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Most of the half million People that visit the
Sinking Springs cabin near Hodgenville, Kentucky, each year look at
the cabin the Lincoln's lived in with pity. Here is stark evidence
of abject poverty. But Abraham Lincoln did not begin life in abject
poverty. Nor was he poor at the time of his death. In terms of 1995
values, Lincoln's estate was worth well over a quarter of a million
dollars when settled in 1867.
Miserable though it appears to
present-day Americans, the little one-room cabin in which Lincoln
was born was the home of a farm family in better-than-average
circumstances.
Thomas Lincoln bought this 586 1/2 acres farm
for cash in December of 1808. He moved Nancy Hanks
Lincoln and their daughter Sarah to the Sinking Springs Cabin in
that same month. Nancy would soon give birth to Abraham, named after
his Grand Father, on February 12, 1809.
Thomas Lincoln also owned 2 lots in
Elizabethtown and some livestock. Moreover, he had good credit; and
there is no record that he ever failed to pay an account. Tax
records for 1814 show that he ranked fifteenth in property values of
the 98 people listed.
The one great financial burden of Abraham
Lincoln's life was at the age of 26 when a venture into storekeeping
with William F. Berry left him with a debt in excess of
$1,100. Almost 10 years passed before the debt had been erased, yet
it was, and in addition Lincoln was able to present $1,200 as part
payment on his Springfield home in 1844.
History shows the Lincoln was one of the best
lawyers of his time, yet most of the fees were small, most were only
$5 or $10. Twenty dollars was his average fee for cases before the
Illinois Supreme Court. His largest fee was $5,000 received from the
Illinois Central Railroad after he won a case involving the right of
McLean County to tax railroad's property. And he had to sue to
collect it.
By the time he became the 16th President, he
had accumulated an estate of $15,000. Mostly from his law
practice, but some came from loans and a small amount from land
speculations in Illinois and Iowa.
Lincoln's estate grew from $15,000 in 1861 to
$111,000 in 1867. The principle reason was the $25,000 salary he was
paid as President. It was split between his widow and two remaining
sons.
Lincoln's preoccupation with affairs of state
made him forget his personal finances. In 1864, he made a list of
all his holdings, put everything in his pockets, walked over to the
Treasure Building, and dumped it all on the desk of Secretary Chase.
The accumulation totaled $55,398.37 -
$50,381.40 in governmental obligations of one kind or another,
$4,044.67 in unredeemed salary warrants, $89 in greenbacks, and a
bag containing $883.30 in gold. He
asked that the amount be invested in government bonds. |
