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p*# 20 ulcatur CwtettMaltffoMtwtTs herald /lt;* 7,1929Lincoln’s Residence A Revered TraditionFirst House West of Church StreetJ. B. Shoaff s collage standing on northwest corner of Church and William streets, preceded the Shockley home which was torn down to make space for the Masonic Temple. Mr. Shoaff was a Decatur publisher. The Jane Culver horpe stood on the opposite side of William Btreet.miiACON COUNTY reveres its Lin-*** coin, tradition, but the facts regarding Lincoln’s activities here are scanty. That he was a friend of the Wamick family, and was a guest in their home In Blue Mound township, and that he wooed one of the Wamick girls, was testified to by old settlers In the seventies.It was nearly 30 years after his residence in Harristown township that Lincoln became a national figure, and 10 more were to pass before anything like general interest in Lincoln's life developed. Writing of Lincoln biography began to be a mania in the turn of the nineteenth century.It is known that Lincoln came with his father and family to Illinois in March 1830; that he built a cabin lt( the Sangamon bottoms southwest of what is now Harristown; and that he moved on later to New Salem. After his removal Macon county held little that was of sentimental interest for him.That Shoaff PhotographJames Shoaff, the Decatur pub* listaer, and father of Thomas Shoaff of Shelbyviile, capitalized on Lincoln’s fame by having a photograph made of the Lincoln cabin in the bottoms with John' and Dennis Hanks standing in front of it. A label on the photograph is their certificate to the fact that this is a genuine Lincoln cabin.John Hanks was a cousin of Nancy Hanks, Lincoln’s own mother. He had preceded Thomas Lincoln’s family in coming to Macon county. It was of the logs which Hahks had cut when he intended to clear Sangamon bottom land that the cabin was constructed. Dennis Hanks was not mentioned as a relative In Lincoln’s autobiographical notes. Thomas Lincoln soon went back to Coles county and passed the remainder of his life there. Abraham remained in the Harristown bottoms through the year 1830, and probably departed the next spring.' Cabin Shown In Boston?Conflicting accounts exist as to the fate of the cabin which he built. To all appearances it was simply a squatter’s hut, and certainly no sentimental value attached to it for years. Lincoln became a candidate for President, and split fence rails became campaign •symbols, but nothing was said about the cabin.Tom Shoaff, now living in Shelby-ville, declares that, having photographed John and, Dennis Hanks in front of the cabin in 1865, after Lincoln’s death, James Shoaff, his father, took down the logs, had them shipped to Boston and set the cabin up on Boston common where he exhibited it. John Hanks accompanied him on this trip and sold souvenirs.Two Stories Io Not JibeAn inquiry made of the Massachusetts Historical society by The Herald brought from its librarian, Julius H. Tuttle, the following:- I am sorry to say that I am unable to find any reference to the exhibit on Boston common of Lincoln’s cabin in the '60’s or any other time. A important event of that kind, if it happened, would have found its way into the records of this region.”Still another story is that the cabin remained where it was first erected until 1876 and was then taken down and sent to the Philadelphia Centennial exposition. Both stories obviously cannot be right.The fact was that when the D. A. R. attempted to mark the site of the eabin on the west end of the Scroggins farm in Harristown 25 years ago, there was a disagreement as to the place and the disagreement continues today.As a lawyer and politician Lincoln returned many times to Decatur. He recalled that on the journey from Indiana he entered from the south along what Is how the line of the Illinois Central, but he never, so far as is known, mentioned his first home in Illinois.The nearest approach to it was in 1860 when John Oglesby and John Hanks brought to the Wigwam in State street, where the state convention endorsed Lincoln for the presidency, some split rails from the Harristown bottoms, Lincoln declared that if they were not the identical rails which he and John split, they were mighty like them. ►- -Land Drained by “Blind Ditcher”PONDS and marshes, rendering large areas of lowland unavailable for agriculture and serving as the breeding places for the malaria bearing mosquito, were drained off In the '60s and ’70s. ,Open ditches sometimes were used, though these, of course, interfered to some extent with farming operations. Before tiling became general farmers used an ingenious contrivance known as a mole ditcher” or blind ditcher.”The late John Lindsay, afterward publisher of the Labor Bulletin, owned such a contrivance, and prior to his enlistment in the Civil war, contracted to put in a good many miles of drains with the machine, drawn by several yoke of oxen. Underground Plow The ditcher was a sort of underground plow. It was a shoe made of iron and beveling to the forward end, attached to a coulter which was a steel blade four to six feet long, five or six inches wide and one Inch thick. This coulter was fastened to a heavy beam, which was pulled by the oxen.In. a hole the coulter was set at the required depth, and as the power wan applied it moved below the surface, making a tunnel.Largely due to crawfish the tunnel method proved unsatisfactory.-— -4-Bering, Pitner Pictures Used In ioo-Year EditionFROM more than 4,000 negatives made by the late W. C. Pitner long a photographer in Decatur The Herald was invited by Tom Pitner to make its choice. Unfortunately the catalog of the pictures long since had been lost or destroyed so there was no way of identifying them.It was evident from the costumes that most of the pictures had been made In the '60s and ’70s. The portraits revealed the stiff head—rest poses of photography of an early day. Through time and chemicals most of the plates had been marred.A selection was made from some of the best of them. Older residentswere able to identify two. ThereXwere few pictures of street scenes or buildings.Once College Trofesser Mr. Pitner was a teacher in McKendree college before coming to Decatur and buying the Butler studio in 1866. He occupied six dif-fent locations while in business here.A page of pictures made up of these discolored plates is included'in this section of the centennial edition. They reveal the real pioneers In their later years and their children, most of whom already have passed on. The little children that appear in family groups are now mature men and women. It is an interesting collection.The Herald was permitted to select from the pictures made by the late J. Edward Bering, scientist, engineer and manufacturer. Mr. Bering’s photographs of scenes in and about Decatur in the '90s probably never have been surpassed. Mr. Bering had that enthusiasm for scientific photography, which causes some amateurs to surpass professionals in their results. His photographs carefully bound and indexed remain as clear today as they were 40 years ago.Of the collection of plates of the Henderson East Side gallery nothing now remains, according to members of Mr. Henderson’s family. Most of the pictures for the Centennial edition of The Herald were borrowed from the owners.Sincere congratulations and best wishes,I DECATUR\ \from one who is proud \ |lo he a pari of you.IN A HUNDRED YEARS the community spirit !of Decatur has become a very real and lusty entity 1 has grown with Decatur since the days when jprairie schooners rolled over the cross roads that were :destined to become a thriving, busy city of 60,000 i people. |Rightly, that spirit boasts of Decatur's many factories, its railroads, banks, stores, colleges, and its imany happy homes. Rightly, too, that spirit is proud of its city’s progress during these first one hundred years. !And now, on the threshold of Decatur’s second icentury, the spirit of the community, like eternal »youth, looks forward, not backward... .turns ahead and with a fighting, eager heart demands of life,“What’s next?”On this hundredth anniversary of Decatur’s founding. Shell welcomes the opportunity of expressing gratitude that it has been privileged to contribute something to Decatur’s progress and to enjoy the benefits which come from sharing in that growth.The Shell Petroleum Corporation acclaims the fine community spirit that has brought prosperity tothe city and Macon county congratulatesDecatur on its first centenary • ■ • ■ and hopes that this is but the forerunner of at least three score and ten centennials.
Newspaper Details
Decatur Herald
Decatur, Illinois, US
Sun, Jul 07, 1929
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Decatur P.
IL, USA 05 Feb 2025
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