Lincoln in Indiana

[Gene C]

LINCOLN IN INDIANA,
part of the 'Concise Lincoln Library' series

Written by Brian Dirk (author of Lincoln the Lawyer), copyright 2017, with about 90 pages of text.

The Concise Lincoln Library series, is several short books about different events and aspects of Lincoln's life. They seem to be an abbreviated collection and summary of different authors work on a specific subject.

In this book, Dirk points out there is little information about specifics of Lincoln's early years in Indiana. Most of the first chapters deal with the hardships facing Thomas Lincoln in starting a farm from scratch, the primitive conditions that existed, background and the social/economic conditions of the time. As Abraham grows into a teenager, works for others in the area, more specifics and remembrances are mentioned.

One little detail I have never seen before about Lincoln's early jobs....
" With his step-brother, John, he went to Louisville, Kentucky, in 1827 and found work on the Louisville and Portland Canal, a long-standing project to create a two-
mile bypass around the Falls of the Ohio River near Louisville....Abraham and John were probably day laborers, and the work was surely hard. But the pay was good, and the two were compensated with silver dollars."

Several passages from Hendon's Informants are quoted. All of these are memories from 35-45 years in the past, by people in their 60's, 70's and 80's, who's memories may be fading, and not written down until after Lincoln's death. Passages from Herndon's Informants are a key source for much of what we know about Lincoln's time in Indiana. Several quotes are from Augustus Chapman, the son in law of Dennis Hanks and Sarah Elizabeth Johnston Hanks (Lincoln's step sister). Chapman married their daughter, Harriet Hanks Chapman, who lived with the Abraham Lincoln family for a year and a half during the mid 1840's.

A good, short book on this period of Lincoln's life. I found the last chapter about Lincoln and his desire to leave home, the most interesting.

Available on Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Indiana-C...oks&sr=1-1
I was able to find a used, like new condition, for $1.11
The Amazon product description is misleading regarding the number of pages in this book, it has 135, with only 93 of text.
Amazon includes title pages, publisher info, etc.

Other books of more detail on this period of Lincolns life that I have read and recommend are, "There I Grew Up" by William Bartlett and "Lincoln's Youth" by Louis Warren. An interesting older book that I have only glanced at is on line at Internet Archives titled "Lincoln in Indiana" by Edward Murr, written in 1917.
https://ia800606.us.archive.org/24/items...urr_bw.pdf