German Newspaper Article from 1862

[Angela]

I am sorry for the long wall of text that is about to follow but I found this in a local newspaper, the Teltower Kreisblatt, and thought it fun to share.
It is a mini biography on Abraham Lincoln - the first part with the promise of more to come; however this is the only issue digitalized yet.

It is full of - cute - mistakes and quite a few assumptions.
There seems to be no reason for this bio to be there at this point and while the paper was large in the Berlin area and the county, they usually ran local news and official notices.

I tried my hands at a proper translation and hope that if I made any grave mistakes, Eva will look it over and correct them ;-)

The original newspaper is here:
http://zefys.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/...d37fe7ad49


"Abraham Lincoln, the son of a poor Quaker was born in 1809 in the midst of wildernesses and forests of what at present is the Union State of Indiana, where his father, John Lincoln, had after long wanderings founded a settlement.

Here the future president spent his youth with the arduous and perilous pursuits of backwoodsmen.

He helped fall trees, build log cabins, set palisades, grub the forest, till the field and guarding the farm. He learned the arts of hunting and fishing, create Wampums and dealing them to roaming Indians, with whom he occasionally romped around quite seriously.

The education which was bestowed upon him was just as good or as bad as the one any backwoodsman enjoyed. But what he lacked thereto, the studious and talented boy replaced somewhat with his private diligence.

Meanwhile he had with his 18 years reached the age where he should leave the parental home and establish his own existence. Like his backwoods father, to stay and bury his existence in the wilderness was not to Lincoln's mind. His ambitious and inquisitive soul was looking for the community of people and the sites of the civilization in which they develop their skills and gain recognition.

Lincoln cared little for the lack of all funds. On the paternal farm, near the Wabash- and Ohio river, he had often had occasion to get to know the life of the boatmen who plied the Mississippi between the major cities of the West. Lincoln joined them as a rudder servant in services and quickly became an independent boatman, in which capacity he went three years between New Orleans and St. Louis and fro.

Through no fault of his own he lost this work and became first a mason, then carpenter and finally shipbuilder, work where he saved up enough that he could equip a private vehicle with which he continued his previous trips again.

On this occasion he met the owner of a large mill in New Salem, a small town in Illinois, who took him into service as an accountant. Due diligence and honesty he here acquired universal respect of his fellow citizens, until the outbreak of war, the uprising of redskins under the leadership of their famous chief, "Black Hawk", against the whites, when a new field was opened to his ambition.

Lincoln left books and office, exchanged the quill with a rifle, joined the volunteers and with since he knew how to treat people, he managed to obtain a post as captain.

Knowledge of human nature is generally one of Lincoln's excellent features and this art form is, in democratic states as well as in autocratic, the great secret of power. Mainly to this he owes his elevation to the chair of the presidency.

After completion of the Indian war, he returned to New Salem, got through the mediation of his friends, an appointment as postmaster and entered at the same time his political career by offering himself a candidate of the Republicans. Though victorious on this occasion the party of Democrats or separatists, Lincoln fell through.

But his ability and his skill earned him soon a more favorable result. While he was postmaster at New Salem, he used every free hour of day and night on his education, borrowed from a lawyer of his acquaintance legal, and from a surveyor mathematical books, studied the surveying and the laws of his country, both with such success that his reputation was beginning to spread among the masses.

As a result he was elected six consecutive times to the legislature during the years 1834 to 1840 with a great majority. He then became a lawyer, settled in Springfield and achieved in this position the same brilliant results as in his earlier efforts.

His reputation and his popularity grew day by day. The Republican Party, which could not find a more excellent and skillful leader placed him at its head and tried with his help to force the candidacy of Henry Clay.
(More to come)

[RJNorton]

Fascinating, Angela. Thank you for posting!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thanks for sharing, Angela - absolutely fascinating! (And I could never have translated that well and skilfully - awesome!!!)