Carl Frazier

“ Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed by my fellow men, rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition, is yet to be developed. ”

“ With a certain temerity then, we present our pictorial history of the environment in which Lincoln spent the most formative years of his life. It was from this frontier atmosphere and these frontier people that Lincoln acquired his uncanny understanding of how common folk think and the wisdom that enabled him to hold in his hands the ties that bound a people and made a nation.
6 A Brief Chronology of Abraham Lincoln
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It was from the faithful Sinking Spring, near Hodgenville, Kentucky, that the farm of Lincoln’s nativity got its name. ”

“ At the dedication of the memorial and tomb to the Great Emancipator in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois, Governor Richard Oglesby spoke these words: “And now under the gracious favor of Almighty God, I dedicate this monument to the memory of the obscure boy, the honest man, the illustrious statesman, the great liberator, and the martyr President Abraham Lincoln, and to the keeping of Time.”
The LINCOLN COUNTRY:
IN PICTURES
by Carl and Rosalie Frazier
Perhaps no man in American history has been viewed with such respect and reverence by the American people as has Abraham Lincoln. ”

“ The story of Abraham Lincoln is ever fresh. It appeals to the imagination and grips the vision of many people in various ways. Perhaps that is why millions of visitors make pilgrimages to the humble abodes in which he lived and the places he frequented. Photograph Courtesy Chicago Historical Society.
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“Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. ”

“ In the little Log Schoolhouse near Pigeon Creek, in Indiana, Abe managed to get a few scattered weeks of sporadic schooling in readin’ writin’ and cipherin’ to the rule of three.
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Abe did his homework by the light of the smouldering fireplace. He would scrape his charcoal cipherin’ from wooden boards so as to use them over and over again.
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The Lincoln family often attended services in the little Baptist Church that Abe helped his father to build, near Pigeon Creek, in Indiana. ”

“ In the Assembly, Lincoln said little, but observed closely and learned much. He was among men of affairs, education and political experience. He became floor leader of the Whigs and an esteemed member of a political group known as the “Long Nine” who were successful in having the State Capitol moved from Vandalia to Springfield.
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In March of 1837, after having been admitted to the bar in Illinois, Lincoln moved from New Salem to Springfield. ”

“ These objects are of special interest because it was among them that he moved slowly forward through a cycle of failures and successes before reaching the high place which destiny had reserved for him. No man in American history has started with so little and achieved so much. ”

“ Not only suitors, jurors and witnesses, but all who can spare the time brush up their coats and brush down their horses to go to court.”
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An atmosphere of exultation pervaded the Metamora courtroom when Lincoln was present. He was the most popular of all the barristers who traveled the Eighth Circuit.
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The Old Cass County Courthouse in Beadstown, Illinois, was the scene of the “Duff” Armstrong murder trial in which Lincoln defended the son of “Aunt Hanna” Armstrong, who had befriended him when he lived in New Salem. ”

“ Gentry’s store and on the farm. He helped Allen, Mr. Gentry’s son, build a flatboat, load it with store produce and float it down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans.
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It was early spring of 1830 when the Lincoln’s made the long dismal journey from Indiana to the promising prairies of Illinois. Their stout wagons were piled high with rough-hewn furniture, feather beds, personal belongings, iron pots and pans. There were plows for breaking the “prairie’s sleeping sod” and tools for building a new log cabin.
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This rustic abode was the last home of Thomas and Sarah Lincoln. ”

“ This was the home of Josiah Crawford, a neighboring farmer, where Abe alternated working and learning. Mr. Crawford had several books which he lent Abe. When plowing, Abe read at the end of each furrow while he stopped to allow his horse to “breathe.”
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In Gentryville, not far from Pigeon Creek, Mr. Gentry, a farmer and storekeeper lived in this two-story log mansion. At times, when his father didn’t need his help, Abe worked in Mr. ”