Lincoln Boyhood Historic Resource Study

MEMORIALIZING THE LINCOLNS

By the 1870s, the popular perception of Abraham Lincoln began a gradual process in which the slain president was elevated to an almost mythic status. Sites associated with his life grew to be popular destination points for tourists and souvenir seekers. The farmstead where he spent his formative years became one of many memorials, along with that of his birthplace in Hodgenville, Kentucky, and his law office in Springfield, Illinois, that were established in the half-century following his death. The Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial commemorates the period Abraham Lincoln spent in southern Indiana and also includes the final resting place of his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln. The memorial has passed through three interpretation phases. It began as a shrine to Nancy Hanks Lincoln and, by extension, the cult of motherhood that characterized the Victorian era. During the 1930s, the memorial was transformed to commemorate Lincoln and his lifetime of accomplishments. Thirty years later, the site's programs were expanded to include a parallel interpretive theme with the construction of the Living History Farm.

THE FIRST MEMORIAL TO NANCY HANKS LINCOLN

From the 1830s to the 1870s, the Lincoln homestead was transferred from landowner to landowner. The dwellings the Lincolns constructed during their tenure fell into disrepair. Many of the area's original settlers moved away or died, leaving fewer and fewer people to visit and care for the cemetery where Lincoln's mother lay buried. By the time Lincoln was assassinated on 15 April 1865, the cemetery had been all but forgotten. His death rekindled a local interest in the Lincolns' Indiana connections, however, and efforts began to locate the family homestead and cemetery. By this date, the 1817 cabin had disintegrated, while the remnants of the 1829 cabin, which the Lincolns never occupied, became a popular spot for tourists to be photographed, at least until it was literally pulled to pieces by souvenir hunters. [206]

A group of twenty-four local residents reportedly convened to determine the correct location of the pioneer cemetery. They included John Richardson and descendants of Nancy Brooner, who died shortly before Nancy Hanks Lincoln. After gathering at the former Lincoln farmstead, this group agreed that the cemetery was situated in a corner of a field then owned by John Carter. In July 1874, a story appeared in the local newspaper stating that the grave of Nancy Lincoln was unmarked. Moved to redress the shortcoming, Professor Joseph D. Armstrong, editor and superintendent of schools, placed a sandstone marker at the grave in the fall of 1874. [207] This marker, however, was destroyed within only a few years by souvenir hunters who chipped away pieces to take with them. The vandalism made it apparent to local leaders that the site was becoming a popular memorial site and thus prompted the first efforts at preservation.

In 1879, P.E. Studebaker, vice president of the Studebaker Corporation, presented a contemporary marker to the site (Plate 1). This marble marker remains the official marker of Nancy Hanks Lincoln's grave. It stands approximately two feet in height on a marble base. The lancet-shaped monument is made of Italian marble and inscribed with "Nancy Hanks |Lincoln | Mother of President | Lincoln | Died Oct 5, A.D. 1818 | Aged 35 years | Erected by a friend of her martyred son 1879." Around this same time, Civil War General John Veatch of Rockport coordinated a local fundraising effort to pay for an ornamental iron fence around the graves of both Nancy Hanks Lincoln and Nancy Brooner. [208]

Preservation efforts such as these were akin to similar undertakings associated with other former American presidents, including Ann Pamela Cunningham's work to save George Washington's Mount Vernon and the Ladies' Hermitage Association's acquisition of Andrew Jackson's home, The Hermitage. These movements were part of a larger search for national identity taking place in the United States, with Americans focusing on the deeds of great leaders for inspiration. [209] The establishment of historical associations ranked among the first manifestations of this process. On an ad hoc basis, the organizations also established the first guidelines concerning the types of sites considered worthy of preservation, who should be responsible for their maintenance, and how they should be interpreted. A critical underpinning to these directives was the assumption that private citizens, rather than government, should undertake the care of historic sites. Equally important was the notion that sites associated with military and political figures properly must be treated as shrines or icons. The initial efforts to preserve the Nancy Hanks Lincoln site clearly falls within this period of preservation theory.

Plate 1: 1959 Photo of Nancy Hanks Lincoln Grave Marker and Ornamental Iron Fence

The gravesite became symbolic of motherly devotion to one of America's greatest political leaders. The emphasis on a "sainted mother" also played into the cult of motherhood that was popularized in the literature of the early and mid-nineteenth century. A central tenet of the cult of motherhood was that women were responsible for perfecting an alternative to the commercial world and providing children (especially sons) with a moral education. [210] Domestic writings and sermons across the country popularized these ideas. Collected decades after the fact, oral histories concerning Nancy Hanks Lincoln's death clearly show the influences of this movement. With her supposed dying words, she asked her children "to be good and kind to their father, to one another, and to the world." She also reportedly expressed a hope that the children would live as they had been taught by her, to love, revere, and worship God. Many of the oral histories taken in the late nineteenth century describe Nancy Hanks Lincoln as "a woman of great good sense and morality." Her nephew, Dennis Hanks, offered this description in 1865: "Mrs. Lincoln always taught Abe, goodness, kindness, read the good Bible to him, taught him to read and to spell, taught him sweetness and benevolence as well." [211]

ESTABLISHING NON-PROFIT ASSOCIATIONS

By the late nineteenth century, the emotional power of the cult of motherhood had begun to fade and popular interest in the grave of Abraham Lincoln's mother waned. By 1897, the gravesite again was neglected, although the adjacent cemetery remained in use by local residents. In response, Governor James Mount helped form the Nancy Hanks Lincoln Memorial Association (NHLMA), which was charged with raising money for the site's maintenance. Initial fundraising efforts were less than successful, with only $56.52 raised by 1900. That year, however, the Spencer County Commissioners deeded 16 acres of land to the NHLMA, giving the organization full control over the site, while Robert Todd Lincoln donated $1000 toward the maintenance of the grave. Other changes included the addition of a second memorial stone in 1902. The stone was donated by J. L. Culver of Springfield, Illinois, and stood outside of the 1879 iron fence. The inscribed stone rested on a substantial stone base and measured approximately three feet tall and one foot deep. Its inscription is illegible from the available photographs. [212]

In the early 1900s, the NHLMA also began plans to turn the site into a park. NHLMA constructed a large picnic shelter near the cemetery and drilled a well to supply fresh water. Local citizens soon complained that the site was not being maintained properly, with visitors leaving picnic trash and carelessly walking on graves. In 1907, the General Assembly responded by creating a Board of Commissioners to care for the site. Some of the first steps to improve the site included construction of a new fence around the entire sixteen-acre site and establishment of a monumental driveway between the grave and the nearby road, which was then known as Lincoln Trace. Landscape architect J. C. Meyerburg of Tell City designed a gated entry featuring an eagle and lion statuary to highlight the driveway. Dead trees also were removed and ornamental plantings were added. [213]

In 1917, preservation efforts began to expand beyond Nancy Lincoln's grave, when local residents attempted to locate the site of Thomas Lincoln's cabin. Preceding these efforts had been much discussion concerning the actual location of the cabin and whether the dwelling remained standing in 1865, when tourists began making pilgrimages to the site. [214] This alleged site was located in the schoolyard of the Lincoln City graded school, which was erected in 1904. Approximately twenty people gathered here in 1917, at which time they located three or four stones and some bits of crockery, thus substantiating in the popular mind that the actual hearth from the cabin had been located. On April 28, 1917, a stone marker was erected in the schoolyard and read "Spencer County Memorial to Abraham Lincoln who lived on this spot from 1816-1830." [215]