The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-02-12
LINCOLN DAY
At BIRTHPLACE
IN KENTUCKY
Centenary Address TO Be DeIiv-
cred by President Roosevelt
at HodgenvIIIe.
WILL ALSO LAY CORNER
STONE OF MEMORIAL
FARM ON WHICH GREAT EMAN
CIPAToR WAS BORN NOW TIE
PROPERTY OF ASSOCIATION.

hodgenville, Ky Feb. 1.-THE cen
tenary Of Abraham Lineoln's birth win
be observed generally throughout the
United States, but nowhere will the
commemoration exercises command
more interest than those to be held in
this little town on Feb. L. Two miles
from here, on the Lincoln farm. which
has been purchased by national asso-
citation formed for the purpose, Presi-
dent Roosevelt WI lay the corner
stone of d memorial building now being
erected by popular subscription to mark
Lincoln's birthplace and to protect for
all time the little log cabin in which
the martyr president was born
The centenary address on this occa-
sion viii be delivered by President
Roosevelt. General Luke +. Wright
the secretary of war. viii speak on he
half of the confederate sold ers. Ger
eral Grant Wilson will represent the
veterans of the Union army, and Lin
coins native state will be represented
by Governor Augustus +. Wilson of
Kentucky. Other addresses will be
made by Bishop Galloway of Mississip-
pi and Ex-Governor Joseph w. Folk of
Missouri
Promises to Become Mecca.
H0dgenville. which is near the geo
graphical center of the state of Ken
lucky, and not far from the center of
population of the United States, prom
ises to become a new Mecca in America.
and the Lincoln farm a second Mount
Vernon. Although Abraham Lincoln
had other homes, there is a sentiment
about his birthplace that does not at
tach to any of them. He lived here for
eight years, and before he left knew
very much of what Mark Twain calls
/ 1.-THE model little farm that raised
man. He went swimming in the near
by creek, and by the from the
huge fireplace in til one-room
cabin he learned his f.rat lessons.
1t was in 1906 that Thomas Lincoln
brought his bride, Nancy Hanks, and
established the rude little home that
three years later was to welcome into
the world the future president. Theirs
was the rough life of pioneers: the
farm was then. as it is now. a sterile
piece of land. and to make both ends
meet the elder Lincoln did odd jobs of
carpentry in the vicinity, besides work
ing the farm. The actual necessities Of
lfe were seldom lacking, but it was
life OF severe poverty. For some years
Thomas Lincoln served as county su-
pervisor of public roads, an important
paid their poll tax with pick and shovel
then, and on road mending days he used
TO take little Abe along. both for COM
pany and for help. There are old
timers here now who claim that there is
not a section of the old pike within sew
eral miles of his home along which
Abraham Lincoln has not played or on
which he has not driven his OK team.
Moved to Indiana and Then Illinois.
At this time Kentucky offered few
allurements to a poor man, and in 1914
the LincOlns sold out the little farm
and moved to Indiana Subsequently
Abraham Lincoln moved into Illinois,
and the rest is history. But through all
the years that followed he never forgot
his first home. He rarely referred to
IT, but after he had become president of
the United States he is known to have
said, When the war is over I would
like very much to visit my old Ken
lucky home. l remember it we'll
But he never did return, and the little
log cabin had a varied history. Thomas
Lincoln sold the place to q family
named Creal. and it remained in their
hands for over seventy years. Its beau
tiful rock spring was apparently its one
redeeming feature, and only recently
has any one awakened to the realization
tAcA- AuuSC AAt dGitS iidu any hdlut bt-
yond their yield in corn and sorghum.
From time to time newspapers have an
nOunced that the Lincoln birthplace
farm was to be sold. but as a matter of
fact, it has only changed hands twice
since Thomas Iincoin's original trans
fer. A few years ago il was given into
the management of a Rev. J. W. Bing-
ham, who removed the log cabin to the
exhibition at Nashville. and later sold
it TO some exhibitors, who took Il about
the country as travelling show. But a
year OF two ago the logs were found in
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