Lincoln in Hancock County

Hancock County was off the beaten track for Abraham Lincoln. County residents were more familiar with his senatorial opponent, Stephen A. Douglas. In October 1858, Lincoln addressed an enthusiastic audience on the Carthage square. Afterward, he walked a few blocks ...

Historic Carthage Jail

Alexander Sympson knew Lincoln when they were small boys in Kentucky. Like Lincoln, he moved to Illinois in the 1830's, and arrived in Carthage in early 1844, just as contention with the Mormons was peaking. In 1858 Sympson was the ...

Masonic Lodge Building of 1887

This building was constructed by N. P. McKee and the Hancock Masonic Lodge in 1887. It was designed by Geo. W. Payne, a nationally renowned architect, with a large arched window and pyramid-shaped roof. in 1924 the building was purchased ...

Lincoln's Failed Murder Case

Abraham Lincoln lost a murder case here in April, 1839 A drunken Irish deckhand, William Fraim, killed a shipmate while their steamboat was docked at Frederick on the Illinois River in Schuyler County. When the shipmate blew cigar smoke in ...

Holsey Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

Side 1:

In 1884, a group of black citizens banded together to organize a church. They appealed to the Commissioners of Columbus, Georgia, and obtained a lot on Eighth Street. The first church was completed in 1886 and called ...

Traveling to Beardstown

Travel in Abraham Lincoln's time was time-consuming, dirty, and usually downright uncomfortable. On many of his trips, Lincoln traveled by train to Meredosia. From there he had the choice of a steamboat or a bone-jarring ride in a carriage over ...

The Beardstown Women's Club

Erected this tablet

February 12, 1909

In memory of

Abraham Lincoln

who, for the sake of a mother in distress, cleared her son Duff Armstrong of the charge of murder in this hall of justice.

May 7 1858

Marker is on West 3rd Street just ...

Lincoln the Candidate

People in Cass County knew Abraham Lincoln not only as a lawyer but also as a candidate for the Illinois legislature and U.S. Congress. Those earlier campaigns allowed Lincoln to hone his political skills for the 1858 senatorial content that ...

Lincoln and the River

When Abraham Lincoln sought election to the Illinois legislature in 1832, his platform focused on his belief that improvements should be made to the Sangamon River, which he said would be "vastly important and highly desirable to the people of ...

Martin Henderson Harris

Sept. 29, 1820 - Feb. 14, 1889

Outstanding pioneer, Harrisville's first permanent settler, first school teacher, first presiding Elder, nephew of Martin Harris, Book of Mormon witness. Missionary to Salmon River and Eastern States. County Road Commissioner, surveyed road through North ...