ABE AND HIS FAMILY.
My young readers may naturally feel some curiosity as to the Lincoln
family and their previous history.
The grandfather of Abraham was one of the pioneer settlers of Kentucky.
About the year 1780 he removed from Rockingham County, Virginia, to what
was then an unsettled wilderness. His death was tragical. Four years
later, while at work in the field, at some distance from his cabin, he
was shot down by a prowling Indian. How his widow managed, with the care
of five helpless children, we do not accurately know, but God helps the
struggling, and she reared them all till they reached man’s and woman’s
estate. Thomas Lincoln, born in 1778, was the third child, and the
future President was his son. He was a good-natured, popular man, but
inefficient and unsuccessful, and whatever there was great in his
eminent son did not come from him.
Nancy Hanks, Abe’s own mother, was born in Virginia, and was probably
related to some family emigrating from that State. Dr. Holland says of
her: “Mrs. Lincoln, the mother, was evidently a woman out of place among
these primitive surroundings. She was five feet five inches high, a
slender, pale, sad, and sensitive woman, with much in her nature that
was truly heroic, and much that shrank from the rude life around her. A
great man never drew his infant life from a purer or more womanly bosom
than her own.” Though she died young, she had taught her children to
read, and so laid the foundation of their education.
When Thomas Lincoln had made up his mind to move from Kentucky, he sold
his humble home, or rather bartered it for ten barrels of whisky and
twenty dollars in money. It must not be inferred that he was an
intemperate man--this would not be true--but money was scarce in those
days, and it was common to barter, taking pay in commodities which were
marketable. This was before the days of temperance societies; whisky
was generally drunk, even by ministers, and there was little risk in
accepting it.
So Thomas Lincoln, leaving home by himself to find a new residence for
his family, built a flat-boat, and launched it on the Rolling Fork, a
creek emptying into the Ohio River. He reached the river in safety, but
then came a disaster. His flat-boat was upset, and two-thirds of his
whisky, and many of his housekeeping and farm utensils were lost. He did
the best he could, however. With friendly assistance he saved all he was
able, and proceeding on his journey, carried his goods about eighteen
miles into Spencer County, Indiana, the place where we find him at the
commencement of our narrative. He returned to Kentucky for his family,
and brought them with him to the new home in the wilderness. Seven days,
we are told, were consumed on the journey, though the distance could not
have been very great. We can easily imagine what privations and
weariness of body this journey involved. People of to-day don’t know
what “moving” is. They should have lived in the year 1816, and made a
toilsome seven days’ march through the wilderness to understand what it
meant then.
Nor were their trials and privations over when the moving was
accomplished. I am tempted to quote here from Mr. Ward H. Lamon’s
interesting life of Lincoln, an account of life in the new Indiana home,
contained in a letter from Mr. David Turnham, a school-fellow of Abe:
“When my father came here in the Spring of 1819, he settled in Spencer
County, within one mile of Thomas Lincoln, then a widower. The chance
for schooling was poor; but, such as it was, Abraham and myself attended
the same schools.
“We first had to go seven miles to mill; and then it was a hand-mill
that would grind from ten to fifteen bushels of corn in a day. There was
but little wheat grown at that time; and when we did have wheat, we had
to grind it on the mill described, and use it without bolting, as there
were no bolts in the country. In the course of two or three years, a man
by the name of Huffman built a mill on Anderson River, about twelve
miles distant. Abe and I had to do the milling on horseback, frequently
going twice to get one grist. Then they began building horse-mills of a
little better quality than the hand-mills.
“The country was very rough, especially in the low lands, so thick with
brush that a man could scarcely get through on foot. These places were
called Roughs. The country abounded in game, such as bears, deer,
turkeys, and the smaller game.
“At that time there were a great many deer-licks; and Abe and myself
would go to these licks sometimes, and watch of nights to kill deer,
though Abe was not so fond of a gun as I was. There were ten or twelve
of these licks in a small prairie on the creek, lying between Mr.
Lincoln’s and Mr. Wood’s. This gave it the name of Prairie Track of
Pigeon Creek.”
I have already said that Thomas Lincoln was a carpenter. He did not,
however, understand his trade very well, and, though he was employed in
small jobs, there is no evidence that he was ever employed to build a
house, or was considered competent to do so. In fact, he derived but a
small income from his trade, and probably looked upon himself rather as
a farmer than a mechanic. It was a piece of good fortune for himself and
his children, that, shiftless and unambitious as he was, he should have
won a wife so much more capable and energetic than himself. He was much
shorter than his son Abe, being an inch or two under six feet. In some
respects they were alike, however, for Thomas Lincoln had a gift for
telling stories, and would sit about at “stores,” or under trees, and
amuse his neighbors with an inexhaustible fund of anecdotes. Of
education he had little or none. He could write his name, having learned
this much from his first wife, Abe’s mother, but he never had the
ambition or perseverance to go farther up the hill of learning. We are
told, however, that he was in favor of his children’s obtaining an
education, though it was probably the mother and step-mother to whom Abe
and his sister were especially indebted for such advantages as they
enjoyed. I may say, however, that the most valuable part of Abraham
Lincoln’s education was not derived from books. He was a close and keen
observer of men and things, and few men excelled him in insight into
human nature, and the motives, the weaknesses, and the subterfuges of
men. Yet with all this knowledge of the bad as well as the good that was
in men, he was always a kindly and sympathetic judge and critic.
I suppose all boys at some time or other in their early years have a
narrow escape. My young readers may be interested to know how near we
came to losing our future President. It was when Abe was seven years
old, and before he removed to Indiana.
He was accustomed to go on numerous tramps with his cousin, Dennis
Hanks, who sought to initiate him into the mysteries of fishing. On one
occasion he attempted to “coon” across Knot Creek, by swinging over on a
sycamore tree. But he lost his hold and tumbled into the deep water. He
would have drowned but for the exertions of his boy companion, who had
great difficulty in saving him. The readers of Garfield’s Life will
remember how he also came near death by drowning, when considerably
older than Abe was at this juncture. But God looks after the lives of
His chosen instruments, and saves them for His work.
There is no doubt that Abe found plenty to do outside of school. In
fact, that did not take up much of his time, for we are told that,
adding together all the time he spent in attendance, the aggregate would
not exceed a year.
As to the sort of work he did, his father found work for him on the land
which he had under cultivation. Then the “chores” which boys in such
households are always called upon to do, in his case exacted more time
on account of the lack of average accommodations. For instance, the
water had to be brought from a spring a mile away, and Abe and his
sister were employed to fetch it. There was no water to be had nearer,
except what was collected in holes in the ground after a rain, and this
was necessarily unfit for drinking, or, indeed, any other purpose unless
strained. But Abe is not to be pitied for the hardships of his lot. That
is the way strong men are made.