Coles County IL Archives History - Books .....The Grave Of Lincoln's Father 1879
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com July 7, 2007, 1:29 am

Book Title: History Of Coles County

THE GRAVE OF LINCOLN'S FATHER.

   Thomas Lincoln, the father of the martyred President, was among the early
settlers of Coles County. He removed from Kentucky (where the future President
was born) to Spencer County, Ind., in 1816, when Abraham was but seven years
old. Here he remained until 1830, when he removed to Macon County, Ill., and
located on the North Fork of the Sangamon River, ten miles southwest of Decatur.
He came to Coles County about 1832-33, and settled in what is now Pleasant Grove
Township: but Abraham, having in the mean time attained his  majority, and
commenced the battle of life on his own responsibility, did not come with the
family to this  county. In after years however, when he became a practicing
lawyer, he often attended the courts of Coles County, in which cases he never
failed to visit his father in Pleasant Grove, and, it is said, always purchased
as many presents (generally of a substantial character) as he could stow in his
buggy, and conveyed them to the family, who were in indigent circumstances.
Stuve's History of Illinois gives the following of President Lincoln's family:
"Abraham Lincoln was born in La Rue (now Hardin) County, Ky., about two miles
south of the village of Hodgensville, February 12, 1809. Here his father had
taken up a land claim of 300 acres, rough, broken and poor, containing a fine
spring, known to this day as the 'Linkum Spring.' Unable to pay for the
unproductive land, the claim was abandoned, and the family moved from place to
place in the neighborhood, being very destitute. These removals occurring while
Abraham was scarcely more than an infant, has given rise to different statements
as to the exact place of his birth. It is said that in that part of Kentucky
four places now claim the honor." Thomas Lincoln, the father of Abraham Lincoln,
finally removed to Indiana, and then to Illinois, as above stated, and died
years ago in Pleasant Grove Township. There, in a quiet little cemetery, known
as "Gordon's Grave-yard," without stone or "lettered monument" to mark the spot,
sleeps the old pioneer. We give below a poem, entitled the "Grave of the Father
of Abraham Lincoln," written by G. B. Balch, Esq., of Pleasant Grove, and
published in many journals throughout the country, from Lippincott's Magazine to
the county papers:

    "In a low, sweet vale, by a murmuring rill,
        The pioneer's ashes are sleeping; 
     Where the white marble slabs so lonely and still,
        In silence their vigils are keeping.

    "On their sad, lonely faces are words of fame.
        But none of them speak of his glory;
     When the pioneer died, his age and his name,
        No monument whispers the story.

    "No myrtle, nor ivy, nor hyacinth blows
        O'er the lonely grave where they laid him;
     No cedar, nor holly, nor almond tree grows
        Near the plebeian's grave to shade him.

    "Bright evergreens wave over many a grave,
        O'er some bow the sad weeping-willow:
     But no willow-trees bow, nor evergreens wave.
        Where the pioneer sleeps on his pillow.

    "Some are inhumed with the honors of State,
        And laid beneath temples to molder;
     The grave of the father of Lincoln, the great,
        Is known by a hillock and bowlder.

    "Let him take his lone sleep, and gently rest,
        With naught to disturb or awake him,
     When the angels shall come to gather the blest
        To Abraham's bosom, they'll take him."


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

THE HISTORY OF COLES COUNTY. ILLINOIS,

CONTAINING

A History of the County—its Cities, Towns, &c; a Directory of its Tax-Payers;
Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; General and Local Statistics; Map
of Coles County; History of Illinois, Illustrated; History of the Northwest,
Illustrated; Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c, &c.

ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO:
WM. LE BARON, JR., & CO., 186 DEARBORN STREET.
1879.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/coles/history/1879/historyo/graveofl118gms.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/

File size: 4.6 Kb