722312/no_headline_the_washington_bee/|title=[No Headline], The Washington Bee|newspaper=The Washington Bee |date=March 29, 1890 |page=3}}</ref> and the National Congressional Lyceum.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6722326/a_new_lyceum_the_washington_bee/|title=A New Lyceum, The Washington Bee|newspaper=The Washington Bee |date=December 11, 1897 |page=5}}</ref>
In 1882 he was made president of an association to promote industry among Washington blacks.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6711980/letter_from_washington_the_baltimore/|title=Letter from Washington|newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |date=May 1882 |page=4}}</ref> He was an officer of the Association of Steam Engineers led by William H. Thomas and H. H. Anseer in 1905.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6722341/address_on_steam_engineering_evening/|title=Address on Steam Engineering, Evening Star|newspaper=Evening Star|date=November 15, 1905|page=10}}</ref>
He was an officer of the Washington Branch of the Negro Development and Exposition Company of the Jamestown Exposition which developed presentations for the Jamestown Exposition in 1907 in Norfolk, Virginia.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6722368/negro_exhibit_at_expo_the_washington/|title=Negro Exhibit at Expo|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=December 23, 1906|page=1}}</ref>
He was a member and one of the first vice presidents of the Oldest Inhabitants Club. Also, he was a Mason and affiliated with the Eureka Lodge, F. A. A. M and the Old Ark Lodge, G. U. O. of O. F.<ref name="obit">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6721987//|title=Clipping from The New York Age|newspaper=The New York Age |date=August 10, 1929|page=10}}</ref> [[File:AtwaterKentMuseum_Phila.jpg|thumb|Baltimore studied at the Franklin Institute as a young man and was elected a member in 1903.]] Beyond his activities, he was highly honored while still alive. In 1903 he was elected a member of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia. In 1915 he was made member of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Art, Manufactures, and Commerce of London.<ref name="Crisis1924"/>
== Personal life and death == Baltimore was for a long time a trustee of the Metropolitan A. M. E. Zion Church in Washington, DC.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6722388/quarterly_conference_evening_star/|title=Quarterly Conference, Evening Star (Washington, DC)|newspaper=Evening Star |date=July 4, 1907 |page=11}}</ref> On May 29, 1872 he married Ella V. Waters.<ref name="Simmons1887"/> Ella died May 7, 1889. She was a member of the Daughters of Levi and the Young Ladies Brilliant Star and upon her death was a member of the Metropolitan A. M. E. Zion church.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6712176/no_headline_the_washington_bee/|title=[No Headline], The Washington Bee|newspaper=The Washington Bee |date=May 11, 1889 |page=3}}</ref>
Baltimore remarried to Jeanett E. Anderson in November 1908.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6721967/no_headline_the_washington_bee/|title=[No Headline], The Washington Bee|newspaper=The Washington Bee |date=November 21, 1908 |page=5}}</ref> Jeanett was director of art in the public schools. He had two sons, attorney Richard L. and Jeremiah A. He had one daughter, Ella A. Bryant.<ref name="obit"/>
Baltimore died the evening of Monday, July 29, 1929. At his death, he was a member of the 19th Street Baptist Church, where his funeral was held.<ref name="obit"/>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Baltimore, Jeremiah Daniel}} Category:1852 births Category:1929 deaths Category:African-American activists Category:19th-century American educators Category:19th-century American engineers Category:20th-century African-American educators Category:20th-century American educators Category:20th-century American engineers Category:Civil rights activists from Washington, D.C. Category:African-American engineers Category:American Freemasons Category:Engineers from Washington, D.C. Category:Howard University College of Medicine alumni Category:Livingstone College alumni Category:United States Navy engineering officers Category:19th-century African-American educators