The Martin's Blog

10/13/2022 Th – drove to Chicago, cards with Cathie and Jim

10/14 F – breakfast with Mike, then drove to Milwaukee to help the Martin family move into their new/old (1911) home.  House on move in day – before Baba and Gummy yard work –

10/16 Tu – House after Baba and Gummy yard work –

Seamus, Drago, Lena, Helen

Beautiful Stain Glass Windows

10/19/2022 W – 4.5hr drive from Milwaukee to Lincoln Home NHS in Springfield IL.

Illinois is known as the “Land of Lincoln.”  Lincoln was born in KY in 1809 (Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHP).  When he was seven (1816), his family moved to IN (Lincoln Boyhood Home N MEM), where his mother died (1818).  His father remarried (1819) and in 1830, when the family was preparing to move to IL, Abe (21) struck out on his own and moved to New Salem IL, 20 miles from Springfield.  This is where Lincoln became a lawyer and started his law practice and from which he was elected to the Illinois General Assembly (1834).  He moved to Springfield in 1837, married Mary Todd in 1842 and purchased what is now known as the Lincoln Home NHS in 1844.  He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1847-1849.  He was active in the Republican Party and became the 16^th President of the U.S. in 1861.  Lincoln was assassinated in Washington DC (Ford’s Theater NHS) on April 15, 1865.

Helen and I visited here in 1968 and we visited again in 1994 with Kate, Chad, and Helen’s cousin Damir.

On each of those trips we also visited Historic New Salem State Park in IL

Lincoln Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield IL.  It is good luck to rub Lincoln’s nose!

Our first stop this year was at the Visitor Center

And then did the ranger house tour –

Some inside photos of the home – Sitting Room

Front Parlor

Dining Room

Kitchen

Lincoln’s Bedroom

Mary’s Bedroom

Boy’s Room

Mary Todd Lincoln

Campaign Wagon

Lincoln’s route to Springfield IL and Washington DC

The Dean and Rosenwald Houses

The Dean House contains models of the Lincoln home when purchased and through two upgrades

Boyhood home of Julius Rosenwald who would go on to become a partner in Sears, Roebuck & Company.  With the guidance of Booker T. Washington, he provided grants to establish more than 5,000 “Rosenwald Schools” in rural African American communities throughout fifteen southern states after the Civil War.  There is a proposal pending to establish a Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park.

Photo Spot – Lincoln’s House Becomes a Shrine