Penelope's 502 descendants
Replies: 25
Re: Penelope's 502 descendants
I found the following excerpt from a History of Abraham Lincoln at: http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/6/3/3/16332/1...
"March 1, 1830, Abraham having just completed his twenty-first year, his
father and family, with the families of the two daughters and
sons-in-law of his stepmother, left the old homestead in Indiana and
came to Illinois. Their mode of conveyance was wagons drawn by ox-teams,
and Abraham drove one of the teams. They reached the county of Macon,
and stopped there some time within the same month of March. His father
and family settled a new place on the north side of the Sangamon River,
at the junction of the timber land and prairie, about ten miles westerly
from Decatur. Here they built a log cabin, into which they removed, and
made sufficient of rails to fence ten acres of ground, fenced and broke
the ground, and raised a crop of sown corn upon it the same year.... The
sons-in-law were temporarily settled in other places in the county. In
the autumn all hands were greatly afflicted with ague and fever, to
which they had not been used, and by which they were greatly
discouraged, so much so that they determined on leaving the county. They
remained, however, through the succeeding winter, which was the winter
of the very celebrated 'deep snow' of Illinois."
I also found this statement on a website with no reference as to where it came from: http://www.vcsc.k12.in.us/tcr/lane/stout.htm
Elihu Stout was a journeyman, printer, and an author. First, he was a journeyman printer for the Kentucky Gazette in Lexington . He started his print shop in Vincennes in 1804. Stout had to set his own type and make his own ink. He called his weekly newspaper, “Indiana Gazette”. Unfortunately, his shop caught on fire in 1806. Stout started the paper up again and renamed it the “Western Sun” on July 4, 1807 . Twenty-one year old Abraham Lincoln helped Stout print the March 6, 1830 edition. Unlike the papers now, they didn’t have a lot of pictures or headlines.
It is possible that Lincoln passed thru Vincennes about that time, but he was completly unknown at that time and had zero experinece in printing, so I am suspicious of the story. I suspect this is a local legend that has grown and been accepted over the years. I would like to see something that supports this assertion, i.e. some documentation dating from that period.
In any event, Lincoln was no related to Elihu Stout. Elihu Stout is my 1st cousin 3 times removed, and I have looked up a lot of information on him.
"March 1, 1830, Abraham having just completed his twenty-first year, his
father and family, with the families of the two daughters and
sons-in-law of his stepmother, left the old homestead in Indiana and
came to Illinois. Their mode of conveyance was wagons drawn by ox-teams,
and Abraham drove one of the teams. They reached the county of Macon,
and stopped there some time within the same month of March. His father
and family settled a new place on the north side of the Sangamon River,
at the junction of the timber land and prairie, about ten miles westerly
from Decatur. Here they built a log cabin, into which they removed, and
made sufficient of rails to fence ten acres of ground, fenced and broke
the ground, and raised a crop of sown corn upon it the same year.... The
sons-in-law were temporarily settled in other places in the county. In
the autumn all hands were greatly afflicted with ague and fever, to
which they had not been used, and by which they were greatly
discouraged, so much so that they determined on leaving the county. They
remained, however, through the succeeding winter, which was the winter
of the very celebrated 'deep snow' of Illinois."
I also found this statement on a website with no reference as to where it came from: http://www.vcsc.k12.in.us/tcr/lane/stout.htm
Elihu Stout was a journeyman, printer, and an author. First, he was a journeyman printer for the Kentucky Gazette in Lexington . He started his print shop in Vincennes in 1804. Stout had to set his own type and make his own ink. He called his weekly newspaper, “Indiana Gazette”. Unfortunately, his shop caught on fire in 1806. Stout started the paper up again and renamed it the “Western Sun” on July 4, 1807 . Twenty-one year old Abraham Lincoln helped Stout print the March 6, 1830 edition. Unlike the papers now, they didn’t have a lot of pictures or headlines.
It is possible that Lincoln passed thru Vincennes about that time, but he was completly unknown at that time and had zero experinece in printing, so I am suspicious of the story. I suspect this is a local legend that has grown and been accepted over the years. I would like to see something that supports this assertion, i.e. some documentation dating from that period.
In any event, Lincoln was no related to Elihu Stout. Elihu Stout is my 1st cousin 3 times removed, and I have looked up a lot of information on him.