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Table of Contents

The Lincolns Move to Indiana

Early Hardships—"Milk Sickness"—Death of Lincoln's Mother—Henry and Allen Brooner's Recollections—Second Marriage of Thomas Lincoln—Marriage of Sarah Lincoln—Redmond P. Grigsby's Recollections—Death of Sarah Grigsby—Mrs. Lamar's Recollections—Captain Lamar's Interesting Reminiscences—Honorable James Gentry Interviewed.

Thomas Lincoln moved with his family to southern Indiana in the fall of 1816. There were two children, Sarah and Abraham, the former nine, and the latter seven years old. The family located in what was then Perry County. By a change in boundary made in 1818, that part of the county was made a part of the new county of Spencer. The location was one mile and a half east of where Gentryville now stands, and fifteen miles north of the Ohio River. The town of Lincoln City is now located on the farm, and is quite a railroad connecting point. Here the family lived fourteen years. The county was new, and the land was not of the best quality. The family was subject to the toils and privations incident to pioneer life. Lincoln, long afterward, in referring to his early days in Indiana, said they were "pretty pinching times."

Peter Brooner came with his family to the same community two years before, and Thomas and Betsy Sparrow, who reared Mrs. Lincoln and her cousin, Dennis Hanks, came one year later than the Lincolns.

A peculiar disease, called "the milk sickness," prevailed in the community in 1818. Thomas and Betsy Sparrow, Mrs. Lincoln, Mrs. Brooner, and others died of this disease near the same time. Thomas Lincoln, having learned the carpenter and cabinet-maker's trade in Kentucky, made all their coffins from green lumber sawed with a whip-saw. Their bodies were laid to rest on the little hill a few hundred yards south of the Lincoln home.

Peter Brooner had two sons, Henry and Allen. I became acquainted with these brothers twenty-two years ago. I was pastor of a church at Dale, three miles from Lincoln City, two years, near where Allen lived, and of a country church near where Henry lived. I was frequently at their homes. They both knew Abraham Lincoln quite well. The Thomas Lincoln and Peter Brooner homes were only one-half mile apart. Henry was five years older, and Allen was four years younger than Abraham. "Uncle Henry," as he was always called, gave me the following items, which I wrote at the time, and have preserved the original notes:

"I was born in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, February 7, 1804. We came to Indiana in 1814, when Allen was one year old. No man has lived longer in the State than I have, for I have lived in it ever since it became a State, and before. The Lincoln family came to Indiana two years later, and we lived one-half mile apart. During my mother's last sickness, Mrs. Lincoln often came to see her, and died just one week after my mother's death. I remember very distinctly that when Mrs. Lincoln's grave was filled, my father, Peter Brooner, extended his hand to Thomas Lincoln and said, 'We are brothers, now,' meaning that they were brothers in the same kind of sorrow. The bodies of my mother and Mrs. Lincoln were conveyed to their graves on sleds. I often stayed all night at Thomas Lincoln's. Dennis Hanks and his sister Sophia lived with Thomas and Betsy Sparrow, and at their deaths Dennis and his sister heired the estate. I helped drive up the stock on the day of the sale of the property. Dennis Hanks married Lincoln's step-sister. I often went with Lincoln on horseback to Huffman's Mill, on Anderson Creek, a distance of sixteen miles. He had a great memory, and for hours he would tell me what he had read."

Henry Brooner died April 4, 1890, two years after the above statements were given, at the age of eighty-six. Everybody loved and respected "Uncle Henry." Reference will be made in another chapter to further statements made by him on the same occasion.

Allen Brooner was nine years younger than his brother Henry. He was born in Kentucky, October 22, 1813. He was a minister in the United Brethren Church more than fifty years. Among other items, he gave me the following, which were written at the time:

"During my mother's last sickness, Mrs. Lincoln, the mother of Abraham Lincoln, came to see her. Mother said, 'I believe I will have to die.' Mrs. Lincoln said, 'Oh, you may outlive me.' She died just one week from the death of my mother. This was in October, 1818. I was five years old when mother died. I remember some one came to me in the night and told me my mother was dead. Thomas Lincoln made mother's coffin, and sawed the lumber with a whip-saw to make the coffin. She was taken on a sled to the graveyard on a hill, one quarter of a mile south of where Lincoln City now stands. Old man Howell took the corpse. He rode the horse hitched to the sled, and took me up, and I rode on the horse before him. I remember that his long beard bothered me. We did not have wagons in those days. The first wagon I ever saw, my father made, and it had wooden tires."

Reference will be made again to some facts stated by this associate of Abraham Lincoln. "Uncle Allen" died at his old home, near Dale, Spencer County, Indiana, April 2, 1902, in his eighty-ninth year, respected by all. I am indebted to his daughter, Mrs. Sarah Knowlton, for his photograph, taken at seventy-five years of age.

Nancy Hanks Lincoln died October 5, 1818, when her daughter Sarah was eleven and her son Abraham was nine years old. Abraham's mother had taught him to read and write, and, young as he was, he wrote for an old minister, David Elkin, whom the family had known in Kentucky, to come and preach his mother's funeral. Some time after, the minister came and the funeral was preached at the grave where many people had gathered. The minister stated that he had come because of the letter he had received from the little son of the dead mother. As I have stood by that grave, in my imagination I have seen that primitive congregation—the old minister, the lonely husband, and the two motherless children, Sarah and Abraham, on that sad occasion.

After the death of Thomas and Betsy Sparrow, Dennis Hanks and his sister Sophia became inmates of the Lincoln home.

For many years Mrs. Lincoln's grave was neglected. But few persons were buried at that graveyard. In 1879, Mr. P. E. Studebaker, of South Bend, Indiana, erected a marble slab at the grave, and some of the citizens of Rockport enclosed it with an iron railing. Later a larger and more appropriate monument has also been placed at the grave, and several acres surrounding, forming a park, have been enclosed with an iron fence. The park is under the control of an association which has been incorporated.

In December, 1819, Thomas Lincoln went to Kentucky and married a widow, Sarah Bush Johnston, whom he had known there before coming to Indiana. She had three children, John, Matilda, and Sarah. She was a most excellent woman, and proved worthy of a mother's place in the home of Thomas Lincoln. Dennis Hanks married one of the daughters, and Levi Hall married the other.

In August, 1826, at the age of nineteen, Sarah Lincoln, or Sally, as she was commonly called, was married to Aaron Grigsby, the oldest of a large family of boys. Learning that Redmond D. Grigsby resided near Chrisney, Spencer County, Indiana, I called upon him October 18, 1898. After being introduced by a friend, I asked him, "What relation were you to Aaron Grigsby, who married Abraham Lincoln's sister?" "He was my oldest brother, sir," answered the old gentleman. He said he was born in 1818, and was at that time eighty years old. He said that he and Lincoln were often thrown together, he at the home of his brother and Lincoln at the home of his sister. Mr. Grigsby said that when Abraham would start off with other boys, he had often heard Sally admonish him as to his conduct. Then Abraham would say, "Oh, you be good yourself, Sally, and Abe will take care of himself." We shall have occasion to refer to Mr. Grigsby again. He still resides at Chrisney; is now ninety years of age and quite feeble.

Sally Grigsby died in childbirth January 20, 1828, less than two years after her marriage. Her body sleeps in the old Pigeon Creek Cemetery, one mile and a half south of where her mother is buried.

Mrs. Lamar, the wife of Captain Lamar, who resided at Buffaloville, a short distance east of Lincoln City, said to me, in her home, September 8, 1903:

"I remember old Tommy Lincoln. I sat on his lap many times. I was at Sally Lincoln's infare dinner. I remember the night she died. My mother was there at the time. She had a very strong voice, and I heard her calling father. He awoke the boys and said, 'Something is the matter.' He went after a doctor, but it was too late. They let her lay too long. My old aunt was the midwife."

Mrs. Lamar is still living in Spencer County, Indiana. At the same time, I interviewed Captain John W. Lamar. I copied the date of his birth from the record in his Bible. He was born December 9, 1822, and although but a small boy when the Lincolns removed to Illinois, he remembers Abraham Lincoln quite well. At the time of my interview, I had a clipping from the Indianapolis News of April 12, 1902, containing some items pertaining to his recollections of Lincoln, which were read to him. The clipping is as follows:

"Captain J. W. Lamar, of Buffaloville, Spencer County, a delegate to the Republican State Convention, knew Abraham Lincoln when the latter lived in Spencer County. He is past eighty years old, but his memory is keen, and he is unusually vigorous for a man of his age. He is six feet tall, broad-shouldered, with flowing white hair and beard, making him one of the picturesque figures of the convention crowd. Lincoln is his favorite theme, and he delights to talk of him.

"'I well remember the first time I saw Abe,' he said. 'My father took me to Troy, at the mouth of Anderson River, to do a little trading, and Lincoln was at that time working at the ferry. Dressed in the frontiersman's coon-skin cap, deerskin shirt, and home-made trousers, he was indelibly impressed upon my memory as being one of the gawkiest and most awkward figures I ever saw. From that time on I saw him very often, as he lived near, and worked for my father frequently. He and my father and his father all helped to build the old Pigeon meeting-house , near which Abe's only sister, Sally, was buried. Tom Lincoln, Abe's father, often did odd jobs of carpentering for us.

"'One day, about a year after I first saw Lincoln, my father and I went over to old Jimmy Gentry's store, where the town of Gentryville now stands. When we got there, I noticed Lincoln out by an old stump, working very industriously at something. On going nearer, I saw that he was figuring or writing on a clapboard, which he had shaved smooth, and was paying no attention to what was going on around him. My father remarked to me then that Abe would be somebody some day, but, of course, did not have any idea how true his words would come out.

"'Many times have I seen him studying at odd moments, with a book or something to write on, when others were having a good time. That was what made him so great.

"'In August, before the spring that the Lincoln's left for Illinois, a township election was held at a log house near where the town of Santa Fe now stands. … All the men in the neighborhood were gathered there, and conspicuous among them was one, Sampson, a braggart and bully. He was storming around, praising a horse he had.

"'"Why," said he, "I ran him four miles in five minutes this morning, and he never drew a long breath!"

"'Abe, who was sitting on a rail fence near me, remarked quietly to him, "I suppose, though, Mr. Sampson, he drew a good many short ones."

"'This was just the opening Sampson was looking for, so he began to bluster up to Lincoln. After standing abuse for a few minutes, Abe told him to hush up or he would take him by the nape of the neck and throw him over the fence. [At this point the old captain interrupted my reading, and said, "Lincoln did not say he would throw him over the fence, but said he would throw him into a pond of water near by."] This had an effect, and Sampson shut up, because he knew Abe could, and would do what he said.

"'My father's house was on the road between Gentryville and the nearest trading-point on the Ohio River, at Troy. To this place the settlers took their deer and bear hides, venison hams, and other game, for which they received clothes, powder, and other necessary articles. Lincoln and his father had constructed a wagon for old man Gentry, made entirely out of wood, even to the hickory rims to the wheels.

"'This they loaded with produce, and started for Troy. Arriving at my father's house, a rain had swollen the creek near there, so that they decided to stay all night, and wait for the water to subside. During the night wolves stole nearly all the venison from the wagon. That which belonged to the Lincolns was not touched, however; it was in the bottom of the wagon. My father was a very serious man, and scarcely ever smiled, but Abe, with his droll ways and pleasant humor, always made him laugh.

"'A great grief, which affected Abe through his life, was caused by the death of his only sister, Sally. They were close companions, and were a great deal alike in temperament. About a year after her marriage to one of the Grigsbys, she died. This was a hard blow to Abe, who always thought her death was due to neglect. Abe was in a little smoke-house when the news came to him that she had died. He came to the door and sat down, burying his face in his hands. The tears trickled through his large fingers, and sobs shook his frame. From then on he was alone in the world, you might say.'"

In addition to the foregoing interesting reminiscences, the captain related to me other important items, some of which are here given as he related them:

"Old Si Crawford, the man who loaned Lincoln the book which was damaged, was my uncle. I remember one time Lincoln came to our place when my father was sitting on a shaving-horse, doing some work. Other boys and I were standing near by. Mr. Lincoln, addressing us, said, 'Well, boys, what have you learned to-day?' No one answering, he said, 'I wouldn't give a cent for a boy who doesn't know more to-day than he knew yesterday.' This remark greatly impressed me, and I have never forgotten it.

"Old Uncle Jimmy Gentry, who founded the town of Gentryville, kept a store there. He was somewhat illiterate. I remember hearing him and Major Daniels talking, when the major asked him what per cent. he was making on the sale of his goods. Uncle Jimmy replied, 'God bless your soul, I don't know anything about your per cent., but I know when I buy an article in Louisville for a dollar, and sell it in Gentryville for two dollars, I double my money every time.'"

Captain Lamar died November 4, 1903, a little more than two months after my visit to him, at the age of eighty-one. Mrs. Lamar is still living in Spencer County.

The same day, after leaving the Lamars, I called upon the Honorable James Gentry, at Rockport. He was the son of James Gentry, the founder of Gentryville. He was born February 24, 1819, and was ten years younger than Lincoln. He related much about Lincoln, some things which will be found in another chapter. He repeated the story about his brother, Allen Gentry, and Lincoln taking a flatboat, loaded with farm products, down the Ohio River to New Orleans, the attack of the negroes and how they were driven away. Mr. Gentry said, "If ever a man was raised up by Providence, it was Lincoln, for he had no chance." Mr. Gentry was elected on the Democratic ticket to the Indiana Legislature of 1871. He gave me his picture, reproduced herein, but it represents him much younger than when I saw him. He died May 3, 1905, at the age of eighty-six.