Lincoln and His Father

[RJNorton]

And yet another story:

"Another rumour is prevalent in the community where Thomas Lincoln died. It is supposed that when the President visited the grave ... he cut the letters "T. L." on a walnut board and drove it into the ground at the head of the grave. This the writer of these pages endeavored to find, but could not. Mr. Chapman says he did not cut the letters and place the board at the grave as represented. He was with him all the time and he says no such thing happened.

This account of Lincoln's 1861 visit also tells the story of Lincoln's

plans for a tombstone for his father's grave.

... he visited the grave of his father in company with A. H. Chapman and John Hall. . . . When Mr. Lincoln returned to Charleston he asked one of the younger members of the [Dennis] Hanks family to find out the probable cost of the tombstone for his father's grave. During the
conversation on the subject Mr. Lincoln asked Mr. Chapman what he thought the expense would be. Mr. Chapman answered not less than $40 nor more than $60 he thought. "Well," said the President, "see what it will cost and let me know at Washington, and I will send you an inscription I want put on." The war came and he could not attend to it. It has been erroneously supposed that he left money and it was not appropriately used. This, Mr. Chapman says, is untrue, and that the only arrangements made was the one already given. Further proof is given in a letter from Mrs. Lincoln after her husband's untimely death, wherein she refers to the thought often expressed by the President that as soon as his term of office expired, he would return here and see to the erection of the monument."

https://archive.org/stream/abrahamlincol...e_djvu.txt