DOCSLIB.ORG

“Lincoln Bibles”?

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
“Lincoln Bibles”? How Many “Lincoln Bibles”? GORDON LEIDNER In a 1940 edition of Lincoln Lore, editor and historian Dr. Louis A. War- ren stated that “no book could be more appropriately associated with Abraham Lincoln than the Bible,” and he briefly introduced his read- ers to nine “Historic Lincoln Bibles” that he thought should be linked with the sixteenth president.1 Eleven years later, Robert S. Barton, son of the Lincoln biographer Rev. William E. Barton, published a paper titled “How Many Lincoln Bibles?”2 In it, Barton updated the status of Warren’s nine historic Lincoln Bibles, then added three Bibles he thought should also be associated with the 16th president. This list of a dozen Lincoln Bibles has not been critiqued or updated since that time, 1951. But a few significant discoveries, particularly in the past decade, justify a fresh look at this subject. In this article I update the status of the twelve previously identified historic Lincoln Bibles, discuss which Bibles Lincoln used while presi- dent, and introduce four previously unidentified Bibles that should be added to this list. One of these “new” Bibles may have been used by Lincoln’s mother to teach him how to read when he was a child, and another was probably read by Lincoln when he was president. These sixteen Bibles are shown in the table. The first twelve are presented in the order that Warren and Barton discussed them. In Lincoln Lore, Warren wrote that the Bible was “the single most influential book that Abraham Lincoln read.”3 An extensive study of Lincoln’s use of the Bible is beyond the scope of this article, but suffice it to say that Lincoln utilized the Scriptures extensively to support his ethical and political statements. Lincoln once told a neighborhood friend that the Bible “is the richest source of pertinent quotations.”4 1. Louis A. Warren, “Historic Lincoln Bibles,” Lincoln Lore, no. 567 (February 19, 1940); courtesy of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, Allen County Public Library. Hereafter cited as Warren, Lincoln Lore 567. 2. Robert S. Barton, How Many Lincoln Bibles? (Foxboro, Mass.: published by the author, 1951). Hereafter cited as Barton, Lincoln Bibles. 3. Warren, Lincoln Lore 567. 4. Conversation with John Langdon Kaine, in Don E. Fehrenbacher and Virginia Fehrenbacher, eds., Recollected Words of Abraham Lincoln (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Uni- versity Press, 1996), 272. Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, Vol. 41, No. 1, 2020 © 2020 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois 48 How Many “Lincoln Bibles”? Historic Lincoln Bibles Bible as named by Bible as referred to in List No. list contributor this article Contributor 1 Mother’s Bible Thomas Lincoln Bible Warren 2 Lucy Speed Bible Warren 3 Mary Todd Lincoln Bible Mary Lincoln Bible Warren 4 First Inaugural Bible Warren 5 Pocket New Testament Warren 6 Book of Psalms Warren 7 Stuart’s Cromwell’s Bible Warren 8 Freedmen’s Bible Fisk University Bible Warren 9 Second Inaugural Bible Warren 10 Anderson Cottage Bible Lincoln’s Cottage Bible Barton 11 Carter E. Prince Testament Barton 12 Charles V. Merrill Bible Barton 13 Robert Turner Bible Author 14 Dennis Hanks Bible Author 15 Amos S. King Bible Author 16 Noyes H. Miner Bible Author Lincoln also informed his son Tad, “Every educated person should know something about the Bible and the Bible stories.”5 Lincoln told a group of visitors in the White House that the Bible was “the best gift God has given to man.”6 The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (hereafter referred to as CW) contains more than 120 quotations of or references to Scripture made by Lincoln.7 In his Second Inaugu- ral Address, which he expected “to wear as well as—perhaps better than—anything I have produced,”8 Lincoln used 701 words, including 5. Julia Taft Bayne, Tad Lincoln’s Father (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1931), 184. 6. “Reply to the Loyal Colored People of Baltimore upon Presentation of a Bible,” Sept. 7, 1864, in Roy P. Basler, ed., Marion Dolores Pratt and Lloyd A. Dunlap, asst. eds., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, 9 vols. (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1953), 7:542. Hereafter cited as CW. 7. According to my latest count in the CW. This number does not include Bible pas- sages from Lincoln’s “Lecture on Discoveries and Inventions,” which alone has more than 30 references to Scripture. 8. “To Thurlow Weed,” March 15, 1865, CW 8:356. Gordon Leidner 49 four quotations from the Bible.9 Clearly, he saw great value in know- ing and quoting the Bible. The Thomas Lincoln Bible I will begin with what Warren called Lincoln’s “mother’s Bible,” but in this article I will refer to it as the Thomas Lincoln Bible. It was printed in 1799 in Great Britain, and is the oldest Bible associated with the president. According to a National Park Service (NPS) fact sheet, the Thomas Lincoln Bible is approximately 6.5 inches wide, 9 inches high, and 3.5 inches deep. It contains not only the Old and New Testaments but also the books of the Apocrypha. It has refer- ence notes on each page that were translated from French to English in 1744 by the Reverend Jean Frederic Ostervald, pastor of the Swiss Reform Church in Neufchatel, Switzerland. The NPS fact sheet says that the Ostervald Bible was “[r]ecommended by all the Bible soci- eties of the day, [and] this edition found its way into many homes in England and America.”10 Although the Thomas Lincoln Bible is usually referred to as a Geneva Bible, the text as translated is the King James version.11 It is not known when the Thomas Lincoln Bible was acquired, but Barton suggested, on rather thin evidence, that it might have been purchased by Thomas Lincoln in 1806—shortly after he and Nancy Hanks were married in Washington County, Kentucky.12 Although we cannot be certain that Thomas really bought this Bible then, it is not unlikely. He and Nancy were people of strong religious faith, and it was common for wilderness families to own at least a Bible, even if they possessed no other books. According to testimony from Nancy Lincoln’s cousin Dennis Hanks, “Lincoln’s mother learned him to read the Bible—study it & the stories 9. Ronald C. White Jr., The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln through His Own Words (New York: Random House, 2005), 282. 10. NPS fact sheet, The Lincoln Family Bible, (Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site, NPS, n.d.). Thanks to John George and Stacy Humphreys of the NPS, Hodgenville, for providing access to the NPS ABLI Archives and Museum Collection. 11. The 1799 Thomas Lincoln (Ostervald) Bible is kept in a sealed case and is unavail- able for inspection by historians. But other Ostervald Bibles are available worldwide, and I determined that the text of the Ostervald Bible is King James rather than Geneva. This, after I reviewed passages of the 1799 Ostervald Bible at the University of Chicago Library and the 1793 Ostervald Bible at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield. Thanks to the staff of the Special Collections Research Center at the University of Chicago, and Lincoln Collection curator James Cornelius and Lincoln historian Christian McWhirter at the presidential library. 12. Barton, Lincoln Bibles, 2. 50 How Many “Lincoln Bibles”? in it and all that was morally & affectionate [in] it, repeating it to Abe & his sister [Sarah] when very young.”13 In addition, Abe probably “learned to read” using a Bible at school. Beginning when he was six years old, he attended two brief sessions of school in Kentucky, where the “masters” frequently used a Bible for reading lessons.14 An unresolved question is whether the Thomas Lincoln Bible was the one from which Nancy taught young Abe how to read. If pur- chased by his father in 1806, it probably would have been this one. But according to Dennis Hanks, Nancy used a different Bible. Hanks, along with Nancy’s aunt and uncle, Elizabeth and Thomas Sparrow, were neighbors of the Thomas Lincoln family in Kentucky. In the winter of 1816–17, about the time Abe turned eight years old, Thomas moved his family from Kentucky to the community of Little Pigeon Creek in Indiana. The Sparrows and Hankses soon followed them. After Nancy Lincoln and the Sparrows died of the “milk sick” in late September and early October of 1818, Hanks moved in with Thomas Lincoln and his two children. About a year after Nancy’s death, Thomas Lincoln traveled to Ken- tucky, married a widow named Sara Bush Johnston, and brought her and her three children back to Indiana. Recalling this event, Hanks said that Thomas Lincoln “brought the [Thomas Lincoln] Bible in 1818—or 19.”15 If this is correct, it would mean that Nancy had not used the Thomas Lincoln Bible to teach Abe to read in Kentucky. Regardless of whether Lincoln first learned to read from the Thomas Lincoln Bible in Kentucky or didn’t read it until he was ten years old in Indiana, it is certain that Abe, as a child and teenager, was familiar 13. Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis, eds., Herndon’s Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements about Abraham Lincoln (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998), 37. Hereafter cited as Herndon’s Informants. 14. The Bible, being one of the most widely available books on the frontier, was frequently used for reading lessons in school. When Lincoln was president, he recalled a humorous incident of his boyhood.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Abraham Lincoln Family Tree to Present
    Abraham Lincoln Family Tree To Present whileRic underwritten Tye corrugates sarcastically? some countermands Is Herrick pluckiest deathy. or classifiable after inedible Harald motor so frailly? Benedictive and darting Ham reel her fiesta unglue Start to abraham lincoln 177 Thomas Lincoln Abraham's father descendant of Samuel is born in Virginia ADVERTISEMENT 172 Thomas and family itself to Kentucky 176. Eddie and cousins, they would be considered moving to fill up starting point to have deep void deep sadness for appearing to family folklore has one of her facts. Her home to the tree about he encountered at one of information about abraham develops much. It to abraham later that there have considered his schedule a lincoln families. President to present what difficulties are thorough and ann lee hanks lincoln. What nationality was Abraham Lincoln? 130 when they moved on to Illinois finally settling in coming day Coles County Illinois. She found an episcopalian minister, tracking down more, abe enlists and nasal structures were both mordecai lincoln really looking into the mystery phenomena stopping car. Genetic Lincoln studies the DNA and brown of Abraham Lincoln and Nancy Hanks. George Clooney Distantly Related to Abraham Lincoln. America's First Ladies 16 Mary Todd Lincoln Ancestral. Abraham Lincoln Facts Family & Genealogy GenealogyBank. Abraham Lincoln and Bathsheba Herring the god daughter. If he learned to abraham lincoln families. In 200 I wrote about at family serve of President Abraham Lincoln. Beckwith out and what kept quiet, to be assassinated before any single child born in her loyalty of dutch descent from? Many Lincoln artifacts are on record especially violent the bedroom that was.
    [Show full text]
  • The True Mary Todd Lincoln ALSO by BETTY BOLES ELLISON
    The True Mary Todd Lincoln ALSO BY BETTY BOLES ELLISON The Early Laps of Stock Car Racing: A History of the Sport and Business through 1974 (McFarland, 2014) The True Mary Todd Lincoln A Biography BETTY BOLES ELLISON McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Ellison, Betty Boles. The true Mary Todd Lincoln : a biography / Betty Boles Ellison. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7864-7836-1 (softcover : acid free paper) ♾ ISBN 978-1-4766-1517-2 (ebook) 1. Lincoln, Mary Todd, 1818–1882. 2. Presidents’ spouses—United States— Biography. 3. Lincoln, Abraham, 1809–1865—Family. I. Title. E457.25.L55E45 2014 973.7092—dc23 [B] 2014003651 BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE © 2014 Betty Boles Ellison. All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. On the cover: Oil portrait of a twenty-year-old Mary Todd painted in 1928 by Katherine Helm, a niece of Mary Todd Lincoln and daughter of Confederate General Ben H. Helm. It is based on a daguerreotype taken in Springfield by N.H. Shepherd in 1846; a companion daguerreotype is the earliest known photograph of Lincoln (courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum of Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, Tennessee) Manufactured in the United States of America McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640 www.mcfarlandpub.com For Sofia E.
    [Show full text]
  • The New York City Draft Riots of 1863
    University of Kentucky UKnowledge United States History History 1974 The Armies of the Streets: The New York City Draft Riots of 1863 Adrian Cook Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Cook, Adrian, "The Armies of the Streets: The New York City Draft Riots of 1863" (1974). United States History. 56. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_united_states_history/56 THE ARMIES OF THE STREETS This page intentionally left blank THE ARMIES OF THE STREETS TheNew York City Draft Riots of 1863 ADRIAN COOK THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY ISBN: 978-0-8131-5182-3 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 73-80463 Copyright© 1974 by The University Press of Kentucky A statewide cooperative scholarly publishing agency serving Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky State College, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. Editorial and Sales Offices: Lexington, Kentucky 40506 To My Mother This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments ix
    [Show full text]
  • Reviewing the Civil War and Reconstruction Center for Legislative Archives
    Reviewing the Civil War and Reconstruction Center for Legislative Archives Address of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society NAID 306639 From 1830 on, women organized politically to reform American society. The leading moral cause was abolishing slavery. “Sisters and Friends: As immortal souls, created by God to know and love him with all our hearts, and our neighbor as ourselves, we owe immediate obedience to his commands respecting the sinful system of Slavery, beneath which 2,500,000 of our Fellow-Immortals, children of the same country, are crushed, soul and body, in the extremity of degradation and agony.” July 13, 1836 The Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society was founded in 1832 as a female auxiliary to male abolition societies. The society created elaborate networks to print, distribute, and mail petitions against slavery. In conjunction with other female societies in major northern cities, they brought women to the forefront of politics. In 1836, an estimated 33,000 New England women signed petitions against the slave trade in the District of Columbia. The society declared this campaign an enormous success and vowed to leave, “no energy unemployed, no righteous means untried” in their ongoing fight to abolish slavery. www.archives.gov/legislative/resources Reviewing the Civil War and Reconstruction Center for Legislative Archives Judgment in the U.S. Supreme Court Case Dred Scott v. John F. A. Sanford NAID 301674 In 1857 the Supreme Court ruled that Americans of African ancestry had no constitutional rights. “The question is simply this: Can a Negro whose ancestors were imported into this country, and sold as slaves, become a member of the political community formed and brought into existence by the Constitution of the United States, and as such, become entitled to all the rights and privileges and immunities guaranteed to the citizen?..
    [Show full text]
  • 01 Bell Ringer Obama
    Name:______________________________________________ Date:_______________ Class:____________ Bell Ringer: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama Instructions: Examine the pictures. Read the background information. Answer the questions. Background: The history of the United States tragically included slavery of people from Africa and their descendants. During the Civil War, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves in the South. Afterward, Congress freed all slaves by passing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Segregation and racism persisted in the United States into the 20th Century. In landmark decisions, such as Brown vs. Board of Education, the Supreme Court rejected the notions of segregation to ensure African Americans had equal protection in the United States. In 1964, thanks to the protest efforts of great men, like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Congress passed the Civil Rights Act that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It banned racial segregation in schools, at the workplace, and public facilities. In 2008, the United States elected the first African American President, Barack Obama. Traditionally, many Presidents used Bibles for their swearing in ceremonies. In 2009, Barack Obama used the former Bible of Abraham Lincoln for his swearing in ceremony. When he was reelected in 2012, he used the Bible of Lincoln again, along with a Bible of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. These symbolic gestures acknowledged the impact of Lincoln and King in America’s struggle to give equal rights to all citizens. Pictured to the left, Obama is sworn in with Lincoln’s Bible in 2009. Pictured to the right, Obama is sworn in with Lincoln’s Bible and a Bible of Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Nicolay Collection Finding
    LINCOLN LIBRARY Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection at Allen County Public Library For additional material on Helen and John G. Nicolay, NICOLAY COLLECTION see the manuscript collection Lincoln’s Secretaries— 6 boxes; 3.8 cubic feet Hay, Nicolay, Stoddard; 1 box, 0.5 cubic feet. For extensive correspondence between Helen Nicolay Biographical Notes and others regarding a copy of the Gettysburg Address, see Gettysburg Address Correspondence; 1 box, 0.25 cubic feet. Helen Nicolay (1866-1954) Helen Nicolay was born in 1866 to John G. Nicolay and Therena Bates Nicolay in Paris, where her father served as American Consul. In 1869, the Nicolay family returned to the United States. Helen’s academic training was overseen by her father as well as private tutors. Little is known about Helen Nicolay as a young woman, other than that she helped her father and John Hay write their 10-volume Lincoln biography by taking dictation. She began writing her own books after her father’s death in 1901 and had a summer retreat studio in New Hampshire she used for painting and writing. Her best known work is Lincoln’s Secretary: A Biography of John G. Nicolay. In all, she wrote more than 20 books, mostly history and biography, many of which were intended for children. She described her reason for writing in a letter to a young fan—she wrote books to make “history seem alive and interesting to young people.” Helen Nicolay was also a recognized artist. The Lincoln Museum Collection includes two oil paintings of John G. Nicolay painted by Helen Nicolay.
    [Show full text]
  • LINCARNATIONS August 2016
    Volume 24 No. 1 LINCARNATIONS August 2016 “Would I might rouse the Lincoln in you all” Taking Care of Business Note from Murray Cox, ALP Treasurer: Those of you who at- tended our conference in Vandalia in 2015 recall that after Col- leen Vincent (California) took a fall, a free will offering was tak- en up and sent to her and her husband, Roger, to help with related expenses. At our annual business meeting this year, I failed to mention that a nice note was received from the Vincents, thank- ing us for our thoughtfulness. I belatedly mention this now to those of you who donated to this cause, so you will know that your efforts were acknowledged and appreciated by the Vincents. As always, we urge all of you who have email access to make sure the organization has your correct address. Please send ANY updated contact information to: John Cooper, Membership Chair, fourscore7yearsa- [email protected]; 11781 Julie Dr., Baltimore, Ohio 43105, and to ALP President Stan Wernz, [email protected]; 266 Compton Ridge Dr., Cincinnati, Ohio 45215. We continue to invite you to share your ALP communication ide- as with the Lincarnations team: Vicki Woodard, ([email protected], 217-932-5378); Dean Dorrell (abe@honest- abe.com, 812-254-7315); and Gerald Payn ([email protected], 330-345-5547). ASSOCIATION OF LINCOLN PRESENTERS PRESENTERS OF LINCOLN ASSOCIATION Inside this issue: Letter from Stan Wernz 2 Conference Report 3 Book Review: “Lincoln's Battle with God” 5 Mary’s Velvet Rose 6 In Memoriam 8 Page 2 LINCARNATIONS Association of Lincoln Presenters 266 Compton Ridge Drive Cincinnati, Ohio 45215 Greetings, ALP Members! May 9, 2016 The 22nd annual conference of the Association of Lincoln Presenters was held in Santa Claus, Ind.
    [Show full text]
  • “Simply a Theist”: Herndon on Lincoln's Religion
    “Simply a Theist”: Herndon on Lincoln’s Religion RICHARD Carwardine On the evening of Friday, December 12, 1873, William Herndon rose to address a public meeting at the courthouse in Springfield. Un- daunted by the bad weather, the people of the Illinois state capital had turned out in good numbers, enticed by the speaker’s reputation and his advertised subject: Lincoln’s religion. Expecting a forthright lecture from Lincoln’s former associate, Herndon’s hearers were not disappointed, for he did not mince his words as he sought to show that his sometime law partner had lived and died “an unbeliever.” “Mr. Lincoln,” he declared, “was simply a Theist—an unbeliever in Christianity.” The president had died as he had lived: “an infidel . in the orthodox sense of the term.” It was “twaddle” to argue that he had ever been a Christian. Those hero-worshipping biographers who had turned him into a declared follower of Christ had indulged in self-deluding romantic fiction. Herndon’s propositions and the trenchancy with which he advanced them threw Springfield into a fever of excitement. Spread countrywide as a broadside, and in the newspaper press, Lincoln’s Religion drew down onto Herndon’s head a storm of obloquy. His black treachery, snorted the New York Herald, revealed “the heart of Judas beating beneath an exterior of friendship.”1 It was not the first time Herndon had put this case before the public. What was new was his appetite to do it in person, before a hometown audience, with a fanfare, and without concessions to the finer feelings of Christian churchgoers.
    [Show full text]
  • 481 How to a Winner.Pdf
    HOW TO BE A WINNER PRAKASH J. SHAH SULTAN CHAND & SONS New Delhi Reprint : 2015 Price : ` 50.00 ISBN 978-93-5161-031-1 Published by : Sultan Chand & Sons 23, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002 Phones : 23243183, 23247051, 23266105, 23277843, 23281876 Fax : 011-2326-6357 Email : [email protected] Website : www.sultanchandandsons.com Printed at : New A.S. Off set Press 4/15, Site-IV, Industrial Area, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad (U.P.) Preface This book contains fifteen essays on personality development, self-im- provement, optimism and cheerfulness have goals, increase your personal efficiency, time management develop winner’s psychology etc. Our target group of readers is between 17 and 25 years. This book is meant for young men and women who are either undergoing their education in colleges or who have just entered wider areas of life to start their earning career. The language used is simple, paragraphs are small and thoughts are supported with suitable examples. These fifteen essays incorporate the ideas which have benefited me most. I trust our young readers will find them useful. Will you kindly let me have your frank FEEDBACK through my publishers? Suggestions to- wards its improvement are most welcome. Wherever you are, whatever good are you doing in your life, you have our best wishes with you. 13, Nagin Nivas PRAKASH J. SHAH Jame Jamshed Road, Matunga [C. Rly.], Bombay-19 Phone : 8826017 Contents Preface iii 1. Prepare Your Mind for Success 1 2. Your Real Wealth 6 3. Have Goals...Have Plans.... 10 4. How to be Prosperous 14 5. Start From Where You Are.....
    [Show full text]
  • AXES and ANCESTRY: LINCOLN NEVER SAID THAT Ax
    FF oo rr TT hh ee PP ee oo pp ll ee A NEWSLETTER OF THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN ASSOCIATION VOLUME 12, NUMBER 3 FALL 2010 SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS AXES AND ANCESTRY: LINCOLN NEVER SAID THAT ax. Instead of chopping down trees, sharpening a wedge on a log, the ax Lincoln uses the ax to kill dreaded vam- glanced and nearly took my thumb off, pires who killed his mother, Nancy and there is the scar, you see.” The key Hanks Lincoln, as well as others. words “six” and “hours” are found in While the novel reflects the current two newspaper accounts of Lincoln‟s Twilight novel craze of vampires and address to citizens of Lafayette, Indi- werewolves, it also underscores a num- ana, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ber of spurious quotes attributed to both delivered as president-elect en- Abraham Lincoln and axes. route to Washington, D.C. On February 11, 1861, Lincoln told the good people A very good friend presented me with a of Lafayette: “Now only six hours have By Thomas F. Schwartz gift some years ago, a paperweight elapsed since I left my home in Illinois Illinois State Historian with the phrase, “Chop your own wood, where I was surrounded by a large con- and it will warm you twice, A. Lin- course of my fellow citizens, almost all A popular cable show that highlights coln.” Undoubtedly a true sentiment of whom I could recognize, and I find the skills and dangers of loggers felling but one not uttered by Abraham Lin- myself far from home surrounded by tall trees is “Ax Men.” While modern coln.
    [Show full text]
  • LINCOLN BICENTENNIAL and Farm
    “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that ‘all men are created equal.’” “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it, as a final resting place for those who died here, that the nation might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow, this ground — The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have hallowed it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; while it can never forget what they did here.” “It is rather for us, the living, to stand here, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that, from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here, gave the Lincoln1809 Bicentennial -2009last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people by the people for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” The Life of Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 near Hodgenville Ken- tucky, in a one-room log cabin.
    [Show full text]
  • Who Was Robert Todd Lincoln?
    WHO WAS ROBERT TODD LINCOLN? He was the only child of Abe and Mary Lincoln to survive into adulthood - with his three brothers having died from illness at young ages. Believe it or not, Robert lived until 1926, dying at age 83. But along the way, he sure lived a remarkable life. For starters, he begged his father for a commission to serve in the Civil War, with President Lincoln refusing, saying the loss of two sons (to that point) made risking the loss of a third out of the question. But Robert insisted, saying that if his father didn't help him, he would join on his own and fight with the front line troops; a threat that drove Abe to give in. But you know how clever Abe was. He gave Robert what he wanted, but wired General Grant to assign "Captain Lincoln" to his staff, and to keep him well away from danger. The assignment did, however, result in Robert's being present at Appomattox Court House, during the historic moment of Lee's surrender. Then - the following week, while Robert was at the White House, he was awakened at midnight to be told of his father's shooting, and was present at The Peterson House when his father died. Below are Robert's three brothers; Eddie, Willie, and Tad. Little Eddie died at age 4 in 1850 - probably from thyroid cancer. Willie (in the middle picture) was the most beloved of all the boys. He died in the White House at age 11 in 1862, from what was most likely Typhoid Fever.
    [Show full text]