LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, was born Feb. 12, 1809, in that part of Hardin, which is now Larue county, Ky. He was taken by his parents, in his eighth year, to Spencer county, Indiana. His mother died there, and his father returned to Kentucky, and married again. In 1830 the family moved to Macon county, Ill., and spent the winter of the "deep snow" there. In the spring of 1831, Abraham Lincoln passed through Springfield and went to New Salem, near where Petersburg, Menard county, now stands. He labored at boat building, rail making and like employments, also clerking in a store, until the Black Hawk war came on, when he was elected captain of a volunteer company. After the war he was elected to the Legislature four times. He studied surveying and practiced that, usually in summer, after having spent the winter in the legislature. During all the intervals between other employments for gaining a livelihood, he studied law, and when qualified to practice he sold his surveying implements, and in 1837 moved to Springfield He was married in Springfield, Nov. 4, 1842, to Mary Todd. They had four children--

EDDIE, WILLIE and THOMAS (Tad) are all dead.

ROBERT T., born in Springfield, graduated at Harvard College, married in Washington, D. C., to the daughter of Senator Harlan, of Iowa, is now a practicing lawyer in Chicago.

Abraham Lincoln was elected, in 1846, Representative in Congress, serving one term of two years. From the close of that term until 1854, he "practiced law more assiduously than ever before." During that time he took but little interest in politics, but the repeal of the Missouri compromise aroused him to the encroachments of slavery, and he united with kindred spirits in organizing the Republican party, at Bloomington, Ill., in 1856. In 1858 he was a candidate for United States Senator to succeed Stephen A. Douglas, whose term was drawing to a close. Contrary to the usual custom with candidates for that office, instead of aiming to influence the members of the legislature, by whose votes the choice is made the contest was brought directly before the people, in order to influence their action in choosing members of the legislature, who were to choose a United States Senator. That led to seven joint debates between Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas, in different parts of the State of Illinois. Mr. Douglas was elected as his own successor, but Mr. Lincoln's speeches in that campaign gave him a national reputation, and proved that his understanding of the slavery question was more clear and comprehensive than that of any other man in the nation. That led to his being chosen by the Republican National Convention, assembled in Chicago, in June, 1860, as the candidate of that party for the office of President of the United States. He was elected in November of that year. When he took his seat in Washington, D. C., March 4, 1861, he found fifteen States in armed rebellion against his authority, the treasury of the nation empty, its arsenals plundered, and its ships of war scattered to the most remote parts of the globe. War--cruel, bloody and relentless, followed. He was re-elected President in November, 1864, and when he took the oath of office for the second time, March 4, 1865, the armed hosts of the rebellion had almost melted away, and in his heart he was beginning to sing the glad anthem of "Peace on earth and good will to men," when he was shot by the hand of an assassin on the evening of April 14, and breathed his last on the morning of April 15, 1865, at the capital of the nation.

His remains, accompanied by a large delegation of the most distinguished men of the nation, civilians, statesmen and soldiers, occupying a railroad train of nine cars, were conveyed to his former home. For twelve days and nights the train moved on, and was hailed everywhere more like a triumphal procession than a funeral cortege. May 4, 1865, his body was deposited in the receiving tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois.

A grateful people have erected to his memory a monument, and upon it placed his statue, in bronze, of heroic size. It was unvciled Oct. 15, 1874, in the presence of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, at their eighth annual re-union, with a host of citizens, making an assemblage of about twenty-five thousand persons. When the four groups of statuary, representing the Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery and Navy, are put in position on the monument, the total cost will be about two hundred and twelve thousand dollars.

Mrs. Lincoln resides with her sister, Mrs. Edwards, in Springfield, Illinois.--July, 1876.

The following are the only words Mr. Lincoln ever wrote concerning himself or his ancestors. They were not intended for publication, but were written as an act of personal regard for an old friend, and placed in the hands of Hon. Jesse W. Fell, of Bloomington, Ill., in December, 1859. It is very properly termed by Mr. Fell, the

"I was born Feb. 12, 1809, in Hardin county, Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families--second families--perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks, some of whom now reside in Adams, and others in Macon counties, Illinois. My paternal grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, emigrated from Rockingham county, Va., to Kentucky about 1781 or '2, where, a year or two later, he was killed by Indians, not in battle, but by stealth, when he was laboring to open a farm in the forest. His ancestors, who were Quakers, went to Virginia from Berks county, Pennsylvania. An effort to identify them with the New England family of the same name ended in nothing more definite than a similarity of christian names in both families, such as Enoch, Levi, Mordccai, Solomon, Abraham, and the like.

"My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age, and he grew up literally without education. He removed from Kentucky to what is now Spencer county, Indiana, in my eighth year. We reached our new home about the time the State came into the Union. It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up. There were some schools, so-called, but no qualification was ever required of a teacher, beyond "readin', writin' and cipherin'" to the rule of three. If a straggler, supposed to understand Latin happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizard. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course, when I came of age, I did not know much; still, somehow I could read, write, and cipher to the rule of three; but that was all. I have not been to school since. The little advance I now have upon this store of education, I have picked up from time to time, under the pressure of necessity.

"I was raised to farm work, which I continued till I was twenty-two. At twenty-one I came to Illinois, and passed the first year in Macon county. Then I got to New Salem, at that time in Sangamon, now in Menard county, where I remained a year, as a sort of clerk in a store. Then came the Black Hawk war, and I was elected a captain of volunteers, a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since. I went the campaign, was elated; ran for the legislature the same year--1832--and was beaten, the only time I ever have been beaten by the people. The next, and three succeeding biennial elections, I was elected to the legislature. I was not a candidate afterwards. During this legislative period I had studied law, and removed to Springfield to practice it. In 1846, I was once elected to the lower house of congress; was not a candidate for re-election. From 1849 to 1854, both inclusive, practiced law more assiduously than ever before. Always a Whig in politics, and generally on the Whig electoral tickets, making active canvasses; I was losing interest in politics, when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since then is pretty well known.

"If any personal description of me is thought desirable, it may be said, I am in height, six feet four inches, nearly, lean in flesh, weighing on an average one hundred and eighty pounds, dark complexion, with coarse black hair and gray eyes; no other marks or brands recollected.

During the war to suppress the rebellion, as is well known, Mr. Lincoln was frequently waited upon by delegations from religious bodies. Among others, a large number of women belonging to the Society of Friends gave him a call. One of their number, the widow of Joseph John Gurney, a distinguished Quaker preacher of England, wrote him a letter. The following is Mr. Lincoln's reply. It will be highly prized, because it contains such emphatic and unequivocal expressions of his belief in the overruling providence of God.

"EXECUTIVE MANSION,
"WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 1864.

"Eliza P. Gurncy:

"MY ESTEEMED FRIEND--I have not forgotten--probably never shall forget--the very impressive occasion when yourself and friends visited me, on a Sabbath forenoon, two years ago; nor has your kind letter, written nearly a year later, ever been forgotten. In all, it has been your purpose to strengthen my reliance on God. I am much indebted to the good Christian people of this country for their constant prayers and consolations; and to no one of them, more than yourself. The purposes of the Almighty are perfect, and must prevail; though we erring mortals may fail to accurately perceive them in advance. We hoped for a happy termination of this terrible war long before this; but God knows best, and has ruled otherwise. We shall yet acknowledge His wisdom and our own error therein. Meanwhile, we must work earnestly in the best light He gives us, trusting that so working still conduces to the great ends He ordains. Surely, He intends some great good to follow this mighty convulsion, which no mortal could make, and no mortal could stay.

"Your people, the Friends, have had, and are having, a very great trial. On principle and faith, opposed to both war and oppression, they can only practically oppose oppression by war. In this hard dilemma, some have chosen one horn and some the other. For those appealing to me on conscientions grounds, I have done, and shall do, the best I could and can, in my own conscience, under my oath to the law. That you believe this, I doubt not; and believing it, I shall still receive, for our country and myself, your earnest prayers to our Father in Heaven.