Abraham Lincoln

As a young man he worked at several jobs including operating a store, surveying and serving as postmaster. He impressed the residents with his character, wrestled the town bully, and earned the nickname "Honest Abe." Lincoln, who stood nearly 6-feet 4-inches and weighed about 180 pounds.

Lincoln's mother died in 1818, and the following year his father married a Kentucky widow, Sarah Bush Johnston. She "proved a good and kind mother." In later years Lincoln could fondly and poetically recall memories of his "childhood home." In 1828 he was able to make a flatboat trip to New Orleans. His sister died in childbirth the same year. Lincoln became a successful attorney, and the family bought a home at the corner of Eighth and Jackson in 1844.

In February of 1861, the Lincolns left by train for Washington, D.C. The President-elect was now wearing a beard at the suggestion of an 11-year-old girl. Lincoln was sworn in on March 4.

On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, the Lincolns attended a play entitled Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater. During the performance, John Wilkes Booth arrived at the theater, entered the State Box from the rear, and shot the president in the back of his head at about 10:15 P.M. Lincoln was carried across the street to the Petersen House where he passed away the next day at 7:22 A.M. This was the first presidential assassination in American history, and the nation mourned the loss of its leader.

Abraham Lincoln is remembered for his vital role as the leader in preserving the Union during the Civil War and beginning the process that led to the end of slavery in the United States.