DECEMBER 2019 / JANUARY 2020 for the RECORDS Genealogy in Lincolnland
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VOL. 11, NO. 12 / VOL. 12, NO. 1 — DECEMBER 2019 / JANUARY 2020 FOR THE RECORDS Genealogy in Lincolnland In 1829, New Salem, Illinois was founded when James Rutledge and John M. Camron, a millwright and nephew of Rutledge’s wife, entered the land to construct a mill (Fig. 1). Two years later, in 1831, a young Abraham Lincoln set off on his own. The story of Lincoln’s family is a familiar one: his parents received conflicting land titles in Kentucky, which largely contributed to the family’s move out of that state.1 They went to Indiana and, later, Macon County, Illinois, where Lincoln would separate from his family and live in New Salem for most of the pioneer village’s life. For several decades these origins were seen as “drab, sordid, uninspiring; as an obstacle that he in some mysterious manner succeeded in surmounting”2 rather than as a foundational and quintessentially American part of Lincoln’s life, full of people he would recall and interact with to the heights of his career. His persistent mingling with people resulted in sources rich in material of genealogical interest to descendants of early settlers of Central Illinois. Figure 1 | The New Salem area as seen on HistoryGEO’s First Landowners Project. The HistoryGEO database is available in the Originally located in Sangamon County, New Salem became History & Genealogy Department. part of Menard County when Menard was formed in 1839. The large, extended Elmore family began to settle in and around the area before 1830 and continued to pour in from Kentucky and Voting in 1831 Tennessee for a hundred years. They were connected by ties so In 1831, Lincoln was hired by Denton Offutt to help take a labyrinthine and documentarily ephemeral as to warrant family flatboat and its cargo to New Orleans. On the way, the boat got history titles such as “The Legend of the Eight Brothers.3 Like stuck at New Salem, where a crowd gathered to watch the most families, the Elmore’s lives were both too obscure and too spectacle. After reaching New Orleans, Lincoln took a common to command a place in general histories. Yet the steamboat to St. Louis and then walked back to New Salem, as intense interest in Lincoln, from his assassination to the present Offutt had decided to open a store there and hire Lincoln as a day, opened a door to the lives of less famous Illinois settlers clerk.4 Only a few days after arriving on August 1, 1831, through which anecdotes, petitions, and otherwise rarely seen Lincoln cast what was likely his first vote. By the next year, records have been allowed to flow. Lincoln was already running for the State Legislature. The 1831 election return (Fig. 2)5 shows Lincoln’s name NEWS AND TIPS | HISTORY AND GENEALOGY AT ST. LOUIS COUNTY LIBRARY DECEMBER 2019 / JANUARY 2020 | PAGE 2 between Travis Elmore and Samuel Berry, which perhaps indicates that he was standing near them as they waited for their votes to be recorded. Berry was uncle to William F. Berry, who, with Lincoln, opened the first Lincoln-Berry store in 1832. The identification of Travis Elmore is more complicated due to the existence of multiple people with that name,6 but he may have been the young man about Lincoln’s age with whom Lincoln would go on to have further associations. Contrary to our private voting methods today, this 1831 election record shows how each person voted. The record shows that Travis and Lincoln voted similarly, differing primarily in their selection for Congress. In that instance, Travis voted for Joseph Duncan, a Democrat who would later align with the Whigs, while Lincoln voted for an independent candidate. In subsequent elections, Lincoln would take the position of clerk to earn a dollar.7 The results of this local election and many other records are available on Papers of Abraham Lincoln Digital Library <https://bit.ly/2qKxE4n>. This searchable database provides free online access to thousands of records penned by or otherwise related to Lincoln. Being one of the better-educated residents of Central Illinois, Lincoln wrote up a variety of documents for friends, neighbors, and clients over a wide area. Short biographies are provided for various people, including multiple members of the Elmore family, under the “Persons” tab. In the “Documents” tab, try searching for ancestral surnames from Central Illinois, associates, or political candidates. Ensure that both “Digital Edition” and “Digital Archive” are checked in the search options so all results Figure 2 | Fig. 2: Election Returns for Clary's Grove Precinct in appear. The organization has finished digitizing content from Sangamon County, Illinois, August 1, 1831. Source: Papers of Lincoln’s New Salem years but is still in the process of Abraham Lincoln Digital Library. digitizing content from the last two decades of his life. Armstrong. For the volunteers who served under Lincoln, the The Black Hawk War Papers of Abraham Lincoln Digital Library has made The Black Hawk War began in April 1832 when a Sauk available certificates of discharge and the muster roll <https:// leader, Black Hawk, along with hundreds of warriors and papersofabrahamlincoln.org/documents/D200012b>, which civilians, crossed the Mississippi River to enter Illinois. Lincoln wrote himself. The Illinois State Archives provides an Lincoln and other Illinois residents joined the militia in online database of all Illinois Black Hawk War Veterans response. When it was time for the men to elect a captain, the <https://bit.ly/38xiGiW>. In addition to these sources, the large majority voted for Lincoln. Among his ardent supporters pension file index cards are available on FamilySearch were the Clary’s Grove Boys, the rowdy element of the area; <https://bit.ly/36jw6gO>. Lincoln earned their respect the previous year by impressing them in a wrestling match against their leader, Jack According to Michael Burlingame in the complete, unedited, NEWS AND TIPS | HISTORY AND GENEALOGY AT ST. LOUIS COUNTY LIBRARY DECEMBER 2019 / JANUARY 2020 | PAGE 3 and freely available manuscript version of his book, Abraham is it possible to speak with any degree of respect.”13 While Lincoln: A Life <https://bit.ly/2Pbnt20>, the other men did not standards of scholarship have surpassed even the more serious necessarily take Lincoln seriously as a leader at that time. Two early endeavors, the collection of oral history they provided men in Lincoln’s company were Nathan Drake and Travis remains invaluable. Elmore, who may have been the Travis listed next to Lincoln the 1831 election return. The two were later informants to This early drive to record the most mundane details of John F. Snyder, a Confederate veteran and historian. Based on Lincoln’s life can be the source of stories concerning lesser- his interviews with Elmore and Drake, Snyder wrote that known settlers. As of this writing, the Abraham Lincoln Lincoln was “profoundly ignorant of military matters, and, Association has made it possible simultaneously to search 24 from fear of losing his popularity, he made no pretense, or texts on Lincoln with Lincoln Monographs <https:// effort, to enforce discipline, or control his men in any way.”8 bit.ly/2Pcf2Dv>. To see if we can glean more information on While Snyder’s harsh rendering of events is likely enhanced he Elmore family, we can type “Elmore” in the simple search by political differences, Lincoln was in fact disciplined for his option. The database returns a few results in two books, men’s drunkenness and for firing his pistol too close to camp, including something from the biography written by Lamon though he was also able to stop his men from harming an that does not appear in the book’s index. Clicking “Results innocent elderly Native American.9 If some peers lacked full details” will show part of the relevant text, and clicking the confidence in his abilities, Lincoln already had a legendary page number will display the full text. One of the results reputation to live up to, for Denton Offutt claimed his clerk concerns the period when Lincoln was postmaster at New could “run faster and jump farther than anyone in the county, Salem, having been appointed to that position in May 1833. and could beat anyone at wrestling.”10 He held the job until New Salem’s post office closed in May 1836.14 Lamon attributes the following story to a Mr. Hill, Try using the find function (Control + f on Windows or who was likely Samuel Hill, a merchant and first postmaster Command + f on Mac) in Burlingame’s manuscript for of New Salem: surnames or other keywords. Check any relevant footnotes for clues to further research. One Elmore Johnson, an ignorant but ostentatious, proud man, used to go to Lincoln's post-office every day— Odd jobs and biographies sometimes three or four times a day, if in town—and inquire, The earliest biographical accounts of Lincoln were the three short autobiographical accounts he wrote from 1858 to 1860. In 1860, William Dean Howells wrote a biography for LIBRARY HOLIDAY CLOSING Lincoln’s campaign titled Life of Abraham Lincoln. The same year, a lawyer named Samuel C. Parks asked Lincoln to read Christmas Eve the biography. Lincoln left his corrections in the margins of Tuesday, Dec. 24 that copy,11 which is available online in facsimile <https:// bit.ly/2YC1THc>. Christmas Day Wednesday, Dec. 25 After Lincoln’s death, opportunists rushed to publish New Year’s Eve biographies, each trying to take a piece of a life that was Tuesday, Dec. 31—the library closes at 5:00 p.m. already becoming a public attraction.