Lincoln’s Legacy: Historic Americana from the Life of Abraham Lincoln

1 p.; 8 x 4 1/2 in. (203 x 114 mm). Creasing from old folds; minor soiling; toning.

THE BARRETT COPY OF ONE OF ONLY TWO KNOWN EXAMPLES OF SARAH BUSH LINCOLN'S MARK EVER OFFERED FOR SALE.

The present receipt in the amount of $20.50 is made out to Sarah's grandson, John Hall "for full payment of a note I have on him & in full of all claims I have against him...", with A.W. Chapman listed as witness. Unable to write her name, Sarah Lincoln signs the receipt with a simple "X."

Sarah Bush was born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, on 13 December 1788. The daughter of a slave patrol captain, Christopher Bush, her father owned more than 2,000 acres of Kentucky land, making the Bushes one of the most financially prosperous families in the region at this time. In 1806, she married Daniel Johnston, with whom she had three children: John, Elizabeth, and Matilda. For many years, the Johnstons struggled financially and were constantly in debt. In 1814, Daniel obtained a position as county jailer, which gave the family room and board, and a modest income. Two years later, a cholera epidemic swept through Elizabethtown, killing Daniel.

Thomas Lincoln moved to the Elizabethtown area in 1807 with his wife, Nancy Hanks, where their daughter Sarah was born on February 10. Two years later, while Nancy was expecting their second child, Thomas purchased a 300-acre farm from Sarah Bush Johnston's brother Isaac, which the family named the Sinking Spring Farm, for the "magnificent spring that bubbled from the bottom of a nearby cave." Only a few short weeks later, on 12 February 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born in the single-room, dirt-floor log cabin built on the property. A few years later, the Lincolns left Kentucky for Indiana.

Following the death of Nancy Hanks in 1818, Thomas Lincoln, having heard that Sarah was recently widowed, returned to Elizabethtown intending to marry her, proposing, "I have no wife and you no husband. I came a-purpose to marry you. I knowed you from a gal and you knowed me from a boy. I've no time to lose: and if you're willin' let it be done straight off." They were married on 2 December 1819 in Elizabethtown, and from there, Sarah, along with John, Elizabeth, and Matilda, moved to the Lincoln farm in Indiana.

Despite being barely able to read and completely unable to write, Sarah instilled in her children the importance of a good education. Upon moving into the Lincoln home, Sarah gifted her new stepson Abraham with books she'd brought back from Kentucky. The family continued to live in extreme poverty, and as Abraham grew older and stronger, Thomas depended on him more and more to help with chores to keep the family afloat. Despite these circumstances, Sarah continued to encourage Abraham's educational pursuits, and by the time he was 15, he was able to read and write well, counting among his favorite books Aesop's Fables and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.

Fearing another outbreak of the same milk sickness which had killed Abraham's mother Nancy twelve years earlier, the Lincolns moved to Illinois in 1830, at which point Abraham struck out on his own. Though never particularly close to his father, Abraham Lincoln kept a warm, loving relationship with his stepmother and step-siblings throughout their lives, paying regular visits to see her even after Thomas Lincoln died in 1851. The 120 acres on which the farm sat were purchased by Lincoln, with 40 acres set aside for Sarah's use, and the rest given to Sarah's grandson John Hall. She outlived her beloved stepson by four years, dying on 12 April 1869, at age 80.

RARE: According to RBH, we trace only one other document sold at auction with Sarah Lincoln's mark, at Charles Hamilton Galleries on 25 October 1967.

Provenance:

Oliver R. Barrett, sold Parke-Bernet, New York, his sale, 20 February 1952, lot 133

Roy P. Crocker, sold Sotheby's Parke Bernet, New York, his sale, 28 November 1979, lot 270

Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California