Abraham and Thomas Lincoln

[Samuel Wheeler]

Steve--Thank you for linking the story on Lincoln and his father. The piece was the product of an interview to promote my upcoming talk on February 11. It's a fascinating topic that has been speculated upon too many times to count, though it remains shrouded in mystery. My talk will attempt to highlight the parameters of the debate, explore why it matters, and perhaps even shine some new light on the issue.

Roger--Thank you for the welcome! I have been an enthusiastic reader of the board for years and just recently made an account. I initially the account with the intention of posing a research question, but found the answer through another avenue before I got around to making a post. Nonetheless, it's great to be here! Now with my first post out of the way, perhaps I can chime in on other threads.

Rob--It's great to "reconnect" with you via the board. Please reach out to me the next time you're in Springfield. I'd love to have coffee and catch up. Thank you too for the kind words. Good luck mining the Tarbell collection you mention!

David--I really love Carpenter's book. He captures some wonderful quiet moments with Lincoln and recounts them in such a compelling manner.

My work certainly benefited from Carpenter's book, but I did not track down the poet in this particular passage.

A quick search this morning using a variety of databases came up empty. All searches pointed back to Lincoln. Searches looking for results prior to 1866 (publication of Carpenter's book) yielded nothing. So for now, the poet remains a mystery. ​

Could it have been Lincoln? So far, one cannot rule out that possibility.

However, the context with the quote is interesting. Lincoln presumably recites the lines and the woman remembers them, writes them down later, and still later, publishes the scene. I wonder how she remembered the lines? Maybe she was taking notes as he spoke? Or maybe she recognized the poem he was quoting and made a mental note? If that's the case, we should eventually be able to find the printed poem in a format that was widely available, prior to 1866.

However, to find the original poem, we need to be sure the transcription is accurate. In this case, are we sure the woman was able to capture his words accurately? If so, are we sure Lincoln recited the piece accurately? (we often get the "gist" of a quote correct but fumble the exact words--I do it all the time!) A search might benefit from using variations in word choice--the assumption being she or Lincoln may have misquoted the piece. That approach could yield something.

I applaud you for using online technology (google books) to track down the poet. It's a useful approach. That's the technique I used to determine neither of the Lincolns wrote the "Little Eddie" poem. In case you're interested, here's a link: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/262986...w=fulltext

If you find the poet of this piece, please let me know!