Extra Credit Questions

[Mark MacKenzie]

Roger, I wonder how you like Ostendorf's Lincoln artwork. I saw a huge collection for the first time this week.

[RJNorton]

I like his work and have always felt he had a special talent. However, I am no art critic, so I do not know what the experts would say.

I think the standard image of Nancy Hanks Lincoln that we often conjure up in our brains is Lloyd Ostendorf's. Howver, I had contact with an artist named Bryan Eaton in 2011. He has researched Nancy Hanks Lincoln and feels his is the most accurate rendition. Here is Bryan's:

[RJNorton]

I spent a lot of time over the weekend thinking about children and how precious they are. I came upon the following story. Abraham Lincoln loved all the children in his Springfield neighborhood. And they loved him back. One day three boys, all members of the same family, playfully knocked Lincoln's stovepipe hat off as he returned from work in the dark. The boys had tied a string from a fence to a tree at just the right height to knock the hat off as Lincoln walked by. After the hat was knocked off, they all shouted and jumped on him. They clung to his hands. Lincoln loved it, and he dragged them up the street to a store and treated them all to cake and nuts. What were the three boys' names?

[ReignetteC]

Good Morning, Roger,

I think I know this one:

Link, Fred, and Jess Dubois

[RJNorton]

Kudos, Reignette! That is correct. It's a wonderful little story, and versions differ a little from book to book. If other members of the forum remember the details a little differently from the version I used, that is the reason why. Mostly the source I used was Dorothy Meserve Kunhardt's wonderful article on Fido in the February 15, 1954, issue of Life magazine. Dorothy talks about the various families who might have kept Fido while the Lincolns were in Washington, and the Dubois family was in the list. Because Fido seemed to like the Roll boys the best, that was the family who became Fido's caretakers.

[Gene C]

That's right Roger. They were good kids!

Is that article on line?

Fido

[RJNorton]

Gene, yes it is. Go here.

[Gene C]

Thanks Roger

[LincolnMan]

Boy, I like Ostendorf's portrait much better!

[RJNorton]

During his visits to New England what is the northernmost city Abraham Lincoln was ever in?

[RJNorton]

Hint #1: This city was originally named Rumford.

[L Verge]

All I can associate with Rumford is baking powder, and that was made in Rhode Island. I have no idea if that state is correct or what the current city's name might be. Am I the least bit close?

[RJNorton]

Lincoln spoke in Rhode Island, but the correct city is not in that state.

[JB Banning]

Roger,

How about Concord, New Hampshire?

[RJNorton]

How about it, Joe! That's it. Lincoln spoke there on March 1, 1860. He was also in Dover for a speech the next day, but on the map it looks to me that Concord is very slightly north of Dover. If anyone finds that Lincoln was ever north of Concord while in New England then I stand corrected on this question.