Manchester Democrat., 1911-02-08

chells, Shipleys and Berrys Nancy's cousins.
relatives and friends from the country round
about. In a pit near the house great ire
was built, over which a sheep was placed and
oarbecued During the morning It roasted.
covered by green boughs. and after the wed.
ding 1t was cut and served for dinner There
We're venison. too. and wild turkey and ducks.
The wedding was remembered for years H
There was no hint of future glory In the
wedding or bringing home Of Nancy Lincoln, ;"
wrote Nicolay and Hay. "All accounts reprs-
sent her as handsome young woman Of
twenty-three. Of appearance and intellect su.
pertor to her lowly fortunes. She could read
and write-zas remarkable accomplishment In
her circle-and even taught her husband to
form the letters Of his name. He had no such
valuable wedding gift to bestow upon her; he
brought her to little house in Elizabethtown,
Z where he and she and want dwelt together In
fourteen feet square"
+ For two happy but needy, years the couple
lived in a log cabin on the banks OF what was
then known as Mill creek. Picture to your
self that home Of the young bride-a single
room. with huge fireplace, where logs burned
In winter; an iron pot suspended from q crane
rough chairs hewn by the carpenter husband,
OF logs, a number OF crnde benches. bed
made Of rough trees from which the bark had
not Sean removed, spinning wheel by. which
the sindussSjous wife sat and wove the mate
rial for clothing: room lacking III comforts
typical Of the pioneer cabins OF those days.
with an opening above into a loft, reached by
ladder. where things were stored.
There. one day in 1907. Nancy's, arst baby
Was born. 1t was q little girl, and was: called
Nancy, after the mother. Later the little girls
name was changed 10 Sarah. That was when
Thomas Lincoln married his second wife, ga
rah Bush. Ssts u,
: Thomas Lincoln owned farm near sHuffaIo
which he had bought in 1903. During the two
years he lived on Mill creek he cultivated the
farm. improving the ground and there he
moved the spring following the birth of Sarah.
In their life of Lincoln Nicolay and Hay write:
Thomas Lincoln settled down In this dis
NAL solitude to a deeper poverty than any of
his name had ever k1bwn; and there, In the
midst of the most uhpromising circumstances
that ever witnessed the advent Of hero into
this world, Abraham Lincoln. was born on Feb
ruary H. 1909"
The family. however. could not have been
extremely destitute, for we are told, they had
a COW and calf, milk and butter and a feather
bed. What wealth! When Abraham was four
the family moved again-this time to cabin
situated on Muldraugh's hill. There third
child was born. which died when a few months
old
Of the life of Nancy Lincoln at this time
nothing has been written. OF his boyhood
Lincoln himself seldom spoke. But one can
imagine the patient woman, alone and unas-
sisted. performing the work Of her household,
tending the COWS and milking them, making
butter. cleaning the meagerly furnished cabin
In which the family lived, cooking and spin
ming cloth Of which she made the garments for
her husband. little Sarah and Abe.
Nancy Lincolns beauty faded: the roses
fed from her cheeks. her body became wasted