The State soon opened the Nancy Hanks Lincoln Memorial to the public. Subsequently, the State of Indiana, aided by the Indiana Lincoln Union and other patriotic groups, acquired the gravesite purchased additional acreage, including part of Thomas Lincoln's landholdings and marked the approximate location of the Lincoln cabin. The landowners donated the site to the county. Studebaker placed a headstone to mark the probable site of the grave of Nancy Hanks Lincoln. With the passage of time, the sites in Indiana associated with Lincoln began to disappear. In 1830, when the Lincolns left Indiana for Illinois, the 21-year-old Abraham was ready to embark on a new chapter of his life. During these years, he also became interested in law, probably began its study, and attended court sessions in neighboring county courthouses whenever possible.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN LOG CABIN TOUR FREE
On the other hand, living in Southern Indiana, a region more akin to slave-holding Kentucky than to the free States of the North gave Lincoln an understanding of and sympathy for the South that helped him meet the challenge of the Civil War with compassion and insight. Witnessing this event irrevocably affected Lincoln, shaping his position on the decisive slavery issue. Occasionally, he visited neighboring counties on family business, and between 18 worked on a flatboat that journeyed down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, where he saw a slave auction. Lincoln spent his happiest hours operating Taylor's ferry across the river, during which time he conversed with passengers from all walks of life, who came from across the United States. There were some schools, so called but no qualification was ever required of a teacher, beyond ‘readin, writin, and cipherin,’ to the Rule of Three." It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. His neighbors reported that his two favorite tools were a book and an axe.Ībraham Lincoln described his years in Indiana in the following words, “We reached our new home about the time the State came into the Union. With his ready wit, inquiring mind, and gift for oratory, he became a master of crossroads’ debate. Although he received limited formal schooling, perhaps totaling one year in his entire youth, young Abraham devoured as many books as he could find. He soon showed a driving ambition to better himself and to escape the hardships of frontier life. He gained a reputation for his superb skill with an ax. He helped his father farm their land and did odd jobs for neighbors. He grew tall and strong, eventually reaching 6’4”. In his later years, he remembered her fondly.
She brought with her many books, feeding Abe’s greatest pleasure. Sarah Lincoln proved to be a kind and loving stepmother, making the two families into one. They buried her on a gentle knoll between a quarter and a half-mile from the home.Ī year later, Thomas Lincoln married the widow Sarah Bush Johnson and brought his new wife and her three children to the home on Little Pigeon Creek. Milk sickness was a common and often fatal illness brought on by consuming milk or meat from an animal that had eaten snakeroot, a poisonous plant that thrived in the harsh environment. In October of 1818, Nancy Hanks Lincoln fell ill with milk sickness and died within a few days. The slow and painstaking task of converting the surrounding forest to farmland soon changed from hopeful to tragic.
The next year, aided by neighbors, Thomas Lincoln built a more suitable log house for the family of four: his wife Nancy, and their children, Sarah, nine, and Abe, seven. The harvest was already over, so they lived off wild game, corn, and pork bartered from nearby settlers. They spent the first, hard winter in a temporary shelter. In the winter of 1816, the Lincolns moved from Kentucky to a tiny settlement along Little Pigeon Creek. An impressive memorial building commemorates Lincoln’s Indiana years, and a recreated living history farm helps visitors to experience frontier life. The Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial preserves the site of the farm where Abraham Lincoln lived during his adolescence and the traditional gravesite of his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln. These experiences helped shape the character of the man who became one of America’s most revered leaders. He found adventure, but also knew deep personal loss with the death of his mother in 1818 and his sister ten years later. He used his mind to enter and explore the world of books and knowledge. He used his hands and his back to help carve a farm and home out of the frontier forests. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, lived on this land in southern Indiana for 14 years, growing from a boy to a young man.
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