973.7L63 C2D28d M3253 The Daviess County Lincoln Highway Association's Brief in Support of the Lincoln Route through Daviess County, Indiana LINCOLN ROOM UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY MEMORIAL the Class of 1901 founded b\ HARLAN HOYT HORNER and HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER The Daviess County Lincoln Highway Association's Brief In Support of the Lincoln Route Through Daviess County, Indiana PRESENTED TO THE INDIANA LINCOLN HIGHWAY COMMISSION The Daviess County Lincoln Highway Association's Brief In Support of the Lincoln Route Through Daviess County, Indiana PRESENTED TO THE INDIANA LINCOLN HIGHWAY COMMISSION Washington, Indiana, June 8, 1931. TO THE INDIANA LINCOLN HIGHWAY COMMISSION: In our printed evidence on file with the commission, we have established two general facts: 1. That in and prior to the year 1830, there was an estalblished road from Gentryville, Indiana, to Apraw Ford over the west fork of White river on the western boundary of Daviess county. 2. That this was the road traveled by the Lincoln emi- grant party in March, 1830. The evidence that this was the road which the Lineolns traveled from Indiana to Illinois groups itself around four sets of facts. First : The general and widely-spread tradition all over the southern part of Daviess county that this is the road which they passed over. Second: The letters which Abraham Lincoln wrote to Elliott Chappell. Third: The lame mare and the horse trade between Thomas Lincoln and OvertoTi Cosby, Sr. Fourth: The positive, uncontradicted, statement of Abraham Lincoln himself, that the party passed through "Washington in Daviess county." FIRST. THE ROAD We do not think, in view of the indisputable facts rela- 2 tive to the existence of the road, of Reeder's Ferry and of the long-continued use of Apraw Ford for possibly a century before 1830, that we need^ to spend any time in argument on this branch of the subject, only to say to the commission that we are ready and able to point out the exact course of the road for almost every foot of the way. A few changes have been made in the Poa'tersville road since Abraham Lin- coln drove his yoke of oxen over it in March, 1830, but we can show where these changes have been made with the exception of only a few short distances, where the soil gives no evidence at this t:me of its use as a road. In like manner the road from Washington to Apraw Ford has been changed in several places, but we think that it can be traced every foot of the way. We say, therefore, that we are able to looate the road, with the exception of only a few rods, throughout its entire course in Daviess county. The route through Daviess county was in use as a mail route that passed' Gentry's store for many years prior to 1830. There was a state road from Rockport over the same route before the year of the Lincoln migration to Illinois. This road connected at Portersville with the best and short- est route to Vincennes, where the land office was located, and where Thomas Lincoln went to enter land. It was a good road for those days, over a high and generally a dry soil. ■ SECOND. THE OTHER EVIDENCE WHICH PROVES OUR CLAIM. We pass at once to the Lincoln letters to Elliott Chap- 3 pell. There should be something tangible for the commis- sion's consideration. That Abi*aham Lincoln met Elliott Chappell in March, 1830, on the fanri then called the Allen farm, now the Con- nelly farm, at the present village of Glendiale, does not seem to us to be open to doubt. Elliott Chappell was an honest man. Politically he was opposed to Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and 1864. He told so many people that he had Lin- coln letters after the bitterness of the war had passed away, that we must believe he was telling the truth or that he was trying to deceive. There was no reason for his attempting to deceive anybody. He asked nothing of any republican administration. He never gave the letters out for publica- tion. He showed them to very few people. It is evident that his wife and daughter and Wm. A. Wallace knew he had them. Is there any evidence in the record that shows their existence at any time? They do not now exist. Their destruction has been ac- counted for by two reputable witnesses. We want the com- mission to see and hear these witnesses. They have con- vinced us of their truthfulness and of the accuracy and cor- rectness of their recollections of these letters, and we believe they will carry conviction to others. We told them that we wanted thedr statements to be absolutely correct and accur- ate. One striking fact appears in Mrs. Itskin's affidiavit. She says that in one letter Mr. Lincoln told her grandfather they were dissatisfied in Illinois, and were sorry they did not stay in Indiana or else go back to Kentucky. Her only source of information for that fact was in the letters re- ferred to. But it is historical fact that she told the exact truth, for the Lincolns were dissatisfied in Illinois, and they did start back to Indiana, but when they got to or near the present site of the villlage of Lerna, they met the Radleys and Sawyers, old Kentucky acquaintances, and the elo- quence of their old-time friends in praise of the place, in- duiced Thomas Lincoln to purchase 40 acres of land, one- half mile south of the site of the Bank of Lerna, and here he remained until 1834, when he sold out and moved a short distance further southeast, where he purchased 80 acres which continued to be his home for the remainder of his earthly pilgrimage. The visitor at Lerna today sees a large picture of the Emancipator on the corner immediately west of the bank building, and by its side a legend telling that the 40 acres is half a mile south. The writer of this brief saw the picture and the legend on January 28, 1931. They are circumstances that tend to establish the cor- rectness of Mrs. Itskin's statement. But her statement and the one made by Mr. Wallace have a further cause for belief. They are both clear, sensible, rational statements, de- scriptive of such facts and events as are of frequent oiccur- ence in the lives of the great majority of mankind. An old man, approaiching his four score years, full of honor among his friends and neighbors, had two precious letters from the only supremely great man he had ever seen. He did not know their historical value. He wanted to keep them in his family as heirlooms. He left them to his wife; she shared his opinions, and she left them to her daughter. But, be- fore he died, he spoke of them to a few peopile, and on one occasiiion he showed them to a relative, Mr. Wallace and had his relative read them. Mr. Wallace says he, too, did not appreciate their historical importance; but that he remem- bers distinctly one statement in one of them, and that state- ment is set forth in the affidavit. These documents are described rather minutely, and we are confident that the desieription is accurate. It covers, first, the appearance of the paper; second, the handwriting, which Mr. Wallace is positive is the martyred President's; third, the manner of folding; fourth, the number of folds in the paper, and fifth, the fact that some kind of wax bad been used to seal them. Either these two witnessee are ex- actly right, or they are as far from the truth as they can get; but all of the tests by which men arrive at truth are with them and sustain them. These letters were received by Elliott Chappell; he did show them to Mr. Wallace and his daughter; they did read them; they were burned in the fire which destroyed Mrs. Itskin's home in 1916. In the Illinois Trustees' report, heretofore cited, at page 38, is the following statement from Mrs. Sarah Jane Bowl- ing, d'aughter of Dennis Hanks, in which she said: "Mrs. Bowling said they lived in Macon county for about a year when the chills and fever were so bad that they became discouraged and started back to Indiana. * * * Ar- riving at Wabash Point, where Mattoon now is, they came across two families, the Sawyers and Radleys, who were 6 related to the Lincolns, and these people induced them to remain in Coles county." In the same book, page 39, is the following extract from a letter from D. H. Bowling, son of Sarah Jane Bowl- ing, relative to the return tfip to Indiana: "About four miles south and west of Mattoon, Illinois, at that time was a small settlement called Wabash Point where resided some relatives of Sarah Bush Lincoln, by the name of Radley and Sawyer and it was through the influ- ence of these relatives that Thomas Lincoln and Bennis Banks were induced to locate in Coles county after they had decided to return to Indiana from Macon county, Illi- nois." Mrs. Itskins had no knowledge of the fact that the Lin- colns were d'issatJsiied with their Illinois home, when she made her affidavits relative to the Lincoln letters, except what she read in one of them, and here is her affidavit on that subject: STATE OF INBIANA, BAVIESS COUNTY, SS: On this June 8, 1931, before me a Notary Public, per- sonally came Arsula Itskin, who being duly sworn, deposes as follows: I am the identical Arsula Itskin who has heretofore made an affidavit relative to the Lincoln Way. At the time of making that affidavit, I had no know- ledge of the fact that the Lincoln family was dissatisfied in its new home in Illinois except what I got from reading Abraham Lincoln's letter to my grandlfather, Elliott Chap- pell, nor did I know that they had ever started back to In- diana. ARSULA E. ITSKIN Subscrlibed and sworn to before me this June 8, 1931. Ezra Mattingly, Notary Public. My commission will expire Jan. 9, 1934. There never was but one time and place where Elliott Chappell and Abraham Lincoln met, and we can show the commission almost the exact spot — possibly the identical spot — where they met, on the Allen farm in Harrison town- ship, Daviess county, Indiana. To our minds, the commission would be greatly bene- fitted in understandiing the character and reliability of these witnesses by seeing and hearing them, and v/e invite the commission to allow us to present them as personal wit- nesses. THE HORSE TRADE We invite attention to the affidavits of Frank M. Cross, Ziba Cosby, Grandison Cosby, Enoch Johnson, Solen Math- ers, Charles McDonald and Stephen E. Myers, pages 21, 22, 23 and 24 of evidence. The affidavits of Mr. Cross and the other witnesses are so clear and convincing that if they need any support, it will be best had by presenting the witnesses to the commission. They are intelligent men, and like all of our witnesses, they have no financial interest whatever in the establishment of this highway at any particular place. Mr. Cross's account 8 is singularly clear and strong. He was a boy 7 or 8 years of age, boi-n November 19, 1850; he was highly impression- able in 1857 or 1858. He well knew Overton Cosby, Sr., one of his neighbors, and a man of prominence in the neigh- borhood — he was financially able to own a horse and buggy. For the first time in his life Mr. Cross, the country boy, living in the hills of southern Indiana, had a chance to ride in a real buggy, with a rich man, behind a fine horse, and the old gentleman stirred the boy's interest by telling him hovv' he came to own the fine horse he was then driving — he traded for its grand dam from a mover named Lincoln. We call attention to the fact that Frank Cross and Overton Cosby were not then talking about Abraham Lincoln — the glamor and gloi-y of his name did not fill their minds — neither mentioned him. Cross had never heard his name at that time. This is no case of later glory beclouding a man's recollection, or causing him to fail to mark the place where memory ends and imagination begins. The man the rich farmer talked about was the poor Hoosier farmer, Tom Lincoln, yielding to the irresistible desire that moved our own ancestors ever westward. What we say relative to Mr. Cross, we may say of the two Cosbys; they are grand- sons of Overton Cosby, Sr. ; they got Their information from their uncles, Jacob and James Cosby, and their father, Washington Cosby. These three men saw the Lincoln peo- ple in 1830, while they camped on the old Cosby farm about 5 miles southeast of Washington. The affidavits of Solen Ptiathers, Charles McDonald, Enoch Johnson and Stephen E. Myers carry great weight. Mr. Johnson is a grandson of Jerry Allen. His information comes from his mother, who well remembered the Lincolns and the tall driver of the yoke of oxen. These affidavits each and all sustain the stor-y of the lame mare, the trade with Mr. Cosby for a better travel- ing animal, and the fact that the party stayed all night with Jerry Allen. OUR PRINCIPAL WITNESS We come now to our principal witness. We can not produce him in person before the commission. He stepped from glory to immortality on April 15, 1865. His name is a household word all around the globe. His place in his- tory is secure. His fame is established beyond all power of envy, falsehood or jealousy to take away part of its trans- cendent glory, or diminish the splendor of its shining bright- ness. Likewise is his reputation for accuracy of expression and truthfulness in word and act so firmly founded that no man will life up his voice anywhere to suggest that he was unti'uthful or inaccurate. His fame for these great virtues was established so well more than 70 years ago that his neighbors named him "HONEST ABE." He speaks to us through the voice of his kinsman, Lieu- tenant-Colonel Augustus H. Chapman, late of the 54th Illi- nois Volunteer Infantry, whose words were taken down and recorded by Jesse W. Weik, a historian, author of a book on Abraham Lincoln. Hear his words: COL. CHAPMAN'S TESTIMONY "Charleston, Illinois, January 3, 1896. "Colonel Augustus H. Chapman; married daughter of 10 Dennis Hanks and latter has been living with us off and on for many years; have often talked with him about the jour- ney from Indiana to Illinois in 1830 ; also with Sarah Bush Lincoln, his mother-in-law, who also lived in my family for some time prior to her death in 1869. Late in January, 1861, when Mr. Lincoln came to Charleston to visit his stepmoth- er, I rode with him to the graveyard in the country where his father was buried; he had spent the previous night at my house where the old lady then lived. We got to talking about the journey from Indiiana in 1830; he agreed sub- stantially with Hanks as to the route they took; said they went from Gentry^ille to Jasper in Dubois county ; thence to Washington, Daviess county; thence to Vincennes, where they crossed the Wabash; thence towards Lawrenceville, where they turned north and pushed on to Palestine in Crawford county. At Palestine they found a great many people drawn there by the land office. They kept on north paralleling the river to Darwin, where they left the Wabash behind them. At this point, they set off in a northwest- wardly direction, passing through Richwoods in Clark coun- ty; thence to a point about six miles west of Charleston called Dead Man's Grove, thence north through Nelsonville, Moulti-ie county, to Decatur, where they stopped^" Of the value of Col. Chapman's statement, no man has spoken more highly than Jesse W. Weik, in h'is report to Gov. Ralston in 1916. Our printed evidence establishes the fact of his reliability and truthfulness. He has never been contradicted. Abraham Lincoln thought so much of him that he stayed all night at his home in Charleston, Illinois, in the winter of 1861, when he went to visit Sarah Bush Lin- 11 coin and the grave of Thomas Lincoln at Shiloh Gordon cemetery, southwest of Charleston. But this is not the only proof of his high opinion of the husband of Dennis Hanks's daughter, for early the next morning, Mr. Lincoln set out in a buggy for his stepmother's home, and he chose Augus- tus H. Chapman for his sole and only traveling companion, and to stand with him beside his father's grave. The Pres- ident-elect of the United States, having thus selected his relative as his fellow-traveler on a very solemn journey, set the stamp of his approval on him, and he made his only re- corded utterance concerning the route of the migration from Indiana to Illinois. But another eminent historian has set the seal of approval on the Chapman statement — Dr. Rex- ford Newcomb, in his recent book, "In the Lincoln Country," who speaks of it as follows: "One of the most important documents bearing upon this question is reported by Jesse W. Weik, who in January, 1896, interviewed Colonel Augustus H. Chapman and his wife Harriett, the daughter of Dennis Hanks. The interview is published by Dr. Thompson in his "Investigation of the Lincoln Way." "In the Lincoln Country," pages 77, 78, 79 and 80. To us it seems beyond the range of human possibility that Mr. Lincoln was mistaken. He was a self-made man; he was a gooid' lawyer; he had trained his mind to habits of accuracy in all of his statements at the bar and on the stump. His written utterances are models of simple, exact and understandable English. Was he right or wrong? We do not think that any American will prefer trad'ition to the 12 words of the Emancipator himself. In our printed evidence will be found the affidavits of life-long friends and neighbors of Col. Chapman that es- tablish the fact that he was accurate, truthful and reliable. Everybody knows that Abraham Lincoln possessed' these same noble qualities of mind and heart. The value of the Chapman statement is placed in the highest rank by Mr. Weik, Dr. C. M. Thompson and Dr. Newcomb, the last two gentlemen being professors in Illi- nois University, and authors of many valuable books. Abraham Lincoln drove a yoke of oxen, hitched to the Wiagon that conveyed his stepmother and the earthly be- longings of the family. He knew more about the route the emigrants took than anybody else. He walked the long, rough, hard, dreary road. He drove the wagon on to ferry boats and across fords and over rude, unsafe bridges, and up and down hills and over long stretches of level land. He yoked the oxen in the morning and unyoked them at night. He helped Jacob Cosby hunt the Overton Cosby horses, in the hope that a crippled mare m.ight be exchanged for a beast of burden that would enable the family to travel more rapidly than it had done with the crippled mare for two or three days. He did every kind of hard work that Vi'ould fall to the lot of a strong, active, energetic, sensible young man of 21 years on such a tr'ip. He is the best and most re- liable Vv'ilTiess. He has fixed the route, and we ask the com- mission to enter its decree accordingly. Mr. Lincoln did not merely speak of "Washington," but he added to it the significant words, "Daviess county." Mr. 13 Chapman even spelled the name "Daviess" correctly, a thing many other intelligent people sometimes fail to do. Col. Chapman was born at Paoli, Indiana, in 1822. He knew the geography of a part at least of southern Indiana, before he went to Illinois. He knew Daviess county, and how to spell the name which it took from one of the heroes who fell at Tippecanoe. Dr. Charles M. Thompson, professor in Illinois Univer- sity, author of the Illinois official publication heretofore quoted, cites Col. Chapman as authority on pages 4, 5, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15 and 20. On page 20 Mr. Thompson speaks as follows of the Chapman interview: "Mr. Lincoln's account was given to Col. Chapman thirty years after the events described and thirty-five years later it was handed on, apparently from memory, to Mr. Weik who made a written record of it. The circumstances under which this statement was made, however, and the manner of its transmission to this investigation, stamp it with a considerable degree of authenticity, for neither Lin- coln nor Colonel Chapman, to whom he related the incidents of his entry into Illinois, nor Mr. Weik, who considered it of too little importance to make public until the present time, appeared to have the slightest idea of its historical value." In stating his final conclusions about the Lincoln Way in Illinois, on pages 13 and 14 of the same book. Dr. Thomp- sno says: "From the evidence at hand it is believed that the fol- 14 lowing points are on the "LINCOLN WAY" in Illinois: (1) a point on the Illinois bank of the Wabash river opposite Vincennes, Indiana; (2) Lawrenceville; (3) Christian settle- ment; (4) Russellville; (5) Palestine; (6) Hutsonville; (7) York; (8) Darwin; (9) Richwoods; (10) McCann's ford; ((11) Paradise; (12) Mattoon; (13) Dead Man's Grove; (14) Nelson; (15) Decatur; (16) Lincoln Farm, Macon county." A comparison of the Chapman statement with Dr. Thompson's conclusion shows that every place mentioned by President Lincoln to Col. Chapman is approved by Dr. Thompson as a pr,rt of the Illinois route. In fact, if the authority of Col. Chapman, so often quoted ari'd' relied upon by Dr. Thompson, were omitted, there would not be very much of value in the Illinois report, except the affidavits of Trout, Taylor and others, from Knox county, Indiana, sihowing that the Lincolns crossed the west fork of White river at Apraw Ford. The value which Jesse W. Weik placed on the Chap- man statement is clearly shown in his letter, as follows: "November 22, 1913. Mr. C. M. Thompson, Champaign, Illinois. My Dear Sir: I rejoice to tell you that I have just found what I have for lo, these many months, been hunting, and that is the original manuscript of an interview with the late Col. Chap- man of Charleston, Illinois, giving the route the Lincoln 15 family took in making their way to Illinois n 1830. The information was imparted by Mr. Lincoln to Chapman dur- ing a ride from Charleston to the site of his father's grave in February, 1860. Hastily, Jesse W. Weik." Report of the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Histori- cal Library * * * Lincoln Way (1915), page 32. On page 33 of the same report, Dr. Thompson prints a copy of the Chapman statement, heretofore set forth in this brief. We have one more convincing proof of the value of the Chapman interview. It is from Jesse W. Weik, who says: "One of the most significant and convincing items in the array of facts we have succeed'ed in gathering comes from Abraham Lincoln himself. "It appears that one morning early in Fe'bruary, 1861, a few days before his departure for Washington to begin the duties of the great office to which he had been elected, he left his home at Springfield to pay a farewell visit to his aged step-mother, who was then living in Coles county, Illi- nois. He reached the town of Charleston in the evening. The next morning he started in a buggy for Farmington, a village about eight miles southwest, where the old lady was then living with a daughter . His only companion was Au- gustus H. Chapman, whose wife was the daughter of Dennis Hanks, and therefore the granddaughter of Mr. Lincoln's 16 step-mother. Mr. Chapman, who died recently, lived for many years in Charleston, a trustworthy, intelligent and truthful man — ^in fact no one stood higher in the esteem and good will of his fellow citizens. He had been an officer in the Union Army, having served throughout the Civil war as Lieutenant-Colonel of the 54th Illinois Inf. Vols., and left a military record alike praiseworthy and brilliant." Weik-Cravens report, 19116. We think we have presented enough evidence to es- tablish the fact that Col. Chapman was worthy of belief. Dr. Thompson, Dr Newcomb, Jesse W. Welk, all three of them authors; W. E. Hill, George T. Balch, Etta J. Nott and G. H. Jeffreys, all residing now in Coles county, Illinois, who knew Col. Chapman well, testify to his fine character and splendid reputation. We have shown, by the affid'avit of Geo. T. Balch, in our printed evidence, page 26, that Col. Chapman was at the grave of Thomas Lincoln w'ith the president-elect in February, 1861, the day on which Mr. Lincoln described the route through Indiana to Col. Chapman. There is not even a remote possibility that Abraham Lincoln, on that solemn occasion, riding with his chosen friend and companion to h'is father's grave and his step- mother's home, made the only mistake of his life in using the wrong word. He never did it before nor after that day. Why should we conclude now that he was slipping on that particular occasion ? Furthermore, there is no reason apparent anywhere 17 for the slightest doubt that Col. Chapman heard and under- stood what the President, his relative by marriage and his close and intimate friendi sa,d about the most famous emi- grant journey ever made since the beginning of History. He wras competent to command men in the midst of fierce battles, and to carry messages from his commander to other officers, in the Civil war. He could remember what was saiid' to him in the deadly charge, and he was entrusted to deliver the commands of his superiors, and nobody has shown that he did not do it well and faithfully. Finally, we have not presented to the commission the testimony of any unworthy witness. We know them all, and we recommend them to the commission as honest, truthful men and women, justly entitled to full faith and credit, and we ask the commission to hear them in person, at such time and place as the commission may fix. Respectfully submitted by, THE DAVIESS COUNTY LINCOLN HIGHWAY ASSOCIATION. Since the first edition of this brief was printed, in June, 1931, we have been advised that the Illinois Commission, appointed by Governor Emmerson, to locate the Lincoln Way through the state of Illinois, has filed its report, and that the first point fixed by that Commission is on the west bank of the Wabash river opposite Vincennes, and that the places named by Mr. Lincoln to Col. Chapm'an in February, 1861, are on the route. The Joint Resolution adopted by the General Assembly 18 of the state of Illinois, providing for the appointment of the said Commission, designated the point opposite Vincennes as the beginning point in Illinois. The Illinois Legislature has therefore adopted Mr. Lin- coln's statement to Col. Chapman, that the party crossed the Wabash at Vincennes, as a final determination of that part of the subject, and also that the party went through Palestine and other places named in the Chapman state- ment. We have no doubt that Mr. Lincoln was correct in his statement. We accept his statement at full value, as the only historical foundation on which to establish the route which the famous Emigrant Party traveled. 19 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOISURBANA 973 7L63C2D28D C001 THE DAVIESS COUNTY LINCOLN HIGHWAY ASSOC 3 0112 031802074 mill