973*7L63 Shoaff, Thomas Benton 
 
 c23h7s Statement of Thomas Benton 
 
 Shoaff (grandson of Dennis 
 ^H*t Hanks) of Shelbyville, 111 to 
 
 Rev. William S. Barton in the 
 library of the 111 state 
 historical society, Springfield 
 May 10 f 192° • 
 
INCOLN ROOM 
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
ABRAHAM! LlMCOLM'S 
 
 First Howe I*l 
 
 Built in Macon Countq. ten miles west of 
 Decatur, near the Sauqamon River, in 1830 
 
 i 
 
 Q"he tux> men standinq in Jront of this cabin are 
 Dennis and John Hanks 
 
 <U| 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://archive.org/details/statementofthomaOOshoa 
 
T. 
 
 B. 
 
 Slioaff Willing 
 
 to 
 
 owear 
 
 Xxis Otory Is 
 
 Lincoln Cabin 
 nmon. 
 
 -Decatur Herald, July 1 
 
 Irue 
 
 10, 1929 
 
 Shelby Man Says 
 Shown on 
 
 xle JYnows 
 Boston Coi 
 
 Thomas B. Shoaff of Shclbyville told The 
 Herald Tuesday, that he was willing to make 
 an affidavit that the Lincoln cabin from the 
 Harristown bottoms was exhibited on Boston 
 Common in 1865. 
 
 "I'll swear to it," was Mr. Shoaff's answer 
 to the statement of the Massachusetts Histor- 
 ical society published in the Continental 
 edition of The Herald. 
 
 SOCIETY HAS NO RECORD OF CABIN 
 Requesting the truth about the story, The 
 Herald wrote to the Society and had this j 
 reply from <he librarian, Julius T. Tuttle: 
 
 "I am sorry to say that I am unable to 
 find any reference to the exhibit on Boston 
 common of Lincoln's cabin in the '60's or 
 any other time. An important event of that 
 kind, if it happened, would have found its 
 way into the records of this region." 
 
 In reply, Mr. Shoaff has invited The 
 Herald to search the records of the Boston 
 City council for the permit that his father, 
 James Shoaff of Decatur secured for the 
 exhibition of Lincoln's first home in Illinois. 
 
 "I was 18 years old in 1865" said Mr. 
 Shoaff, "and was publishing my first news- 
 paper, "The Boy About Town," the year 
 before. I remember the incident clearly. 
 Father had the logs numbered and shipped to 
 Boston. Later I expressed walnut rails taken 
 from the cabin sight to Boston, and the 
 express charge was $14. These rails were 
 fashioned into souvenirs and sold. Dennis 
 Hanks, my mother's father, and John Hanks 
 went along with father." 
 
 LATER IN CHICAGO 
 "Grandfather Dennis Hanks has told me 
 many times how people wept on seeing the 
 cabin. It was soon after Lincoln's assassina- 
 tion, either June, July or August, 1865. For 
 several months father was with the cabin. 
 
 "The cabin was later shipped to Chicago 
 and there exhibited. It passed out of father's 
 hands and was supposed to have been shipped 
 to England and lost in the passage. Of 
 course, the story that the cabin was exhibited 
 in the centennial exhibition in Philadelphia 
 in 1876 is a fake." 
 
 HAS PHOTOGRAPH 
 
 Mr. Shoaff has a picture of the cabin with 
 John and Dennis Hanks standing in front of 
 the cabin, and on the back the certification 
 that it is a true picture. 
 
 Mr. Shoaff says while attending Memorial 
 Service at the Shilo Cemetery in Coles 
 country, on Decoration Day, where Thomas 
 Lincoln, father of Abraham Lincoln, and his 
 stepmother, Sarah Bush Johnston are buried, 
 he met Mrs. Eleanor Gridley, 5844 Harper 
 Avenue, Chicago, who delivered an address, 
 "Lincoln from the Cradle to the Grave," who 
 says she paid $25 for the same picture which 
 bore the date, 1861. Mr. Shoaff told her 
 that she had been imposed upon, since the 
 picture was not taken until four years later, 
 and that fraud is being practiced by changing 
 the date, 1865 to 1861, and claiming that 
 it was shown on the Boston Common in that 
 year. 
 
 AFFIDAVIT SWORN TO 
 
 I, Thomas Benton Shoaff, being duly 
 sworn deposes and says that the foregoing 
 interview in part, published in the Decatur 
 Herald July 10, 1929, is true to the best of 
 my knowledge and belief. 
 
 Thomas Benton Shoaff. 
 Shclbyville, 111., July 15, 1929. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to before me this 
 15th day of July, A. D. 1929. 
 
 E. A. Johnston, 
 County Clerk, Shelby Co., 111. 
 
P^^gSgsg* 
 
 NOTICE 
 
 *♦ 
 
 1$ Any new information in reference to 
 Abraham Lincoln's first home in Illinois 
 will be published immediately and mailed 
 to the holder of this booklet. * * 
 
 J^*«4**9^^&£^C 
 
T. 
 
 B. 
 
 iSlioaff Willing 
 
 to 
 
 Owear 
 
 His 
 
 JLinco. 
 
 nmon. 
 
 -Decatur 
 
 Otory Is 
 
 n Cabin 
 Herald, July i 
 
 Irue 
 
 10, 1929 
 
 Shelby Alan Says 
 Sliown on 
 
 Xle JYnows 
 -Boston C_oi 
 
 Thomas B. Shoaff of Shclbyvillc told The 
 Herald Tuesday, that he was willing to make 
 an affidavit that the Lincoln cabin from the 
 Harristown bottoms was exhibited on Boston 
 Common in 1865. 
 
 "I'll swear to it," was Mr. Shoaff's answer 
 
 "The cabin was later shipped to Chicago 
 and there exhibited. It passed out of father's 
 hands and was supposed to have been shipped 
 to England and lost in the passage. Of 
 course, the story that the cabin was exhibited 
 in the centennial exhibition in Philadelphia 
 
 express cnarge was oit. i nese rans were 
 fashioned into souvenirs and sold. Dennis 
 Hanks, my mother's father, and John Hanks 
 went along with father." 
 
 LATER IN CHICAGO 
 "Grandfather Dennis Hanks has told me 
 many times how people wept on seeing the 
 cabin. It was soon after Lincoln's assassina- 
 tion, either June, July or August, 1865. For 
 several months father was with the cabin. 
 
 interview in part, published in the Decatur 
 Herald July 10, 1929, is true to the best of 
 my knowledge and belief. 
 
 Thomas > Benton Shoaff. 
 Shelbyville, 111., July 15, 1929. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to before me this 
 15th day of July, A. D. 1929. 
 
 E. A. Johnston, 
 County Clerk, Shelby Co., 111. 
 
DESIGNED AND PRINTED BY 
 
 EDWARD J. JACOB 
 
 AT HIS SHOP IN PEORIA, ILLINOIS 
 
 II 
 
 » 
 
 & 
 
 PRESENTATION COPY — NONE FOR SALE 
 
 W 
 

 STATEMENT OF 
 Thomas Benton Snoall 
 
 (Grandson of Dennis Hanks) 
 OF 
 
 SHELBYVILLE, ILLINOIS 
 TO 
 
 Rev. Wdliam E. Barton, D. D. 
 
 IN THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Illinois State Historical Society 
 
 i 
 
 a 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MAY 10, 1929 
 
 S3 
 
 ^sgg^ 
 
13 
 
 a 
 
 On the back of the original photograph shown on 
 the opposite page is the following: 
 
 LINCOLN CABIN 
 
 This is to certify that this is from the original 
 Lincoln Log Cabin built by Abraham Lincoln, John 
 and Dennis F. Hanks in Macon County, Illinois, 
 in 1830. 
 
 John Hanks, 
 Dennis F. Hanks. 
 
 s 
 

 ' 
 
 la 
 
 Is 
 
 1 = 
 
 S!5 
 
THOMAS BENTON SHOAFF 
 
 (Grandson of Dennis Hanks) 
 
Statement of Thomas Benton Shoaff 
 
 of Shelbyville, Illinois, to Rev. 
 
 William E. Barton, D. D., in the 
 
 Library of the Illinois State 
 
 Historical Society. 
 Springfield, III., May 10, 1929 
 
 ft 
 
 r 
 
 I am a grandson of Dennis Hanks and 
 Abraham Lincoln's step-mother, Sarah Bush 
 Johnston Lincoln, was my great-grand- 
 mother. I was born in Greenville, Illinois, 
 February 23, 1847. My father was James 
 Shoaff who for many years was editor of 
 papers in Shelbyville, Charleston, Greenville, 
 and first papers in Pekin and Decatur, copy 
 of which I have, dated 1851 Decatur Gazette, 
 My mother's maiden name was Nancy Hanks, 
 named after Lincoln's mother. She was the 
 daughter of Dennis Hanks. Dennis Hanks, 
 my grandfather, died in the home of my par- 
 ents at Paris, Illinois, October 21st, 1892. He 
 died from injuries received when struck by a 
 team when returning from the Edgar county 
 fair grounds, where he had attended an 
 Emancipation day celebration. His remains 
 were buried in the cemetery at Charleston. 
 
 J 
 
KfflasxzLss^ 
 
 
 I have been in the printing business for 
 sixty-nine years. In the competition which I 
 entered in 1927 to decide who had been long- 
 est employed in the printing industry in the 
 United States and Canada, I was awarded the 
 prize medal by the National Graphic Arts 
 Exposition in New York City, September, 
 1927. This medal I am wearing at this time. 
 I suppose myself to be the oldest publisher in 
 continuous service in the United States. I am 
 still publishing the Shelby County Leader 
 with my son James as partner. 
 
 I should like to make a correct statement 
 of the party of the immigrants consisting of 
 thirteen people inclusive of my grandfather, 
 Dennis Hanks, who came with Abraham Lin- 
 coln from Spencer County, Indiana, into Illi- 
 nois in 1830, Dennis Hanks and 'Squire Hall, 
 Abe's second cousins, having married his step- 
 sisters Elizabeth and Matilda Johnson, the 
 party included three families: Thomas and 
 Sarah Lincoln, with their sons, Abraham 
 Lincoln and John D. Johnson; 'Squire Hall 
 and his wife, Matilda, with their son, John; 
 Dennis Hanks and his wife, Elizabeth John- 
 son, with their four children, Sarah Jane, 
 later Sarah Jane Dowling; Nancy Hanks, 
 

 later Nancy Hanks Shoaff, mother of the 
 senior editor and publisher of The Shelby 
 County Leader; Harriet, later Harriet Chap- 
 man, and John Hanks, the son of Dennis. 
 This John Hanks was drowned in Day's 
 Creek, Oregon. 
 
 The cabin which my grandfather, Dennis 
 Hanks, and his cousin, John Hanks, helped 
 Thomas and Abraham Lincoln to erect in 
 Macon County in 1830 was photographed in 
 1865. The photograph which I have bears 
 upon its back this printed inscription: 
 
 * 
 
 i 
 
 LINCOLN CABIN 
 
 This is to certify that this is taken 
 from the ORIGINAL LINCOLN LOG 
 CABIN, built by Abraham Lincoln, 
 John and Dennis F. Hanks, in Macon 
 County, Illinois, in 1830. 
 
 John Hanks, 
 Dennis F. Hanks. 
 
 a 
 
 The two men standing in front of this 
 cabin are Dennis and John Hanks. The man 
 with the grey beard standing nearer the door 
 is John Hanks. My grandfather, Dennis 
 Hanks, stands nearer the corner. John Hanks 
 
 r 
 
I 
 
 was wagon master in General Grant's Regi- 
 ment. As I am assured by the daughter of the 
 Lieutenant-Colonel, John Hanks afterward 
 became Indian agent by appointment of Pres- 
 ident Lincoln. 
 
 When a boy I spent much time in the 
 home of John Hanks then living four miles 
 west of Decatur. His wife was Susan Malinda 
 Wilson and we called her "Aunt Sooky." 
 John Hanks is buried there and there is some 
 proposal to erect a monument at his grave. 
 They had eight children of whom I remem- 
 ber the following: William, Emily, Felix, 
 Grayson, Levi and Mary Ellen Hanks. There 
 is a daughter whose name I do not remember 
 who married a man named Mettalin. 
 
 
 After the assassination of Lincoln in 1865, 
 father James ShoafF, who was then publish- 
 ing the Decatur Magnet, took down the logs, 
 numbering them and removed them and 
 shipped them to Boston where they were 
 shown on the Boston Commons for about 
 eight months. My father, James ShoafF, my 
 grandfather, Dennis Hanks, and John Hanks 
 accompanied the logs to Boston, and stayed 
 there during the time of the exhibition, and 
 
 i 
 
later exhibited them in Chicago for a time, 
 then disposed of them to an English syndicate 
 and in transit they were lost. 
 
 I make this statement in the Library of the 
 Illinois State Historical Society to Rev. 
 William E. Barton, D. D. Four copies are 
 being made, the original for Doctor Barton, 
 one copy for J. B. Oakleaf of Moline, one 
 copy for the archives of the Illinois State 
 Historical Society and the fourth for myself. 
 All of them bear my signature. 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 'pggg 
 
 ;— ^ 
 
 — gg 
 
Additional Statement by Thomas 
 
 Benton Shoaff to J. B. Oakleaf, 
 
 Moline, Illinois 
 
 June 25th, 1929 
 
 i 
 
 n 
 
 This cabin picture, first and only one ever 
 photographed several weeks before removing 
 from the site located 10 miles west of Decatur, 
 near the Sangamon River. Date, 1865. 
 Shows on the photo, Dennis and John Hanks, 
 cousins of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, standing in 
 front of the cabin. T. B. Shoaff, grandson 
 of Dennis F. Hanks, Shelbyville, Illinois, 
 owns original photo. This cabin was exhib- 
 ited on the Boston Common about 3 months 
 after Lincoln's death. By referring to the 
 minutes of the City Council of Boston, some- 
 time in June or July, 1865, no doubt this 
 can be verified. My father, James Shoaff, 
 Dennis and John Hanks were with the cabin 
 exhibition about that time. 
 
 * 
 
B 
 
 o 
 
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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 973.7L63C2SH7S C001 
 
 STATEMENT OF THOMAS BENTON SHOAFF (GRAND 
 
 3 
 
 12 031803262