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Constitution Hall, Gettysburg, Jamestown, Washington’s Mount Vernon – fans of history can visit the most important locations in the history of the United States. But there’s probably only one place where you actually can buy a piece of that unique ground where history was written: the Illinois farm once owned by the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.
The “Lincoln Family Farm” first was “owned” by an individual on Aug. 4, 1837, when John D. Johnston, Thomas Lincoln’s stepson, purchased it from the federal government. It previously had been part of the French Empire and then the British Empire, which ceded the land that now makes up Illinois to the U.S. in 1783.
Now organizers of the Lincoln Family Farm project say you actually can own a tiny piece of the original Lincoln farm.
It is located in Coles County, which was reached during the 1830s by settlers who promptly clashed with Pottawatomie, Kickapoo, Winnebagoe, Miami, Sauk and Fox Indian tribes.
Abraham Lincoln fought as a captain for the Illinois militia during the resulting 1832 Black Hawk War and Thomas Lincoln got the farmland from Johnston in 1840. His son, Abraham Lincoln, ultimately purchased the land and never sold it, according to historical documents assembled by the foundation.
It remained in the hands of Lincoln family members until the early 1900s when the state obtained some, with the rest remaining in private hands.
Businessman Dan Arnold became concerned about losing a link to “Honest Abe” and in 2007 bought four of the privately-held acres of the original farm, setting up the Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Historical Farm.
He commissioned a book, “Lincoln’s Land,” by Kurt W. Peterson, a historian from North Park University, and now has decided to offer fans a piece of that land.
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Farm project spokesman Dale Parsons told WND that the organization is offering a special early opportunity for people to buy a tiny piece of the ground – the size of one penny, on which Lincoln’s profile is featured – for a price under $20.
The land, which would be placed under a “tenant-in-common life estate interest” plan, is part of what Abraham Lincoln bought in 1841 and which remained in his name until 1888, even after his death.
The big goal of the foundation is to promote certain charities that are pursuing the goals Lincoln sought during his lifetime: education, literacy, statesmanship, leadership, according to Parsons.
The organization’s plan is for 90 percent of its profits to be directed to the foundation designed to provide support to groups with those focuses, Parson said.
“To our knowledge, nowhere else can you buy such a piece of historical property,” Parsons said. “That’s what is unique.”
The historical research into the land also has revealed some interesting stories, now published by the foundation.
Lincoln, the site reports, bought 40 acres of his father’s farm in order to provide for his aging parents. He disagreed with the lifestyle chosen by his stepbrother John D. Johnston, who also had interest in the land, and condemned his idleness and financial speculations.
In a letter about the time Lincoln set aside the land and conveyed a life interest to his parents to use it, he wrote to Johnston:
“When I came to Charleston day before yesterday, I learned that you are anxious to sell the land where you live and move to Missouri. I have been thinking of this ever since, and can not but think such a notion is utterly foolish. What can you do in Missouri better than here? Is the land any richer? Can you there, any more than here, raise corn, and wheat, and oats without work? Will anybody there, any more than here, do your work for you? If you intend to go to work, there is no better place than right where you are; if you do not intend to go to work, you cannot get along anywhere. …You have raised no crop this year, and what you really want is to sell the land, get the money and spend it part with the land you have, and my life upon it, you will never after, own a spot big enough to bury you in.”
Lincoln continued, writing, “The eastern forty acres I intend to keep for Mother while she lives if you will not cultivate it, it will rent for enough to support her – at least it will rent for something.”
“I purchased the farm in order to use it to help charities, to promote the character virtues of Abraham Lincoln to future generations and to help promote tourism in the state of Illinois,” Arnold said.
The site is adjacent to the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site, the 1840s home of the former president’s father and stepmother.
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Federalist Papers In Modern Language
Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black & White (Book)
