CHAPTER I.

Pages 93-95

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Editor The Fulton Democrat: In earlier years I was intimately acquainted with Abraham Lincoln and Peter Cartwright, two of the old pioneers of Illinois, who lived in Sangamon County at the same time, and but a few miles apart, who took prominent part in molding the destiny and giving permanent prosperity to the state and nation. The have passed over the river and gone to their reward some thirty years ago, but for generations will their noble deeds and sacrifices be remembered and their sacred memory cherished deep down in the hearts of a grateful country and a generous people. There are probably but few men now living that knew Mr. Lincoln better than I did in the days of his obscurity, when he was trying to make an honest living by honest days’ work. I believe that I knew about every occupation that he was engaged in from the time he came to New Salem until he was elected to Congress. Now I find, in reading historical sketches in the papers and magazines of the early life of Lincoln, also in some of his histories, a good many mistakes. Some of my old friends, and also my children and grandchildren, often ask me what I knew about Abraham Lincoln and Peter Cartwright, and I have decided to give the Fulton Democrat a few short historical sketches of what I knew about them in the old pioneer times. What I shall say shall be from my own personal knowledge and from what I know to be authentic and true; and I will endeavor to point out some of the errors and mistakes that I have alluded to.

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Before I commence the narrative of the early life of Mr. Lincoln, it is likely some of the readers of the Democrat would like to know how I happened to become so well acquainted with such a distinguished person as Mr. Lincoln; and so I will have to make some explanation, and in doing so will have to state some circumstances connected with my own early life and occupations.

My father, Ossian M. Ross, settled in Havana in 1828. He kept the ferry across the Illinois river, built and kept the Havana Hotel, carried on a large farm, was a merchant and the postmaster, and in addition to those things he had the mail route from Springfield to Lewistown. The mail had to be carried twice a week on horseback, and I chose, rather than to work on the farm or in the store, to carry the mail. The postoffices between Lewistown and Springfield were Havana, New Salem, Athens and Sangamontown. Mr. Lincoln was postmaster at New Salem, where the mail had to be changed four times a week, and I put up at the log tavern where Mr. Lincoln boarded, and we partook of the cornbread, bacon and eggs, which were our common fare at the same table. I would often assist Mr. Lincoln in his store and in sorting over the mail, and he would often send packages by me to his customers along the road; so my business required me to be with him a part of four days in every week. After he commenced the practice of law I got him to fix up my title papers to some land that came to me from my father’s estate; and I have often met him when he was attending the circuit court in Mason county. The first court held in that county was at Havana; I was keeping the Havana Hotel at that time. There was no court house in the county, and the bar room of the hotel was used for a court room and some of my bed rooms for jury rooms. I remember Mr. Lincoln being engaged by Frank Low of Havana to prosecute Mr. Coon for slander. Mr. Lincoln got a judgment against Coon in favor of Low for some $500.

So the readers of The Democrat will see that I had a pretty good opportunity to learn something about Mr. Lincoln. I was

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also well acquainted with William H. Herndon, who was his law partner for twenty years, and who after his death wrote a history

of his life. Mr. Herndon’s father kept the Herndon Hotel in Springfield, and when I carried the mail I had to stop there two nights in each week. William and myself being near the same age (I being one year the older), we were a great deal together whenever I was n Springfield; we were also both in the Jacksonville college at the same time, in the same classes, and were roommates; and so I had a pretty good opportunity to know something about him. As I proceed with the narrative of what I know of the early life of Mr. Lincoln, I may also state what I know of the early life of Herndon, and point out some of the mistakes he has made in his "History of Lincoln."

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