Abraham Lincoln, born February 12, 1809, Hardin County, Kentucky.
"Lincoln Day."
1817--Settled in Perry County, Indiana; father, mother, sister, and
self.
1818--October 5, Mrs. Thomas Lincoln (Nancy Hanks) died; buried Spencer
County, Indiana. In 1901, a monument erected to her memory, the base
being the former Abraham Lincoln vault. Schooling, a few months, 1819,
'20 and '28, about six months' school.
1819--Thomas (father of A. L.) marries again: Mrs. Johnson (Sally Bush)
of Kentucky.
1830--March, Lincoln family remove into Illinois, near Decatur.
1831--Works for himself: boatbuilding and sailing, carpentering,
hog-sticking, sawmilling, blacksmithing, river-pilot, logger, etc., in
Menard County, Indiana.
1831--Election clerk at New Salem. Captain and private (re-enlisted) in
Black Hawk War. Store clerk and merchant, New Salem. Studies for the
law.
1832--First political speech. Henry Clay, Whig platform. Defeated
through strong local vote. Deputy surveyor, at three dollars a day,
Sangamon County.
1834--Elected to State legislature as Whig. (Resides in Springfield
till 1861. Law partner with John L. Stuart till 1840.)
1835--Postmaster, New Salem; appointed by President Jackson.
1838 to 1840--Reelected to State legislature.
1840--Partner in law with S. T. Logan.
1842--Married Miss Mary Todd, of Kentucky. Of the four sons, Edward
died in infancy; William ("Willie") at twelve at Washington; Thomas
("Tad") at Springfield, aged twenty; Robert M. T., minister to Great
Britain, presidential candidate, secretary of war to President
Garfield. His only grandson, Abraham, died in London, March, 1890.
1844--Proposed for Congress.
1845--Law partner with W. H. Herndon, for life.
1846--Elected to Congress, the single Whig Illinois member; voted
antislavery; sought abolition in the D. C.; voted Wilmot Proviso.
Declined reelection.
1848--Electioneered for General Taylor.
1849--Defeated by Shields for United States senator.
1852--Electioneered for General Scott.
1854--Won the State over to the Republicans, but by arrangement
transferred his claim to the senatorship to Trumbull. October, debated
with Douglas. Declined the governorship in favor of Bissell.
1856--Organized the Republican Party and became its chief; nominated
vice-president, but was not chosen by its first convention; worked for
the Fremont-Dayton presidential ticket.
1858--Lost in the legislature the senatorship to Douglas.
1859--Placed for the presidential candidacy. Made Eastern tour "to get
acquainted."
1860--May 9, nominated for President, "shutting out" Seward, Chase,
Cameron, Dayton, Wade, Bates, and McLean.
1861--March 4, inaugurated sixteenth President; succeeds Buchanan, and
precedes his vice--Andrew Johnson, whom General Grant succeeded. Civil
War began by firing on Fort Sumter, April 12.
1862--September 22, emancipation announced.
1863--January 1, emancipation proclaimed. November 19, Gettysburg
Cemetery address. December 9, pardon to rebels proclaimed.
1864--Unanimous nomination as Republican presidential candidate for
re-election, June 7. Reelected November 8.
1865--March 4, inaugurated for the second term. April 14, assassinated
in Ford's Theater, Washington, by a mad actor, Wilkes Booth. April 19,
body lay in state at Washington. April 26, Booth slain in resisting
arrest, by Sergeant Boston Corbett, near Port Royal. April 21 to May 4,
funeral-train through principal cities North, to Springfield, Illinois.
1871--Temporarily deposited in catacomb.
1874--In catacomb, in sarcophagus. The completed monument dedicated.
1876--To frustrate repetition of body-snatchers' attempt, reinterred
deeper.
1900--A fifth removal; the whole structure solidly rebuilt, containing
the martyred President, his wife, and their three children, as well as
the grandson bearing Abraham's name.