Coming to Illinois

Coming to Illinois. Looking for Lincoln. In March 1830, the tiny hamlet of Decatur, Illinois, with a dozen log cabins in place, was greeted by a caravan of thirteen people. This was the family of Thomas and Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln. It was the first time that Abraham Lincoln saw the place where he would live nearby for the next year. Coming from Indiana at the urging of Lincoln's second cousin, John Hanks, the Lincoln family group quickly made overnight camp in the town square. Eventually, the thirteen family members settled in separate areas of the county with Abraham, his father Thomas, his stepbrother John Johnston, and his beloved stepmother Sarah, all moving to the homestead site located along the Sangamon River, approximately eight miles west of Decatur. Later, after Abraham Lincoln had attained his success as a lawyer riding the Eighth Circuit, he pointed out the approximate location where the family camped that first night to a group of his fellow lawyers. Decatur, by virtue of having Lincoln arriving there first, became the longest serving city to maintain ties to him while he lived in Illinois for the next thirty-one years , longer even than Springfield or Vandalia., When Abraham Lincoln first arrived in Illinois in March 1830, Illinois was still the frontier of western migration. The region of Decatur was slowly being settled by immigrants from Kentucky, Indiana, and other states, but there were many uninhabited areas. In fact, until the railroads came to Decatur in the 1850's, the city would remain underdeveloped and small in population compared to other area county seats like Bloomington. While Lincoln lived in the area he maintained his livelihood working as a farm day-laborer. Much of the time he worked on land owned by other Hanks relations, clearing and breaking up ground for planting of crops. Much of the time he would work in exchange for goods and services. Once he split rails for James Hanks and William Miller, receiving clothing in exchange for his work., Captions , [Top] This life-size bronze sculpture of Abraham Lincoln was done by the noted sculptor Fred Torrey and is located on the campus of Millikin University. It depicts Lincoln arriving in Illinois with an axe in one hand and a book in the other, symbolizing the choices that were then open to Lincoln. Until he had become “of age,” he had been required to hand over all of the money and goods that he had earned to his father. Now in Illinois and being twenty-one years old, this was the first time in Lincoln's life that he could keep the rewards of his labor and make decisions for himself. Courtesy of City of Decatur, Lincoln Heritage Development , [Bottom] Courtesy of City of Decatur, Lincoln Heritage Development