DOCSLIB.ORG

Childhood in Kentucky (1809-1816) One Day In

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Childhood in Kentucky (1809-1816) One Day In Chapter One "I Have Seen a Good Deal of the Back Side of This World": Childhood in Kentucky (1809-1816) One day in the middle of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln carved time from his busy schedule to pen some wise paternal advice to a young Union captain who had been squabbling with his superiors. Quoting from Hamlet, the president wrote that a father’s injunction to his son – “Beware of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, bear it that the opposed may beware of thee” – was good counsel, “and yet not the best.” Instead, Lincoln enjoined the captain: “Quarrel not at all.” The reasons he gave were practical: “No man resolved to make the most of himself, can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper, and the loss of self-control. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than equal right; and yield lesser ones, though clearly your own. Better give your path to a dog, than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite.”1 Born into emotional and economic poverty, Lincoln early on “resolved to make the most of himself” and did so, adhering to those precepts. ANCESTRY: PATERNAL GRANDFATHER 1 Lincoln to James Madison Cutts, Jr., Washington, 26 October 1863, Roy P. Basler et al., eds., Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (8 vols. plus index; New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1953-55), 6:538. 2 Michael Burlingame – Abraham Lincoln: A Life – Vol. 1, Chapter 1 Like many another exceptional child of unexceptional parents, Abraham Lincoln was quite curious about his ancestors, especially his grandfathers, neither of whom he knew.2 So intrigued was he that he planned to conduct genealogical research after finishing his second term as president.3 In 1858, when asked about his forbears, he revealed more than a passing acquaintance with his family tree: “I believe the first of our ancestors we know anything about was Samuel Lincoln, who came from Norwich, England, in 1638, and settled in a small Massachusetts place called Hingham, or it might have been Hanghim.”4 (Lincoln loved wordplay.) The following year, Lincoln told a Yorkshireman that he planned to visit England, 2 David C. Mearns, ed., The Lincoln Papers: The Story of the Collection with Selections to July 4, 1861 (2 vols.; Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday, 1948), 1:28; William E. Barton, Lineage of Abraham Lincoln (Indianapolis: Bobbs- Merrill, 1929), 1-6; Thomas L. Purvis, “The Making of a Myth: Abraham Lincoln's Family Background in the Perspective of Jacksonian Politics,” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 75 (1982): 151; Charles H. Coleman, “Lincoln's Knowledge of His Ancestry,” Lincoln Herald 59 (winter 1957-58): 18-21; Henry Clay Whitney, Life on the Circuit with Lincoln, ed. Paul M. Angle (1892; Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton, 1940), 46; Lincoln to Solomon Lincoln, 6 and 24 March 1848; to David Lincoln, 24 March and 2 April 1848; to Jesse Lincoln, Springfield, 1 April 1854; to Richard V. B. Lincoln, Springfield, 6 April 1860; to Samuel Haycraft, Springfield, 28 May and 4 June 1860; to John Hanks, Springfield, 24 August 1860; to Nathaniel Grigsby, Springfield, 20 September 1860; to John Chrisman, Springfield, 21 September 1860, et al., eds., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (8 vols. plus index; New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1953-55), 1:455-56, 459-60, 461-62; 2:217-18; 4:37, 56, 69-70, 100-1, 116, 117. Henry C. Whitney alleged that Lincoln “told me much of his kinfolk.” Whitney to Caroline Hanks Hitchcock, n.p., 17 January 1895, copied in “Hanks Family Notes,” vol. 1, p. 102, unpublished typescript, Hanks Family Papers, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston. Lincoln carefully recorded in his family's Bible the births, deaths, and marriages of his siblings and stepsiblings, parents and stepmother. Ibid., 2:94-95. For a different interpretation, see L. Pierce Clark, Lincoln: A Psycho-Biography (New York: Scribner's, 1933), 249-50, and David Herbert Donald, Lincoln (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995), 19. 3 In 1877, Lincoln's secretary of the navy, Gideon Welles, observed that the sixteenth president “knew not his own lineage and connections. The deprivation he keenly felt. I heard him say on more than one occasion that when he laid down his official life he would endeavor to trace out his genealogy and family history.” Welles, “Administration of Abraham Lincoln,” The Galaxy 23 (January 1877): 15. Welles said he “had two or three conversations” with Lincoln “concerning his family history.” In Lincoln, Welles “saw a craving desire to know something more of his family history.” Welles to Robert Todd Lincoln, Hartford, 25 June, 5 July 1875, Nicolay-Hay Papers, box 1, Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield. 4 James Grant Wilson, “Recollections of Lincoln,” Putnam’s Magazine 5 (February 1909): 515. 3 Michael Burlingame – Abraham Lincoln: A Life – Vol. 1, Chapter 1 the home of his ancestors.5 In two brief autobiographical sketches written for the campaign of 1860, he devoted much space to his lineage.6 His father's father, after whom the future president was named, was known as Captain Abraham, a rank he attained by 1776 while serving in the Virginia militia. Born in 1744 in Pennsylvania, he moved with his father John and the rest of the family to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia around 1766. They settled along Linville Creek in Augusta (later Rockingham) County, where John Lincoln farmed a tract of 600 acres, one third of which he sold to his son Abraham in 1773. The following year Abraham participated in Lord Dunmore’s expedition against the Shawnees, and during the Revolution he joined General Lachlan McIntosh’s futile campaign against Fort Detroit. In 1780, for unknown reasons, the Captain departed with his wife and children on a 250- mile trek to the remote and dangerous Indian hunting grounds of Kentucky, while the Revolutionary War still raged and attacks on settlers were common.7 In 1784 alone, Indians killed more than a hundred migrants traveling the Wilderness Road from Virginia to Kentucky, which was little more than the trail first blazed by Daniel Boone in 1775.8 Perhaps Grandfather Abraham wished to avoid taxes, or he may have been lured westward by the prospect of easy 5 Reminiscences of George Hartley, Chicago Daily News, 28 January 1909. 6 Autobiography written for Jesse W. Fell, enclosed in Lincoln to Fell, Springfield, 20 December 1859, and autobiography written for John L. Scripps, [ca. June 1860], Roy P. Basler et al., eds., Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (8 vols. plus index; New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1953-55), 3:511-12; 4:60-67. 7 D. M. Coleman, “Thomas Lincoln: The Father of Abraham Lincoln” (pamphlet; privately printed, 1956), 7; John W. Wayland, The Lincolns in Virginia (Staunton, Virginia: McClure, 1946), 24-57; Barton, Lineage of Lincoln, 47- 55; communication from Paul H. Verduin, 25 December 1997. 8 Robert L. Kincaid, The Wilderness Road (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1947), 175. In 1783, the Rev. Mr. James Smith of Powhatan County, Virginia, toured Kentucky and reported that the Cumberland Gap, where the Wilderness Road passed from Virginia into Kentucky, “is a very noted place on account of the great number of people who have here unfortunately fallen a prey to savage cruelty or barbarity. The mountain in the gap is neither very steep nor high, but the almost inaccessible cliffs on either side [of] the road render it a place peculiar for doing mischief.” Ibid., 183 n. 2. 4 Michael Burlingame – Abraham Lincoln: A Life – Vol. 1, Chapter 1 gains in land speculation.9 One historian thought Captain Abraham’s decision to sell a large farm in western Virginia for paper money showed “a sad lack of judgment” because “Rockingham is probably one of the best counties in the United States,” which was “settled mainly by Germans, who turned it into a garden.” There “for the most part the soil is very fine. That Abraham Lincoln could not make a satisfactory living there would indicate a shiftless disposition.”10 Before the war, Captain Abraham had participated in Lord Dunmore's 1774 expedition against the Shawnees, and during the Revolution he joined the General Lachlan McIntosh’s futile campaign against Fort Detroit. The Indian who killed the Captain in 1786 may have belonged to a tribe that had earlier fought against him.11 Captain Abraham died a violent death on the "dark and bloody ground" of frontier Kentucky. As a boy, Abe often heard this harrowing tale which he called "the legend more strongly than all others imprinted upon my mind and memory."12 While working his farm one spring day in 1786, forty-two-year-old Grandfather Abraham was ambushed by an Indian, who shot him dead before the terrified eyes of his young son Thomas (father-to-be of the sixteenth president). As the Indian prepared to kidnap the lad, his older brother Mordecai ran back to the family cabin, grabbed a rifle, drew a bead on the silver ornament dangling from the Indian's neck, and squeezed the trigger. Luckily for Tom, his brother's aim was true, and the boy escaped 9 Albert J. Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1858 (2 vols.; Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1928), 1:7-8. Theodore Calvin Pease speculated that “Land speculation . would seem a more probable reason” than tax evasion. Annotation by Pease on a draft of Beveridge’s first chapter, Beveridge Papers, Library of Congress. 10 Hamilton J.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • “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.
    [Show full text]
  • 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]
  • (Summer 2018) John Filson's Kentucke
    Edward A. Galloway Published in Manuscripts, Vol. 70, No. 3 (Summer 2018) John Filson’s Kentucke: Internet Search Uncovers “Hidden” Manuscripts In 2010 the University Library System (ULS) at the University of Pittsburgh embarked on an ambitious mission: to digitize the content of the Darlington Memorial Library. Presented to the university via two separate gifts, in 1918 and 1925, the Darlington library has become the anchor of the Archives and Special Collections Department within the university library. Comprised of thousands of rare books, manuscripts, maps, broadsides, atlases, lithographs, and artwork, the library showcased the collecting passions of the Darlington family who lived in Pittsburgh during the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The patriarch, William M. Darlington (1815-1889), was born in Pittsburgh and practiced law in Allegheny County. A passionate collector, William M. Darlington found his equal in Mary Carson O’Hara (1824- 1915), whom he married in 1845.1 They subsequently moved into a newly-constructed Italianate home just a few miles up the Allegheny River from Downtown Pittsburgh. Here, they raised three children, O’Hara, Mary, and Edith, all recipients of their parents’ love of history and bibliophiles to the core. Having married into a wealthy family, Mr. Darlington retired from his law career in 1856 to manage the estate of his wife’s grandfather, James O’Hara, whose land holdings encompassed a major portion of Pittsburgh.2 He would devote most of his adult life to collecting works of Americana, especially that which documented western Pennsylvania. Even the land upon which he built his estate, passed down to his wife, dripped with history having been the last home of Guyasuta, a Seneca chief.3 The Darlingtons eventually amassed the “largest private library west of the Alleghenies” containing nearly 14,000 volumes.
    [Show full text]
  • Page 1 of 11 LINCOLN MILL HISTORY Below Is a Summary Of
    LINCOLN MILL HISTORY Below is a summary of what I know about the Lincoln mills. The last of these structures stands on property we own. Early Years In the very late 1600s an impoundment later known as Hunter’s Pond or the Mordecai Lincoln Road Pond was created by constructing a dam at the mouth of Bound Brook. The current mill structure was built next to this pond. The mill site straddles the patent line agreed upon in 1639 as the boundary between the former Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth Colonies. South of the line is the Town of Scituate, founded in 1636. North is the Town of Cohasset. Cohasset was settled in 1670, though it was formerly part of Hingham. It became a separate town in 1770 and was part of Suffolk County until 1793 when it became part of Norfolk County. Prior to 1695 there was no dam or road over Bound Brook. Instead a little distance downstream from the current road location, at a point pushing into the Gulph River estuary, people forded back and forth between Scituate and Beechwood. See the map below. From A Narrative History of the Town of Cohasset, Massachusetts by Edwin Victor Bigelow Page 1 of 11 Original Mills and Dam In 1695 Mordecai Lincoln (blacksmith by trade and the great-great-great grandfather of Abraham Lincoln) built a house on the road fording the stream. He also built a series of mills, but weak water flow from Bound Brook was a problem. The flow was only sufficient to pond water for a couple of days of operation at any one spot.
    [Show full text]
  • Music and the American Civil War
    “LIBERTY’S GREAT AUXILIARY”: MUSIC AND THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR by CHRISTIAN MCWHIRTER A DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History in the Graduate School of The University of Alabama TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA 2009 Copyright Christian McWhirter 2009 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT Music was almost omnipresent during the American Civil War. Soldiers, civilians, and slaves listened to and performed popular songs almost constantly. The heightened political and emotional climate of the war created a need for Americans to express themselves in a variety of ways, and music was one of the best. It did not require a high level of literacy and it could be performed in groups to ensure that the ideas embedded in each song immediately reached a large audience. Previous studies of Civil War music have focused on the music itself. Historians and musicologists have examined the types of songs published during the war and considered how they reflected the popular mood of northerners and southerners. This study utilizes the letters, diaries, memoirs, and newspapers of the 1860s to delve deeper and determine what roles music played in Civil War America. This study begins by examining the explosion of professional and amateur music that accompanied the onset of the Civil War. Of the songs produced by this explosion, the most popular and resonant were those that addressed the political causes of the war and were adopted as the rallying cries of northerners and southerners. All classes of Americans used songs in a variety of ways, and this study specifically examines the role of music on the home-front, in the armies, and among African Americans.
    [Show full text]
  • The Life of Abraham Lincoln Volume One
    Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from The Institute of Museum and Library Services through an Indiana State Library LSTA Grant http://www.archive.org/details/lifeofabraha2461tarb The Life of Abraham Lincoln Volume One M)t Xiift of jlbrajam Eintoln ©raton ftom original sources anD containing many ^peec^e^ JLetter^ anD Celegtams ^tt^crto unpuMigljeD anD toft^ man? reproDucttong from original painting^ photographs, etc* Ilia ffh Kartell jftrst Volume tttnarin fltstorp §*>octetp /Qeto porfe jftcntfi Copyright, 1895, 1896, 1898, 1899 By The S. S. McClure Co. Copyright, 1900 By Doubleday & McClure Co. Copyright, 1900 By McClure, Phillips & Co. To my Fatke?* PREFACE The work here offered the public was begun in 1894 at the suggestion of Mr. S. S. McClure and Mr. J. S. Phillips, editors of " McClure's Magazine." Their desire was to add to our knowledge of Abraham Lincoln by collecting and pre- serving the reminiscences of such of his contemporaries as were then living. In undertaking the work it was deter- mined to spare neither labor nor money and in this deter- mination Mr. McClure and his associates have never wa- vered. Without the sympathy, confidence, suggestion and criticism which they have given the work it would have been impossible. They established in their editorial rooms what might be called a Lincoln Bureau and from there an or- ganized search was made for reminiscences, pictures and documents. To facilitate the work all persons possessing or knowing of Lincoln material were asked through the Magazine to communicate with the editor. The response was immediate and amazing.
    [Show full text]
  • Daniel Boone Homestead Visitor Guide
    Pennsylvania Daniel Boone Daniel Boone in Pennsylvania After the Boones The name Daniel Boone will forever be In Pennsylvania, Daniel’s boyhood home Trails of History synonymous with the saga of the American changed to reflect the growth, prosperity and Homestead frontier. Born on November 2, 1734, and raised cultural diversity of the Oley Valley. In Pennsylvania, all roads lead to history. here, Boone was the inveterate wayfarer who Squire Boone moved his family from To help find your path, the Pennsylvania achieved lasting fame guiding land-hungry Pennsylvania in 1750 and sold his house and Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) Birdsboro, Berks County settlers to the Kentucky frontier and fighting part of his homestead to his cousin William has blazed several special-interest trails to defend them against attack. Maugridge. Maugridge, also born in Devon- leading to some of Pennsylvania’s most Daniel’s father, Squire Boone, was an Eng- shire, worked as a shipwright in Philadelphia historic sites. We invite you to explore one lish Quaker born in Devonshire in 1696. While prior to 1750 and later served as a magistrate site at a time, travel an entire trail or create still a youth, Squire, his brother George and sister and judge for Berks County from 1752 until his your own road trip to Pennsylvania’s past. Sarah embarked for Philadelphia to appraise the death in 1766. The Maugridges were not Quakers No matter whether you choose one of our possibilities of settlement for their father’s family, who but leaders among the local Anglicans. classic trails, a trail based on PHMC’s annual immigrated finally in 1717.
    [Show full text]
  • Abraham Lincoln and the Power of Public Opinion Allen C
    Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications Civil War Era Studies 2014 "Public Sentiment Is Everything": Abraham Lincoln and the Power of Public Opinion Allen C. Guelzo Gettysburg College Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cwfac Part of the Political History Commons, Social History Commons, and the United States History Commons Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. Guelzo, Allen C. "'Public Sentiment Is Everything': Abraham Lincoln and the Power of Public Opinion." Lincoln and Liberty: Wisdom for the Ages Ed. Lucas E. Morel (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2014), 171-190. This is the publisher's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution. Cupola permanent link: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cwfac/56 This open access book chapter is brought to you by The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The uC pola. For more information, please contact [email protected]. "Public Sentiment Is Everything": Abraham Lincoln and the Power of Public Opinion Abstract Book Summary: Since Abraham Lincoln’s death, generations of Americans have studied his life, presidency, and leadership, often remaking him into a figure suited to the needs and interests of their own time. This illuminating volume takes a different approach to his political thought and practice. Here, a distinguished group of contributors argue that Lincoln’s relevance today is best expressed by rendering an accurate portrait of him in his own era. They es ek to understand Lincoln as he understood himself and as he attempted to make his ideas clear to his contemporaries.
    [Show full text]
  • Abraham Lincoln, Kentucky African Americans and the Constitution
    Abraham Lincoln, Kentucky African Americans and the Constitution Kentucky African American Heritage Commission Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Collection of Essays Abraham Lincoln, Kentucky African Americans and the Constitution Kentucky African American Heritage Commission Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Collection of Essays Kentucky Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission Kentucky Heritage Council © Essays compiled by Alicestyne Turley, Director Underground Railroad Research Institute University of Louisville, Department of Pan African Studies for the Kentucky African American Heritage Commission, Frankfort, KY February 2010 Series Sponsors: Kentucky African American Heritage Commission Kentucky Historical Society Kentucky Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission Kentucky Heritage Council Underground Railroad Research Institute Kentucky State Parks Centre College Georgetown College Lincoln Memorial University University of Louisville Department of Pan African Studies Kentucky Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission The Kentucky Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (KALBC) was established by executive order in 2004 to organize and coordinate the state's commemorative activities in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln. Its mission is to ensure that Lincoln's Kentucky story is an essential part of the national celebration, emphasizing Kentucky's contribution to his thoughts and ideals. The Commission also serves as coordinator of statewide efforts to convey Lincoln's Kentucky story and his legacy of freedom, democracy, and equal opportunity for all. Kentucky African American Heritage Commission [Enabling legislation KRS. 171.800] It is the mission of the Kentucky African American Heritage Commission to identify and promote awareness of significant African American history and influence upon the history and culture of Kentucky and to support and encourage the preservation of Kentucky African American heritage and historic sites.
    [Show full text]
  • Abraham Lincoln's First Visit to Hampton Roads
    F O R T H E P E O P L E A NEWSLETTER OF THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN ASSOCIATION http://www.abrahamlincolnassociation.org VOLUME 19 NUMBER 2 SUMMER 2017 SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS Abraham Lincoln’s First Visit to Hampton Roads By Anna Gibson Holloway and Jonathan W. White In April 2016, several members of the board of directors of the Abraham Lin- coln Association joined the mayor of Hampton Roads image courtesy of The Mariners’ Museum, Newport News, Virginia Springfield, Illinois, for a visit to U.S.S. confer with Commodore Louis M. appearance about him which indicates Abraham Lincoln, which was undergoing great firmness, and strength of character; repairs in Newport News, Virginia. The Goldsborough about “military & naval movements, in connexion with the take him as I saw him, and he is just the presence of a vessel named after the na- dreaded Merrimac.”¹ The following day picture of a Western hoosier, tall, lank, tion’s 16th president in Hampton Roads the president and his entourage toured and gaunt.” is fitting. Lincoln’s most famous visit to the famous ironclad Monitor. Paymaster the area occurred on February 3, 1865, The next few days were spent preparing William F. Keeler observed that Lincoln ⁴ when he and Secretary of State William for an invasion of Norfolk. At one point H. Seward met with several Confederate “had a sad, care worn & anxious look” as the president personally boarded a boat he toured the vessel.² leaders for the Hampton Roads Peace to search the Confederate shoreline for Conference. But, in fact, the president In the afternoon General Wool proposed an ideal landing spot.
    [Show full text]
  • Law Enforcement Problems of the 1920S & 1930S, Bay Meadows
    Winter 2011 LaThe Journal of the SanPeninsula Mateo County Historical Association, Volume xl, No. 2 Law Enforcement Problems of the 1920s & 1930s, Bay Meadows Remembered and Daly City Centennial Table of Contents The Most Corrupt County: The Era of Prohibition and Gambling ................................................................ 3 by Carmen J. Blair Bay Meadows Remembered ............................................................................. 14 by Jon Rubin Daly City-Colma: Leaves of History .................................................................. 21 by Samuel C. Chandler The San Mateo County Historical Association operates the San Mateo County History Museum and research archives at the old San Mateo County Courthouse located in Our Vision Redwood City, California, and administers two county historical sites, the Sanchez To discover the past Adobe in Pacifica and the Woodside Store in Woodside. and imagine the future. The San Mateo County Historical Association Board of Directors Our Mission Peggy Bort Jones, Chairwoman; Keith Bautista, Immediate Past Chairman; Patrick Ryan, To enrich, excite and Vice Chairman; Phill Raiser, Secretary; Brian Sullivan, Treasurer; Alpio Barbara; Paul educate through Barulich; Roberta Carcione; Herm Christensen; Shawn DeLuna; Ted Everett; Umang understanding, Gupta; John Inglis; Wally Jansen; Doug Keyston; Les Koonce; Karen S. McCown; Tom preserving and McGraw; Gene Mullin; Bob Oyster; Anne Peter; Cynthia L. Schreurs; Paul Shepherd and interpreting the history Mitchell P. Postel, President. of San Mateo County. President’s Advisory Board Accredited by the Albert A. Acena; Arthur H. Bredenbeck; Frank Baldanzi; John Clinton; Robert M. Desky; American Association T. Jack Foster, Jr.; Georgi LaBerge; Greg Munks; John Schrup and Tom Siebel. of Museums La Peninsula Carmen J. Blair, Managing Editor Publications Committee: Joan M. Levy, Publications Chairwoman; Albert A.
    [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]