Thomas Lincoln's Grave

Thomas Lincoln's Grave. Looking for Lincoln. Thomas Lincoln, father of the sixteenth President, died in 1851. He was buried in what was then called the Gordon Burial Ground, which today is known as the Thomas Lincoln Cemetery. As was common in many rural cemeteries, Thomas Lincoln's marker originally was probably no more than a simple rock placed to mark the gravesite. Many years later, however, Abraham Lincoln's nephew, John J. Hall, would tell a Lincoln biographer that Abraham had carved the initials "T L" onto a board which he placed upon the grave during his last visit in January of 1861. Whether Thomas Lincoln's gravesite was originally marked by a stone or by a board, no permanent marker could be placed until money was raised by local friends and by Thomas' grandson, Robert Todd Lincoln. Those donations ensured the tombstone's eventual erection in 1880. The current marker for Thomas Lincoln's gravesite was actually installed by the Illinois Lions Club to replace the original, which, unfortunately, had been chipped away by eager souvenir hunters over the years. , The following is an excerpt from George Balch's Poem:, In a low, sweet vale, by a murmuring rill, , The pioneer's ashes are sleeping , Where the white marble slabs are so lonely and still, , In their silence their vigil are keeping., On their sad lonely faces are words of fame, , But none of them speak of his glory, , When the pioneer died, his age and his name, , No monument whispers the story., No myrtle, nor ivy, nor hyacinth blows, , O'er the lonely grave where they laid him; , No cedar, nor holly, nor almond tree grows , Near the plebian's grave to shade him., Bright evergreens wave over many a grave , O'er some bow the sad weeping willow. , But no willows nor evergreens wave , Where the pioneer sleeps on his pillow.