Captain Lamar died November 4, 1903, a little more than two months after my visit to him, at the age of eighty-one. Mrs. Lamar is still living in Spencer County.
The same day, after leaving the Lamars, I called upon the Honorable James Gentry, at Rockport. He was the son of James Gentry, the founder of Gentryville. He was born February 24, 1819, and was ten years younger than Lincoln. He related much about Lincoln, some things which will be found in another chapter. He repeated the story about his brother, Allen Gentry, and Lincoln taking a flatboat, loaded with farm products, down the Ohio River to New Orleans, the attack of the negroes and how they were driven away. Mr. Gentry said, "If ever a man was raised up by Providence, it was Lincoln, for he had no chance." Mr. Gentry was elected on the Democratic ticket to the Indiana Legislature of 1871. He gave me his picture, reproduced herein, but it represents him much younger than when I saw him. He died May 3, 1905, at the age of eighty-six.
CHAPTER III.
Indiana Associates and Incidents
The Double Wedding—One of the Brides Interviewed—"The Chronicles of Reuben"—Josiah Crawford's Daughter—The Lincoln-Brooner Rifle Gun—David Turnham, the Indiana Constable—The "Revised Statutes of Indiana."
Reuben Grigsby had quite a family of sons. Aaron, the oldest, who married Lincoln's sister, and Redmond D., the youngest, have already been mentioned. Two sons, Reuben and Charles, were married the same day, the former married in Spencer County and the latter in Dubois, the adjoining county on the north. A double infare dinner was given at old Reuben Grigsby's, the day following the marriages. The Grigsbys were regarded as belonging to the "upper ten" class in those days, for they lived in a two-story hewed-log house.
On the sixth of April, 1899, I met Elizabeth Grigsby, commonly called "Aunt Betsy," one of the brides, the widow of Reuben, Jr., at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Justin Banks, near Grandview, Spencer County. She was in her eighty-seventh year. She was cheerful, and bright in her mind, and had a good knowledge of current events. I requested her to give me a sketch of her life, and stated that it might prove useful and interesting as a matter of history. She thought that, perhaps, what I said might be true, and cheerfully gave the following:
"My father, Ezekiel Ray, was born in Ireland, and came to America at the age of three years, and his father settled in Tennessee. My father and a number of others, among them Mr. Grass and Mr. Lamar, came to Indiana, and settled where Grandview now stands. My father died when I was five years old. I had one sister and five brothers. I was next to the youngest child. My mother remained a widow, and died twelve years after the death of my father. I had sixty acres of land left to me, my part of father's estate.