|
"The
little-known secrets behind the men & women who shaped
America" |
Sarah
Bush Outlived Two Husbands and Raised a Famous Stepson
By Paul Niemann
Send a link to a friend
[November 01, 2007]
Sarah Bush was born in Hardin County, Ky., in
1788, one of Christopher and Hanna Bush's nine children. I went to
college in Kentucky, and I noticed that many Kentuckians refer to
their hometown by the home county that they're from.
In this case, the town was Elizabethtown.
|
 Sarah married Dan Johnston
in 1806, and they had three children: Elizabeth, Matilda and John.
She also had a stepson who was murdered in his prime.
Sarah and Dan were a poor couple just trying to keep their family
fed. In 1814 he finally landed a good job when he became the county
jailer. They lived right above the jail, and it was Sarah's job to
cook all the meals for the prisoners. When Dan died two years later,
Sarah moved her family into a log cabin.
Three years later, she was working outside her cabin one day when
a man rode up on a horse. It was Tom, whom she had known since she
was a teenage girl. When he arrived at her cabin -- 13 years after
they had last seen each other -- he proposed to her on the spot. His
rationale was that she had children but needed a husband, and he had
children but needed a wife.
Sarah accepted Tom's proposal the next day. They immediately got
married and hitched up the horses and wagon and moved to Indiana
with their "Brady Bunch"-style family. This was in 1819. The family
included Sarah's three children and Thomas' son and daughter. Well,
it was five-sixths of a "Brady Bunch"-style family.
Sarah knew nothing about the kind of house she was moving into
until they arrived four days later. The log walls had huge gaps in
them, making for cold winters, and the floor was nothing but dirt.
That was ironic considering that Tom worked as a carpenter. Maybe he
had time to build other people's homes properly but not his own.
In 1830 the family moved to Springfield, Ill. Sarah's life was
pretty normal, but she did have one major accomplishment -- she did
an exceptional job of raising her two stepchildren.
The boy was quiet but well-behaved, and he and Sarah formed a
strong mother-stepson bond from the minute they first met. He grew
up and went on to become great at his final job; in fact, to this
day he is still regarded as one of the best to ever hold that job --
more than 140 years later. But before he became successful, he had
to overcome a lot of failures and heartache.
[to top of second column]
 |
 For example, in 1832 he lost his job and lost a bid for Congress.
He suffered four more defeats in his political career. I guess you
could say that he was a failed politician.
He didn't have just political failures, though. He owned a
business that failed, and he had a girlfriend who died. He also
suffered a nervous breakdown.
But he entered one more political race. It was during the period
in our nation's history when we were on the brink of Civil War, as
secession and slavery were dividing the country in two. He was
opposed to slavery, but his wife came from a family that owned
slaves. Interesting.
I mentioned earlier that he was murdered. Well, it happened while
he was on the job. You know how his story turned out, even though
you might not have figured out his identity just yet.
In 1860, Sarah Bush Johnston's stepson -- the one who was born in
a log cabin in Kentucky and later moved to Illinois -- overcame all
of his failures and won his next election.
While Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln led a pretty ordinary life, she
played a major role in shaping her stepson into the kind of man he
was: President Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the
United States.
Oh, and one more thing … The old adage about Mother knowing best
applies to Sarah Lincoln and her stepson president. She didn't want
him to win the presidential election in 1860, because she had a
feeling that something terrible would happen to him.
[By
PAUL NIEMANN]
Paul Niemann may be reached at
niemann7@aol.com.
Copyright Paul Niemann 2007
(Other
columns) |
