The Praise of a Godly Woman

Birth.-His father and mother.-History of Thomas Lincoln and his family

a necessary part of Abraham Lincoln's biography.-Thomas Lincoln's

ancestors.-Members of the family remaining in Virginia.-Birth of

Thomas Lincoln.-Removal to Kentucky.-Life in the Wilderness.-Lincolns

settle in Mercer County.-Thomas Lincoln's father shot by

Indians.-Widow and family remove to Washington County.-Thomas

poor.-Wanders into Breckinridge County.-Goes to Hardin County.-Works

at the carpenter's trade.-Cannot read or write.-Personal

appearance.-Called "Linckhom," or "Linckhera."-Thomas Lincoln as

a carpenter.-Marries Nancy Hanks.-Previously courted Sally

Bush.-Character of Sally Bush.-The person and character of Nancy

Hanks.-Thomas and Nancy Lincoln go to live in a shed.-Birth of a

daughter.-They remove to Nolin Creek.-Birth of Abraham.-Removal to

Knob Creek.-Little Abe initiated into wild sports.-His sadness.-Goes

to school.-Thomas Lincoln concludes to move.-Did not fly from the

taint of slavery.-Abraham Lincoln always reticent about the history and

character of his family.-Record in his Bible... 1

Thomas Lincoln builds a boat.-Floats down to the Ohio.-Boat

capsizes.-Lands in Perry County, Indiana.-Selects a location.-Walks

back to Knob Creek for wife and children.-Makes his way through

the wilderness.-Settles between the two Pigeon Creeks.-Gentry

ville.-Selects a site.-Lincoln builds a half-faced camp.-Clears

ground and raises a small crop.-Dennis Hanks.-Lincoln builds a

cabin.-State of the country.-Indiana admitted to the Union.-Rise

of Gentryville.-Character of the people.-Lincoln's patent for his

land.-His farm, cabin, furniture.-The milk-sickness.-Death of Nancy

Hanks Lincoln.-Funeral discourse by David Elkin.-Grave.-Tom Lincoln

marries Sally Bush.-Her goods and chattels.-Her surprise at the

poverty of the Lincoln cabin.-Clothes and comforts Abe and his

sister.-Abe leads a new life.-Is sent to school.-Abe's appearance and

dress.-Learning "manners"-Abe's essays.-Tenderness for animals.-The

last of school.-Abe excelled the masters.-Studied privately.-Did not

like to work.-Wrote on wooden shovel and boards.-How Abe studied.-The

books he read.-The "Revised Statute of Indiana."-Did not read the

Bible.-No religious opinions.-How he behaved at home.-Touching

recital by Mrs. Lincoln.-Abe's memory.-Mimicks the preachers.-Makes

"stump-speeches" in the field.-Cruelly maltreated by his father.-Works

out cheerfully.-Universal favorite.-The kind of people he lived

amongst.-Mrs. Crawford's reminiscences.-Society about Gentryville.

-His step-mother.-His sister.-The Johnstons and Hankses.-Abe a

ferryman and farm-servant.-His work and habits.-Works for Josiah

Crawford.-Mrs. Crawford's account of him.-Crawford's books.-Becomes

a wit and a poet.-Abe the tallest and strongest man in the

settlement.-Hunting in the Pigeon Creek region.-His activity.-Love of

talking and reading.-Fond of rustic sports.-Furnishes the

literature.-Would not be slighted.-His satires.-Songs and

chronicles.-Gentryville as "a centre of business."-Abe and other

boys loiter about the village.-Very temperate.-"Clerks" for Col.

Jones.-Abe saves a drunken man's life.-Fond of music.-Marriage of his

sister Nancy.-Extracts from his copy-book.-His Chronicles.-Fight with

the Grigs-bys.-Abe "the big buck of the lick."-"Speaking meetings"

at Gentryville.-Dennis Hanks's account of the way he and Abe became so

learned.-Abe attends a court.-Abe expects to be President.-Going

to mill.-Kicked in the head by a horse.-Mr. Wood.-Piece on

temperance.-On national politics.-Abe tired of home.-Works for

Mr. Gentry.-Knowledge of astronomy and geography.-Goes to New

Orleans.-Counterfeit money.-Fight with negroes.-Scar on his face.

-An apocryphal story...........19

Abe's return from New Orleans.-Sawing planks for a new house.-The

milk-sickness.-Removal to Illinois.-Settles near Decatur.-Abe leaves

home.-Subsequent removals and death of Thomas Lincoln.-Abe's relations

to the family.-Works with John Hanks after leaving home.-Splitting

rails.-Makes a speech on the improvement of the Sangamon River.-Second

voyage to New Orleans.-Loading and departure of the boat.-"Sticks" on

New Salem dam.-Abe's contrivance to get her off.-Model in the Patent

Office.-Arrival at New Orleans.-Negroes chained.-Abe touched by the

sight.-Returns on a steamboat.-Wrestles with Daniel Needham.........73