Things Lincoln never said

[Steve Whitlock]

(05-31-2020 04:50 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Steve, can you please post a source for Herndon saying Lincoln said this. Thanks. If Herndon indeed reported this, I may consider deleting the quote from my web page. Personally (and I sure may have missed it), I do not recall ever reading that Herndon reported Lincoln saying this. Although the book does have endnotes, there is no endnote for Merrill Peterson's statement on p. 232. (No matter what, Professor Peterson's book is an invaluable resource - highly respected)

Roger,

After going through several thousand news clippings for James and Joshua Speed, plus Dr C. C. Graham, I found no acceptable credit for the attributed Lincoln quote, just it's use in that regard a couple of times.

It occurs to me that perhaps James Speed mentioned it to C. C. Graham, and it was not general knowledge. James Speed and Dr Graham were both in the Louisville, KY area for the 1880 census, with James Speed normally there most of his life, and C. C. Graham moving there circa 1872 from Mercer Co., KY. The fact they knew each other is shown by the occasion of Dr Graham's 100th birthday which was well-attended, and one invitee was James Speed, who wrote a letter advising he couldn't attend (bottom letter in the 1st attachment).

Previously, in 1867, James Speed made an impressive oratory for the unveiling of a bust for Abraham Lincoln in Louisville (attachments#2-7). I wanted to include the news clipping for that occasion, but the file is too big for me to add myself. It had extra information about who sculpted the bust (A. P. Henry), etc. Also, 2 persons scheduled to speak after James Speed declined to follow that sterling presentation.

James Speed knew Mr Lincoln well, and saw no need to refer to the quote in question, while quoting him a couple of times. Therefore, the quote remains attributed to Abraham Lincoln. Another time and place Joshua Fry Speed also spoke about Mr Lincoln, and also made no mention of said quote.

But lest we forget Dr Graham and any connection to Abe we have the 8th attachment, an Abraham Lincoln sculpted panel for his life in KY, at the Lincoln Boyhood Memorial. The man in the hat directly in front of young Abe, said to be telling him a story, is none other than Dr Graham. It would seem whoever sculpted the panel believed Dr Graham's sworn testimony, or knows something we don't.

Also of interest in that panel is the man behind Dr Graham. That's Jesse La Follette. Why is he there? I believe he was included because Jesse was in the same ejectment suit with Thomas Lincoln, for their property. It's possible the artist knew something that Louis A. Warren didn't know in his article for the "Lincolns and La Follettes".

Louis danced with the wife of Jesse La Follette, Mary (Lee) La Follette, (so to speak), but he just couldn't fully commit to who she was, which is, the niece of Ann "Nanny" (Lee) Hanks. Louis suspected she might be a relative, and made some allowances, but didn't know that Mary's father, Charles Lee in Hardin Co., KY, was a brother of Ann, as proven by Y-dna testing.

But Louis wasn't the only one. Years later Jesse and Mary (Lee) La Follette's grandson, senator Robert M. La Follette, didn't know he was related to the president either. There were other Lee and La Follette marriages as well, sisters of Mary "Polly" (Lee) La Follette. I can't attach the pdf file for the whole article, however, I'll include a few JSTOR pages for a portion of the article. Oops! That didn't work either. Oh well, The Lees, Hanks, and some La Follettes are blood-relatives to Abe. I noticed there seems to be no mention of the La Follettes at the Symposium.

Here is the description for the Kentucky sculpted panel.

"This is the first of five sculpted limestone panels in the cloister wall at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial. Sculptor E.H. Daniels depicts Abraham Lincoln's years in Kentucky (1809-1816), showing him in the middle as how he might have looked as a seven-year-old. From left to right: Jesse LaFollette, Thomas Lincoln, Dr. Christopher Columbus Graham, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, Sarah Lincoln, and Caleb Hazel."