"There I Grew Up...": A History of the Administration of Abraham Lincoln's Boyhood Home
O'Bright JY. 1987. "There I Grew Up...": A History of the Administration of Abraham Lincoln's Boyhood Home. Park Administrative Histories
When "milk sickness" ravaged the Pigeon Creek community in 1818, there was no church nor formal cemetery in the new settlement. Thomas and Betsy Sparrow, Nancy Hanks Lincoln's uncle and aunt, were among the first to die from the epidemic. A few days later, Nancy Hanks Lincoln died and was buried near the Sparrows on a knoll overlooking the Indiana home she dearly loved. As others in the community died, they were placed beside the Sparrows and Nancy Lincoln in the informal graveyard. Eight years later, in December 1825, the Pigeon Creek Primitive Baptist Church set aside some of its land one mile to the south of the graveyard for a formal cemetery. Coincidentally, Abraham's sister, Sarah, and her stillborn child were among the first buried in the church graveyard; Sarah Lincoln Grigsby died in childbirth in January 1828. [1] Thomas Lincoln moved his family to Illinois two years later. The land changed ownership several times in the decades following the Lincolns' emigration, and the small graveyard on the privately owned land was neglected. Over the years, whatever "monuments" once marked the graves disappeared. Little note was made of the humble graves of ordinary pioneers who lost their lives settling the land. If not for her son's infamous assassination and subsequent memorialization, Nancy Hanks Lincoln's gravesite might have remained lost to posterity. Until Abraham Lincoln became President, there were probably few who paid much heed to the Lincolns' fourteen years in southern Indiana. Thomas Lincoln's family was typical among pioneer families; Thomas was no richer nor poorer than most in the Pigeon Creek community. Although Thomas Lincoln's carpentry skills were known and respected throughout the community, the family did not stand out from their neighbors. Even Abraham Lincoln's election to the presidency in 1860 failed to draw visitors to the land where Abe grew up.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- O'Bright, Jill
- Date of Issue
- 1987
- Units
- HIST , LIBO
- Keywords
- Administration, Administrative, creation, Development, ehistory, History, Lincoln, Maintenance, Management, Memorial, monument