2008 Annual Report Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site Page 2 20082008 Annual Report Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site was the 1840s home of Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln, father and stepmother of our 16th president. By that time, Abraham no longer lived with his family, but was a prosperous lawyer living in Springfield, Illinois. However, in addition to family ties, Abraham’s legal work and political ambitions brought him through Coles County, and to his father’s farm on numerous occasions. Today, Lincoln Log Cabin consists of 86 acres of Thomas’s original farm and is preserved by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Division of Historic Sites. The site includes an accurate reproduction of the Lincolns’ two room cabin, reconstructed on the original site in 1935 as a Civilian Conservation Corps project and the circa 1844 Stephen Sargent home, a contrasting nineteenth-century progressive farm; annex sites include the Shiloh Church, and gravesites of Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln, one mile to the west, and the Ruben Moore Home in Farmington, one mile north of the site, scene of President-elect Lincoln’s last visit with his step-mother and extended family in Coles County before his journey to Washington D.C. in 1861. Lincoln Log Cabin hosts approximately 90,000 visitors each year, from almost every state and numerous countries around the world. Since 1981 those visitors journeying to the site during the summer months, and for special events at other times of the year, get to meet and interact with our interpreters and volunteers who portray actual members of the Lincoln and Sargent families or their neighbors. Our first-person approach to interpretation between May and October of each year is unique for historic sites in Illinois. Volunteer Pioneers, Inc. The Lincoln-Sargent Farm Foundation The Volunteer Pioneers, Inc. were formed in The Lincoln-Sargent Farm Foundation was founded as a fund-raising 1981 to provide an outlet for volunteering at the committee in 1981 to facilitate moving the Stephen Sargent house to the site site. The purpose is to assist the full time staff and providing funds for its restoration. Following the successful completion in interpreting mid-nineteenth-century rural life of that task, the Foundation today has expanded its role in becoming the main in Central Illinois to visitors from around the source of funding for the site’s educational programs by hiring educators for state, nation, and world. In addition to the spring and fall fifth-grade live-in programs. The Foundation holds a fund- providing interpretive help on the historical raising event each spring, along with an annual campaign to raise funds for the farms and in the visitor center, the volunteers site. Foundation board members represent various business and educational also support the site by providing period elements of the community and surrounding area. clothing for the interpretive programs. Foundation Board of Directors Officers & Directors President Lance Beever Larry Gutzler, President John Phipps Vice President Susan Colgrove Lori Henderson, Vice President Gary Swearingen Secretary Ramona Tomshack Nora Pat Small , Secretary Barbara Haberer Treasurer JoAn Baker Gerald Parker, Treasurer John Woodruff Director Norm Kitley Paul Daily Dale Wolf Randy Ervin Director Marcia French Tim Gover Director George Spallinger Dennis Gathmann James K. Johnson 2008 Annual Report Page 3 Site Manager’s Report By Matthew Mittelstaedt In 2008 Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site faced some serious challenges. With reduced funding we were forced to begin our season with less than half the number of our normal seasonal employees. Unfortunately, as the summer went on things grew increasingly difficult and we were forced in July, to let all of our seasonal employees go, and on December 1st, we laid off a permanent employee and officially closed except for certain special events. Throughout this crisis however, the Volunteer Pioneers and members of the community rose to the challenge sending several thousand letters to various state office holders to champion the site. Ultimately, although their campaign did not stop the closure of the site, it did serve to raise awareness of Lincoln Log Cabin, our programs and the support we receive from the community. The Lincoln-Sargent Farm Foundation was able to negotiate to keep the current education programs in place, and Seasonal maintenance workers Joe Gutierrez and Jack the volunteers stepped in to fill the gap left by missing seasonal Doll pose in front of the rebuilt lean-to on the Sargent employees and kept the historic farms open through corn crib. November. Despite the challenging budget issues, we were able to complete a number of projects this year before the seasonal employees were let go and after, with volunteer support. The first two spring projects were to replace rotten upright supports on the Sargent corn crib lean-to, and finish construction on the new hog lot at the Lincoln farm. Seasonal maintenance workers Joe Gutierrez and Jack Doll jumped right in and finished both projects before moving on to replace the Lincoln farm well cover with a new one that included a crank to lower the water bucket into the well. This configuration is similar to the well cover originally constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corp in the 1930s. Our new hog lot across the creek from the Lincoln Cabin was designed to replace the hog lot next to the cabin. By moving the hogs across the creek, we are able to both protect Lincoln era artifacts and the public by halting the erosion on the hillside. Over the years, the hogs had seriously degraded the hillside, causing severe erosion damage and a potential hazard for visitors who approached the lot coming down the hillside. By stabilizing the hillside we are also protecting Lincoln-era artifacts buried under the soil such as pottery, dishes and glassware that were originally used and then discarded by the family when broken or worn out by tossing them down the hill. The final project completed last year was the stabilization of the Lincoln Cabin by the maintenance crew from New Salem State Historic Site. They were able to jack up the northwest corner of the cabin after it slipped off its foundation, and afterwards, we were able to completely re- chink and re-whitewash the cabin in preparation for this year’s Bicentennial celebrations. This project was completed before the first frost by many dedicated volunteers who are owed a true debt of gratitude. Volunteers Kathy Spallinger and Lisa McDaniel examine the new well cover at the To all those who helped keep our programs and activities going and Lincoln Farm. to those who gave financially through the Volunteers Pioneers or the Foundation, I thank you, and look forward to better days soon at Lincoln Log Cabin. Page 4 20082008 Annual Report A Look at the Land Purchases of the Extended Lincoln Family on the Goosenest Prairie 1837-1840 January 5, 1837 Squire Hall, Sarah Lincoln’s son-in–law, purchases from the federal government the SW 1/4, SE 1/4, Section 21 Township 11, Range 9, containing 40 acres for $1.25 an acre. This farm is immediately to the south of present-day Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site. January 14, 1837 Thomas Lincoln buys from the federal government the S 1/2, NE, Section 21 Township 11, Range 8, containing 80 acres for $1.25 per acre. August 4, 1837 John D. Johnston, Thomas Lincoln’s step-son, purchases from the federal government the NE 1/4, SE 1/4, Section 21 Township 11, Range 9, containing 40 acres for $1.25 per acre. His farm was adja- cent to that of Thomas Lincoln, just to the north. December 27, 1838 Squire Hall, purchases from the federal government the SE 1/4, SW 1/4, Section 21 Township 11, Range 9, containing 40 acres for $1.25 an acre. This purchase formally expanded his land holdings to 80 acres although he was probably already cultivating this land adjacent to the 40 acres he bought almost two years before. Squire and Matilda Hall sold this farm and moved about a mile and a half south in 1839 into what would become Cumberland County. March 5, 1840 Thomas Lincoln purchases the NW 1/4, SE 1/4 and the NE 1/4, SW 1/4, Section 21 Township 11, Range 9, containing 80 acres from Reuben Moore for $400 (essentially, the two men swapped the acreage they owned.) The $400 price would indicate that both properties had been improved. Fur- ther evidence of this may be seen in the construction of the cabin where building methods differ be- tween the east and west rooms; had they been constructed by one man they should have been the same. December 31, 1840 Thomas Lincoln purchases the NE 1/4, SE 1/4, Section 21 Township 11, Range 9, containing 40 acres from his step-son John D. Johnston for $50. There is no evidence to indicate that the Lincoln and Johnston families lived together on Johnston’s farm prior to this date, but family correspondence clearly shows that Johnston and his family would remain in the Lincoln household until finally moving to the Arkansas/Missouri border region in in 1852. In December of 1848, Johnston com- plained about his numerous debts and explained in a letter to his step-brother Abraham how he avoided paying them “…I have kept from paying them by not having any property…” 2008 Annual Report Page 5 2008 Lincoln-Sargent Farm Foundation Donors List INSTITUTIONAL GIFTS: Adams Funeral Chapel, Brownstown Elementary, Carl Sandburg Elementary, Consolidated Communications, East Central Illinois Home Educators Network, East Richland