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Dear Lincolnites at Heart, You may recall from previous messages
that I have a special interest in Abraham Lincoln's political rally
and speech in his first namesake town on Oct. 16, 1858, the day
after the last Lincoln-Douglas debate in Alton, Ill. I have urged
the powers that be in Lincoln, Ill., to erect a marker for this
event and to re-enact it as part of the town's celebration of Mr.
Lincoln's bicentennial birth year. Such a re-enactment could receive
national and international media attention, strengthen and unify
civic pride throughout the county, and boost tourism. (Proposal)
Using microfilm in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, I
recently discovered accounts of this namesake town speech in the
Bloomington Daily Pantagraph and the Chicago Press & Tribune.
Previously the only known primary source account of this speech was
an article in the Illinois State Journal of Springfield, Ill.
These new discoveries are significant because each article adds
new details to help us better understand this major but
long-neglected rally-speech.
I have submitted these new discoveries to those who sponsor and
manage The Lincoln Log. It is the official account of the known
day-by-day activities of Mr. Lincoln, and this official account is
available online. The Lincoln Log is part of The Papers of Abraham
Lincoln project. "The final product for The Papers of Abraham
Lincoln will be a freely accessible comprehensive electronic edition
of documents written by and to Abraham Lincoln, as well as reports
of his speeches and other writings." (http://www.papersofabrahamlincoln.org/).
The Papers of Abraham Lincoln is jointly sponsored by the Illinois
Historic Preservation Agency and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential
Library and Museum.
Below you will find the message I received
telling me that my discoveries will be added to The Lincoln Log.
Links to copies of the articles in the Pantagraph, Tribune and
State Journal are posted on the home page of my community history
Web site:
http://www.geocities.com/findinglincolnillinois/.
Also, the most recent additions to my Lincoln community history
Web site are information and photos relating to the big tent of the
Lincoln Chautauqua. The big tent was used to present entertainment
in the Chautauqua's earliest years (first years of the 20th
century):
http://www.geocities.com/
findinglincolnillinois/
lincolnmemparkandcem.html#tent
Take care till a bit later.
Leigh Henson
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Jan. 7 message from Daniel W. Stowell to D.
Leigh Henson:
Dear Professor Henson:
Thank you for your helpful e-mail regarding Lincoln's 1858 speech
in Lincoln. I have forwarded the materials to Marilyn Mueller, who
is handling the updates to The Lincoln Log. I have suggested that
she cite both the Bloomington Pantagraph and the Chicago Press &
Tribune reports in the bibliography for that entry. She may contact
you for page and column number information. The updates will
probably not appear for a while, but they will be there eventually.
[to top of second column in this letter]
 |
 One quick clarification: The 1886 History of Logan County was
cited for biographical information on Samuel C. Parks, rather than
for the event itself. As you may know, the citations in Lincoln Day
by Day, on which The Lincoln Log is based, were rather Spartan, and
we sometimes err in the opposite direction in our efforts to be
clear about our sources. None of the newspaper reports seem to
identify who Parks was, so we cited the county history to let
researchers know where we got information on Parks.
Thank you again for your assistance in improving The Lincoln Log.
Sincerely,
Dr. Daniel W. Stowell
Director / Editor
The Papers of Abraham Lincoln
www.papersofabrahamlincoln.org
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Jan. 4 message from D. Leigh Henson to
dstowell@papersofabrahamlincoln.org:
To Whom It May Concern,
I found your e-mail address on the contact page of The Papers of
Abraham Lincoln. I am an amateur historian with a particular
interest in Mr. Lincoln's activities in Lincoln, Illinois -- the
first Lincoln namesake town and my hometown.
Recently I have been researching Mr. Lincoln's namesake town
rally-speech of
Oct. 16, 1858, the day after the last Lincoln-Douglas debate in
Alton. I see that the entry for this event in The Papers of Abraham
Lincoln cites the Daily Illinois State Journal and an 1886 History
of Logan County, pp. 297-8 as sources for this event. I have looked
in my copy of the 1886 History of Logan County but find no reference
to this event on those two pages. I have attached JPEGs of those
pages for your convenience. I have skimmed this book, and the only
references I find to Mr. Lincoln's activities in Logan County are on
pages 303-4, but again no reference is made to the 10-16-1858
rally-speech in Lincoln, Illinois. If I am overlooking something,
please let me know.
I have, however, found two other sources documenting this
rally-speech, and I am attaching JPEGs accordingly. On the day of
the rally-speech, the Daily Pantagraph of Bloomington carried an
article urging readers to attend the event in Lincoln. Two days
later, the Pantagraph published a brief description of the event.
Also, the Chicago Press & Tribune published an account of this event
on Oct. 21, 1858. I am attaching a JPEG of the full page of the
Tribune, and the Lincoln, Ill., article is the last one in the third
column. I am attaching another JPEG to provide a more readable
version of the Tribune article.
Sorry for the several large files, but I hope this information
will be useful to strengthen the documentation for this event in The
Papers of Abraham Lincoln. Feel free to let me know if you have
questions.
Best regards,
Darold Leigh Henson, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of English
Missouri State University
http://english.missouristate.edu/faculty/henson.htm
http://www.geocities.com/findinglincolnillinois/
(The attachments are not included in
this posting.)
___
Links to copies of
newspaper articles mentioned:
[Posted
January 14, 2008]
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