Trivia Advent Calendar

[Eva Elisabeth]

Kudos, Roger!!!! It's on display at the Smithsonian.

The exhibit said: "This fence-rail piece is one of the many souvenirs made made for friends and political supporters of presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln. This particular piece is attributed to Lincoln's cousin and rail-splitting partner, John Hanks. It was sold by another cousin, Dennis F. Hanks, at the Northwest Soldiers' Home Fair at Chicago in May 1865 for the charitable relief and care of soldiers. The fair opened a little more than a month after Lincoln's assassination in April 1865. Dennis Hanks wrote the label for each fence for his illiterate cousin John Hanks, who added his X as an affidavit."

Some more info is here: http://americanhistory.si.edu/lincoln/railsplitter