The early life of Abraham Lincoln:: containing many unpublished documents and unpublished reminiscences of Lincoln's early friends — John Shaqi
The early life of Abraham Lincoln:: containing many unpublished documents and unpublished reminiscences of Lincoln's early friendsTarbell, Ida M. (Ida Minerva)
History
The early life of Abraham Lincoln:: containing many unpublished documents and unpublished reminiscences of Lincoln's early friends
Tarbell, Ida M. (Ida Minerva)
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Childhood and youth
The above map shows where Abraham Lincoln’s grandfather first took
land in Kentucky, where his father and mother were married, where
they first lived, where he was born, and where he lived from 1809 to
1816. It shows the Rolling Fork, Salt River, and the Ohio, which
Thomas Lincoln followed in going into Indiana in 1816; the new home
in Indiana; the point where Lincoln kept the ferry about 1826;
Boonville, where he went to hear trials; the grave of his mother;
the route by which it is supposed he went to Illinois in 1830 (see
page 87 for note correcting this route); the location of both of
Thomas Lincoln’s farms in Illinois, and his grave, near Farmington,
Coles County. Sangamon, New Salem, Vandalia, Springfield, and the
chief places where Mr. Lincoln practised law are shown, as well as
the points where the Lincoln and Douglas debates and the important
political events of the campaign of 1860 took place.
]
“Then a new difficulty confronted us. If our mothers discovered our wet
clothes they would whip us. This we dreaded from experience, and
determined to avoid. It was June, the sun was very warm, and we soon
dried our clothing by spreading it on the rocks about us. We promised
never to tell the story, and I never did until after Lincoln’s tragic
end.
“Abraham Lincoln had a sister. Her name was Sallie, and she was a very
pretty girl. Sallie Lincoln was about my age; she was my sweetheart. I
loved her and claimed her, as boys do. I suppose that was one reason for
my warm regard for Abe. When the Lincoln family moved to Indiana, I was
prevented by circumstances from bidding good-by to either of the
children, and I never saw them again.”[4]
Footnote 4:
Unpublished MS. of an interview with Austin Gollaher, by D. J. Thomas.
[Illustration:
ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S INDIANA HOME.
After an old photograph showing the cabin as it appeared in 1869.
Thomas Lincoln built this house in 1817, and moved into it about a
year after he reached his farm. At first it had neither windows,
door, nor floor; but after the advent of Sally Bush Lincoln it was
greatly improved. When he decided to leave Indiana he was preparing
the lumber for a better house.
]
All the young people went to school. At that day the schools in the West
were usually accidental, depending upon the coming of some poor and
ambitious young man who was willing to teach a few terms while he looked
for an opening to something better. The terms were irregular, their
length being decided by the time the settlers felt able to board the
master and pay his small salary. The chief qualification for a
school-master seems to have been enough strength to keep the “big boys”
in order, though one high authority affirms that pluck went “for a heap
sight more’n sinnoo with boys.”
[Illustration:
LINCOLN FARM IN INDIANA.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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