Today, February 12, is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Over the years, February has become known as the months of President’s — I guess probably because two of the best known US Presidents were born in February, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
I’ve always thought that Abe didn’t get the respect he deserved and just kind of got lost in all the February “presidential” festivities. Even though I just referred to him as “Abe,” he actually hated to be called Abe.
It seems like there’s a lot we know about Lincoln, maybe because there are more books written about Lincoln than any other American, or maybe anyone in the world — more than 15,000. But even so, there are some things that aren’t well-know about our 16th President.
Before being elected President, he was a general store owner, postmaster, a licensed bartender and a lawyer. As a lawyer, he actually lost a case before the Supreme Court in 1849. He did not have a middle name, he was an avid hunter, and was never a member of an organized church. He learned about Christianity by reading the bible.
When Abe was 9 years old, his mother, Nancy, died of a mysterious “milk sickness” that swept across southern Indiana. It was later learned that the strange disease was due to drinking tainted milk from a cow that had ingested poisonous white snakeroot.
You may note that his mother died in Indiana — even though Illinois is known as the Land of Lincoln, he didn’t move there until he was 21. He was born in Kentucky (in a log cabin) but his family moved to Indiana when Abe was young.
Lincoln loved to tinker with machines and he is the only president to have obtained a patent. He was once aboard a steamboat that ran aground on low shoals and had to unload its cargo. After that incident, he designed a method for keeping vessels afloat when traversing shallow waters — by using empty metal air chambers attached to their sides. His design was awarded Patent No. 6,469 in 1849
.I think I’ve mentioned in the past that Lincoln is enshrined in the Wrestling Hall of Fame — he was an accomplished wrestler as a young man. And, when Lincoln was President, he never slept in the Lincoln Bedroom — he used the current Lincoln Bedroom as his personal office.
Since John F. Kennedy was assassinated (like Lincoln) there’s been a lot of comparison of the two, and some of the comparisons are kind of interesting….
Lincoln and Kennedy were both shot in the head on a Friday.
Their successors were named Johnson (Lincoln’w was Andrew Johnson, Kennedy’s was Lyndon Johnson.)
Lincoln was shot in a theater named Ford, Kennedy was shot in a car (a Lincoln) made by Ford.
The names Lincoln and Kennedy both contain seven letters.
So even though Abe’s birthday will go pretty much unnoticed in most places today, it is a state holiday in California, Connecticut, Missouri and Illinois. Interestingly, Indiana recognizes Lincoln’s Birthday as a holiday on the day after Thanksgiving.
Happy 213th birthday to my friend Abe.
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