cr**frri>(rv#4^zr+*^^ BRIEF of The Warrick County Lincoln */ . . i Route Association £:# BOONVILLE, INDIANA S( r nher I. 1931 • MAF* 1 LINCOLN ROOM UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY MEMORIAL the Class of 1901 founded by HARLAN HOYT HORNER and HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER BRIEF Prepared by the Warrick (bounty Lincoln :: JAMES BLACKFORD. — 29 — by way of Boonville, where he shipped his produce away to New Orleans or elsewhere and received goods in return. He said that these two places were their only shipping points, and that the two roads to these two points were the only wagon roads in that community at that time. Mass Clark lived across Pigeon creek in Warrick County. Thomas Lincoln lived where Lincoln City now stands, and Lincoln City was afterward laid out on the farm Lincoln owned. The Grigsbys and Romines lived south of there. These, with a few others, were the only settlers in that community. My father said that he and Abraham Lincoln were playmates but that Abraham Lincoln was some older, and that Abraham Lincoln frequently worked for Col. William Jones on his farm and in his store. My father said that Abraham Lincoln also worked for his father, and when boys they were intimate friends and frequently together and a bond of friendship grew up between the Lincolns and the Gentrys that lasted during their lives I have frequently heard my father say that in 1830, when Thomas Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln started to move to Illinois, they loaded their house furniture and other things and came over to his father's home, James Gentry, Sr., who lived then where the town of Gentry ville now stands, and stayed that night with him, and the next morn- ing the Lincolns started on their way moving to Illinois, and that they went on the Boonville road by Col. William Jones' store, where they stopped, about a mile west of where Gentryville now stands My father said that quite a number of the neighbors had met at the Jones' store that morning to bid them good- bye, and that not a few of them accompanied them about a mile west to the ford across Pigeon creek and saw them safely ford Pigeon creek with their loads over into Warrick county. I heard James Grigsby say that he went with Lin- coln from Jones' store west on the Boonville road to the ford on Pigeon creek into Warrick county, and that Abe said that they were going by way of Boonville as it was the only way they could go. Mass Clark also told me that he met the Lincolns the morning they started to move to Illinois at the ford on Pigeon creek on the Boonville road about a mile west of the Jones' store, and accompanied them west on the said Boon- ville road, to Polkberry creek in Warrick county and saw them safely ford it, and that they said they were going by — 30 — way of Boonville, and he bade them goodbye and he re- turned home. I have frequently heard my grandfather, James Gentry, Sr., talk of the Lincolns and tell of the time they moved from Indiana to Illinois in 1830, how they loaded their wagons the day before and came to his home, which stood near where Gentry ville now stands, and stayed that night with him, and then he went with them the next days journey over into Warrick county. He said they went by way of the Boonville road and stopped at Col. William Jones' store He said quite a number of the neighbors and friends had met at Jones' store to bid them boodbye, and after the usual farewells and bidding adieu to them the Lincolns continued their journey westward on this Boon- ville road, forded Pigeon creek into Warrick county, about one mile to the west of Jones store, and then continued west toward Boonville and stopped the next night and went into camp on the farm of John Phillips near Little Zion church about one-half mile west of Loafers Station, which at that time was located about two miles north of where the town of Tennyson now is, which farm is known as the Edmond Phillips farm, and Abraham Lincoln here said he was going by way of Boonville, for it was the only way they could go with their loaded wagons, and my grandfather said that after they stopped to camp he bade them farewell and re- turned home. I have heard my father and grandfather tell of many interesting things in regard to Abraham Lincoln, but they always said when the Lincolns moved from Indi- ana to Illinois in 1830 they went west from Jones' store by the way of Boonville, for at that time there was no other way to go, and at Boonville they could take the old Vin- cennes road, which was a state road, and one of the best roads in the state at that time.* ROBERT M. GENTRY. Subscribed and sworn to before me this the 30th day of July, 1915. W. E. Williams, Notary Public. Erasures made by Robert Gentry, July, 1926. *Published in the Boonville Standard of August 13, 1915. Mr. Gentry also testified before the Lincoln Route Commission at Lincoln City in 1915. — 49 — during that evening he said that was the house that Lincoln lived in. That night some of the neighbors came over and stayed until late bed time and the principal topics were the the Lincolns and they all seemed to know Lincoln and the Lincoln family and they told many interesting things to me concerning Abraham Lincoln, and during the time the ques- tion was asked by Mr. Gasaway which way the Lincolns went when they moved to Illinois and Mr. Chinn said that they went by Jones' store, which stood three-fourths mile west of where Gentryville now stands, and continued on west on the Cory don and Boonville road, which road ran west by way of what is now Folsomville, and from there to Boonville and from Boonville they said he went north by way of what is now Lynnville and on toward Vincennes. This was the general talk among those present that night we stayed there, for Abe Lincoln was in his boyhood days acquainted with these men and now he had moved west and had been in congress and they talked of it as to what a boy could do by going west. They told many other things concerning A. Lincoln in his school days in that community which was very interesting to me. I give this as not only what I heard that night, but afterwards I lived at Loafers Station on this Boonville and Corydon road, about six miles south of Selvin, and I also, in that community, heard the old people say that the Lincolns went west to Boonville on this Corydon road. And I will further say that I never in all my life heard anybody at Selvin or Polkpatch say the Lincolns went that way when he moved to Illinois.* Yours truly, Isaac G. Cissna. *Published in the Boonville Standard May 28, 1915. JAMES E. STEPHENS Boonville, Ind., May 28, 1915. W. E. Williams. Boonville, Indiana. Sir:- In answer to your inquiry I will say that I was born on the 19th day of March, 1858, in Skelton Township, War- rick County, Indiana on the Corydon and Boonville road about three miles west of the town of Gentryville, Spencer County, and excepting two years have lived in and in know- ing distance of this community all my life. My father and mother, after I was married, lived in and died at Gentryville and are buried there. My eldest sister married Jacob — 50 Oskins, who was the son of William Oskins, who was one of the early settlers of that community and who was one of the neighbors of the Lincolns when they lived in that com- munity. After Jacob Oskins married my sister he moved onto a part of the farm of John Romine, who was also one of the early settlers of that community and who was a neighbor to and well acquainted with the Lincolns when they lived in that community. During the time that said Jacob Oskins lived on this said farm about one fourth mile west of the Pigeon Baptist Church, I worked for him and during that time I became acquainted with John Romine, he being- at that time quite an old man, and also William Oskins, being an aged man at that time. He would come to the home of his son, Jacob Oskins, and Mr. John Romine would also come and these two old men would talk over, as they called it, "old times" and would tell of the early settlers and many thing's that were very interesting to me, being then but a boy. At that time Jacob Oskins lived about a mile south of the old Lincoln farm, where Lincoln City now stands, and I visited the old farm and have been in the old Lincoln house quite a number of times while it was yet standing there. I have seen a great many strangers who came there to see the old house, and they would frequently take some memento of relic from the same. I have seen them take a hatchet and cut chips from the logs to make into toothpicks so as to have some relics from the Lincoln house. During the conversations between John Romine and William Oskins I remember of hearing John Romine tell of how slow Lincoln was ; that when they started to move to Illinois, the first day they only got down as far as Edmund Phillips', for they were moving with oxen and the road was very bad. He said the reason he knew this was that Thom- as Lincoln owned a certain tract of land of 80 acres which he wanted to sell or trade for a good horse and after the Lincolns had started he followed them and caught up with them at Edmond Phillips' in Warrick County about six miles west of where Gentry ville now stands, and there they stayed that night with John Phillips, the father of Edmond Phillips, and there John Romine said he traded to Lincoln a young horse for the said 80 acres of land, received a deed for same and returned home. He said that Lincoln said he was going by way of Boonville. I heard these two old men tell this and many other things about Lincoln quite often* 51 Hoping this answers your inquiry, Yours truly, JAMES E. STEPHENS. ^Published in the Boonville Standard June 11, 1915. To the INDIANA LINCOLN TRAIL COMMISSION and the WARRICK COUNTY LINCOLN TRAIL ASSOCIATION The following is a statement relative to Abraham Lincoln and his family during their residence in Indiana and their subsequent trip from their home at Lincoln City, Indiana, to their new home in Illinois. These are the facts, as told to me by Mr. John Ro- mine about the year 1882-1883, when my father, John Ha- gan, was a tenant on the Romine farm, which is located on the southern boundary of the Lincoln farm, also adjoining- Old Pigeon church, in which the Lincoln family worshipped. Mr. Romine used to talk to our family, telling about employ- ing Lincoln to work on the farm, and about Abe being lazy and many times finding his sitting on the plow reading a book instead of working, as he was paid to do. Also related the story of the Lincoln family leaving their home in Indi- ana, and about their first day's trip through what is now the town of Gentryville to what was then the town of Jones- boro, three-quarters mile west, including the purchase of goods from the Jones store, which Abe sold from his ox cart on his way to Illinois. He stated that leaving Jonesboro, the family proceeded west through that portion of Spencer county, crossing Pigeon creek at the ford about one-half mile west of Jonesboro, into Warrick county, in which they made their way west to Pokeberry Creek, about two miles, where it was again necessary to ford that stream: about building a crossing of birch poles, on which to allow the ox- en to pass over. From that point they proceeded west to Loafers Station, which was about six miles west of Jones- boro, from which point they proceeded west about one- fourth mile and camped for the first night out. He told about helping the Lincolns when their ox carts were mired in the mud, and the hardships they encountered enroute. The second day out they proceeded toward Folsomville, through Warrick County into Boonville, thence to Lynnville and on to Vincennes, where they crossed the Wabash River, into Illinois. This statement was told repeatedly to me and my parents, John Hagen, by Mr. Romine, during our five years of residence on the Romine farm and many times UBRMtf UNIVERSE Of IUJ — 52 used to tell us of his friendship with the Lincolns, as well as their first two days', leaving- Lincoln City, enroute to Illinois. CORDIE HAGAN THOMPSON. State of Indiana, Vanderburgh County. This foregoing statement is subscribed and sworn to before me this 24th day of July, Ninteen Hundred Thirty One. Katherine Hargrave, Notary Public. My commission expires Nov. 15, 1932. State of Indiana, County of Warrick, John R. Wright and Ben Leslie each for himself de- poses and says that they, when they were boys, they lived with Edmund Phillips, who was a son of John Phillips, who lived near the Spencer county line in the year 1830. John R. Wright having lived in the family from the time he was six years old until he was twenty two years old, and Ben Les- lie having lived with the family from the time he was four- teen years old until he was nineteen years of age. Said affiants depose and say that they have often heard Edmund Phillips say that when a boy, the Lincoln family when moving to Illinois stopped at Little Zion church to go into camp for the night, and he saw them there and reported the same to his father, John Phillips, who told him to go and invite the Lincolns to come to his house and stay over night, which they did. This was on the old Corydon road leading to Boon- ville and the Lincolns on leaving the Phillips' home came on west on said road to Boonville. A set of plates owned by John Phillips was used while the Lincolns were at his house and these plates passed from John Phillips to his son, Ed- mund Phillips, and from him to his son, Elijah Phillips, and from him to his son, James Phillips and from James Phil- lips to his daughter Ethel Phillips who is now the wife of James G. Broshears. JOHN R. WRIGHT, BEN LESLIE Witness: W. L. Barker. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 7th day of March, 1931. W. L. Barker, Notary Public. 53 — State of Indiana, ) gg . County of Warrick, j W. H. Scales on his oath deposes and says in the year 1894 he taught at the Kelley school in Skelton town- ship, and boarded with Joseph Blackford, who came from the south and was a strong democrat, and had no personal liking for Abraham Lincoln after he became President. In his conversations Mr. Blackford frequently said he knew Abe Lincoln who was three years his senior in age, and six years bigger when it came to fighting and had bested him in more than one fight. It was the custom to carry the corn to be ground to the grist mill in the hills northeast of Little Zion church known as the Little Joe Phillips mill, or the Byers mill ,and the boys would parch corn at the big fire place in the mill while waiting for their corn to be ground and then Abe's big hand would reach out and grab the most of the parched corn and a fight would be started. Mr. Blackford always said that when "that black abolition- ist left here he went right down that road," pointing to the road leading from Folsomville to Boonville, and he was act- ually glad to see him go. The stones from the Little Joe Phillips mill layed around the barn lot of my place for many years and the lower stone is now used as a door step at my house ; the up- per stone was broken up an used as corner stones in the fundat-on of a corn crib. W. H. SCALES. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 29th day of May, 1931. (L. S.) Wm. L. Barker, Notary Public. My commission expires the 18th of December, 1934. ARGUMENT Southern Indiana in the year 1830 was covered with primeval forest, except here and there where the early set- tlers had made clearings along the navigable streams and old Indian trails. Southern Indiana in the year 1830 was criss-crossed with Indian trails and animal trails running through the forest in all directions. The main trails started at the Ohio River, avoided the swampy lands and crossed the streams at the most fordable places. A few settlements 54 — — cabins with small clearings — were scattered along these trails. The Indian titles had been extinguished a quarter of a century before and the land was mostly unsettled pub- lic domain. These old trails knew no survey lines but in time some of them were perpetuated as roads by improve- ment. In 1830, however, there were but very few real wagon roads in the counties of Warrick, Spencer, Pike and Dubois. The process of making a road after a petition was filed required an action or order of the County Board of Justices appointing viewers to definitely locate the proposed road on the best ground. After the road was thus laid out a Supervisor was appointed and his road hands were named and allotted to him for his section of the road. The Super- visor warned out his hands and proceeded to chop out his road according to the viewers report. The right-of-way cost nothing because, in the main, the road ran through public domain. Every county has some record of its roads that were laid out and maintained as wagon roads. The re- port of the viewers and appointment of the Supervisors and the road hands allotted to each Supervisor are all matters of record as far back as the organization of the county. In the foregoing brief of evidence, we have conclus- ively shown, by copies of the record of the Board of Justices of Warrick County, that the old road running from the old Lincoln homestead in Spencer County westward past the Jones store or Jonesboro to Boonville, the county seat of Warrick County, known as the Boonville and Corydon Road was, for many years prior to 1830, a wagon road maintained and kept in repair by public authority. The same thing is true of the old road known as the Boonville and Petersburgh Road running North from Boon- — 55 — ville through where the Town of Lynnville now stands to the Town of Petersburg^ in Pike County. We especially call the Commission's attention to the copy of the order of the Board of Justices of Warrick Coun- ty appointing Elijah Boyd as a Supervisor on the Peters- burgh Road wherein it recites that his section of the road begins at the South end of the crossway at Big Creek and ends at the bridge on Otter Creek. (This brief, page 10.) This record conclusively shows that this Boonville to Peters- burgh Road was, prior to 1825, not only a road maintained as a wagon road in the ordinary way but that, prior to that time, particular pains had been taken to construct a cross- way across the soft or miry portion of bottom land and the streams had been bridged. In the appointment of Tubby Bloyd as Supervisor on this road May 7, he was ordered to repair this crossway. (This brief, page 10.) The same crossway is also referred to in the appointment of Isaac Fleener as Supervisor on said road May 5, 1828. (This brief, page 11.) We also especially call the Commission's attention to the copy of the order of said Board of Justices appointing Joseph Hunsaker as Supervisor of a portion of said Peters- burgh Road on May 3, 1830 wherein it is recited that his portion of said road commences at the South end of the bridge on Otter Creek and ends at the South end of the bridge on Big Creek; (This brief, page 11.) and also to the copy of the order of said Board of Justices made at the same time appointing Joseph Rice as Supervisor over a portion of said Petersburgh Road wherein it is recited that his portion of said road commences at the South end of the bridge on Big Creek and ending at the 23d mile post on said road. (This brief, page 12). This record conclusively shows that, — 56 — prior to the time of the Lincoln migration from Indiana, this road leading North from Boonville to Petersburgh con- tained bridges over the principal streams. The records of the entries of land show that practi- cally all of the land lying adjacent to the said Boonville and Corydon Road between Jonesboro and Boonville and along the Boonville and Petersburgh Road between Boonville and Petersburgh had been entered by settlers prior to March, 1830. A Baptist church known as Little Zion church was located in the settlement on the said Corydon Road between the Spencer County line and the Town of Boonville. There- fore, that portion of Warrick County must have contained a considerable population to maintain the church. An- other church of the same denomination was located on the Boonville and Petersburgh Road where the Town of Lynn- ville now stands. We also call the Commission's special attention to the copy of the record of the Board of Justices of Warrick County appointing Isaac Fleener as Supervisor on a part of this state road leading from Boonville to Petersburgh made on May 7, 1827 in which the following language appears : "And allowed all the hands who worked under Frances South of a line from the old school house to John Barkers." (This brief, page 10.) This record conclusively shows that this settlement on the old Petersburgh Road was old enough at that time, in 1827, to have a school house that the record refers to as an old school house. — 57 — Each of these roads connected at Boonville with roads leading- to various points on the Ohio River, one of which was known as the Rockport or High Banks Road lead- ing from Boonville to Rockport ; one of which was known as the Yellow Banks Road, leading from Boonville to Owens- boro in Kentucky ; another was a part of this Boonville and Petersburgh Road, which commenced at Mt. Prospect (alias) Sprinklesburg, which is now Newburgh, and from that point ran through Boonville to Petersburgh and it was over these various roads that the early settlers hauled their produce to the market on the Ohio River. Both these roads, the Boonville and Corydon Road and the Boonville and Pet- ersburgh Road, have been ever since said early days and are now public highways. We have, therefore, shown the Com- mission not by mere conjecture or speculation or hearsay but by the public records that there was an available wagon road in March, 1830, leading westward from where the Lin- colns then lived to the Town of Boonville in Warrick County and thence North from Boonville to the Town of Peters- burgh in Pike County. In those early days a good wagon road meant more to the emigrants than any other one thing. They usually traveled in those days in wagons the wheels of which were made by sawing off blocks of large logs and these wagons were drawn by ox teams. We can, therefore, readily see that the emigrants would avoid, if possible, the risks of unknown roads that might lead through marshy or soft bottom lands and would instead seek those roads maintained at public expense and along which lived many settlers. If the Indiana Lincoln Memorial Highway Commis- sion requires all claimants of the Lincoln Route to cite the 58 public records showing the establishment prior to March 1, 1830, of the wagon road over which the Lincoln emi- grants might have traveled on their journey from Jones- boro to Vincennes, their problem will be greatly simplified because then there would be but few roads to consider. By such a ruling several contestants would be eliminated. The Commission should not be expected to locate a wagon road for claimants who can not furnish record evidence that there was an authentic available wagon road by which the em- igrants might have traveled. Another matter that adds credence and weight to the evidence showing that the Lincolns made their migra- tion to Illinois through Boonville over the Boonville and Corydon Road and North to Petersburgh over the Boonville and Petersburgh Road is the so-called church evidence. Thomas Lincoln was a member of Little Pigeon Bap- tist church located about a half mile south of the Lincoln farm, which was organized in 1816, as appears from the old church record. This old record also shows Thomas Lin- coln's membership in said church and that he joined the same by letter from a church of the same denomination at his old home in Kentucky and also shows his appointment as Moderator and other offices performed by him in the as- sociation and Abraham Lincoln's sister, Sarah Grigsby, is buried in the cemetery of said church. Among those who went to the Jones store to bid good-bye to the Lincoln family were a number of Baptists who accompanied them to Little Pigeon Creek West of the Jones store on the Corydon road and saw them safely over the ford there. Another Baptist, Masterson Clark, met them and saw them safely over Polk Berry Creek, a short — 59 — distance West of Pigeon Creek. They stopped the first night to go into camp at Little Zion Baptist Church on the Corydon Road between their home and Boonville and ac- cepted the invitation of John Phillips, another Baptist, to spend the night without cost at his house. The second night the emigrants stayed at the home of Joseph Lank- ford, another Baptist and acquaintance of the Lincolns, who lived on the Boonville and Petersburgh Road North of Boon- ville, but who formerly lived neighbor to Thomas Lincoln in Spencer county and belonged to the same church with him. (See affidavit of Mary E. Floyd on page 35 of this brief.) The following day they were at the home of Nicholas Anderson Hanks, another Baptist and a relative of the Lincolns, being a cousin of Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, and the next we hear of them is their stop- ping for water at the farm of Arthur Thompson, another Baptist, who lived on the Boonville and Petersburgh Road. The three Baptist churches, one near Lincoln's home, the other on the Boonville and Corydon Road between their home and Boonville and the other on the Boonville and Pet- ersburgh Road at the place where the Town of Lynnville now stands are each still in existence. Of course, different buildings have been constructed but the old organizations continue to function. The Rev. J. W. Richardson of that church denomination testified before the Lincoln Highway Commission appointed by Governor Ralston in 1915 that he was well acquainted v/ith the Hanks who lived near where the Town of Lynnville now is and he told that Commission that he conscientiously believed the Lincoln family went through Boonville and thence North up the Boonville and Petersburgh Road to Petersburgh because of that old church affiliation. He said, "Us Baptists are different from other people ; we stick together." (This brief, page 21.) It — 60 — is at least more reasonable that the Lincolns would travel the route on which churches of their own denomination ex- isted and along which they had acquaintances and relatives rather than to travel the Northern route through Dubois County settled principally by German and Irish Catholics. The population of Dubois County in the year 1830 was at its North end along White River near Portersville, the county seat, and there was no need of a wagon road through twenty miles of unsettled wilderness to the Spencer County line. The route to Boonville from Lincoln's home was not only the best way and the shortest way but the only way. The record evidence set forth in this brief as to the Boonville and Corydon Road and the Boonville and Peters- burgh Road being wagon roads many years prior to 1830 leaves nothing to conjecture or tradition. Similar evidence of any authentic wagon road from the Lincoln home north through Spencer County and thence through the unsettled wilderness of Dubois county twenty miles North of Porters- ville has never been and can never be shown because it does not exist. That the Boonville route from Jonesboro to Peters- burgh is a shorter route than from Jonesboro by way of where Jasper now is to Petersburgh is shown by the follow- ing figures : From the Jones store to Boonville, it is sixteen miles and from Boonville to Petersburgh, it is thirty-two miles. Therefore, from the Jones store to Petersburgh by way of Boonville, it is forty-eight miles. From Jonesboro to Jas- per, it is twenty-six and one-half miles, and from Jasper to Petersburgh, it is twenty-six and one-half miles. There- fore, the total distance from Jonesboro by way of Jasper to Petersburgh is fifty-three miles or five miles farther than — 61 — it is by way of Boonville. These distances are calculated on section lines. The following persons who made the affidavits here- inabove set out in this brief, to-wit: Captain William Jones, Allen Gentry, Robert M. Gentry, Sarah Gray, Mary E. Floyd, Bartley Inco, Jacob Clarke, L. B. Barker, Francis M. Carlisle, James W. Phillips, Joseph L. Phillips, James Blackford, Jacob Oskins, Isaac C. Cissna and James E. Stevens, were each either descendants of or acquainted with the old neighbors and acquaintances of the Lincoln family while they lived in Indiana and the writers of this brief, Philip Lutz, Jr., William L. Barker and Union W. Youngblood, are each acquainted with the standing and reputation of these various witnesses and hereby vouch for their honesty and integrity. Their statements voluntarily made — most of them without any solicitation from anyone — can not be lightly passed over but, we think, should be decisive of the question involved and most of them can not possibly have any selfish interest as to where the Lincoln route is established other than that they would like to see it established according to the facts. We especially invite the Commission's careful con- sideration of the affidavits of Captain William Jones, Allen Gentry, Robert M. Gentry, Sarah Gray, Elizabeth A. Goad, Bartley Inco, Mary E. Floyd and James W. Phillips, as they were all outstanding citizens that we do not believe could have been induced for any consideration to make false state- ment concerning the question involved. All of the citizens who lived in the neighborhood from which the Lincolns started their migration to Illinois without a dissenting voice say the tradition handed down 62 to them from those who were living at the time the Lin- colns left is to the effect that they went West past the Jones store on the Corydon Road to Boonville and thence North to Petersburgh. Now, if they, in fact, went North past where Jasper has since been located, there would certainly be some tradition about the fact among the people whose an- cestors knew them best but we throw out the challenge for some of the descendants or acquaintances of the neighbors of the Lincolns to tell us they went North and the only re- sponse is the echo of our challenge. We also call the Commission's special attention to the two letters hereinabove quoted in this brief, one from Mrs. W. E. Squires addressed to J. W. Richardson in which she says: "I write you in regard to the letter in the Courier of Lincoln's route to Illinois. I have heard my grandfather, James Gentry (playmate of Abe Lincoln) tell that when the Lincoln family left for Illinois that the Gentry family went as far as Pigeon Creek and there bade them good-bye and that the Lincoln family went by way of Boonville. I thought perhaps this letter might be some help." (This brief, page 21.) The second letter being by George MeClellan in which he says : "My mother was personally acquained with Abe Lincoln and admired him very much as she bought goods from him when he was in a store and I have heard her say when they went to leave Gentryville the few settlers around there gathered in and bade them good-bye and some went part of the way with them on the road. I have heard her 63 say time and again that they went by way of Boonville, Indiana." (This brief, page 21.) We also call your attention to the letter by the Rev. Ira Broshears in which he says: "Just at the close of the war of 1861-65 I was County Surveyor in Spencer County and surveyed lands in the vic- inity of the Lincoln home — one line, as I recall it, was the south line of the Lincoln tract, and quite close to Mrs. Lin- coln's grave, which was reverently visited. While in that locality, I talked with some of the old- est citizen in regard to the Lincoln family and it rests upon my mind that they said the Lincolns went by way of Boon- ville." (This brief, page 22.) We also call attention to the statement by Charles E. Skinner, who is now Principal of the High School at Lexing- ton, Ky. that his grandfather, Arthur Thompson, was an early settler and laid out the town of Arthur, Pike County, Indiana, on his farm and that his grandfather had frequent- ly said that the Lincolns, when moving to Illinois, had stop- ed at his house for water and that they came from the South over the road leading from Boonville and that his grandfather was a Baptist. (This brief, page 22.) These several letters were voluntarily written with- out solicitation and are entitled to great weight in deter- mining the question involved. We do not deem it necessary to set out in this argu- ment the substance of the various affidavits hereinabove set out in the brief because we are sure each member of — 64 — the Commission will carefully read each of the affidavits and give them the weight that they are entitled to. We must remember that one of the real matters for consideration by the Commission is as to what wagon roads were in existence and available for wagon travel prior to March, 1830. Pages 14 to 17 of the report of the Weik and Cravens Commission appointed by Governor Ralston men- tion Jasper twenty-one times. Their investigation, how- ever should have shown that Jasper was not in existence in March, 1830, when the Lincolns made their migration, and the land upon which it was thereafter platted and laid off was, at that time, public domain. We do not know whether that Commission was deceived in this respect or whether they knew these facts and made their report with full knowledge thereof. Neither is it probable that Enlow's Mill on the Patoka near where Jasper now is was in existence at that time because to establish a mill would have required the establishment of a dam on the river and to do that required a writ of ad quod damnum and no such record has ever been produced. Another reason why Enlow's Mill was probably not in existence is that, at that time, the land entry records do not show that there was any sufficient number of settlers in that locality to maintain a mill. The mail routes of the year 1830 were usually noth- ing more than bridle paths which followed the old trails through the wilderness over the ridges from one settle- ment to another settlement. The land entries are along these trails and when the number of settlers justified the County Board of Justices they established the roads and had them cut out and maintained as wagon roads as pro- — 65 — vided by law and there was always a record made of these proceedings. The fallacy of the report of the Weik and Cravens Commission is evidenced in the failure to designate in that report any wagon road from Jonesboro (not Gentry ville) to Jasper. The report says ''through Dale, Jasper, Ireland, Otwell and Algiers" towns that were not in existence in the year 1830 when the Lincoln family migrated to Illinois. The Legislative Committee properly rejected that report. A study of that report must convince any reader that the Commission determined to reject all the evidence as to the Warrick County Route and to arbitrarily locate the route through unbroken, roadless forests and through towns that were not in existence at the time of the migration. Fifteen members of the Boonville Lincoln Route Association were present when that report came up for consideration before the Legislative Committee. After the Legislative Commit- tee heard the testimony, the report was virtually tabled. The two commissioners left the Legislative Hall. The ap- propriation had been spent and not a definite wagon road mentioned between Jonesboro and Vincennes. The idea of locating so important an undertaking as the Lincoln Route on "probabilities" through an unbroken forest, crossing creeks and swamps with no authentic wagon road shown and in the face of all the verbal evidence furnished to the contrary is preposterous and suggestive of arbitrary action. In the seven townships lying South of the Patoka River in Dubois County, containing two hundred forty-nine and one-fourth square miles or more than one-half of the total area of that county, up to March 10, 1830, only eighteen entrymen had filed their land entries. There was, — 66 — therefore, only one possible resident land owner for each 18.8 square miles in Dubois County South of the Patoka River. Up to March 10, 1830, only the following land entries had been made within the present civil townships of Dubois County : Boon Township with 35 sections had 24 entrymen; Harbinson Township with 39% sections had 16 en- trymen ; Columbia Township with 36 square miles had 6 en- trymen ; Madison Township with 35*4 square miles had 26 entrymen ; Bainbridge Township with 35 square miles had 16 entrymen ; Marion Township with 32*4 square miles had 2 en- trymen ; Hall Township with 36 square miles had 3 entrymen ; Jefferson Township with 35 square miles had no land entries ; Jackson Township with 34 square miles had 2 en- trymen ; Patoka Township with 39 square miles had 6 entry- men; Cass Township with 38 square miles had 5 entry- men, and Ferdinand with 36 square miles had not a single entryman. The total number of entrymen in the county was one hundred sixteen. (See Dubois County map opposite page 16.) If, in 1830, a road had been run South from Porters- ville on the White River, the then county seat of Dubois 67 County, to the South line of Dubois County, a distance of over twenty miles, there would have been fifteen land entry- men along this road and twelve of these fifteen would have been North of the Patoka River and only three of them on the nine miles South of the Patoka River to the Spencer County line. Unless such a road connected with a road leading on to Jonesboro, it would have been useless to the emigrants, but there was no probability the Board of Justices would have ordered nine miles of roadway to be cut out and maintained South of the Patoka River to the Spencer County line to serve only three settlers. The Weik and Cravens Commission failed to desig- nate any wagon road over this route for the very good reas- on that there was none and there was no evidence of any. The Weik and Cravens report to the effect that the migration route of the Lincolns went North through Dale to Jasper and thence Northwestward to Petersburgh and thence on to Vincennes was very evidently based almost en- tirely upon the statements therein referred to made by Aug- ust H. Chapman and Dennis Hanks. There are some peculiar things about these two statements, however, that we de- sire to call the Commission's special attention to. The first is that the Chapman statement says that Abe Lincoln told him they went North through Jasper and from Jasper through Washington and thence over to Vincennes. If they went this route, they must have gone through Portersville then the county seat of Dubois County but in Chapman's statement Portersville is not mentioned but Jasper, that was not in existence at the time of the migration and the land on which it now exists was, at that time, public do- main, is mentioned. The same thing is true of the Dennis Hanks statement. He says in substance they went North — 68 — through Jasper and thence to Petersburg. He too, there- fore, specifically mentions a town that was not in existence at the time of the migration. Neither was the Town of Dale in existence at that time. Elizabeth, as Dale was first named, was not laid out until 1843, thirteen years af- ter the migration. Another peculiar thing about the state- ments of Chapman and Dennis Hanks is that according to Chapman, Lincoln stated they went from Jasper through Washington; while Hanks differs with him and says they went from Jasper through Petersburgh. This to our mind very clearly reveals that they were guessing at the route they travelled in those early days. If they were not guess- ing, then why this difference of opinion ? They remembered evidently that they went in a general direction North and Northwest and very probably, at the time or prior to mak- ing these statements, they had examined a modern map that revealed the Towns of Dale, Jasper, Petersburgh and Washington and, as these towns lay in the general direc- tion that they thought they traveled, they guessed that they were the towns they went through. According to William E. Barton and some other Lincoln historians, many state- ments made by Dennis Hanks were found to be unreliable. We, therefore, insist that the Weik and Cravens Commis- sion was not warranted in their decision that the migra- tory route ran through Jasper based upon this uncertain and conflicting evidence of Chapman and Hanks. Especial- ly is this true in view of the overwhelming record evidence and letter and affidavit evidence presented in this brief showing that the route of travel of the Lincolns was West from Jonesboro over the Boonville and Corydon Road to Boonville and thence North over the Boonville and Peters- burgh Road to Petersburgh. — 69 — In conclusion, we respectfully submit that we have shown, by the evidence set out in this brief, at least three reasons that we think should convince your Honorable Com- mission that the migratory route of the Lincolns from their home in Spencer County to Illinois went through Warrick County over the Corydon and Boonville Road to Boonville and the Boonville and Petersburgh road to Petersburgh. First, the record evidence set out in this brief con- clusively shows that, at the time the Lincolns made their said migration, the Corydon and Boonville Road and the Boonville and Petersburgh Road were well defined public highways constantly in use for wagon travel and the prin- cipal creeks had been bridged and crossways laid and there were churches and school houses located along the same. Second, the fact that there were churches and school houses along these two roads shows that the country along the same was thickly settled for those days and the evi- dence also shows that church and other acquaintances and even relatives of the Lincolns lived along these two roads and that it would, therefore, be reasonable that they would travel over the route along which they had acquaintances and relatives. Third, the letter and affidavit evidence set out in this brief is very strong and convincing that the Lincolns did, in fact, travel over these two roads. The letters and affidavits that we present in this brief are by decendants of those who knew first hand of the facts that are related in the affidavits and the affidavits are made by prominent citizens who we are sure could not be induced to make any false statement because of any private interest they might 70 have in the matter and are made mostly by the people who could not possibly have any interest as to which way the route is established by your Commission, except that they want to see it established according to the real facts. In this respect we call your especial attention again to the affidavits of the following well-known citizens: Captain William Jones, the son of Colonel William Jones, who em- ployed Lincoln in his store at Jonesboro, and of Allen and Robert Gentry, sons of James Gentry, who was the play- mate of Abe Lincoln, and of Sarah Gray, a daughter of Henry Hart, who was the pastor of Little Pigeon Baptist church during the time Thomas Lincoln was a member thereof, and of Bartley Inco, a prominent citizen of Spencer County, who married into the same family of Grigsbys that Lincoln's sister did, and of Jacob Clarke, the son of Massa Clarke, who was present when the Lincolns left on their migration, and of James W. Phillips and Isaac G. Cissna, who are also prominent citizens and descendants of neigh- bors of the Lincolns at that time, and the affidavit of Mary E. Floyd, whose mother was the daughter of Joseph Lankford with whom the Lincolns stayed all night on the second night North of Boonville on the Peters- burgh road, and the affidavit of Elizabeth Goad, who lived all of her life on the Petersburgh Road North of Boonville and was a prominent woman of her community and owned considerable land, and the affidavit of Corda Hagen Thomp- son; and also the statements in letters of the following prominent citizens : William Fortune of Indianapolis, Mrs. W. E. Squires and George McClellan and Ira Broshears. All of this evidence, it seems to us, has great driving force to convince your Honorable Commission that the Lin- colns, in their migration, traveled over the route herein- — 71 — above indicated and we earnestly pray that your Honorable Commission will so decide. All of which is respectfully submitted, WILLIAM L. BARKER, PHILIP LUTZ, JR., UNION W. YOUNGBLOOD. For and on behalf of the Warrick County Lincoln Route As- sociation, Boonville, Indiana, September 1, 1931. — 72 — (^Memorandum 73 c^YCemorandum — 74 — (^Memorandum — 75 — (Memorandum Tress of c&he ^oonville Standard ^oonville, Indiana < Q < u C/) t W > o o w X H • *■» W 5 w £ £ Q Z I »— t i > ^ z o o 03 ^