The author would have wished to acknowledge his indebtedness to the many admirers of Abraham Lincoln who so cheerfully and readily replied to his inquiries. The responsiveness of all to whom he applied for information and particularly the eagerness with which collectors entrusted precious pamphlets and scrap-books to him were a constant source of gratification and encouragement.
In the following notes there are frequent references to secondary authorities. They are given, not to authenticate what has been said on direct authority, but for the convenience of readers and the service of students. The reader may find one book more available than another; and the student, who may wish to collate all that has been published on a subject, will have at hand an adequate bibliography.
CHAPTER I
[i-1] Henry Pirtle, quoted in Herndon, i, 7. See, also, W. F. Booker, in Barrett (New), i, 6; Irelan, xvi, 21.
[i-2] George B. Balch in Browne, 87; Samuel Haycraft in Barrett (New), i, 8; Rev. Thomas Goodwin, ibid., 115.
[i-3] Atkinson, 44-45.
[i-4] Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks were married near Beechland, in Washington County, Kentucky, on the 12th of June, 1806.
[i-5] Usher F. Linder, who was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, became a prominent Democratic leader in Illinois. Delivering a eulogy of Lincoln in 1865 and speaking from his recollections of the old Kentucky days, he said: “They were a good family. They were poor, and the very poorest people, I might say, of the middle classes, but they were true.”
[i-6] Sarah Lincoln was born February 10, 1807. The removal to Nolin Creek is said to have occurred in the following year.
[i-7] Speed, 30; Browne, 489; Barrett (New), ii, 122-23; Morgan, 255-56.