They fenced in with a rail fence, ten acres of ground, and raised a crop of corn upon it. Mr. Lincoln and Dennis Hanks split the rails for the fence, and many years afterwards, men carried some of them into a state convention at Decatur, where Mr. Lincoln was nominated as the Illinois candidate for president, with a banner, saying they were split by him, and he was the "rail candidate." CHAPTER III. Thomas Lincoln was now well fixed to begin life over again, and as Abraham was twenty-one, he wished to do for himself and started out. He never afterwards was a member of his father's household. Thomas Lincoln lived here a number of years; but afterwards moved to Coles county, where he lived on a farm near the village of Farmington, that Abraham bought for him. He died January 17th, 1851. Abraham at the time could not be present on account of sickness in his own family, so he wrote as follows: "I sincerely hope that father may recover his health. Tell him to remember to call upon the great God and all-wise Maker, who will not turn away from him in any extremity. He notes the fall of the sparrow, He numbers the hairs of our heads, and will not forget the dying man who puts his trust in Him. Say to him that if we could meet now it is doubtful whether it would not be more painful than pleasant; but that if it be His will for him to go now, he will soon have the joyous meeting of the loved ones gone before, where the rest of us with the help of God will hope ere long to join them." Talking to a friend after the death of his father about his mother, he said "that whatever might be said of his parents, however unpromising the surroundings of his mother may have been, she was highly intellectual by nature and had a strong memory and acute judgment." She had no doubt risen above her surroundings, and had she lived, the stimulus of her nature would have accelerated the son's success.