Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-08-30
LINCOLN'S STEPMOTHER.

lock IN the magnificent primeval forest
of Southern Indiana, n few miles from
the Ohio river, stood the small, unhewn,
half-fnished and most fOrlOrn log cabin
of Thomas Lincoln. The father of the
president was an idle, shiftless, worth
less carpenter, who had taken up land
in the wilderness, and lived by half Gull
tiyating q few acres and shooting the
wild turkeys, the deer and other game
with which the region teemed. The
occupants of the cabin were himself,
his wife, whose maiden name was Nan
CIV Hanks, and two children, Nancy,
eleven years of age, and Abraham, the
future president, nine.
! suppose there never was more
beautiful country than this part of In
diana, rs it was before the settlers dis
figured it. Imagine the undulating
country covered with trees of the largest
size, oaks, beech, naples and walnuts,
without that entangled mass of under
growth which we find in the primeyal
forests of the eastern states.
This land had probably been, within
had gained upon the grass, but here and
there, there was II small portion of the
original prairie left, which, besides fur
nishing good pasture. gave to the re-
giOn the aspect of IN ancient heavily
wooded park, the result of labor,
wealth and taste expended for ages.
Upon some of the GASES of emerald the
deer found salt springs to which they
resorted in great numbers; on the wider
cXpanSes the buffalo had recently fed;
on others the arriving pioneer had fixed
his camp and built his cabin.
The knoll on which Thomas Lincoln
had fixed his house was free from trees,
and sloped gently away on every side.
The spot had every charm and every
advantage except one; there was no
good water within 4 mile, and it fell to
the lot Of these children to bring from
that distance the water required for
drinking.
Carpenter rs he was, Thomas Lincoln
had not taken the trouble either to fin
ish or to furnish the house. 1t had no
floor, no door, no windows. There were
three or four three-legged stools in the
house and no other seats. The table
was u broad slab supported by four
legs, with the flat side upwards. There
was 4 bedstead made of poles stuck in
the cracks of the lOrS in one corner of
the cabin, the other ends being support
ed By forked sticks sunk in the earthen
floor. On the poles some boards were
laid, upon which was throwna covering
It leaves, and these in turn were cover
d with skins and old clothes For
cooking utensils the family possessed u
Dutch oven and skillet. There was a
loft in the upper part of the cabin; but
as this shiftless pioneer had not made
either stairs or ladder, little Abe was
obliged to climb to his perch at night
by pegs driven into the logs
The children were no better cared for
than the house. They were ill-clad, i'll
fed, untaught, and harshly treated. The
father, naturally disposed to Incidence,
found it so easy to subsist in that rich
country by his rifle, with which he was
extremely expert, and from his patch
of corn and potatoes, which his wife and
children cultivated, that he gave way
to his natural disposition, and passed
the time, when not hunting. in telling
stories to his neighbors. He was the
eatstory-teller of the country, char
acter in much request on the frontier in
early days.
Some readers have doubtless visited
the richly wooded parks of Germany,
France or England, where the game is
carefully preserved, where dr0Yes of
clean, glistenin@ black pigs and herds
of deer are seen, and where, as you
walk along, there is heard at every step
The rustic Of 4 startled hare, and where
Oroods of partridges are following their
mother in search of food, as tame as
chickens. Now. it was as easy for the
settler TO subSist his family in this In
diana forest, rs it would be for one of
the huntsmen to live in 4 large park, if
he could shoot rs much game as he
liked. Thomas Lincoln. therefore, be-
ing such as he was, destitute of ambi-
ton either for himself or his children,
took life very easily, and any one ac-
qualnted with the family would have
foretold for Abraham no greater destiny
than that OF a squatter on the frontier,
or a fat-boat hand on one of the rivers.
A terrible and mysterious epidemic
swept over that country. called the
milk disease, one of the numerous NAL
aides caused caused by the settlers
total disregard of sanitary conditions
One of the victims was Nancy Lincoln.
the wife of Thomas and mother of Alb
raham. The husband, who had been
her only nurse and only physician, was
now her undertaken, also. He sawed
and hammered some green boards into
a long box. The few neighbors, about
twenty in all. carried and followed the
remains TO little eminence half mile
away, and they buried her in the virgin
soil of the wilderness. There was no
ceremony performed at her funeral, be-
cause there was no one competent to
perform it. Some months after, when
rowing preacher came along, Thomas
Lincoln induced him to preach a funeral