Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/311

ABRAHAM LINCOLN 249 born to them ; the first, a girl, who grew to maturity, married, and died, leaving no children; the third, a boy, who died in infancy ; the second was Abraham Lincoln. Thomas Lincoln remained in Kentucky until 1816, when he resolved to remove to the still newer country of Indiana, and settled in a rich and fertile forest country near Little Pigeon creek, not far distant from the Ohio river. The family suffered from diseases incident to pioneer life, and Mrs. Lincoln died in 1818 at the age of thirty-five. Thomas Lincoln, while on a visit to Kentucky, mar ried a worthy, industrious, and intelligent widow named Sarah Bush Johnston. She was a woman of admirable order and system in her habits, and brought to the home of the pioneer in the Indiana timber many of the comforts of civilized life. The neighborhood was one of the roughest. The presi dent once said of it: "It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods, and there were some schools, so-called; but no qualification was ever required of a teacher be yond readin , writin , and cipherin to the rule of three. If a straggler supposed to understand Latin happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizard. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education." But in spite of this the boy Abraham made the best use of the limited opportunities afforded him, and