The Lincoln’s erected a new log cabin on Pigeon Creek in Indiana. For the next fourteen years they struggled with the almost impossible odds of a bitter and treacherous wilderness. It was here that Abe’s mother died, and he helped his father lay her to rest in the forest.
In the little Log Schoolhouse near Pigeon Creek, in Indiana, Abe managed to get a few scattered weeks of sporadic schooling in readin’ writin’ and cipherin’ to the rule of three.
Abe did his homework by the light of the smouldering fireplace. He would scrape his charcoal cipherin’ from wooden boards so as to use them over and over again.
The Lincoln family often attended services in the little Baptist Church that Abe helped his father to build, near Pigeon Creek, in Indiana.
This was the home of Josiah Crawford, a neighboring farmer, where Abe alternated working and learning. Mr. Crawford had several books which he lent Abe. When plowing, Abe read at the end of each furrow while he stopped to allow his horse to “breathe.”
