In August, 1826, at the age of nineteen, Sarah Lincoln, or Sally, as she was commonly called, was married to Aaron Grigsby, the oldest of a large family of boys. Learning that Redmond D. Grigsby resided near Chrisney, Spencer County, Indiana, I called upon him October 18, 1898. After being introduced by a friend, I asked him, "What relation were you to Aaron Grigsby, who married Abraham Lincoln's sister?" "He was my oldest brother, sir," answered the old gentleman. He said he was born in 1818, and was at that time eighty years old. He said that he and Lincoln were often thrown together, he at the home of his brother and Lincoln at the home of his sister. Mr. Grigsby said that when Abraham would start off with other boys, he had often heard Sally admonish him as to his conduct. Then Abraham would say, "Oh, you be good yourself, Sally, and Abe will take care of himself." We shall have occasion to refer to Mr. Grigsby again. He still resides at Chrisney; is now ninety years of age and quite feeble.
Sally Grigsby died in childbirth January 20, 1828, less than two years after her marriage. Her body sleeps in the old Pigeon Creek Cemetery, one mile and a half south of where her mother is buried.
Mrs. Lamar, the wife of Captain Lamar, who resided at Buffaloville, a short distance east of Lincoln City, said to me, in her home, September 8, 1903:
"I remember old Tommy Lincoln. I sat on his lap many times. I was at Sally Lincoln's infare dinner. I remember the night she died. My mother was there at the time. She had a very strong voice, and I heard her calling father. He awoke the boys and said, 'Something is the matter.' He went after a doctor, but it was too late. They let her lay too long. My old aunt was the midwife."
Mrs. Lamar is still living in Spencer County, Indiana. At the same time, I interviewed Captain John W. Lamar. I copied the date of his birth from the record in his Bible. He was born December 9, 1822, and although but a small boy when the Lincolns removed to Illinois, he remembers Abraham Lincoln quite well. At the time of my interview, I had a clipping from the Indianapolis News of April 12, 1902, containing some items pertaining to his recollections of Lincoln, which were read to him. The clipping is as follows:
"Captain J. W. Lamar, of Buffaloville, Spencer County, a delegate to the Republican State Convention, knew Abraham Lincoln when the latter lived in Spencer County. He is past eighty years old, but his memory is keen, and he is unusually vigorous for a man of his age. He is six feet tall, broad-shouldered, with flowing white hair and beard, making him one of the picturesque figures of the convention crowd. Lincoln is his favorite theme, and he delights to talk of him.
"'I well remember the first time I saw Abe,' he said. 'My father took me to Troy, at the mouth of Anderson River, to do a little trading, and Lincoln was at that time working at the ferry. Dressed in the frontiersman's coon-skin cap, deerskin shirt, and home-made trousers, he was indelibly impressed upon my memory as being one of the gawkiest and most awkward figures I ever saw. From that time on I saw him very often, as he lived near, and worked for my father frequently. He and my father and his father all helped to build the old Pigeon meeting-house , near which Abe's only sister, Sally, was buried. Tom Lincoln, Abe's father, often did odd jobs of carpentering for us.
"'One day, about a year after I first saw Lincoln, my father and I went over to old Jimmy Gentry's store, where the town of Gentryville now stands. When we got there, I noticed Lincoln out by an old stump, working very industriously at something. On going nearer, I saw that he was figuring or writing on a clapboard, which he had shaved smooth, and was paying no attention to what was going on around him. My father remarked to me then that Abe would be somebody some day, but, of course, did not have any idea how true his words would come out.
"'Many times have I seen him studying at odd moments, with a book or something to write on, when others were having a good time. That was what made him so great.