Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-11-16


coin and Richard Berry, was duly
recorded. seven days before the we'd
ding, which was solemniZe as be-
came well-to-do folk in those days.
The uncle and aunt gave an fn-
fare to which the neighooring
countryside was invited. DR.. Chris
TOPPER Columbus Graham, one of the
best known and most highly respect
ed of Kentuckians, before his death
in 1885 wrote at my request his re-
membrance of that festival and testi-
fed to this before a notary in the
96th year of hts age. He said:
"I know Nancy Hanks to have
been virtuous, respectable, and of
good parentage, and I know Jesse
Head. Methodist preacher OF Spring
field. who performed the ceremony.
The house in which the ceremony
was performed was a large one for
those days. At the fnfare' there
were bear meat, venison, wild tur-
key, duck and a sheep that the two
families had barbecued over the
Goals Of wood burned in a pit and
covered with green boughs TO keep
the juices in. Nancy's disposition
and habits were considered a dowry.
She was an adept at spinning fax.
and at parties, TO which the country
women usually brought their wheels,
she generally bore away the palm,
her spools yielding the longest and
finest thread. Nancy had sprightli-
ness and grace and was above the
average in education. She became
a great reader, especially OF 'Aesop's
Fables the bible and Watts
Hymns, possessing a sweet voice,
and fond of singing"
"Old people still living few years
ago spoke of her as having gentle
and trusting nature A grandson
Of Joseph Hanks. Nancy's brother,
said to Joshua Fry Speed, from
whom it came TO me: My grand
father always spoke of his angel sis
ter Nancy with emotion. She taught
him to read. He often told us chill
dren stories of their life together
The first child of Thomas and
Nancy Lincoln was a daughter,
Sarah. Three years after marriage
arrived the boy, Abraham. Another
son, named Thomas, was born; he
lived only a few months. though
long enough indelibly and tenderly
to touch the heart of the elder
brother. Just before the Lincolns
started to seek a new home in Indi-
ana he remembered his mother TAX
ing him and his sister by the hand,
walking across the hills, and sitting
down and weeping over the grave Of
the little babe she was to leave be-
hind them forever.
THE last recorded words OF Nancy
Lincoln were words of cheer. a few
days before her death she went to
visit an ailing neighbor. This
neighbor, exceedingly respondent,
thought that she was about to die.
Said Nancy Lincoln: oh, you will
live longer than l. Cheer up And
so II proved. The dread milk sick
ness stalked abroad, shifting equally
human beings with the beasts of the
fold. Uncle Thomas and Aunt Betsy
Sparrow both died within few days
Of each other Soon the frail, but
heroic Nancy was taken to bed. She
struggled on day by day, but on the
seventh day she died says the brief
chronicle There was not a physi-
clan within 35 miles; no minister
within 100 miles. Placing her hand
on the head of the little boy, years
old. i am going away from you,
Abraham she said. and I shall not
return I know that you will be
good boy, that you will be kind to
Sarah and to your father. 1 want
you to live as have taught you and
TO love your Heavenly Father
Thomas Lincoln shaped the
boards with his whipsaw from the
trees he felled. and with his own
hands made the three collins for the
Sparrows and his wife. Pitiable
story; one cannot read it with dry
eyes. But II lifts the veil forever
from the cruel Islander which so long
smirched the memory of Nancy
Hanks here dwell upon il and
give the details, because it ought 70
be known to every American who
would have the truth of history full
filed. II tells its own tale of the
character and temperament Of Abra-
ham Lincoln. and throws a food of
light upon his subsequent career