East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1922-02-14
ABE LINCOLN Baked
At BECOMING FARMER,
AS HIS FATHER WISHED
Became 0dd-Job Man to Es-
cape Rural Life; Untold
Tales of Great Emancipation.
BY WILLIAM F. SULLIVAN
International News Service Staff
CorreSpondent.

Correspondent.
SPRINGFIELD, ILL.,. Feb. IL
Abraham Lincoln, the great emanci-
pator. would have been a farmer
had he followed the %inclinations of
his father and had he been satisfied
with the impoverished surroundings
of his boyhood days.
But the immortal Lincoln. whose
11Sth birthday is being commemo
rated by the nation and the world
today. had loftier ambitions and.
further. a hatred for the rustic life
of a soil tiller.
Scarcely had the man who later
became one of the greatest figures
in American history become old
enough to shift for himself II an he
left the home OF his father ana steo-
mother, which was a small cabin To-
Gated on what was known as Goose
Nest Prairie, near Charleston. ILL.,, in
Coles county.
This was not the home in which
Abe was born, but where his father
settled after coming to Illinois. Lin
coin was born on February IL. 1903.
in a log cabin on a barren farm in
the backwoods of Kentucky, three
miles west of a place called Hodg-
ensville.
III Spent Youth i'm Indiana.
HI When he was seven years old his
family moved to a town called Cen
tryville, in Spencer county, Indiana,
where his mother. Nancy Hanks
Lincoln died. Shortly afterwari
Lincoln's father was remarked to
the Widow Sarah Johnston, a Ken
lucky girl, "A the family moved
over into Illinois, where his father
settled. The trip of the Lincolns
from Indiana to Illinois was amalc
in a wagon drawn by four oxen.
When Lincoln left his fathers
country home in Coles count ne
moved west into Illinois and first
settled at Salem, near Springfield.
Lincoln's early life was n OF
many struggles, hardships anil OF
poverty. Always a plain man, hi
was first of all a man of odd Jobs,
rail splitter, blacksmith, store clerk
and trader before he practiced law
He later entered politics.
One of the most interesting books
on the early days of Lincoln. mucl
of which has been untouched upo'
by historians. is in the possession o
Dennis Hanks Dodling, a blood-oon
sin Of the Civil Wal president, WHIT
now resides in Springfield.
"Scrapbook'' is Valued.
Dowling's "scrapbook" upon which
he has spent more than forty years
contains a vast collection of inter
Uviews with men who knew Lincoa
~personally, of pictures depicting tn
poverty Of his surroundings and nu
merous other interesting facts o
Lincoln's inner self. Among the col
lection of pictures is the first pho
tograph aver taken of Lincoln.
Dowling's mother, Sarah Jan
bowling, was a second cousin of tn
great president and spent many year
near the family when Lincoln live'
in Coles county. She knew him per
l~isonally and often correspondent wit
him after he was elected to the presi
dency.
. In later years, Bowling said, hi
- mother often held him on her la
and told many interesting storie
y about "Uncle Abe" On the mornin
following the night when Lincol
was shot she was telling the famil
m at the breakfast table of a drear
~ she had of the president, when
III neighbor brought news of the as
~sassination. Mrs. Bowling Away
thought her dream was a Fremont
tation of Lincoln's death.
Stcp-MOther's Opinion.
ng Dowling's book, which he term
lily "Lincoln's Life from the Cradle t
the Crave contains a newspape
clipping of an interview with Lin
coins step-mother, in which sh
says:
H., Il think the first time / saw Alb
he was the ugliest chap that eve
~ INSTRUCTED my view. But he was hon
est to the core. He would not drink
81 but at times a highly polished cuss
to word would escape his lips"
The face of Lincoln is often re
ferred to as having had the look o
deepest sadness. Judge o. B. Flick
Co. lin, who lived at Charleston an
ne who served in congress with Lin
of oo,n 4. ouotad In onotbor c,;nn;n,
- COIN, Is quoteu III alolner SHppih'
in the Downing "reminiscences a
{ saying:
IN "He was naturally respondent ant
W sad, like many another who ha
made mirth for a merry company
of He could tell a story to make {
n group roar with laughter, but wher
in his face was unlit with pleasure i
- was dark. gloomy and peculiar"
&c Hated Work on Farm.
nd Another clipping quotes Captain
,g.